Space Channel Visits the Personal Computer Museum, Atari Featured

[sydric]

Hey everyone - check out this brand new video of a recent visit from the Space Channel (a Canadian channel that shows cool sci-fi stuff) and you will see the Atari 800 featured prominently especially during the host banter:

 

 

There's also a piece on my video game collection as well, where I talk a lot about Pitfall!

 

 

The videography is great...

 

enjoy!

[Mr.Amiga500]

Hey that's great, Syd! Space Channel has quite a few viewers.

 

I've been to your Personal Computer Museum twice. That's where I first got to play with a Kaypro (and liked it so much I later bought two) and got to test a buckling-spring IBM AT keyboard (now my favourite keyboard and what I'm using to type now). At the museum "spring cleanup", I got a boxed Vic-20, C64 & drive, C128 & drive, SGI Indy and some TI-99 games - all very reasonably priced.

[w1k]

i dont know why people like ugly atari like 800.. :/

 

where is the XE/XL family? always only atari 800..........

Edited September 27, 2012 by w1k

[flashjazzcat]

i dont know why people like ugly atari like 800.. :/

 

where is the XE/XL family? always only atari 800..........

 

I used to feel that way - until I got an 800. It grows on you, especially with an Incognito board inside.

[w1k]

yes, i know.. it's just my feeling:) no prob

[Faicuai]

i dont know why people like ugly atari like 800.. :/

 

where is the XE/XL family? always only atari 800..........

 

On the contrary, the machine's design is robust, classy and much more office-like in appearance (instead of toy/feeble-like, especially the case with XE-Series).

 

The key distinctive aspects of this machine:

 

1. This is THE real McCoy, here: listed in top/best 25-PCs of all time, together with Apple II, and other key machines (the C-64 IS NOT there, BTW). It's legendary.

2. Its build-quality will render XE-series (and later-manufacturing XL-series) pretty much "disposable" next to it.

3. It has TONS of room / potential inside. It has EXPANSION SLOTS right on the MoBo. It is well cooled (naturally), even with AC-to-DC stage inside case.

4. It already comes with vide-monitor port, with SEPARATE Luma/Chroma signals. Pretty decent RCA-composite output quality, with a rather mellow/subdued gamma-response which renders mid-tones a bit more saturated. Love it.

5. Nice keyboard, good tactile feeling (although a bit "hollow" due to depth of key-stroke). But nice / well-done, nevertheless.

6. It looks plain "bossy" next to a Viewsonic VP930B LCD monitor, and a pair of IndusGT drives... toss-in Incognito, and you will probably have the "ultimate" 8bit setup, condensing all of Atari's 8bit true heritage.

 

In short:

 

This machine is the product of Atari's RISE (and best effort) into the PC-era, whereas the XE-series comes out of Atari's decay and "Commodorization" (aka. "Tramielization") of its business and production.

 

Nothing against XE-series... It's just that the differences pretty SUBSTANTIAL. That's all.

 

Enjoy!

[Shawn Jefferson]

On the contrary, the machine's design is robust, classy and much more office-like in appearance (instead of toy/feeble-like, especially the case with XE-Series).

 

I agree with a lot of what you said, especially when you factor in the Incognito. However, "back in the day", the 800 was only desirable for a short period, until the XL series was released. No one wanted/used an 800 for a couple of reasons:

 

- OS B was no longer the latest and greatest.

- 48k only

- it looked like a product of the 70s, and it was firmly established that it was now the 80s.

- it was huge, taking up tons of room on your desk

- the extra memory "standard" (ie. what people had and what software was more typically written for) was definitely based on the XL/XE design

- SpartaDOS was targeted more for the XL/XE series.

- PBI... all the cool kids had Blackboxes and MIOs.

 

I agree the XE series was crap... poor quality, horrible industrial design, bad keyboards, blech.

Edited September 29, 2012 by Shawn Jefferson

[TwiliteZoner]

I love my 800. Not the most functional of my Atari's but definitely my favorite.

[Faicuai]

(...)

- it looked like a product of the 70s, and it was firmly established that it was now the 80s.

- it was huge, taking up tons of room on your desk

(...)

 

...Notice that, coincidentally, you are virtually describing what the Apple II was for quite a LONG time!

 

- the extra memory "standard" (ie. what people had and what software was more typically written for) was definitely based on the XL/XE design

- SpartaDOS was targeted more for the XL/XE series.

- PBI... all the cool kids had Blackboxes and MIOs.

 

I agree the XE series was crap... poor quality, horrible industrial design, bad keyboards, blech.

 

...What's interesting (in my case) is that I could NEVER have one... I jumped from the [400+410] straight to the [800XL+IndusGT], but still pretty much the same chipset, same GFX, same sound, etc., and already 1983/84... But I loved the old-and-good-800, from the very first moment I had a chance to work with it (at the very same shop my parents got me the 400...)

 

Now that's about to change and with Incognito, history will be rewritten and the "JM-800" will go back to the stratosphere, where it truly belongs.

 

Enjoy!

[venom4728a]

I will have to stop by next time I am up in Canada. Looks awesome!

 

Robert

[ACML]

On the contrary, the machine's design is robust, classy and much more office-like in appearance (instead of toy/feeble-like, especially the case with XE-Series).

