Atari 8-bit clone in 1994?

[kensu]

In this video, at about the 7 or 8 minute mark John Harris mentions some sort of Atari 8-bit clone made in 1994. The company name he gives is Multiplex Technology, but I have been unable to find any references to anything like that in my google searches. Does anyone know what he's talking about?

 , 

[zzip]

9 hours ago, kensu said:

In this video, at about the 7 or 8 minute mark John Harris mentions some sort of Atari 8-bit clone made in 1994. The company name he gives is Multiplex Technology, but I have been unable to find any references to anything like that in my google searches. Does anyone know what he's talking about?

 , 

What platform was it on?

 

I remember being at a user group meeting, and there were a couple of guys demonstrating Apple II and Atari 8-bit emulators for the ST.  They had a company, I don't remember the name.    I don't think they were ever released.   They were WIP when I saw them.

 

[Blues76]

Cool!! I hope someone knows more about this. 

 

 

[Mclaneinc]

Has Kay interviewed this guy?  (I'm presuming he's around still)

 

A touch of Google and I see Kay has interviewed him...Wonder if he mentions this special Atari in that...If not I wonder if Kay could recontact him and kindly ask..

Edited December 8, 2020 by Mclaneinc

[+mytek]

3 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

Has Kay interviewed this guy?

Just curious, who's Kay?

 

[lbaeza]

2 minutes ago, mytek said:

Just curious, who's Kay?

 

Kevin Savetz me thinks he is.

 

Regards

 

Luis

[drac030]

I was swapping some e-mails with John Harris in mid-90' (I think, since 1996 until about 2000). I seem to remember that he mentioned his computer in one of his emails. If I remember correctly, it was indeed some special Atari, running 65C816 as CPU. I think he wrote something like it was very expensive (1000 USD?). I always assumed that it was an Atari with Turbo-816 board, but I could be wrong.

[+David_P]

I do have a FTe '816 board (not currently installed).  The pins are gold - so a great conductor, but very fragile.

[Mclaneinc]

15 minutes ago, lbaeza said:

Kevin Savetz me thinks he is.

 

Regards

 

Luis

Yeah sorry, its Kevin's new monicker..

[+mytek]

44 minutes ago, lbaeza said:

Kevin Savetz me thinks he is.

 

Regards

 

Luis

Name change? I guess it's been awhile since I tuned into his podcast.

 

33 minutes ago, drac030 said:

I was swapping some e-mails with John Harris in mid-90' (I think, since 1996 until about 2000). I seem to remember that he mentioned his computer in one of his emails. If I remember correctly, it was indeed some special Atari, running 65C816 as CPU. I think he wrote something like it was very expensive (1000 USD?). I always assumed that it was an Atari with Turbo-816 board, but I could be wrong.

I met John and saw the computer you are talking about on a visit to FTE headquarters back in the 90's. It was completely new from the ground up with a custom motherboard and case. I believe it was made for cable TV information displays by the company that John was working with at the time. He had a multitude of custom fonts built into a custom 816 OS, and I believe some of those were comprised of multiple character maps to render a surprisingly detailed larger character. It was very nice.

 

[+Stephen]

5 minutes ago, mytek said:

Name change? I guess it's been awhile since I tuned into his podcast.

 

I met John and saw the computer you are talking about on a visit to FTE headquarters back in the 90's. It was completely new from the ground up with a custom motherboard and case. I believe it was made for cable TV information displays by the company that John was working with at the time. He had a multitude of custom fonts built into a custom 816 OS, and I believe some of those were comprised of multiple character maps to render a surprisingly detailed larger character. It was very nice.

I think John Harris wrote the Info Soft program for the 8-bits.  When I was a kid, our cable company used an Atari with that cart for their "info" channel.  Being a longtime Atari user, I immediately recognized the font and custom display list.

[gilsaluki]

3 hours ago, mytek said:

Name change? I guess it's been awhile since I tuned into his podcast.

 

I met John and saw the computer you are talking about on a visit to FTE headquarters back in the 90's. It was completely new from the ground up with a custom motherboard and case. I believe it was made for cable TV information displays by the company that John was working with at the time. He had a multitude of custom fonts built into a custom 816 OS, and I believe some of those were comprised of multiple character maps to render a surprisingly detailed larger character. It was very nice.

 

Fine-Tooned Engineering Headquarters?  Was that someone's house or something because, and please correct me is I am wrong.  Nothing real came out of FTE.  I remember all the hype, etc. in the mags, but never saw anything marketable come to fruition.  Vaporware.....  

[+mytek]

1 hour ago, gilsaluki said:

Fine-Tooned Engineering Headquarters?  Was that someone's house or something because, and please correct me is I am wrong.

