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Atari 8-bit @ 14 MHz


miker

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There is a cool utility I use named "G Spot). I have version 2.52 Beta 1. It will tell you what audio & video codecs were used to create the file, and also if they are properly installed on your system. Handy little program.

 

Although, you may want to use caution if using Google to search for G Spot. :D

 

Stephen Anderson

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I saw the Black at 14 mhz... and that was great!

 

An Atari 8-bit at nearly nine times the normal speed... oh yeh. I think the Atari 8-bit made a better 8 mhz and 16 mhz machine than the ST.

 

What do you think would have happened if Atari, rather than releasing the ST line simply said to their users in 1986...

 

"Hey, you know, Apple is discarding their 8-bit Apple II users and releasing the Mac, and Commodore is replacing their 8-bit C=64 with the Amiga.... but YOU, the Atari user can take your existing computer that you have grown so used to, and we will expand it with a 8 mhz module, and one day a 16 mhz module.

You can keep your same machine, and we will continue to make it great!"

 

Do you think people would have gone for that?

 

I mean, 16 mhz fever was in the air, companies were replacing the 8-bit and their hard core users with a newer platform. Would users have appreciated the upgrades to older equipment, or simply jumped companies to computers that were newer and more ready to take on the newer tasks?

 

I know in 1988 I was ready for something new. My upgraded Atari 400 was showing it's age compared to what the Mac could do. The PC at that time was still catching up. The ST would have been awesome, just few demonstrations here.

 

If I was given a 8 mhz module though, which was fairly standard then, and a graphical operating system, and this was really pushed by Atari and really supported by Atari... Yeh I think I would have stayed on the Atari bandwagon being the computer I was used to. The graphics by comparison would have been a bit crude by the mid nineties, but then with more upgrades that came out, the tower case, hard drive support, maybe even better graphics cards, that might have worked. Might have even (with all the upgrades mind you) given the Amiga a run for it's money. Here you would have two computers, the Atari 800 and the Amiga, both developed by Jay Miner, both with processing power, and both with specialized chipsets.

 

Instead of a world of Motorola and Intel, there would have been the Jay factor a lot more so. :D

 

I wonder how many years would go by before the that 800 xl with all the upgrades, would have only been about 15% of the original computer, case, and parts. :) Start with an 800 xl, add, upgrades, recase it, get a keyboard adaptor for it, and eventually a Mouse, add ISA slots and ISA card support, and eventually add newer card support. Soon it goes from a 1.77 machine to a 8 mhz machine, to a 16 mhz machine, then to a 32 mhz machine. Soon the Antic and Pokey only get in the way of the new horse power, and emulated chips are put in to maintain the older software support and bypass the regular chips. The power board has to be upgraded to handle the added upgrades and processing power, and in time the I/O support is found to be too slow at 19.2K so that is bypassed with a something like a firewire channel. Eventually a external box is created for translating to older devices, but by then who cares! Who wants a Indus drive when they can have a 32x CD rom drive and Mega drive support.

 

See what I mean? :) I think the upgrade path would have been interesting. Not that was the way the world was going. Most want complete new everything, and that was certainly the story of 1985-1986.

 

But anyway, sorry for the Tangent... AWESOME demo, and if this upgrade is ever available, I think it would be the start of a another era of Atari 800/XL/XE tinkering.

 

Laters!

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I wouldn't mind converting them to any format you choose, but I don't know where I could post the files. An MPEG version would be pretty large.

 

I'm on the PC platform (Win XP) and the XVID MPEG-4 codec is used to playback this file.

 

Let me know if you want me to do the conversion, and what format you prefer. As far as posting, it would probably be easiest for me to send it to usenet.

 

OH - just as an aside. XBMC (XBox Media Center handles this file fine also). Not sure if that will help anybody.

 

Stephen Anderson

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