You were doing well until the very end. Atari stopped making computers at the end of 1993. The company continued on with its video game products, the Lynx, and the Jaguar, until 1996, when the company (essentially its intellectual property) was sold to JTS, a disk drive manufacturer.
It amazes me that many computer fans of the era don't know the essential contributions of Atari computers to the industry! Jay Miner's team put together revolutionary platforms which influenced future home computers and gaming. The Atari 8bit line was the first home computer that introduced specs that defined the future of the industry. Things like the SIO port (first USB like implimentation), Svideo port, autoboot feature across all mediums, custom chipset with an additional co processor (ANTIC) for graphics and sound , large color palette and hardware scrolling, sprites and scaling, screen saver, reset key, PCM audio capabilities etc etc. all became a standard and were copied by many computers.
Hearing about the retailers' perceptions of Atari and Tramiel was interesting. I didn't know about that, and could explain a good deal about why Atari's sales in the U.S. were lackluster, once Tramiel took over. I remember seeing Atari 400s selling at Target department stores, a major chain, probably in 1982, along with the 2600 console. And I saw the 1200XL selling at Sears in 1983. I didn't see any Atari products selling in department stores after that. When I finally bought my own Atari in 1988, I got it through a small Atari retailer, a "mom and pop business," so to speak. That was "interesting." I originally tried to buy my computer through a different small Atari retailer, and got shafted. I had bought the computer and a disk drive through them, but only got the disk drive. They went out of business, and I didn't get my money back. The owner left the state, so I couldn't sue him in small claims. I ended up buying my computer (a second time!) through another small Atari retailer that was more stable. The buying experience didn't feel good, but I didn't regret getting my Atari, finally. That was sort of a common feeling among Atari computer owners. The technology was a lot better than the company that made it. A good way to explain it is the engineers at Atari were good, but the management sucked. We loved our computers, but frequently, the decisions at the company made us cringe.
Wow! It's interesting to see how Atari’s poor relationship with major retailers affected how their computers were bought and how buying Atari Computers from small retailers might not have been great, but it's good to hear that you were ultimately happy with your Atari computer despite the challenges. It sounds like the technology itself was solid, but the management decisions at the company were sometimes questionable and ultimately led to the death of an otherwise good computer company.
@@Tech_History_Channel - It generally was solid. I had a couple problems with the 1050 drive. One is if I used it a lot, it overheated. One day, it shorted out, and blew a fuse in its power supply. I had to get it repaired (fortunately, I was able to find a local repair tech who could work on it). After that, I put a small desk fan behind it to cool it off, which worked out. Another problem that developed is since I only had one drive, I changed disks a lot. This eventually wore out the spring that lifted the hub, so I couldn't get a disk in or out. I figured out if I turned the drive on its side, that the spring had enough force left to move the hub. I never got that repaired, but I was able to continue using it. From my experience, and what I heard from Atari engineers in recent years, the earlier 810 disk drive was a solid piece of machinery. It was larger than the 1050, and stored about 40K less per disk.
Thank you :-) I actually thought it was under Jack Trammel that began developing an Atari computer. I didn’t realise it was under Ray Kassar. Thanks for clearing that up. :-)
I also didn't know until recently. I only found out because of the Commodore video when I was researching the part about Jack Tramiel's departure from Commodore and found that after he left he bought Atari's computer division and I was like "wait, what Atari made computers, that sounds like a good video idea:)"
@@Tech_History_Channel - I was the same way in the early '80s. I only knew of them as a video game company. Then one day I saw an Atari 400 at my local library. I thought, "Wow! They make computers?!" I saw a man probably in his 60s using it, and I thought he was on the library staff. I didn't think they let patrons use such things. I was 11 years old, and my mom urged me to ask the librarian if I could use it. I was surprised to learn they let patrons sign up for time on it, after an orientation. So, that's what I did. I fell in love with it after that. :) I didn't get my own Atari computer (a 130XE) until I graduated high school. They were finally cheap enough so I could afford one.
Tramiel's Atari basically conducted industrial espionage with the ST. It was definitely an architecture cooked up at Commodore. Shivji created the ST in 5 months... Probably because he had all the ideas while working for the competition 😂
With good management, yes, but that's not what they had. As THC laid out, plus some other missteps made Atari fumble. At their height, they were a billion-dollar company, with video games and consoles making up most of their revenue. With the 1983 crash, it was a colossal fall for them. They imploded in about a year, requiring the company to be liquidated. The way one Atari engineer characterized it, the problem was that the people at the top didn't understand how to run a technology company. You have to be continually innovating to keep going. Instead, they (Warner Communications) ran it like it was a hit movie: You market the hell out of it, but you don't innovate on it. You just keep running the same product until people stop buying, and that's what happened. When the implosion happened, Warner dumped it, just like they would a movie whose popularity had died out.
You were doing well until the very end. Atari stopped making computers at the end of 1993. The company continued on with its video game products, the Lynx, and the Jaguar, until 1996, when the company (essentially its intellectual property) was sold to JTS, a disk drive manufacturer.
