Atari Introduces Transputer, Dual-Purpose CD Player and Two PC Clones at COMDEX Opening Today in Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nev. -- November 2, 1987 -- PRNewswire -- Atari Corp. (ASE: ATC) introduced a transputer, dual-purpose CD player and two more PC clones at the Fall COMDEX show that opened here today.

Based on the INMOS T-800 transputer, Atari's Abaq marks the company's first entry into the technical workstation market, said President Sam Tramiel. It operates at 10 million instructions per second (MIPS) in a basic configuration and will give the Atari ST and Mega computers greater power than most dedicated workstations at a fraction of the cost. When attached to a transputer, the ST or Mega serves as the input/output device for the system, Tramiel said.

He said the Abaq transputer is faster and more powerful than conventional microcomputers because of its parallel processors and reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture. The Atari president said it will be possible to connect transputers to get as much as 100 MIPS out of the system. The transputers can be linked through a built-in, high-speed serial port to form a multiprocessor array or local area network (LAN). The Abaq will run Helios, a Unix-like operating system being developed by Perihelion Software of the United Kingdom.

Atari's new dual-purpose CD player reads more than 540 megabytes of data or plays music. It connects to Atari's ST and Mega computers through the direct memory access (DMA) channel, a communications port that transmits data at up 10 megabits per second. Connectors in the unit can be used to plug in speakers or headphones. The unit will be sold through computer specialty stores starting next February and is priced at $599.

Atari also introduced IBM PC XT and PC AT clones, named the PC3 and PC4, respectively. Standard features include an extended graphics adapter (EGA), internal expansion slots, a variety of graphics modes, a battery-backed clock, mouse, an internal 5-1/4-inch internal disk drive and a high-resolution amber monitor. Both units have 256 kilobytes of random access memory (RAM) dedicated to the display and 512 kilobytes of RAM for the system.

/CONTACT: Paul Gross or Hunter Gooch of Amidei and Co., 415-788-1333, for Atari; or Neil Harris of Atari, 408-745-2000/