Have you worked Atari today?

[Nicole]

I would have thought the Sharp X6800 could play a more important roll considering it used a similar 68k chipset to Atari and a Unix based OS. There is also an even greater pressing question, where is Sinclair Research (made the ZX Spectrum) and Psion (developed EPOC whose successor is Symbian) go? Acorn decided to become a PC clone earlier so it seems you have done away with the UK's contribution to personal computer advancement.

Well I have to stress that not everything not mentioned in the TL doesn't exist

So without CBM acquiring the whole contract with HP and PA-RISC powered 64bit Hombre chipset project get butterflied away from the TL. Speaking of PA-RISC where is Hewlett Packard and Compaq among others who dabbled in PC clones in this entire TL? Does AT&T still design the CRISP Hobbit CPU?

Alt-Compaq was a victim of timing, Atari's heavier use of custom chips means it takes longer for clones to become possible... without the Compatibility that provided 5/6ths of its name, Compaq doesn't have as much of a selling point.

As for the Hombre, the closest analog would be the Lorraine Amie, but that uses a Motorola RISC design. (This could prove a mistake, of course) Hewlett-Packard may still dabble in PC clones, but my understanding is that while they had PC's before that, it really only became a core of their business after the Compaq acquisition.

Also, a Commodore TL without a single mention of its founder Jack Tramiel!? I would also like to interject that it would have been cool to see more development of something along the lines of the Atari STPad considering the early death of its console business due to IBM's acquisition would do away with the Jaguar hogging R&D, mindshare and investment resources.

Jack Tramiel is in the TL- was the CEO of Lorraine for awhile after leaving Commodore in somewhat similar circumstances... Things like the STPad, which is pretty neat, were I think a result of Atari trying to save a dying PC business, here Lorraine is doing better and so has less need. (And being a start-up rather than built on an established business, has less cash... Atari Corp. was able to keep the 2600 going for a very long time)

Really pre-Tramiel Atari Inc. and post-Tramiel Atari Corp. were different companies... Atari Inc. was a mess.

And I guess Sony gets cold feet when it comes to going into the console market which does away with its collaborative platform research with IBM and eventually Toshiba. I wonder if that means they will continue with their plans on making an expansion for Nintendo to play CD games? Perhaps maybe in this topsy terbie we'll see Trip Hawkins license a more successful 3DO design.

Trip Hawkins likely doesn't have the money to establish 3DO- Atari beat Activision in court, and in 1982 all the major consoles in the US used a first-party centric model. There was a crash in 1983, but it was of a different sort from the OTL crash.

For now at least, Sony and Sega have a partnership which has produced the Sega 64. But of course, Sega and Microsoft had a partnership OTL, and that didn't stop Microsoft from launching their own console later.

 

[Ziomatrix]

Well I have to stress that not everything not mentioned in the TL doesn't exist

I perfectly understand and if you did create an ATL of the computer industry with a totally omnipotent knowledge on the matter it would be a lot of information to read through. I already missed the headline of Sony teaming up with Sega.

Alt-Compaq was a victim of timing, Atari's heavier use of custom chips means it takes longer for clones to become possible... without the Compatibility that provided 5/6ths of its name, Compaq doesn't have as much of a selling point.

I can imagine reverse engineering such machines would be very hard to do. However even when Apple got around to implementing what is probably considered the first DRM of its firmware, it didn't stop the clones. Especially from those places with the resources yet still out of reach from US tort laws at the time such as Hong Kong and Taiwan.

As for the Hombre, the closest analog would be the Lorraine Amie, but that uses a Motorola RISC design. (This could prove a mistake, of course) Hewlett-Packard may still dabble in PC clones, but my understanding is that while they had PC's before that, it really only became a core of their business after the Compaq acquisition.

That is certainly true, but HP still dabbled with some interesting designs which it actually sold such as what could be the first touch-screen PC. But you are correct in that their key products were calculators and going head to head with IBM in mainframes.

Jack Tramiel is in the TL- was the CEO of Lorraine for awhile after leaving Commodore in somewhat similar circumstances... Things like the STPad, which is pretty neat, were I think a result of Atari trying to save a dying PC business, here Lorraine is doing better and so has less need. (And being a start-up rather than built on an established business, has less cash... Atari Corp. was able to keep the 2600 going for a very long time)

Really pre-Tramiel Atari Inc. and post-Tramiel Atari Corp. were different companies... Atari Inc. was a mess.

Good point, I can't believe I missed Jack in your TL. Well, you already have what effectively is the Atari Portfolio in there which uses the exact same memory cards that an STPad would rely on. Of course Atari would also have to market the STBook laptop prior since they both share the same screen to make such a device more cost effective. It entirely depends if you want Atari under IBM to potentially capitalize on the emergent mobile computing industry before the MS lead Triple Entente beats them to it. Unless with a competent CEO that doesn't listen so much to the competition at CBM decided to release the Commodore LCD.

Trip Hawkins likely doesn't have the money to establish 3DO- Atari beat Activision in court, and in 1982 all the major consoles in the US used a first-party centric model. There was a crash in 1983, but it was of a different sort from the OTL crash.

For now at least, Sony and Sega have a partnership which has produced the Sega 64. But of course, Sega and Microsoft had a partnership OTL, and that didn't stop Microsoft from launching their own console later.

You have very valid points there which I agree with and thus can't refute in any particular way. I'm looking forward to more of this computing industry ATL if you're willing to dish them. I guess we won't see Steve Jobs "triumphantly" returning to Apple with his comfortable position at Pixar. Speaking of graphics whatever happens to SGI?

 

[Kalvan]

And now it's time for a bump!

 

[Nicole]

And now it's time for a bump!

I'm glad people remember this TL enough to want to bump it!

But I've been suffering from severe writer's block- multiple times I've opened Word to work on the TL, only to be unable to write literally anything... I'm not sure where I'm hung up.

Also, I've been taking a bit of a break from the site in order to focus on schoolwork and such... I just happen to have this thread on an email notification.

 

[RCTFI]

I'm glad people remember this TL enough to want to bump it!

But I've been suffering from severe writer's block- multiple times I've opened Word to work on the TL, only to be unable to write literally anything... I'm not sure where I'm hung up.

Also, I've been taking a bit of a break from the site in order to focus on schoolwork and such... I just happen to have this thread on an email notification.

Well, here's wishing you the best with your schoolwork and whatever else you're working on. Hopefully, you'll get caught up with things, and then get a new update together, eh?

 

[JimmyRibbitt]

As for the DECstations... well, Digital bought a company that makes UNIX-powered machines... but not the same level. Actually, they'd probably get more internal support here, since Digital moving into cloning seems to carry an implication they'll have less of an aversion to outside-developed technologies. (Which means that my update doesn't adequately cover all of 1989- curses!)

What does DEC do about the Y2K problem TTL? When I was in college at the turn of the century, they had to get rid of all the DECstation and VAX machines because of the Y2K bug.

 

[Swan Station]

Very interesting, I need more.

Do you have any ideas on the software development side of things?