dr. kwack Posted September 7, 2004 Share Posted September 7, 2004 I was reading an old issue of Electronic Games and they had an article about what would be considered the "Ultimate" Computer Station. This was January of 84 I believe and the whole thing focused around an Atari 400. Here's the list... Atari 400 Computer Atari 850 Interface- (what were these for anyway?) Percom RFD 44-S2 Disk Drive Anchor Automation's Volksmodem Tech-Sketc LP-15 Light Pen A Magnavox Monitor Alien Group's Voice Box II Leading Edge Gorilla Banana Printer The Echo Speech Synthesizer and one Kraft "Bat Style" joystick w/base & stick button. So- any revisions or alterations to this? This came out before the XL/XE models. If you could re-write the article today, what would you change. Here's one thought- I would go with the Epyx 500 Joystick. I always liked those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted September 7, 2004 Share Posted September 7, 2004 Im suprised their 'dream' machine at the time was a 400 - Shouldve been the 800 right off the start with its dual cart slots and memory card slots. If updated for today on the 8bit the list would be huge - 1meg mem, dual pokey's, MyIDE, etc........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFonck Posted September 7, 2004 Share Posted September 7, 2004 An xbox loaded with emulators! Okay I'll get my coat No seriously... either that or something like a GamePark 32 with an Atari emulator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted September 7, 2004 Share Posted September 7, 2004 January of '84? The XL series was already out IIRC...along with 256k memory upgrades for the 800XL, 1050 and Indus GT disk drives (with Happy Warp Speed). And the Commodore 1701 monitor is and was arguably better than a Magnavox. Maybe throw in a ComputerEyes digitizer for laughs. Hey wait a minute...1984? Ultimate computer? No PC?? No Macintosh?? Even if you didn't like 'em, you could sell it off and still have money left over after picking up all the Atari stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin242 Posted September 7, 2004 Share Posted September 7, 2004 The 850 interface added standard rs-232 and printer ports to the Atari 8-bits. It was expensive. Another popular alternative was the P/R connection from ICD a similar device that cost alot less (and looked cooler)... kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Smeghead Posted September 13, 2004 Share Posted September 13, 2004 No offense, but are you sure you're not makin' this up? The Atari 400 is a very weird choice for an ultimate computer. It's membrane keyboard was no match for the 800's regular keyboard, and the 400 didn't have a monitor port. So, I wonder how they attached the Magnavox monitor... a switch box? Kinda defeats the purpose. Plus, 16k standard? My first machine was the 400. By the time I was done with it, it was almost as ultimate as it could be. 48K, real B-Key keyboard, racing stripes... If you have any way of scanning that article, I'd love to see it. I wanna see who wrote it. Nukey Shay: January of '84? The XL series was already out IIRC... The 800XL came out in 1983, so sayeth the Atari Historical Society. If I had to pick my own, personal list of that nature: -Atari 800 (maybe the XEGS, which is my main gaming machine these days, due to the detachable keyboard and it's slenderness) -Indus GT Drive (with a US Doubled 1050 a close second) -850 interface -Hayes Smartmodem -Not sure on the monitor... Never really had one with the 8 bit line -Panasonic 1080i dot matrix printer - had one for years and it never died -Suncom joystick - either a Starfighter or a Slik Stik There ya go. 2 cents, made to order. Smeg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin242 Posted September 13, 2004 Share Posted September 13, 2004 I started out with a 400 as well. Upgraded it to 32k then 48k, replaced the CTIA with GTIA, changed the membrane keyboard to a B-key. There was a hack to add a composite out, but I never attempted it (upgraded to a 130xe). ultimate 8-bit 130xe or atari 800xl with 1mbram 2 Indus GT drives or 2 XF551 ATARI drives MIO w/hard drive or the new IDE cartridge how about ATR8000 with XT/CPM compatibility Suncom TAC joystick (this is IMO the ultimate atari stick) this is the ultimate 8bit so how about DIAMOND OS cart and a ST Mouse Spartados X and Realtime 8 Commodore 1084s monitor kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr. kwack Posted September 18, 2004 Author Share Posted September 18, 2004 Nope, not a fabrication of my own evildoing. In fact the article sez: "This project began life as the 'Ultimate Atari 400.' We planned to debut it in the December 82 issue but alas, as we kept on improving, time was disapproving." But, yeah I'll go along with you - the 400 is a weird choice in 1984. The article was written by Henry B. Cohen. I'll see if I can scan the cover page with the breakdown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Smeghead Posted September 20, 2004 Share Posted September 20, 2004 I will say this much, though... I really did like my 400. Sure, I was jealous of my friend with his fancy 800 and his fast, high-fallutin' 810 drive, but dang it, my 410 cassette drive was fine for my needs. I got pretty fast at typing flat-fingered on the membrane keyboard. I was proud of myself, being able to upgrade it from 16k to 32k then 48k and add a regular keyboard. I believe I traded it straight-up for an 800. Someone really wanted it, but for the life of me, I can't remember why. Seems like the SysOp of the CHAOS BBS (our local area Atari group) was the mediator. I have, on my wall, a 400 keyboard and a 400 nameplate. If I ever figure out how to post a pic here, I'd show ya... Smeg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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