From: dave@admiral.uucp (Dave Litchman)
Subject: Re: ATARI COMPUTER WISH LIST 
Organization: The Admiral's Unix System & The Grid BBS
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 18:44:03 GMT

In article <JARTSU.92Oct11154727@lk-hp-12.hut.fi> Jari.Lehto@hut.fi writes:
>In article <gkxzv5n@rpi.edu> oyakea@warren1b.its.rpi.edu (Amalaye Oyake) writes:
>
>> 2) A decent expansion bus ( e.g. VME etc ) on more of the ST line
>besides the     TT and Mega STe.
>
>MegaST has the MegaBus, and there are lots of cards available for it.

Yeah, but it's a non-standard bus, and with the new line of computers (MSTe, 
TT, Falcon) no one is going to be supporting it.
>
>> 4) More software releases such as ATM, Pagemaker, CD-Rom software.
>>    ( N.B. ATM and Pagemaker are very good packages ).
>
>Calamus can beat the combination ATM&Pagemaker easily.
>There is CD-ROM stuff for Atari too. MetaDOS is available for
>connecting&using almost any SCSI CD-ROM.

But when businesses buy a new computer system, they don't say "can it run
a very good DTP package?" They say "can it run Pagemaker?"

And, ok, you can connect CD-ROM drives. But what about CD-ROM *software*? There
are little to no Atari specific discs out there. 
>
>> 5) At least one University level Math or/and Cad Program such as
>Mathematica,     Maple, Math-Cad, AutoCad, ProEngineer...
>
>Needs a TT to be efficient enough...

So?
>
>> 6) Upgradeable video route... at least a standard of upgrading an
>ST's video.
>
>There is a wide variety of Graphic adapter boards for ST&Mega
>available.

But no *standard*...
>
>> 7) At least one 24bit graphics board.
>
>There are some.

Agreed.
>
>> 8) At least one 040 accelerator ( damn even the A500 has one ).
>
>coming right up! One German company is about to release one.

And when is it going to show up in the States? (Hint: don't hold your breath.)
>
>> 10) YES!! Multitasking ( I use a Sun and can't live without multitasking ).
>>     Think of running an application and then needing to list a directory or
>>     have a file print in the background (e.g. text file), or even a comm
>>     program running.
>
>Fully possible. Just install MiNT or Minix to your ST. 

MiNT's just fine, if you want to run multiple TOS or TTP programs concurrently.
What we want is something that'll do the same for GEM and TOS together. 
MultiTOS may (*may*) take care of this...

>
>> 11) More major third party support. Since when did a company like Canon/Lotus
>>     support the ST in any way.
>
>You live in the wrong coutry or you haven't checked overseas yet...
>In Germany companies like Kodak have worked together with Atari to
>provide a professional full color DTP setups based on TT. And this is
>only one example...
>All these products are available, you just have to get them overseas,
>because there aren't enough markets for such systems to set up a
>distributor in the US.

No, we live in the right country. We want more major third party support *in 
america!*

>
>> 12) BTW!! DOES ATARI USE ST's IN HOUSE ?????
>
>Hmm, if we say Ataris, they do. Not just (or at all) STs, but MegaSTs,
>MegaSTEs, TTs and some Falcons too. The basic ST is too old...

I wouldn't be so sure. Last I heard, all of Atari's operation are done on 
PC/compatibles. But they may be using Atari PC-clones, so in a loose sense, they
may be using Atari's in-house.

Although I did hear that they switched their UNIX box to a TT running ASV...

>
>> 13) MORE ST Magazines or at least some on racks.
>
>Find out about European magazines and subscribe one. If you can read
>german, you should try TOS, ST-Magazin or ST-Computer. These are not
>for game maniacs or people who have their atari mainly for
>recreational purposes, these are for productive and professional
>users.

Again, what we want is ST-specific magazines from America. Something we can go
down to our local newsstand and buy.

>
>> 14) An ST commercial on MTV.
>
>with Falcon, maybe...

Now there's an idea... Picture it... You're watching MTV... The new Tina Turner
video comes on, complete with identifier in the lower left hand corner... The
camera holds for a couple of seconds, then pulls back to show that it's a Falcon
running the video! Then the motto, ("I want my Falcon TV?"... nah) and the 
Atari/Falcon logo...

>
>> 15) An IBM/Mac emulator from ATARI ( well maybe ).
>
>But there are! Spectre GCR makes your Atari to be ewen better Mac than
>some real Macs are!
>Vortex can provide you 386sx with fast-RAM etc, SuperCharger and Delta
>Modul provide you fully compatible AT-slots!

No argument. Why do we need one from Atari itself? The third-party models are
just fine...

>
>> 19) Customizable Desktop ( have you seen MOTIF ? ).
>
>Well, not like MOTIF, but close. Have you tried Gemini or NeoDesk?

Gemini and NeoDesk are nice, but they leave something to be desired...

>
>> 21) More ST dealers, service people, and software retailers.
>
>Again, wrong country. Nobody over there has both, that kind of money,
>and the idea & faith to market Atari so that it will rise enough.

Right, which is why we want it in *this* country!

>
>> 22) ST fairs in major Cities like New-York and L.A., why should
>London have all    the fun ??
>
>Visit Dusseldorf Germany next year. The biggest Atari fair in the
>whole world, dozens of companies, thousands of people and hundreds of
>products.

How about somewhere in *this* country?

>
>> 23) A bigger case for the Falcon030, with VME, two proc.direct slots and CPU
>>     module.
>
>Atari is redesigning the case...

...for the Falcon/040. If you want a Falcon/030, you're SOL, casewise...

>
>> 24) For Computer biggies a Multiprocessing HUB with the features of the ATW
>>     display postcript, and more ( this is a wild dream alright !! ).
>
>Falcon 040 with it's multiple DSPs is enough for a lot...

Multiple DSP's would be nice (still just a rumor, however) but they're not going
to be able to do the same kind of thing that multiple CPU's could do...

>
>> 25) Adds for ST games on T.V.
>
>Is it worth it?

Not now. Maybe a couple of years ago, though. What Atari needs to do now is get
the Jaguar on the market and advertise it. How about this... You're watching MTV
again... Black screen, voiceover says "Now, the first name in video games,
becomes the last word in home video game systems"... Then a nice computer 
generated sequence of a Jaguar, (the cat) (maybe done on a Falcon030) shown 
running through a jungle (and maybe hunting down and slaughtering a certain
Italian Plumber and Blue Hedgehog)... Voiceover again, "The Atari Jaguar. 
We've let the Cat out of the  bag."


>
>> 26) A remake of the mega STe (68000),but merged with a 386, with AT slots,
>>     this will attack the PC market as well as well as people who need both
>>     systems.- I KNOW THIS VERY POSSIBLE.
>
>A remake of the MegaSTE with better CPU (68030) and SVGA (1024x768
>8bit) level display technology. Who needs Intel?

Unfortunately, most of the personal computer users out there today...

>
>> 27) More ATARI communication with users.
>
>Please explain with examples.

It'd be nice if they'd tell us why the hell they keep screwing up so badly. 
Maybe then we can tell them what they're doing wrong...



-- 
"Dammit Jim, I'm a free man, not a number!"
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"Ray, when somebody asks you if you're a god, you say YES!" -- Winston Zeddmore