why 2600?

[liveinabin]

Silly question really, but why 2600?

is it a relevant number to anything or did they think it'd just sound good.

[moycon]

I dont think they named it the 2600 until after the 5200 came out. Half of 5200 is.... 2600. Before that it was just Atari VCS. Maybe the question shoud be... Why the 5200???

[jaybird]

This isn't really an answer, but it does give some info. In the book "Phoenix: The Rise and Fall of Home Videogames" by Leonard Herman it says:

 

"To compete against Colecovision, Atari released a brand new console that they dubbed the 5200 after its model number. From then on, the VCS, which had a model number of CX2600, simply became the 2600."

 

No answer as to why they chose those model numbers...

[Ze_ro]

Well, they got the idea to call it the 2600 from the model number... so the better question would be "Why CX-2600 as the model number?"

 

Now, I don't know how much of this is true, as I can't remember the source of the information... but apparently back in the golden days of hacking, there was a subculture of hackers known as phreakers. These people generally hacked telephone lines and (I think) cable TV and such too. The idea was that if you played the proper frequency signals into a pay phone, you could get free long distance and other such goodies. Apparently, one of the more important frequencies was 2600 Hz (Or was it kHz?). I've heard that this was the inspiration for the original Atari guys giving it the model number that it has. I'd assume that this is also where 2600 Magazine got their name.

 

Again, wether this is true or just urban legend is up to you. Anyone know where the "CX" comes from?

 

--Zero

[Mot]

Here is the Cap'n Crunch story: "Cap'n Crunch whistle does nothing more than send a 2600 Hz tone" in the phone to get free long distance (back in the day).

 

I don't relay think the two are related but maybe...

 

[ 11-01-2001: Message edited by: Mot ]

[King Asmo]

Basically, here's how the whole thing works.

 

In old payphones, when you put in a coin, the phone emitted a nearly inaudible buzz down the phone line, giving you a credit for the coin you put in. Each coin had it's own tone and duration, and 2600Hz was the one associated with 25 cent pieces (I cant remember the frequency or duration). Now that phones are generally all electronic, this apparently doesn't work anymore.

 

If you buy a tone generator, with a little tweaking, you can get it to play this sound. My band, AGS, had a song called 2600Hz tone. Guess what the "song" consisted of.

[Atari-Jess]

thats not right at all! the 2600 sound helped with disconnecting phones not the coins dont you guys know the difference between red box and blue box sounds? and when ma bell realized that phone 'phreaking' was too big of a problem they put the phone communications on a different channel so people couldn't interfere

[Atari-Jess]

the 2600mhz tone will disconnect a phone but it will also help you dial again, for free! course it doesn't work now and the timing had to be right to get free phone calls otherwise you would have just disconnected your phone call all the time.

[Atari-Jess]

i once read a huge article and read as much as i could about it. it was very informative.

[Atari-Jess]

and the phone dialer needs to be 'tweaked' by a different gem replaceing the old one. (i forget the mhz gem it was and its not 2600)

[Atari-Jess]

but it took so long to change the phone lines (15 years i think) it was almost funny when you think about it

[Mot]

You are right 2600 Hz will stop the current call and let you start a new one for free.

From here.

"sends a 2600 Hz tone. This clears down the original call, and opens up a trunk that "Listens" for these special audible tones. A "Cap'n Crunch" whistle does nothing more than send a 2600 Hz tone or note. In the late 60's and Early 70's, all toll trunks were sensitive to this tone."

 

More from here.:

 

He asked me who I wanted to call, anywhere in the USA. I gave him the number. He said, "First, I'll dial a toll free 800 number". (snip)

 

Just as the 800 number was ringing, Jimmy hit the "E" key, one octave above middle C, and the ringing would stop, and I would hear a chirp sound and an empty line with a very soft hiss sound. This is 2600 Hz. After that, jimmy would play chord pairs of notes that sounded exactly what I used to hear when making long distant calls. I heard a ring, and my friend answered. WOW! It worked. It blew me away...

[liveinabin]

hehe, very good. But, back the task at hand, why 2600?

This Hz thing sounds promising.

I wonder, did it follow on from any previous equipment (serial number wise), I mean - what were the serials of the old Pong, Ultra Pong et al?

On the doubling up tip, if the 2800 had sold in japan, would they then have got an Atari 5600??

[liveinabin]

Oh yeah, and foolishly changing my own subject - It might be because I'm not from US - but who or what is Cap'n Crunch????? Sounds like someone off a cereal packet.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Cap 'n Crunch is a cereal.

 

Actually several cereals are made with this lovely short obnoxious little guy.

[moycon]

Soooo... Now I'm confused? That short Captain whos image we see on the Cap'n Crunch cereal box is the reason Atari re-named the Atari VCS... Atari 2600?? Well I guess they all did smoke alot of pot back then.

[Malix]

That is a good question. Anyone know how they came up with these. It does some to come from left field.

[Genki]

Or why 7800? 7800 is three times 2600 and 1.5 times 5200.

 

My only guess as to the origin of the number is someone was smoking something...

[Nukey Shay]

Yes, the 2600/phreaking connection does make a bit of sense...given how the early programmers were partial to inside jokes. Even Steve "The Woz" Wozinak was selling phreaking equipment before creating the Apple computer.

liveinabin--

Cap'n Crunch is a cereal, and one of the "Free INSIDE!" items was a whistle that by chance made a 2600hz tone. It just so happened that the whistle was used during a call (though it seems unlikely that the man referred to as "Cap'n Crunch" was indeed one of the parties). Rather than passing around privledged info, he seems to be more interested in stretching the limits of the phone system...to see how many miles of cable his signal can be sent through and still hear his echo. If there were a relay on Alpha Centari, he'd be all over it. "Dig it! My voice has got a two year delay...and it's LIVE man! Izzat trippy or what?".

[Genki]

quote

"Dig it! My voice has got a two year delay...and it's LIVE man! Izzat trippy or what?".

 

Actually it would take about 8 years. 4 years to reach Alpha Centauri and 4 years back. Just had to be a bit picky here.

[liveinabin]

WOW. I'll say one thing for US, you have the BEST breakfast cereals. We don't even get Fruit Loops here!! (my girlfriend would kill for a box). Crap, I'm changing my own subject again.

[Malix]

No wonder atar-jess has so many posts

[Malix]

He has a different post for every sentence.

[Malix]

[Mot]

So the best info we have is Jaybird's

quote:

---

In the book "Phoenix: The Rise and Fall of Home Videogames" by Leonard Herman it says:

 

"To compete against Colecovision, Atari released a brand new console that they dubbed the 5200 after its model number. From then on, the VCS, which had a model number of CX2600, simply became the 2600."

---

 

So I guess the 5200 model number was a kinda random and gave Atari the 2600 and the 7800 numbers.