ACTS - Atari Computer Test System

[www.atarimania.com]

More Atari history unearthed!

 

Thanks to John Hardie, we now have some details on this unique setup. If you know more about this system, please chime in!

 

Scans of the four-page document available here:

http://www.atarimania.com/documents-atari-400-800-xl-xe-internal-documents_4_8.html

[Rybags]

Don't think I've heard of it before.

The doc isn't clear on how the test program is introducted to the UUTs in the 128 computer rack being tested.

I would guess that possibly it is via a SIO boot.  Alternatively it could be on cartridge.

There would be a fair amount of custom cabling in use - the test sequence does IO to the PIA as well as to it's associated interrupt lines as well as joystick bits and POT inputs.

Maybe like the SALT hardware test board but on steroids.

[Clint Thompson]

That's fascinating, all of it! Coolest thing to see imo was the 800 vs Apple II comparisons.... they really went out of their way to sell the 800, not that you really had to considering just loading a few things that gave examples of sound and graphics immediately would show you it blew the Apple II out of the water!

[+hunmanik]

Jerry Jessop has described a "Pits Test System"

https://www.computingpioneers.com/index.php/Jerry_Jessop 

https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-30-jerry-jessop-atari

 

and some of the early product catalogs mentioned a "Sentinel System"

https://archive.org/details/atari-personal-computer-product-catalog-1981-atari/page/5/mode/1up

 

Perhaps they are all the same thing.. or perhaps several different tries at the same general idea?

[_The Doctor__]

No PITS was not exactly Sentinel but by extension are related and neither of those systems are the service center rigs. The PITS system lovingly referred to as a burn up/burn in test used a a cartridge and I/O port rig to a mainframe interface. This was only laughingly called a burn up test up until the 2 Mhz CPU's came in. The other test fixture in the factory was used with the normally unseen card edge connector inside the case, these are the fingers at the rear back plane of the Atari. Both were used but only one is mentioned to the public. There were multiple testing systems and they evolved over time. The service centers mostly had what you can buy from BEST etc in the 850 cases and the PBI/ECI incarnations, these are posted about in nearly all the forums.

Edited October 14, 2023 by _The Doctor__