 

The key distinctive aspects of this machine:

 

1. This is THE real McCoy, here: listed in top/best 25-PCs of all time, together with Apple II, and other key machines (the C-64 IS NOT there, BTW). It's legendary.

2. Its build-quality will render XE-series (and later-manufacturing XL-series) pretty much "disposable" next to it.

3. It has TONS of room / potential inside. It has EXPANSION SLOTS right on the MoBo. It is well cooled (naturally), even with AC-to-DC stage inside case.

4. It already comes with vide-monitor port, with SEPARATE Luma/Chroma signals. Pretty decent RCA-composite output quality, with a rather mellow/subdued gamma-response which renders mid-tones a bit more saturated. Love it.

5. Nice keyboard, good tactile feeling (although a bit "hollow" due to depth of key-stroke). But nice / well-done, nevertheless.

6. It looks plain "bossy" next to a Viewsonic VP930B LCD monitor, and a pair of IndusGT drives... toss-in Incognito, and you will probably have the "ultimate" 8bit setup, condensing all of Atari's 8bit true heritage.

 

In short:

 

This machine is the product of Atari's RISE (and best effort) into the PC-era, whereas the XE-series comes out of Atari's decay and "Commodorization" (aka. "Tramielization") of its business and production.

 

Nothing against XE-series... It's just that the differences pretty SUBSTANTIAL. That's all.

 

Enjoy!

 

I couldn't agree more with Faicuai. To me, The 800 is the pinnacle of Atari design, quality and aesthetics. People need to remember, the original guts of what became the 800 (Coleen), was intended to just be VCS 2.0. When Atari management (Ray Kassar?) made the decision to throw Atari's name in the home computer hat, they hit it out of the park. Again, its important to emphasize, this was just their first try at making a home appliance computer. The 800 was ground breaking. The C64 may have sold a lot more units, but it came out a couple years after the 800 which is an eternity in computer time circa 1979. Speed, cost and function improved so quickly in the 1980-92 time frame, two years puts the C-64 in the orange rather than apple category for this comparison. Look what they created on their first try;

 

1) Custom graphics chips to unload the CPU to produce nice color graphics and was the precursor to the video card (a.k.a. Nvidia and ATI).

2) Custom sound chip to create awesome 1979 sound and was the precursor to the sound board (a.k.a. Creative Labs)

3) A proprietary I/O connection (SIO) driven partly by FCC restriction on RF emissions that Atari was criticized for as a liability. Really??? Ever heard of Joe Decuir? The Microsoft guy that holds the patent to USB. Well, before Joe created the USB standard, he created the SIO connector for the 800. He has said that he leveraged the SIO connector as a basis for USB. The SIO is really the first USB. Think about it, each device has its own ID imformation to pass to the computer and can be daisy chained. A liability, I think not, just way ahead of its time.

4) Look at the quality of the design. Robust yes, stout definitely. An awesome keyboard compared to Apple, IBM and certainly Commodore. Only the 1200XL keyboard is better. I'll bet there are more 800's per 1,000 that still work after 30 years than any other computer of that era. I have one and it still works 100%. How many things, much less consumer electronics, can last 30+ years and still function.

 

Apple, IBM and Tandy had none of this in 1979, but they had to react to it. They all eventually followed Atari's lead in graphics, sound and eventually serial I/O. If you started on the XL line, then you missed the golden age of home computing at the beginnings. By that I mean 1977-1981. This is when the average Joe could go to Sears and bring home a computer for the family that didn't cost $1,000+. Atari failed to refine, adapt and compete with Commodore, but that's just the way it eventually went down, but in 1979, the 800 was the bomb.

 

The 800 is the highest quality machine Atari ever made.

The 1200XL was just the 800 perfected. Single socket board, better layout and nicer lines. The keyboard was the absolute best. Makes the Commodore-ized XL's and XE's look like a booger.

 

The 600/800XL and XE's were the result of the Commodore curse. Cheap, cheaper and cheapest sells to the masses. Atari unfortunately was not in the IBM/Apple niche and had to slug it out with Commodore to survive. No one wins a race to the bottom. Crap is crap.

 

I only own two machines now and I've owned them all. I will never relinquish my 800 or 1200XL.

 

 

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Edited September 30, 2012 by ACML

[kenjennings]

I agree with a lot of what you said, especially when you factor in the Incognito. However, "back in the day", the 800 was only desirable for a short period, until the XL series was released. No one wanted/used an 800 for a couple of reasons:

 

- OS B was no longer the latest and greatest.

- 48k only

- it looked like a product of the 70s, and it was firmly established that it was now the 80s.

- it was huge, taking up tons of room on your desk

- the extra memory "standard" (ie. what people had and what software was more typically written for) was definitely based on the XL/XE design

- SpartaDOS was targeted more for the XL/XE series.

- PBI... all the cool kids had Blackboxes and MIOs.

 

I love the 800 case. It looked like the PC one would find on a spaceship. Now I wish it had more of a 70s look. (The label graphics on some early engineering versions were cooler.) The 800 became more desireable when the 1200XL came out.

 

Some software requires more than 48K. The overwhelming majority runs fine in 48K.

 

Back when the machines were current I saw a lot of 800XLs at computer meetings, but never saw anyone with an expansion plugged into the PBI.

 

 

 

I agree the XE series was crap... poor quality, horrible industrial design, bad keyboards, blech.

 

Aint that the truth.