Retro Experience

IN LATE 1971 NOLAN BUSHNELL, THEN A PRODUCT ENGINEER FOR AN ARCADE-GAME MANUFACTURER, LEFT HIS JOB TO START HIS OWN COMPANY SYZYGY. THE REASON, TO MARKET THE VIDEO GAME PONG. SYZYGY DIDN'T LAST LONG BECAUSE ANOTHER COMPANY HAD ALREADY REGISTERED THE NAME. ATARI WAS SUBSEQUENTLY BORN. FOR A FEW MONTHS IN 1973 THE PONG ARCADE GAME WAS A HUGE SUCCESS - IT GOT ATARI ON ITS FEET. AT THE END OF THAT FISCAL YEAR ATARI HAD CLOCKED $3.2 MILLION IN SALES.

ALTHOUGH ATARI WAS SUCCESSFUL, IT NEEDED BIG MONEY TO GO PLACES. THE ONLY WAY TO GET BIG MONEY WAS TO FIND A BUYER. WARNER COMMUNICATIONS APPEARED ON THE SCENE AND WILLINGLY PARTED WITH $28 MILLION IN AUGUST OF 1976. BUSHNELL GOT HALF THAT AMOUNT AND STAYED ON AS CHAIRMAN FOR TWO YEARS AFTER THE TAKE OVER. DURING THAT TIME HE WITNESSED THE LAUNCHING OF THE VIDEO COMPUTER SYSTEM AND 400/800 HOME COMPUTERS. BUSHNELL EVENTUALLY RESIGNED IN EARLY 1979 AFTER WARNER BLAMED HIM FOR THE FAILURE OF THE VCS MACHINE.

ALTHOUGH ATARI HIT AN ALL TIME HIGH WITH SALES IN EXCESS OF $2 BILLION IN 1982, IT SOON HIT ROCK BOTTOM IN 1983 WHEN THE FULL IMPACT OF COMMODORE'S MORE KEENLY PRICED VIC AND C64 BECAME APPARENT. COMMODORE'S SUCCESS WAS DOWN TO ITS PRESIDENT JACK TRAMIEL, WHO TREATED BUSINESS AS WAR. COMMODORE'S DOMINATION, AND ATARI'S DEMISE, WOULD HAVE CONTINUED IF IT WASN'T FOR CHAIRMAN IRVING GOULD'S DISAPPROVAL OF JACK'S INTENTION OF PUTTING THE TRAMIEL SONS IN EXECUTIVE POSITIONS THROUGHOUT COMMODORE.
JACK SAID GOODBYE TO COMMODORE IN JANUARY 1983 - FRIDAY THE 13TH! IT WAS CERTAINLY UNLUCKY FOR COMMODORE BECAUSE, OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, MUCH OF COMMODORES TOP TALENT LEFT. BY THIS TIME WARNER'S ATARI WAS IN SERIOUS TROUBLE; AROUND $538 MILLION IN TROUBLE. WARNER APPROACHED JACK WITH A PROPOSITION THAT IS STILL A LITTLE HARD TO BELIEVE. THE FINAL DEAL INVOLVED WARNER SELLING ATARI TO JACK AND JACK BORROWING THE MONEY FROM WARNER TO BUY ATARI!
BEFORE JACK TOOK OVER AT ATARI, SOMEONE AT ATARI COMMISSIONED AMIGA INC (TO THE TUNE OF $500,000) TO WORK ON SOME EXCITING NEW CUSTOM CHIPS FOR FUTURE MACHINES - AMIGA INC BECAME UNHAPPY WITH THE WAY ATARI HANDLED THE AFFAIR AND REFUNDED THE MONEY. THE DEVELOPMENTS WERE SOLD TO COMMODORE FOR $20 MILLION. THESE DEVELOPMENTS, OF COURSE, TURNED OUT TO BE THE COMMODORE AMIGA A1000!

WITHOUT WANTING TO GET LEFT BEHIND, ATARI STARTED WORK ON ITS OWN 68000 - BASED MACHINE. IN LITTLE MORE THAN A YEAR THE ST WAS PUT TOGETHER - THE IMPORTANT CHIPS IN THE AMIGA, REMEMBER, WERE DESIGNED OVER SEVERAL YEARS. THE ST WAS FIRST SHOWN AT THE JANUARY 1985 CES SHOW IN THE STATES. THE ORIGINAL MODEL WAS A COLLECTION OF BOXES - THE KEYBOARD AND PROCESSING UNIT, THE DISK DRIVE AND THE POWER SUPPLY. THE OPERATING SYSTEM, TOS, HAD TO BE LOADED FROM DISK. FIVE MONTHS LATER THE ST WAS DISPLAYED AT THE PCW SHOW TO AN INCREDULOUS PUBLIC. NOT LONG AFTER, THE ST WAS AVAILABLE. PRICE FOR A 512K MACHINE WITH MONO MONITOR - 749.99.

THERE ARE VARIOUS MEMBERS IN THE ST FAMILY - WHILE ALL OFFER 100% COMPATIBILITY WITH THE 520, THERE ARE SUBTLE HARDWARE DIFFERENCES. AFTER THE 520 COMES THE 1040. THE 1040 IS IDENTICAL TO THE 520 APART FROM AN EXTRA 512K OF MEMORY. NEXT COMES THE THREE MEGA MACHINES. THESE ARE VERY DIFFERENT IN DESIGN TO THE 520 AND 1040. THE MAIN PROCESSING UNIT IS SEPARATE FROM THE KEYBOARD. ALL MEGAS HAVE A REAL - TIME CLOCK, BLITTER CHIP (FOR SPEEDING UP GRAPHICAL OPERATIONS), FAN AND INTERNAL EXPANSION HUB. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MEGA MACHINES IS THE AMOUNT OF MEMORY THEY OFFER - FROM 1MBYTE TO 4MBYTES.

CPU: MOTOROLA M68000 @ 8MHZ
TOTAL SYSTEM RAM: 4 X SIMM SOCKETS - FROM 512 KB UP TO 4 MB
ROM: 192 KB (256 KB IN LATER VERSIONS)
SOUND: 3 VOICES AND 1 NOISE CHANNEL, 8 OCTAVES AND TWO 8 BIT PCM CHANNELS
TEXT MODES: 40 OR 80 CHARS. X 25 LINES (BITMAPPED IMAGES)
COLOUR PALETTE: 4096
ONSCREEN COLOURS / RESOLUTION: 320X200 (16 COLOURS) / 640X200 (4 COLOURS) / 640 X 400 (MONOCHROME)