jacobus Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 I just purchased one of these on eBay - amazing device! As long as you draw fairly slowly, it reproduces your image quite faithfully. The package (which appears to be brand new) came with the tablet, attached pen, power supply and a cable that connects to 3 of the 800's joystick ports. As well several manuals (which go into the inner workings of the device in great detail) It also comes with a disk labeled "Kurta Demo Disk" which contains two BASIC programs - they appear to provide the same functionality, but one is obviously an earlier, less capable version. Applications include a simple drawing program (pictured), a positional tracking system, a tone generator and an area calculator. Interestingly enough the manual is dated December 1980 - quite a sophisticated device for that early in the Atari's life. As you can see, the tablet surface takes an 8.5 x 11 inch page and the stylus itself is tipped with a ball point pen. The tablet recognizes hover, tap and draw actions. The manual makes mention of an application called "Superdraw" - Does anyone have a copy? It really puts all other tablets for the Atari to shame! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariNerd Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 (edited) Very very nice... :::wants to doodle::: Edited April 17, 2009 by AtariNerd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laemeur Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Holy smokes, I didn't know such a thing existed. That beats the pants off the ol' Atari Touch Tablet. Needs three ports, though? Gah! No hi-res tablet for the XL crowd, then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 That's a very rare device, congratulations! I believe there are ads for it in the very first issues of ANALOG. Would be great if you could dump the disk! -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacobus Posted April 17, 2009 Author Share Posted April 17, 2009 That's a very rare device, congratulations! I believe there are ads for it in the very first issues of ANALOG. Would be great if you could dump the disk! -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Thanks - I almost missed it; I assumed at first that the Atari reference was a typo. The Analog review can be found here. Here you are: Kurta_Demo_Disk.zip And as a special bonus, I'm including a dump of the Sierra On-Line Frogger demo - interestingly enough it looks very different from the finished version. Perhaps FastRobPlus has some additional info? Frogger_Demo__Sierra_.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathtrappomegranate Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 Here you are: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastRobPlus Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 (edited) Very cool! That Froger looks like the John Harris version, but earlier. Allegedly he had it up to about the point of that rolling demo when his entire working collection was stolen in an airport. He then had to recreate many of his tools and recreate Frogger from memory and some scraps. That could explain the look of the demo you have. I have never seen it before today. Edited April 18, 2009 by FastRobPlus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www.atarimania.com Posted April 18, 2009 Share Posted April 18, 2009 Many thanks Had never seen that demo either! Was it on side B of a Sierra disk? -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacobus Posted April 19, 2009 Author Share Posted April 19, 2009 Many thanks Had never seen that demo either! Was it on side B of a Sierra disk? -- Atari Frog http://www.atarimania.com Nope, it's on the A: side a double-sided demo disk. Side B: contains a demo an Apple II program called "EPF IV" or "Expanded Programming Facility" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted April 19, 2009 Share Posted April 19, 2009 Glad you got it, it uses a slight electrical field to detect the pen. A superior product. It was available before 1980. As I no longer have an 800 it is nice to see the old device back in use. It put all other products to shame at the time it was new. Nothing touched this tablet for detailed work. Superdraw is a real product as well. This was a commercial product, as many like to brand things as prototypes or vaporware or products accidentally listed for the Atari. When you look at some of the 1982 Mack truck products including tracked vehicle transport trailers, the Atari and this device helped get the job done. In fact one of the designers got me hooked on the Atari. His name was Dale, this fellow went out of his way to show me what a computer user group was. Sadly the division eventually got moved to Mexico. But that is another story. Also be aware that the Atari also used paper tape and card readers at one time. Those items went unsold on ebay about 3 years ago. To see you actually using it and not sticking it on the shelf or trying to roll it over for huge profits restores my faith and happiness in people. I refuse to deal with 'collectors only or resellers like ss4u' This stuff is meant to be enjoyed. Now let em know how incredibly cheap you got it for! I am thinking of letting a Falcon030 go soon. Is there any interest in the old bird of prey these days? also look around on the disks you got with it, you should be able to use them to get the tablet to work with software of your own design. I just purchased one of these on eBay - amazing device! As long as you draw fairly slowly, it reproduces your image quite faithfully. The package (which appears to be brand new) came with the tablet, attached pen, power supply and a cable that connects to 3 of the 800's joystick ports. As well several manuals (which go into the inner workings of the device in great detail) It also comes with a disk labeled "Kurta Demo Disk" which contains two BASIC programs - they appear to provide the same functionality, but one is obviously an earlier, less capable version. Applications include a simple drawing program (pictured), a positional tracking system, a tone generator and an area calculator. Interestingly enough the manual is dated December 1980 - quite a sophisticated device for that early in the Atari's life. As you can see, the tablet surface takes an 8.5 x 11 inch page and the stylus itself is tipped with a ball point pen. The tablet recognizes hover, tap and draw actions. The manual makes mention of an application called "Superdraw" - Does anyone have a copy? It really puts all other tablets for the Atari to shame! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.