4 ms·

The spawn of AtariLab and the Universal Laboratory Interface

lordfrito 3y ago
Wow I remember wanting one of these back in the day... never got to see one but this article covers everything you ever wanted to know about the product. At the time it seemed that Atari had their hands in everything. There was the AtariTel video phone, Mindlink brain interface, AtariLab, and many other oddities that nearly/barely made it into production. They even had a device that connected their 8bit computers to Atari coin-ops to add up the quarters in the cash boxes and print reports (I think it was called the Coin Executive or something). There was something magical about that era, it seemed the future was right around the corner.
- classichasclass 3y ago
  (author) Thanks! Yes, Atari had a lot of irons in the fire back then. I have to give Warner credit for trying.
- seanmcdirmid 3y ago
  Atari transputers still blow my mind.
  - cmrdporcupine 3y ago
    That was Atari Corp (Tramiel, ex-Commodore), not Atari Inc (Warner). Diff company.
    - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
      Oof, I wasn't familiar with the distinction. Still, that it came out under the Atari brand at all is still notable.
    - lordfrito 3y ago
      At least it's the same R&D team from Bushnell/Warner, just under new management. On the consumer side, there's a lot of continuity between the Warner and Tramiel eras. The Tramiel era was a much leaner/meaner Atari, trying to shed dead weight to avoid bankruptcy. After Tramiel "merged" with JTS the company was liquidated. The consumer side of Atari no longer exists as an R&D house, all that's left is a brand name and some IP. The "fun" era was under Bushnell/Warner when they were flush with cash, lots (likely too much) of R&D spend. The Tramiel era had not quite as much innovation as Tramiel famously refused to spend money on development R&D or marketing. A lot of cool stuff was done that went nowhere, their tech failed to impact the market.
flopsamjetsam 3y ago
Interesting that the article mentions that the Atari had access to PLATO[0]. I very very vaguely remember that in promotional material. I see there are threads about it on Atari forums, and also a page in a wiki[1]. [0] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/plato-how-an-educational-computer-system-from-the-60s-shaped-the-future/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/plato-how-an-educati... [1] https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=PLATO https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=PLATO
syntheweave 3y ago
I had one of these AtariLab kits, probably leftovers from the school library(the source of a lot of retro gear and books in my youth). And yeah, it was badly misreading the room temperature in the early 90's, too. I was hardly prepared to figure out how it might be calibrated and the deep dive here would test me even now. Just one of those interesting curiosities where the intent got ahead of the practical utility.
- classichasclass 3y ago
  I'd figured they were substandard parts to begin with, but it's notable they were already going wrong by then. Still, it seemed that they did a good job when they were new(er), at least. There were many positive reports from schools.

Wow I remember wanting one of these back in the day... never got to see one but this article covers everything you ever wanted to know about the product. At the time it seemed that Atari had their hands in everything. There was the AtariTel video phone, Mindlink brain interface, AtariLab, and many other oddities that nearly/barely made it into production. They even had a device that connected their 8bit computers to Atari coin-ops to add up the quarters in the cash boxes and print reports (I think it was called the Coin Executive or something). There was something magical about that era, it seemed the future was right around the corner.

classichasclass 3y ago
(author) Thanks! Yes, Atari had a lot of irons in the fire back then. I have to give Warner credit for trying.
seanmcdirmid 3y ago
Atari transputers still blow my mind.
- cmrdporcupine 3y ago
  That was Atari Corp (Tramiel, ex-Commodore), not Atari Inc (Warner). Diff company.
  - seanmcdirmid 3y ago
    Oof, I wasn't familiar with the distinction. Still, that it came out under the Atari brand at all is still notable.
  - lordfrito 3y ago
    At least it's the same R&D team from Bushnell/Warner, just under new management. On the consumer side, there's a lot of continuity between the Warner and Tramiel eras. The Tramiel era was a much leaner/meaner Atari, trying to shed dead weight to avoid bankruptcy. After Tramiel "merged" with JTS the company was liquidated. The consumer side of Atari no longer exists as an R&D house, all that's left is a brand name and some IP. The "fun" era was under Bushnell/Warner when they were flush with cash, lots (likely too much) of R&D spend. The Tramiel era had not quite as much innovation as Tramiel famously refused to spend money on development R&D or marketing. A lot of cool stuff was done that went nowhere, their tech failed to impact the market.

flopsamjetsam 3y ago

Interesting that the article mentions that the Atari had access to PLATO[0]. I very very vaguely remember that in promotional material. I see there are threads about it on Atari forums, and also a page in a wiki[1]. [0] https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/plato-how-an-educational-computer-system-from-the-60s-shaped-the-future/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/03/plato-how-an-educati... [1] https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=PLATO https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=PLATO

syntheweave 3y ago

I had one of these AtariLab kits, probably leftovers from the school library(the source of a lot of retro gear and books in my youth). And yeah, it was badly misreading the room temperature in the early 90's, too. I was hardly prepared to figure out how it might be calibrated and the deep dive here would test me even now. Just one of those interesting curiosities where the intent got ahead of the practical utility.

classichasclass 3y ago
I'd figured they were substandard parts to begin with, but it's notable they were already going wrong by then. Still, it seemed that they did a good job when they were new(er), at least. There were many positive reports from schools.