Issue 31: May 2003
Features
- | Foreword
- | Open Letter To The ACP Developers
- | Menu Print: Resurrection
- | Probe House Expense Manager
- | YM Sound
- | RAF Meets 3sat
- | Relics of the Past
- | Interview: Gaztee
- | The Atari MIDI Tool Box
- | Tip of the day
M@ilbox
News
| Open Letter To The ACP Developers by Christoph Brincken Reinventing the Atari computer I see a great chance in the new Atari ColdFire clone for the Atari community - but I would like to make some remarks. One error of Atari Corporation was the marketing. It threw its computers at the market and did not care about the press. So we should ask, who would really buy this machine. In the Déesse sound card forum, I argued that the ColdFire machine should ship with the card built-in, so that it would enter the market as a solution. Every programmer can be sure to find the same hardware. Every musician and Falcon owner can be sure that the ColdFire machine is a real replacement for his/her machine. Now, I am happy that the ColdFire machine will ship with Déesse. So, imagine a reporter from an audio magazine takes a look at the new machine. He hears "Atari" and is quite sure to find an obscure and therefore obsolete machine. So the first thing he does is to click around a bit. That's why our clone has to have a fast operating system enhancement like NVDI or N.AES - that gives the impression of power. The desktop has to have nice icons and Kobold should be pre-installed to make the impression of power and speed even stronger - MiNT would do great, too. Some programs should be pre-installed, like Calamus SL Lite Edition - how about some 3D icons - and a text program - how about Papyrus Lite - which is able to eat Word documents. How about shipping the system internet ready - I don't know much about the software needed for that. The most important and impressive part is of course audio applications. So how about having some - like some kind of Cubase Lite and Digitape being pre-installed - if possible 10-20 applications. Give the testers something to play with - a computer that cries, "Connect me to your audio equipment". When they love it, the world will, too. On one hand I am happy that the new machine will support IDE - it's much cheaper than SCSI - on the other hand it will make it more complicated to replace an existing machine - Falcon or TT and copy the data to the new hard disk. So offer the computer from the very beginning in two versions, one with and maybe one without SCSI. That means pre-installed and a name like SX (SCSI eXtended) after the name. Offer the SX machine as "professional version" and the non-SCSI as a normal version. The SX machine could be in a 19" case which allows it to be easily integrated with other studio equipment. The first Atari was a Macintosh clone - with more connection possibilities. Think of the new clone as an improved NeXT clone. OK, NeXT was not successful - but the DSP chip idea made its way to the Falcon. A cheap PC case will not get much sympathy - at least put the SX version in a nice 19" case! How about a logo for the AtlanTOS? I had an idea. How about a slogan like "The power... without the problems"? How about another name, AvanTOS? (Pronounced Avant OS) christoph@myatari.net
Useful links
Atari ColdFire Project http://acp.atari.org BRINCKEN.COM / GRAFIK & WEBDESIGN http://www.brincken.com
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