From: jyoung@nyx.cs.du.edu (Jeff Young)
Subject: Atari Falcon Music Computer News
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 16:17:54 GMT

 
 IN SEARCH OF THE ATARI FALCON 030
 
 Even though no official word is available, even though Atari has
 maintained a lid on details, and even though some leaks claim that the
 new computer to be unveiled this fall won't bear the name FALCON, the
 rumor mill has provided ample pseudo-information on what is expected to
 be a remarkable machine.
 
 Atari held an invitation-only Falcon developer conference in London on
 June 27th, attended by over 120 developers.  Sam Tramiel, Bill Rehbock,
 and John Skruch were among those attending the conference for Atari.  In
 addition to the Atari personal, a few experts were brought along to
 discuss features of the Falcon and programming the Digital Signal
 Processor.  Reactions from the intense one day affair varied from the
 positive to the wildly enthusiastic.  A number of the developers that
 attended are not currently working on Atari platforms, but the
 demonstrations and discussions appear to have convinced all of them to
 either reconsider their position or to immediately add Atari to their
 development programs.
 
 Sam Tramiel has planned to reveal the Falcon technical details in live
 conferences on the GEnie and Delphi telecommunications networks in early
 August.  This will be in preparation for the huge Dusseldorf Atari Messe
 ("fair") in Germany, August 21-23, where the public should see the
 Falcon for the first time.  Commercial availability for the units is
 projected for later this fall.
 
 A first look almost came early, through the efforts of Atari Advantage
 Magazine.  An exclusive Falcon story, complete with photographs of the
 outside and even the motherboard of the Falcon, was planned for their
 June issue.  However, delays in production caused that issue to become
 the June/July issue, and then negotiations with Atari Corp regarding
 non-disclosure matters caused the photographs to be dropped and the
 printing to be further delayed until late July.  The photographs will
 instead be featured in an upcoming issue of Atari Explorer (see related
 story, below).  The Atari Advantage Falcon article remains generally
 complete, and is recommended reading, even getting "thumbs up" from
 Atari officials.  The Falcon issue should be available at Atari dealers
 well into August.
 
 Speculative Specs

 The Falcon 030 (it may still be called something else when released, but
 this name is now seeming to stick) will feature a 68030 running at
 16mHz, be in the 1040-style one piece cabinet, and feature "more colors
 than you can see, more sounds than you can hear", and use a Motorola
 Digital Signal Processor DSP 56001 (like in NeXT).  It will have an
 updated TOS operating system that will include MultiTOS multitasking.
 That much is official.  The rest is via leak and speculation, and as
 such, subject to change.
 
 MultiTOS was developed by ATARI Corp. in cooperation with Eric Smith of
 the Mathematics Department at the University of Western Ontario.  Eric
 designed the multitasking kernel called MiNT, which forms the basis for
 MultiTOS, a combination of ROM code in the TOS and extensions on disk.
 Message pipelines exist between parallel running applications, allowing
 controlled interaction of simultaneous processes in different windows.
 Old-standard desk accessories now unnecessary due to CPX modules and the
 ability to run programs simultaneously, in effect, making every
 application work like an accessory.  Under MultiTOS, if one of many
 parallel running applications should crash, the others remain protected
 and safe.  A more limited version of MultiTOS for older ST computers is
 expected to be available as software.
 
 According to the Atari Advantage Falcon story, the Falcon case will be a
 dark grey, similar to the color of the Portfolio and STacy.  It will
 feature an STe/TT compatible LAN port plus and industry standard SCSI II
 peripheral port, stereo microphone and headphone jacks,  STe extended
 joystick ports, a DSP port, and a built-in speaker.  This last item is
 important as the Falcon will be able to use standard high resolution
 color multisync monitors which typically have no audio.  Older Atari
 monitors will also be usable with an adaptor.  Broadcast quality TV
 compatible video is offered with built-in genlock and "true color"
 32,768 color capacity plus a variety of other modes (including all ST
 modes).
 
 Sound?  Yikes.  Sixteen-bit digital record/playback in resolution up to
 50 kHz (better than an audio CD) in up to eight channels, with direct-
 to-hard-disk recording, with a DSP port allowing digital audio transfer
 rates of up to a megabyte per second.  And STe 8-bit and ST three-voice
 sound will be supported, making the Falcon as close to 100% backwards
 compatible as possible.
 
 Also in the copyrighted Advantage article are observations of on-board
 sockets that appear ready for addition of alternate CPU devices, such as
 PC or MAC emulators.  With the dramatic speed and PC compatible video,
 emulation should be a snap.  Other internal items included a fan and an
 internal hard disk--a 2.5" 40 meg unit in the one Advantage cracked
 open.  A daughter board held 16 meg of RAM in a plug-in module.
 
 Price?  It is rumored that the Falcon 030 will start at under $700.

 
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