Atari Falcon

Infobox computer
Photo =
Name = Atari Falcon
Type = Personal computer
Released = 1992
Discontinued = 1993
Processor = Motorola 68030 @ 16 MHz
Memory = 1 ~ 14 Megabytes
OS = TOS/MultiTOS

The Atari Falcon was Atari Corporation's final computer product, more specifically named the Atari Falcon030 Computer System. Codenamed "Sparrow", the machine was based on a Motorola 68030 main CPU, and had a Motorola 56000 digital signal processor (the latter distinguishing it from most other microcomputers of the era).

The Falcon was released in late 1992 and subsequently cancelled in late 1993 as Atari Corp. restructured itself to focus completely on the release and support of its newest product, the Atari Jaguar video game console. The Atari Falcon030 had many powerful features. The use of the 1040ST case was due to haste and low cost, the planned "microbox" case that was more like the Mega STe or TT030 case wasn't ready yet and Atari Corp. had decided to exit the computer business.

The Falcon's performance was not as great as it could have been, mostly due to Atari Corp.'s decision to put the 32-bit 68030 microprocessor on a 16-bit data bus. This was in order to maintain close compatibility with the Atari STE. Apple Computer was widely criticised for making the same kind of decision with their Macintosh LC computer, although this was done to prevent sales of this low-end computer from cutting into the sales of the more expensive Macs.

Atari Corp. created a number of prototypes of the Falcon040 (based on the more capable fully-pipelined, integrated-FPU, Motorola 68040, and using a "microbox" case), but canceled it in order to focus developers on the "Atari Jaguar".

Interestingly the microbox case designed by Atari Corp. looks a lot like the Sony Playstation 2, right down to the ability to run it vertically or horizontally. [Smith, Tony. [http://www.theregister.co.uk/1999/11/17/playstation_2_apes_ancient_atari/ "PlayStation 2 apes ancient Atari?"] , "The Register", 1999-11-17. Retrieved on 2008-07-28.] It is even referenced in the PS2 patent applications. [US patent reference
number = D452688
y = 1999
m = 12
d = 21
inventor = Teiyu Goto
title = Arithmetic and control unit]

Shortly after release Atari Corp. bundled the MultiTOS Operating system in addition to TOS. TOS remained in ROM, and MultiTOS was supplied on floppy disk and could be installed to boot from hard disk.

In 1995, the music company C-Lab bought the rights to the Falcon hardware design and began producing their own versions. The Falcon Mk I was a direct continuation of Atari Corp.'s Falcon030 with TOS 4.04. The Falcon Mk II addressed a number of shortcomings in the original design, making it more suitable to use in a recording studio (these were unofficially termed 'Cubase modifications') such as accepting Line-level audio in without the need for a pre-amp or mixer. The Falcon Mk X was mounted in a 19" 1U rack case, with external keyboard and space for internal SCSI hard discs.

Today, the Falcon is one of Atari Corp.'s most popular machines for hardware modding. Due to its expansion capabilities, several accelerators have been produced. Some of them overclock the CPU and/or the bus, while others upgrade the CPU to a Motorola 68060.

pecifications (Falcon030)

* Processor: Motorola 68030 at 16 MHz with 256 byte instruction and data caches.
* FPU: optional Motorola 68881 or Motorola 68882
* DSP: Motorola 56001 DSP chip at 32 MHz.
* Graphics: "VIDEL" video CPU.
** Palette of 262,144 possible colours.
** resolution of 640 x 480 with 256 colours.
** resolution of 640 x 400 with 65,536 colours.
** BLiTTER graphics co-processor.
** Backwards compatible with all ST resolutions.
* Audio:
** 8 stereo (16 mono) 16 bit audio DMA channels at up to 50 kHz
** SDMA sound/DMA Co-processor
** Yamaha YM2149 3 Channel PSG
* Memory: 1, 4, or 14 MB of RAM with 512 KB ROM.
* Bus Speed: 16 MHz, Bus width: 16bit
* Drives and I/O
** 2.5 inch IDE - internal
** 1.44 MB 3.5 inch Floppy disk - internal
** External SCSI-II connector

External links

* [http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/16bits/falcon030.html Atari Museum]
* [http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=125&st=1 Atari Falcon 030 at Old-Computers.com]

Notes and references