Curt Vendel Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 After taking this page down over 10 years ago because of numerous erroneous chucks of information from former employee's who were wrong. The information has been updated and all of the netlists, PLA's, PAL's, developer schematics, production schematics and developer tools and files are now back up. (Centipede is included, still looking for Breakout for Panther). Also internal Panther cancellation memo from Same Tramiel is posted up as well. http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/jaguar/panther/ 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+madman Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Cool stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Dangerous Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Nice. Please add me to the waiting list for one of these units. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterG Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Thank you. I so much enjoy these things. Also I'm always amazed how memos like these survive and make it out for us to read. Long live the Jaguar. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirlynxalot Posted October 6, 2017 Share Posted October 6, 2017 Cool, I'd never seen the top image on the page before. Is that an artists rendition? Kinda reminds me of a cross between the Jag and the 2600 jr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SignGuy81 Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Very nice read but I'm not sure I understand one thing. "The Cartridges would be manually inserted flat into the front of the Panther like a front-load VHS tape recorder (or for those who have used a NES, a similar approach)." It doesn't look like much space for a cartridge, would this have used floppy disks instead? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirlynxalot Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 (edited) Maybe it would have been like larger versions of the flat lynx cartridges/cards or like turbo grafx/pc engine cards Edited October 7, 2017 by sirlynxalot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+madman Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 It doesn't look like much space for a cartridge, would this have used floppy disks instead? Yeah, floppy disks were very popular for consoles in the early 90s. This most certainly would've used floppy disks. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SignGuy81 Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Yeah, floppy disks were very popular for consoles in the early 90s. This most certainly would've used floppy disks. I don't think anything Atari has ever done was popular other than the 2600. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian1 Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 (edited) Yeah, floppy disks were very popular for consoles in the early 90s. This most certainly would've used floppy disks. No way. Floppy disks are way too fragile. A kid will play with that shutter in no time. That morning breakfast cereal magnet toy will erase those disks in a second. What consoles used floppy disks? It must not have lasted long as all the systems I remember used cartridges, cards or CDs. As someone else mentioned above, PCMCIA cards like the TurboGraphix Hue Cards are more likely to be the system's cartridge. Edited October 7, 2017 by atarian1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welshworrier Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 I believe your sarcasm detector is on the blink 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bratwurst Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Yeah, floppy disks were very popular for consoles in the early 90s. This most certainly would've used floppy disks. Obviously, there would have been a dongle that adapted the slot into an accessory zip drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SignGuy81 Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 (edited) I believe your sarcasm detector is on the blink Me and madman were both being sarcastic, he didn't catch mine, and atarian didn't catch his, but I'll admit mine wasn't easy to tell and looked like a serious question. Edited October 7, 2017 by SignGuy81 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+madman Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 As someone else mentioned above, PCMCIA cards like the TurboGraphix Hue Cards are more likely to be the system's cartridge. The TG16 used PCMCIA cards? That's news to me as none of my cards are PCMCIA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 ...and the Sega Master System. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEBRO Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 Thanks Curt! I sure wish we could have seen this unit. (Centipede is included, still looking for Breakout for Panther). I may have missed this one. Which archive holds the Centipede source? I thought it was the CENT2.C file but that is a a utility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atlantis Posted October 7, 2017 Share Posted October 7, 2017 (edited) Everyone in this thread except DEBRO* is guilty of speculating, sarcasm or not!*if you don't count the "I thought it was..." line Edited October 7, 2017 by Atlantis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian1 Posted October 8, 2017 Share Posted October 8, 2017 The TG16 used PCMCIA cards? That's news to me as none of my cards are PCMCIA. I should have said "PCMCIA-like" cards. I don't recall if there was name for those flat credit card-like cards that stored RAM/ROM on them that were used on the TG-16, SMS, lots of synthesizers, Atari Portfolio, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman000 Posted October 26, 2017 Share Posted October 26, 2017 The Panther was supposed to be released in 1991. Shoot. That was the right time. The Jaguar was too late to complete against the SNES/Genesis and too early to complete against the PS1,Saturn,N64. I don't know if this would have made a difference in the long run, but we might have gotten more games. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doctorclu Posted November 21, 2017 Share Posted November 21, 2017 Simply put, the Jaguar development was going quicker than the Panther development so the Jaguar was launched instead. Panther looks cool. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagosaurus Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 No way. Floppy disks are way too fragile. A kid will play with that shutter in no time. That morning breakfast cereal magnet toy will erase those disks in a second. What consoles used floppy disks? It must not have lasted long as all the systems I remember used cartridges, cards or CDs. This was huge in Japan. Even had kiosks to rewrite a new game to your floppy: The combo unit is highly sought after and very slick IMO HuCard type set up more likely. Floppy not out of the question with the Tramiel PC/Amiga hardware background... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
empsolo Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 The Famicom Disk System was popular enough that Sega toyed with its own Disk System peripheral for the Japanese Master System. But by the time that got off the ground the Mega Drive was on sale, so it was shelved. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman000 Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 The FM Towns Marty used floppies to save games. Used floppies all the time as a kid; everyone in our school did. Don't remember too many problems. Even if someone did pull off the cover you could keep it safe in an envelope, like a 5.25" diskette. If I remember correctly the FDS used smaller 2.5" diskettes w/o an attached cover; they had a removable cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayr Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 Great stuff Curt and fascinating reading. Anyone going to attempt a FPGA with this generous info. That would be incredible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clint Thompson Posted November 29, 2017 Share Posted November 29, 2017 Great stuff Curt and fascinating reading. Anyone going to attempt a FPGA with this generous info. That would be incredible. I wouldn't go FPGA'ing anything until one out of the some odd 11 or so owners of a Panther box is able to actually get one of their units running, not to mention what code is actually runnable. Still waiting for that TXG/MNX guy to get off his arse and get his working 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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.