Oh it was real, and based down in the Santa Cruz area of California. It was actually a fairly good size office, with lots of work stations, and although my memory is fading, I think it also had a couple of adjoining rooms attached. Mike Hohman had invited myself, my brother, and John Harris to meetup there so we could all get to know each other, and to demo our latest projects. I brought a color genlocking system, John brought his 816 computer, and Mike showed us his Mars 8 project in development.

 

1 hour ago, gilsaluki said:

Nothing real came out of FTE.  I remember all the hype, etc. in the mags, but never saw anything marketable come to fruition.  Vaporware.....  

It wasn't completely vaporware. The problem was that Mike had sunk all he had into acquiring the ICD/OSS rights, making a move with a truckload of stuff from I believe Ohio, and purchasing some very fancy, but expensive tools for doing FPGA development (unlike today, this probably set him back at least $10K BITD). Not to mention office space rent, utilities, and phone lines. This didn't leave much for him to live on, and created a serious cash flow problem.

 

He tried to get some existing ICD/OSS related product out the door, but the money that came in from that was a bit too late and not enough, causing him to prematurely fold up shop before finishing his ultimate Atari upgrade the Mars 8.

 

He was a good egg, but just got in way over his head.

 

[drac030]

51 minutes ago, mytek said:

He tried to get some existing ICD/OSS related product out the door, but the money that came in from that was a bit too late and not enough, causing him to prematurely fold up shop before finishing his ultimate Atari upgrade the Mars 8.

Can partially confirm that he was selling real stuff. Here is a part of stuff I got from FTe in December 1995:

 

 

This is SpartaDOS Toolkit disk, SpartaDOS 3.2g (it is not visible well on the photo, but the label says (c) 1994 FTe), and R-Time8 - note no ICD logo which the cartridge is supposed to bear.

 

Apart from that I got Sweet16, the FTe's 816 board. For all that I have paid 70 USD, considering the exchange rates, an awful lot of money for my finances back then. He had a ton of nice stuff for Atari on sale, I wish I just had more money in those times.

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

12 hours ago, zzip said:

What platform was it on?

 

I remember being at a user group meeting, and there were a couple of guys demonstrating Apple II and Atari 8-bit emulators for the ST.  They had a company, I don't remember the name.    I don't think they were ever released.   They were WIP when I saw them.

 

 

So, on the ST, I had emulators for Mac OS (cartridge; required Mac ROMs from a donor), PC (Intel 8088; no cartridge necessary), and the A8.  The A8 emulator required a cartridge that I didn't have, and I believe required a POKEY, GTIA, and ANTIC from a donor machine.

 

For the life of me, I cannot remember who made the A8 emulator.  I never used it since I didn't have the cartridge so can't confirm if it was what it said it was or not, but there was at least one out there purporting to be an A8 emulator.

 

This would have been in the 1988-1991 timeframe, FWIW.

Edited December 9, 2020 by x=usr(1536)

[bfollowell]

11 minutes ago, x=usr(1536) said:

The A8 emulator required a cartridge that I didn't have, and I believe required a POKEY, GTIA, and ANTIC from a donor machine.

 

 

Really? I've never heard of such a thing. I had no idea there was a hardware 8-bit emulator for the ST. There was Darek Michoka's STXformer, but that was software only unless you built the Xformer cable that let you plug a disk drive into your ST's printer port to access your software.

 

[+x=usr(1536)]

1 hour ago, bfollowell said:

 

Really? I've never heard of such a thing. I had no idea there was a hardware 8-bit emulator for the ST. There was Darek Michoka's STXformer, but that was software only unless you built the Xformer cable that let you plug a disk drive into your ST's printer port to access your software.

 

Yep, I remember ST Xformer (and building its cable).  The cartridge definitely wasn't the same thing, though.  Want to say it was German, but my recollection of it is faily scant.

 

Once I realised that scavenging the hardware from my A8s that it needed to work was going to be a lot more effort than just continuing to use the A8s, I pretty much ignored it.  It might have gone away in a hardware swap; I really don't remember much about it.

Edited December 9, 2020 by x=usr(1536)

[zzip]

10 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

 

So, on the ST, I had emulators for Mac OS (cartridge; required Mac ROMs from a donor), PC (Intel 8088; no cartridge necessary), and the A8.  The A8 emulator required a cartridge that I didn't have, and I believe required a POKEY, GTIA, and ANTIC from a donor machine.

 

For the life of me, I cannot remember who made the A8 emulator.  I never used it since I didn't have the cartridge so can't confirm if it was what it said it was or not, but there was at least one out there purporting to be an A8 emulator.

 

This would have been in the 1988-1991 timeframe, FWIW.

1988 is around the time I saw these guys demoing their emulators.   I don't think they were German though.   I don't know if it required a cartridge, what they showed was very much a WIP.

