from the Atari 400 in 1979 to the Atari Falcon in 1992 they didn't release a single bad machine. this thread is to raise a glass to Ataris glorious but barely mentioned computer history.
my personal favorites are the Atari 800XL ( the Commodore 64 killer) and the Atari ST. what are yours /vr/?
'member the Stacy?
>>12798578Atari's 8-bit line is unique in that it was directly sabotaged by the company. The 800 as originally designed by Jay Miner was an unironic god computer and every single one of its bottlenecks can be directly traced to retarded decisions by management. Thr ST series was also great, but Tramiel's "Atari" was just Commodore wearing a skinsuit and was plagued by a completely different set of management issues.Anyway, Ballblazer and Star Raiders are all-time classics.
I own an Atari 8-something or other. I forget which one, I shoved it in a corner. Turns out I need a mouse and I can buy an adapter, but I haven't...It's weird that this only caught on across the pond. Mindshare really is king.
>>12798578what kind of computing the atari computers could do?i only ever remember playing on an atari 800xl over at my cousin. he loaded games through tape.
Atari was tainted because they were a cheap amusement company. They were trying to horn in on home computers and it was dicey.No arcade company in the US went on to make a good home computer. And no home computer company went on to make a great arcade machine.
>>12798983Eh, Commodore was a cheap calculator company and they released some amazing computers. Meanwhile, electronics giant TI released one of the worst micros on the market. Pedigree doesn't matter much in nascent industries.
>>12798801I’m intrigued. Explain in greater detail.
>>12799003>Commodore was a cheap calculator company and they released some amazing computers.CBM business computers were around for a while before personal comptuers were even a thing. Taking a stab at the home market was actually an under-funded side venture.TI's computers were better in most ways (excepting sound) compared to Commodore but they made them a pain in the ass to get at, you had to use some intermediate middleware which kept the computer slow because the chip was the same one they were selling in $100,000 mainframes.It was a full generation ahead and gimped at the factory and ended up being 1/2 a generation behind. Simply because you couldn't get at the CPU and program it in assy.
>>12799008Off the top of my head:>You know how the 800 has both S-Video out *and* RF out? That's because Atari's management insisted it absolutely had to support RF natively, which meant a bunch of expensive shielding and compliance testing.>Atari's engineers designed a plug and play serial bus to go with their computer. It functions similarly and is the direct ancestor to USB (both designed by the same guy, even). Atari's management refused to buy the equipment necessary to properly test it, so the team artificially capped it at the highest speed they could measure. A speed which was more than 5 times slower than what the bus could actually do.>Atari's management kept the system a black box for two years because they wanted to capture the software market and only released specifications when it became obvious the system was cratering. This meant the computers were not only starved for software at launch, but also lacked critical expansions like an 80-column card.>Most importantly of all, they failed to capitalize on IBM looking to license their machines and build upon them. This deal falling through is what led to IBM going at it alone and releasing the PC.
>>12799050>CBM business computers were around for a while before personal comptuers were even a thing.If you're referring to the PET, it's literally a souped up KIM-1. The VIC-20 was the first computer Commodore designed in-house.>TI's computers were better in most ways (excepting sound) compared to Commodore but they made them a pain in the ass to get at, you had to use some intermediate middleware which kept the computer slow because the chip was the same one they were selling in $100,000 mainframesTrue, but was also a bad chip to put in a micro when the entire industry was coalescing around the Z80 and 6502. As a programmer, you could either target CP/M machines running on a Z80, home computers running on a 6502, or TI's non-standard micro and the twelve people who bought it. The bullshit middleware was just the icing on the shitcake.
>>127991426502 having MS BASIC on most platforms, plus assy, meant that with some effort you could get games working on several of the popular computers of the day. Sadly Intel won out over AIM and MIPS.
>>12798591The Atari ST was rushed and a bit crappy, other than proper MIDI support (unlike the Spectrum 128k which only had half of a MIDI and a non-standard connector) it didn't have much going for it.I wish they had finished developing the AMY soundchip, as much as I love the AY it was terribly outdated by that point.
>>12798717CRTs are cooler
>Always wanted an 8 bit puter>Things are so inflated it's hard to find a working one for a good price
>>12798934the Atari ST had full midi support for musicians so it made it a great cheap alternative in the music studio to far more expensive solutions.it was a cheap Mac basically
I learned assembly on the 800XL and wrote a few games in my youth, such a nice machine to code
>>12799737just fix a broken one. they're not particularly difficult machines to repair
what a chad. it should be flying around in a Star Wars movie
>>12800093it's cool, but the keyboard is shameful
>>12800093Which one had the worse keyboard, the original Speccy or the Atari 400?
>>12800102I've owned both, I'd say the 400. the speccy keyboard had a nice squelchy bounce to it. the 400 just hurt your fingertips
>>12800005In Japan they had some really cool MIDI capable Yamaha built MSXs.
