[HN Gopher] The spawn of AtariLab and the Universal Laboratory I...
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The spawn of AtariLab and the Universal Laboratory Interface
Author : classichasclass
Score : 41 points
Date : 2023-09-12 23:46 UTC (23 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (oldvcr.blogspot.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (oldvcr.blogspot.com)
| flopsamjetsam wrote:
| Interesting that the article mentions that the Atari had access
| to PLATO[0]. I very very vaguely remember that in promotional
| material. I see there are threads about it on Atari forums, and
| also a page in a wiki[1].
|
| [0] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/plato-how-an-
| educati... [1] https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=PLATO
| lordfrito wrote:
| Wow I remember wanting one of these back in the day... never got
| to see one but this article covers everything you ever wanted to
| know about the product.
|
| At the time it seemed that Atari had their hands in everything.
| There was the AtariTel video phone, Mindlink brain interface,
| AtariLab, and many other oddities that nearly/barely made it into
| production. They even had a device that connected their 8bit
| computers to Atari coin-ops to add up the quarters in the cash
| boxes and print reports (I think it was called the Coin Executive
| or something). There was something magical about that era, it
| seemed the future was right around the corner.
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| Atari transputers still blow my mind.
| cmrdporcupine wrote:
| That was Atari Corp (Tramiel, ex-Commodore), not Atari Inc
| (Warner). Diff company.
| lordfrito wrote:
| At least it's the same R&D team from Bushnell/Warner, just
| under new management. On the consumer side, there's a lot
| of continuity between the Warner and Tramiel eras. The
| Tramiel era was a much leaner/meaner Atari, trying to shed
| dead weight to avoid bankruptcy.
|
| After Tramiel "merged" with JTS the company was liquidated.
| The consumer side of Atari no longer exists as an R&D
| house, all that's left is a brand name and some IP.
|
| The "fun" era was under Bushnell/Warner when they were
| flush with cash, lots (likely too much) of R&D spend. The
| Tramiel era had not quite as much innovation as Tramiel
| famously refused to spend money on development R&D or
| marketing. A lot of cool stuff was done that went nowhere,
| their tech failed to impact the market.
| seanmcdirmid wrote:
| Oof, I wasn't familiar with the distinction. Still, that it
| came out under the Atari brand at all is still notable.
| classichasclass wrote:
| (author) Thanks! Yes, Atari had a lot of irons in the fire back
| then. I have to give Warner credit for trying.
| syntheweave wrote:
| I had one of these AtariLab kits, probably leftovers from the
| school library(the source of a lot of retro gear and books in my
| youth). And yeah, it was badly misreading the room temperature in
| the early 90's, too. I was hardly prepared to figure out how it
| might be calibrated and the deep dive here would test me even
| now. Just one of those interesting curiosities where the intent
| got ahead of the practical utility.
| classichasclass wrote:
| I'd figured they were substandard parts to begin with, but it's
| notable they were already going wrong by then. Still, it seemed
| that they did a good job when they were new(er), at least.
| There were many positive reports from schools.
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(page generated 2023-09-13 23:01 UTC)