[ilaskey]

On 12/8/2020 at 5:10 AM, kensu said:

The company name he gives is Multiplex Technology, but I have been unable to find any references to anything like that in my google searches. Does anyone know what he's talking about?

 

https://uspto.report/TM/73486415

[cx2k]

On 12/8/2020 at 6:43 PM, mytek said:

He was a good egg, but just got in way over his head.

 

Let's be careful about calling him a good egg. Mike Hohman was a crook that ripped off myself, Curt, and others by borrowing prototype hardware for research purposes and then disappearing and never returning the stuff. Maybe he sold it? Who knows?

[Mclaneinc]

We had a similar person on this side of the pond, everyone thought he was a nice guy but he was a crook as well...

 

Anyway, I hope we get more info on this clone....

[+mytek]

Sorry to hear that you feel Mike was a crook. Not my impression at all based on my own dealings with him. In fact fairly recently he donated 50 NOS SIO jacks to the 10088XEL project and paid for shipping them out to California. So maybe he was a crook to you, but I don't  think it's right to make him out as a crook to everyone, which he certainly wasn't.

[Paul Westphal]

On 12/8/2020 at 11:33 AM, mytek said:

Name change? I guess it's been awhile since I tuned into his podcast.

 

I met John and saw the computer you are talking about on a visit to FTE headquarters back in the 90's. It was completely new from the ground up with a custom motherboard and case. I believe it was made for cable TV information displays by the company that John was working with at the time. He had a multitude of custom fonts built into a custom 816 OS, and I believe some of those were comprised of multiple character maps to render a surprisingly detailed larger character. It was very nice.

 

Bruce has one of those cable TV machines in his warehouse.. right hand side, half way down towards the back, on the end of isle.

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by Paul Westphal

[_The Doctor__]

Mike was/is a good guy, he did get in over his head and nearly lost everything including himself. The wolves closed in and came to pick him clean. He didn't steal, much of the stuff was taken by property managers and storage center owners. The man almost didn't make it while garnering no sympathy from those that lost something in the process. His whole life he wanted to make it back up to all involved and get what was promised to those that provided this or that to him as well as those that ponied up for a project. Having little or nothing to go on without a tally of what was what made it nearly impossible to sort out what was left. People who felt put out also did some not so savory things, a couple of which took way more than they gave and felt justified about it as they still feel he owes them. If folks hadn't been the way they were and understood the situation they might have eventually gotten more from him than they ever could have imagined. Instead they continue to make it impossible for him to ever make amends. I'm glad he's alive, and glad he's continued to help Atarians even though it's all been done in complete anonymity, including those that harbor him ill will. At some point you'd think the penance was paid, but he still helps and gives people what he can... sometimes hardware, sometimes knowledge. I can't imagine what's thought to be owed, but he still battles his demons, does what he can, gets beaten down indirectly (since people thank him for his help and then rant about how bad he is, not knowing he is really the one who gave the info, sent the item(s) or cash that helped them or a project). He simply has to go away to recover afterwards. After a time he comes back unknown, and does it again. Real life is tough enough, but staying in one of the levels of h*ll this many years and doing what I know he's done is quite another.

 

I wish him the best, though I've never been able to smooth out things between him and some others, sadly not even before they went to the great maker (far to soon). It can be hard when you know multiple parties that don't get along, some in passing, others very well, and you know them to be great people... they just can't see each other in that way.

I'd love to see his works delivered to some of those folks and perhaps even a couple extra made so I might have some of the goodies as well- hey I want stuff too

 

I think there are a good number of people here on AtariAge that knew him and some that still do enough to give him a call or make contact with him from time to time.

I personally asked him to come to AtariAge as himself and give it a go. He won't, and he doesn't want anyone to know of his help or charity for fear it would cause more harm and anguish somehow. I don't quite understand all of it, but I could see someone being upset if they didn't want his help but got it anyway, even if indirectly.

 

Life is too short-

 

I hope this sheds a little light and gives a tiny window into the issue from perhaps an unheard perspective.

 

_T D__

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by _The Doctor__

[Quantum Mechanic]

On 1/19/2021 at 9:29 AM, _The Doctor__ said:

Mike was/is a good guy, he did get in over his head and nearly lost everything including himself...

 

My wife and I drove from Sacramento to the Bay Area and met up with Mike Hohman after he had purchased all the ICD/OSS stuff. I never got to see his office, but I did connect with him enough that he "hired" me to write some assembly code for him. I recall writing and delivering the menu system for the MARS8. He even ended up coming out to the Sacramento area and staying at my house for a short while. I gave him a bunch of my spare Atari equipment in hopes it would contribute to the success of his Atari product dreams. I always wondered what happened in his life that resulted in the dissolution of FTe.  If you're still in contact with him, feel free to pass this note along and PM me with any response.