>>12800140And it's also one of the very few MSX that found success in the US.https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/yamaha-cx5m-ii-128-music-computer/6909
>>12800140thats pure soul
>>12799050>TI's computers were better in most waysnever happened>>12799142>replying to himself with things that never happenedTrue>>12799008>>12799123>I'm intrigued. Reply to myself with AI slop and make it look like I'm having a totally legit conversation with myselfDoes this actually fool anybody, 4chan's biggest loser and lolcow? doesn't appear to be working
>>12800154>And it's also one of the very few MSX that found success in the US.never happened>posts link to a magazine review from 1986>this means it is now popular, according to the schizophrenics of 4chanlol
>>12800351>>12800363The day you die and stop polluting the internet will be a good day, you worthless, pathetic cunt.
>>12800351>>12800363
>>12800368>>12800369>when everyone knows you're a spamming fraud and a disgusting compulsive liar that can't defend any of his schizo lies and AI generated walls of text>have a massive mental breakdownIt's great how it only takes one reply to keep exposing you as a complete fraud that knows nothing about absolutely anything.
>>12800380that's nice, how about you contribute to the thread and tell us your favorite Atari computers?
>>12800093A really cool looking machine...
>>12800426>when the compulsive lying schizo gets fucked by strangers: again edition>contributions to 4chan: AI generated bullshit and mental breakdownsthat's nice, loser schizo. more walls of text replying to yourself with things that never happened. maybe if you post more irrelevant articles from 1986 the MSX will become popular worldwide! wow! lmao
>>12800437>strangersWhy do you talk about yourself in plural, you sad demented fuck.
>>12800461>everyone is the same person according to the most laughed at spamming loser of 4chanwhat happened to the massive walls of ai text? they just stopped appearing and now we have your usual schizo self. remember how anons a few days ago managed to discover that you owned 0 consoles or games? that was a great day. post more SNES screenshots stolen from websites, thanks.
>>12800380>>12800437>>12800482Sir, you are mentally ill.
>>12800504>everyone is mentally ill>not the spamming the schizo replying to himself with ai slop because nobody wants to interact with himnot working out well for you, lolcow schizo. has the msx became popular worldwide yet?
>>12799123>Atari's management insisted it absolutely had to support RF nativelyThat makes perfect sense for the time though.
Why is this one fag having a melty for no reason?
>>12799737I literally just picked up an 800 with monitor for 30 at a flea market. Buying online is always the worst place to look unless you want something very specific.
>>12800154More like one of the only (if only) MSX to actually release at all in the US.
>>12800351>the resident "lolcow" lolcow what a fascinating study in direct and living irony
>>12798717The Atari Stacy:For the Atari Chad
>>12799123>>Most importantly of all, they failed to capitalize on IBM looking to license their machines and build upon them. This deal falling through is what led to IBM going at it alone and releasing the PC.The fuck are you talking about "going at it alone"? And what do you mean "invented 'the' PC"? They didn't "invent" the PC you fucking tard, they invented the IBM PC, but PC's were invented 10 fucking years before the IBM PC.
>>12801121You sound upset, I think it's past your bedtime.
>>12801141Well I guess when you don't have an argument, anything is better than not acknowledging how wrong you were.
>>12801113Yeah, pretty much. Other than CX5M I can only think of the Spectravideo ones, and those competed in the general US microcomputer market and sold pretty poorly.
>>12800986He's always shitting up the 8-bit computer threads. He's barely sentient and always follows the same script, accusing a random handful of posters of being the same spammer/schizo/AI/lolcow/molester/dude who lives in a tent and has a PSP (wish I was making this up), he also used to post images of people laughing, but that made it very easy to get him banned so he stopped.
>>12799691The ST could have easily had 4096 colors from the get-go and a YM2203 instead of a YM2149.
>>12801396Yeah, having an FM synthesizer would have made sense for a music workstation, but I guess Tramiel was too much of a cheap bastard.I've read some claims in the AtariAge forums that Yamaha refused to supply the YM2151 for the ST so it wouldn't outperform its own CX5M, but I haven't seen it properly sourced.
>>12801121IBM and clones are 'the' PC. Anything before that was barely usable garbage.
>>12800981It does for the 400, but not for the ""serious"" 800. Other computer makers found ways to sidestep this issue entirely.>>12801121>The fuck are you talking about "going at it alone"?Right before they kicked off Project Chess, IBM seriously considered just buying the rights to an outside computer and Atari was the prime contender. The idea died pretty quick, though.>They didn't "invent" the PC you fucking tard, they invented the IBM PC, but PC's were invented 10 fucking years before the IBM PC.When people talk about "the PC," they usually refer to IBM PC compatibles. Kind of like how "DOS" almost always refers to PC/MS-DOS, even though there are like a billon disk operating systems out there.
