[ Newsbits ] March 26, 2014

Tuesday, March 25th, 2014

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Hi, Benj here. People send me stuff all the time hoping I’ll post something about it on VC&G, but each item alone rarely warrants its own post. There is a solution: a regular compressed news and links column. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do for, well, almost 9 years now.

So I finally got around to it. (Just in time for blogs to become thoroughly obsolete, natch.) Newsbits could become a weekly thing, or I’ll just post them as news collects. I’ll feel it out as I go along.

News & Links

  • Vintage Computer Festival East 9.1
    April 4-6, 2014, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, New Jersey

    “Vintage Computer Festival East is a hands-on, family-friendly celebration of computer history. Activities include a book sale, classes, consignment sale, exhibit hall, food, lectures, museum tours, prizes, vendors, workshops, and more. (Why “9.1”? We skipped 9.0 in 2013 due to damage from Hurricane Sandy.)

  • Second Edition of “Atari, Inc.” Possible
    Marty Goldberg and Curt Vendel are working on a second, revised edition of the epic Atari history book they released in 2012. More info as it comes along.
  • Surfing Modern Web With Ancient Browsers
    Awesome technique renders pages as image-mapped GIFs.

    “Webrender.py came to life. It’s a cgi-bin application that resides on a machine in the middle. It renders a gif image and spits it out to the browser together with a simple web page, containing a URL and search input boxes plus the gif and image map.

  • The Temple Operating System
    The demo video for this Judeo-Christian-inspired homemade operating system will blow your mind. (via Antoni Sawicki)

    “TempleOS is an x86_64, multi-tasking, multi-cored, public domain, open source, ring-0-only, single-address-map (identity mapped), non-networked, PC operating system for recreational programming. I capped the lines of code at 100,000, so it will never be an ugly monstrosity. Currently, it is 81,489. Since God’s temple must be perfect and we have 1,000 years in mind, I do not promise that anything is future-proof.

Echo Box

Here are some products, creative works, and upcoming projects seeking support. No endorsement from VC&G is implied.

  • Nova Phase
    A downloadable comic book with NES-style pixel art graphics.
  • donkulous DONKEYS (iTunes Link)
    “We’ve just released a new free iOS game, donkulous DONKEYS. It’s an unapologetically hard but insanely addictive retro arcade game, inspired by Bill Gates’ first one-and-only DOS game.
  • Armiga Project on Indiegogo
    “Wouldn’t it be great to be able to use all those aging Amiga disks again? Maybe the original Amiga is a bit big and video quality not so good… A smaller version, with modern connections would be awesome, isn’t it? That’s what we’ve done: take modern technology and make it work with good old floppies.

Submit News

If you want me to include something on a future Newsbits column, send me an email with “[Newsbits]” in the subject line. My email filter will route it directly into my brain.

The First Atari Jaguar Press Release (1993)

Saturday, November 12th, 2005

Atari JaguarStraight from RedWolf’s vintage text file archives: It’s the original Atari Jaguar Press Release! Sure, you can probably find this elsewhere on the web, but I downloaded this text, as you see it, directly from the official Atari Forum (GO ATARI) on Compuserve in 1993. I was a huge fan of Atari at the time, and news of a new system from them was extremely exciting — exciting enough for me to archive the press release for over twelve years. It’s an entertaining read.

Sunnyvale, CA – June 1993 – Atari Corporation, the founder of the video game industry and the creative force behind some of the world’s best known titles, has announced the launch of a revolutionary new multi-media entertainment system, the ATARI JAGUAR. The launch will be supported by aggressive advertising, promotion and marketing efforts to be centered in the New York market in the Fall, with a national roll-out of the product within one year.

The ATARI JAGUAR, housed in a futuristic casing, is an interactive multi- media system based on an Atari-designed proprietary 64-bit RISC processor. The 64-bit system is four times the technology currently seen in the market today. The ATARI JAGUAR features over 16 million colors in 24-bit true color graphics and produces shaded 3-D polygons to be manipulated in a “real” world in real time. The ATARI JAGUAR also has real time texture mapping and creates spectacular video effects.

The sound system is based on Atari’s proprietary, high-speed, Digital Signal Processor dedicated to audio. The audio is 16-bit stereo CD quality and processes simultaneous sources of audio data, allowing for very realistic sounds, as well as human voices, which are essential for future multi- media applications.

The ATARI JAGUAR is truly expandable and will include a 32-bit expansion port which allows for future connection into cable and telephone networks, as well as a digital signal processing port for modem use and connection to digital audio peripherals such as DAT players.

The unit will also have a compact disc peripheral, which will be double-speed and will play regular CD audio, CD + G (Karaoke), and Kodak’s new Photo-CD.

Currently, there are multiple software titles in development, which will be available on MegaCart ™. Atari, known for such groundbreaking 3-D titles as Battlezone 2000 (r), and Tempest 2000 (r), will issue spectacular new versions for the ATARI JAGUAR. New 3-D game titles will include Cybermorph (r), Alien vs. Predator (r), Jaguar Formula One Racing ™ and many more. Atari will license third party publishers to join the Jaguar family.

“The ATARI JAGUAR system will revolutionize the state of home entertainment as we see it today,” said Sam Tramiel, president of Atari. “The idea of a 64-bit system is earthshattering and kids and adults will be amazed at both the imagery and manipulative capabilities. And we are proud that our entry into the multi-media entertainment category will be fully made in America.”

The ATARI JAGUAR will retail for approximately $200 and will be available nationwide next year. The ATARI JAGUAR packaged unit will include one software experience and a Power Pad (r) Controller with a ten-key pad, and other special features.

Atari Corp. manufactures and markets personal computers and video games for the home, office and educational marketplaces throughout the world. Atari headquarters are located at 1196 Borregas Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94089.

Hehe.. “The ATARI JAGUAR packaged unit will include one software experience.” I like that part. And this — “The ATARI JAGUAR features over 16 million colors in 24-bit true color graphics and produces shaded 3-D polygons to be manipulated in a “real” world in real time.” Putting the word “real” in quotes isn’t too reassuring. Why not just say “virtual” instead?