I just posted a bunch of pictures of some prototype Atari stuff I found
today at a local electronics flea market.
Thanks to Curt Vendel's Atari Historical Society website
(
http://www.atari-history.com) I've learned that they are prototype boards
for AtariTel, which was supposed to be a breakthrough new business phone
system but Atari never released it.
I have what look to be the initial raw prototypes and then etched
prototype development boards, and then an almost complete phone (missing
the handset and top cover). There's also a hacked handset used during
development and a rough prototype of the case made from plexiglass. From
the scanned preliminary product description document found on AHS, I
learned that the project inception was in 1981. The boards I got have
either 1983 or 1984 copyright dates on them.
There was also an unlabeled hacked carthridge in the pile (not pictured).
I don't know if the ROM is still good on it though. It's been in a pretty
rough climate. If it does work I imagine it has some interesting code on
it perhaps.
The whole pile of cards looked as though they had been sitting in a box
outside under a tree or something. The solder traces were starting to
corrode and chip leads starting to rust. I cleaned off a lot of bug and
leaf debris and lots of dirt. It's a shame they had to be stored like
this, but I guess the guy who designed this stuff didn't think it was
significant.
Also in the pile were some odd items. There was a board labelled "Misty
001". Is this related to something else? There was also a home-made
acoustic coupler box. I don't know what it's purpose is, but it had an
Atari serial connector on the back. Both of these are pictured.
The photos are at:
http://www.siconic.com/crap/AtariTel
Sorry I didn't label the pictures properly. You'll just have to go
through and check them all out if you're at all interested in this. It
was really cool discovering this stuff. In their heyday, Atari hand their
hands in everything it seems.
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger
http://www.vintage.org
Received on Mon Apr 02 2001 - 02:17:33 BST