>>12801756>When people talk about "the PC," they usually refer to IBM PC compatibles. Kind of like how "DOS" almost always refers to PC/MS-DOS, even though there are like a billon disk operating systems out there.Yea, except that's completely and totally untrue. Both before and after the IBM PC appeared, PC was an abbreviation of personal computer, not a general referral to the IBM PC-compatible. Microcomputers were generally referred to as PC's even back then.Referring to DOS is a referral to a specific, recognizably similar execution environment. Referring to "PC" means fuck-all, and I think I've seen you in other threads trying to hock this retarded ahistorical revisionism. PC has never been a catch-all term for the IBM-PC, unless someone was specifically recounting IBM and their PC in the context of talking about the company and their products. Get out of here, auster, you faggot.
>>12801602>IBM and clones are 'the' PC. Anything before that was barely usable garbage.You're a retard who has zero understanding of what he's talking about. The Apple I and II were PC's, and highly "usable", dumb faggot.
>>12801907You're full of shit. PC has been a catch-all term for IBM compats ever since 100% compatibles were a thing. When people talked about PC vs. Amiga, for example, nobody thought PC meant anything other than IBM PC compatible.
>>12801948You're a lying retarded faggot who is full of dumb retarded bullshit.https://archive.org/details/CC517_commodore_641:29"Commodore 64 is the Model T of personal computers"Now go eat shit and fuck off, retard.
>>12801965Notice how he called it a "personal computer" and not a "PC" you dumb fuck.
Enough with the autism already.Can't you guys simply acknowledge that there's a general definition of PC meaning any computer small & cheap enough to be owned & operated by a single person (ie: not a mainframe / minicomputer); and a specific definition meaning an "IBM-PC compatible" computer? and that whichever is being used is context dependent (eg: "history of PCs", "PC vs Mac")?
>>12801995No
>>12801995>Can't you guys simply acknowledge that there's a general definition of PC meaning any computer small & cheap enough to be owned & operated by a single personThat's what Personal Computer "PC" has always meant, other-than for the console-war tards that were beating each other over the head in the 90's and early 2000's with their MAC vs PC arguments, when MAC was essentially also a personal computer.
>>12802014Hmm, this is a pretty scathing review of Infocomics, with the reviewer testing the PC version. I wonder which computer is he's talking about?>That's what Personal Computer "PC" has always meant, other-than for the console-war tards that were beating each other over the head in the 90's and early 2000's with their MAC vs PC arguments, when MAC was essentially also a personal computer.Anon is completely right. The term PC (peecee, not personal computer) is a shorthand for IBM compats as well as an abbreviation for personal computer.
>>12802036 (Me)Spelling error, fuck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sor4tqrEywo
>>12802036What's this an image of? Tell me, please, what does PC stand for here? Oh, don't worry, I'll wait. :)>The term PC (peecee, not personal computer) is a shorthand for IBM compats as well as an abbreviation for personal computer.Not what I said auster-fag, and it's pretty hilarious your brain needed to rewire itself so as to not short-circuit and have a sperg meltdown from conflicting with reality, lmao. So pathetic.
>>12801396It could’ve, but then it would’ve been priced higher. In 1985, an ST was about half the price of an Amiga. If you really wanted superior graphics and sound, you could shell out twice as much for an Amiga. The ST was designed to be as affordable as a 16-bit machine could be at the time, which is largely why it dominated the market during the most important part of the 16-bit era.
>>12802036Please, tell me, what is this in reference to? Since this magazine article came out in 1977 before the IBM-PC ever existed, what could they POSSIBLY be referring to as a "PC"? I'm confused, please help me.https://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/2017/09/102661095/102661095-05-v7-n1-acc.pdfPage 24 (46 in the magazine), center bottom paragraph.
>>12802069>1978*
are the australians in the room with us right now
>>12802036https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1985/08/12/personal-computers/399f61fb-c113-4c9a-8cd0-55d23c6e5906/Or here, how about this one, referring to the Amiga as a "PC" that's "built to be a Porsche for the mind", can you tell me what they meant here? Did IBM built the Amiga? What's going on? I'm confused.
>>12802036Can you tell me what this says? My mind refuses to read it because it's collapsing in on itself, how can that be the definition? Since clearly, OBVIOUSLY, PC has always meant strictly IBM-PC's, this is wrong then right? How could it not be?
Uh oh melty
>>12802107Man, did you even read the post you're replying to?>The term PC (peecee, not personal computer) is a shorthand for IBM compats as well as an abbreviation for personal computer.
>>12802058>>12802069>>12802107Once again, you blame Apple for causing this distinction.
>>12802131you can*fuck
>>12802131lol, I remember they tried to do this shit again but with "iPhones" and "Smartphones", but luckily, it didn't stick this time.
>>12800140>Yamaha built MSXsI consider the MSX line the best machines that the 8-bit era had to offer. Great audio, great visuals, more than enough memory, several ports and expansion mods, and excellent build quality over all.Kind of ironic they only became a Japan-exclusive thing and never really cared about selling them in the West, with two or three exceptions that never really took off.