This is great thanks! I am pinning this comment so people can get a more clearer understanding of what happened to Atari from the mid to late 90s.
It amazes me that many computer fans of the era don't know the essential contributions of Atari computers to the industry!
Jay Miner's team put together revolutionary platforms which influenced future home computers and gaming.
The Atari 8bit line was the first home computer that introduced specs that defined the future of the industry.
Things like the SIO port (first USB like implimentation), Svideo port, autoboot feature across all mediums, custom chipset with an additional co processor (ANTIC) for graphics and sound , large color palette and hardware scrolling, sprites and scaling, screen saver, reset key, PCM audio capabilities etc etc. all became a standard and were copied by many computers.
Hearing about the retailers' perceptions of Atari and Tramiel was interesting. I didn't know about that, and could explain a good deal about why Atari's sales in the U.S. were lackluster, once Tramiel took over.
I remember seeing Atari 400s selling at Target department stores, a major chain, probably in 1982, along with the 2600 console. And I saw the 1200XL selling at Sears in 1983. I didn't see any Atari products selling in department stores after that. When I finally bought my own Atari in 1988, I got it through a small Atari retailer, a "mom and pop business," so to speak. That was "interesting." I originally tried to buy my computer through a different small Atari retailer, and got shafted. I had bought the computer and a disk drive through them, but only got the disk drive. They went out of business, and I didn't get my money back. The owner left the state, so I couldn't sue him in small claims. I ended up buying my computer (a second time!) through another small Atari retailer that was more stable.
The buying experience didn't feel good, but I didn't regret getting my Atari, finally.
That was sort of a common feeling among Atari computer owners. The technology was a lot better than the company that made it. A good way to explain it is the engineers at Atari were good, but the management sucked. We loved our computers, but frequently, the decisions at the company made us cringe.
Wow! It's interesting to see how Atari’s poor relationship with major retailers affected how their computers were bought and how buying Atari Computers from small retailers might not have been great, but it's good to hear that you were ultimately happy with your Atari computer despite the challenges. It sounds like the technology itself was solid, but the management decisions at the company were sometimes questionable and ultimately led to the death of an otherwise good computer company.
@@Tech_History_Channel - It generally was solid.
I had a couple problems with the 1050 drive. One is if I used it a lot, it overheated. One day, it shorted out, and blew a fuse in its power supply. I had to get it repaired (fortunately, I was able to find a local repair tech who could work on it). After that, I put a small desk fan behind it to cool it off, which worked out.
Another problem that developed is since I only had one drive, I changed disks a lot. This eventually wore out the spring that lifted the hub, so I couldn't get a disk in or out. I figured out if I turned the drive on its side, that the spring had enough force left to move the hub. I never got that repaired, but I was able to continue using it.
From my experience, and what I heard from Atari engineers in recent years, the earlier 810 disk drive was a solid piece of machinery. It was larger than the 1050, and stored about 40K less per disk.
Thank you :-) I actually thought it was under Jack Trammel that began developing an Atari computer. I didn’t realise it was under Ray Kassar. Thanks for clearing that up. :-)
I never knew Atari did computers until the last twenty or so years.
I also didn't know until recently. I only found out because of the Commodore video when I was researching the part about Jack Tramiel's departure from Commodore and found that after he left he bought Atari's computer division and I was like "wait, what Atari made computers, that sounds like a good video idea:)"
@@Tech_History_Channel - I was the same way in the early '80s. I only knew of them as a video game company. Then one day I saw an Atari 400 at my local library. I thought, "Wow! They make computers?!"
I saw a man probably in his 60s using it, and I thought he was on the library staff. I didn't think they let patrons use such things. I was 11 years old, and my mom urged me to ask the librarian if I could use it. I was surprised to learn they let patrons sign up for time on it, after an orientation. So, that's what I did. I fell in love with it after that. :)
I didn't get my own Atari computer (a 130XE) until I graduated high school. They were finally cheap enough so I could afford one.
Tramiel's Atari basically conducted industrial espionage with the ST. It was definitely an architecture cooked up at Commodore. Shivji created the ST in 5 months...
Probably because he had all the ideas while working for the competition 😂
I always thought Atari only made games and consoles, very interesting vid!
Another great video!
Thanks!
Atari could’ve been both a video game and computer giant !
They truly could've been!
With good management, yes, but that's not what they had. As THC laid out, plus some other missteps made Atari fumble.
At their height, they were a billion-dollar company, with video games and consoles making up most of their revenue. With the 1983 crash, it was a colossal fall for them. They imploded in about a year, requiring the company to be liquidated.
The way one Atari engineer characterized it, the problem was that the people at the top didn't understand how to run a technology company. You have to be continually innovating to keep going. Instead, they (Warner Communications) ran it like it was a hit movie: You market the hell out of it, but you don't innovate on it. You just keep running the same product until people stop buying, and that's what happened. When the implosion happened, Warner dumped it, just like they would a movie whose popularity had died out.
This is a brilliant explanation!!!