The Atari Falcon030

The Atari Falcon was Atari's final computer product, more specifically named the Atari Falcon030 Computer System. 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). Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 773 KB) My own photo taken 2006-01-15 File links The following pages link to this file: Atari Falcon Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2560x1920, 773 KB) My own photo taken 2006-01-15 File links The following pages link to this file: Atari Falcon Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... For the concept Atari (当たり) in the board game of Go, see Atari (go term). ... Motorola 68030 Processor from a Macintosh IIsi The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor in Motorolas 68000 family. ... Intel 80486DX2 microprocessor in a ceramic PGA package A central processing unit (CPU), or sometimes simply processor, is the component in a digital computer that interprets instructions and processes data contained in software. ... The Motorola 56000 (56k) is a family of DSP chips produced by Motorola from the 1980s on, still continuing to be produced in more advanced models in the 2000s. ... A digital signal processor (DSP) is a specialized microprocessor designed specifically for digital signal processing, generally in real-time. ...

The Falcon was released in late 1992 and subsequently canceled in 1993 as Atari 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. Unfortunately, some misread the use of the 1040ST case as indicative of lesser performance, and thought a case more like the Mega STe or TT030 case would have been much more suitable for such a relatively high-end and expensive product. 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... The Atari Jaguar is a video game console introduced in November 1993 as a powerful next generation platform. ... A video game console is a dedicated electronic machine designed to play video games. ... The Atari 520ST Atari 1040STF with SC1224 color monitor The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially popular from 1985 to the early 1990s. ... The Atari 520ST Atari 1040STF with SC1224 color monitor The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was commercially popular from 1985 to the early 1990s. ... The Atari TT030 was the fastest system that Atari ever built. ...

Apparently, Atari created a number of prototypes of the Falcon040 (based on the more capable deep-pipeline, FPU-including, Motorola 68040) but never got around to releasing them before the company's demise. A floating point unit (FPU) is a part of a CPU specially designed to carry out operations on floating point numbers. ... The Motorola 68040 is a microprocessor from Motorola. ...

Shortly after release Atari used the MiNT Operating system instead of TOS. Species See text. ... Atari ST GEM desktop The Operating System (TOS) was the operating system of the Atari ST range of computers. ...

Specifications (Falcon030)

• Processor: Motorola 68030 at 16 MHz with 256 byte cache.
• FPU: optional Motorola 68882
• DSP: Motorola 56001 DSP chip at 32 MHz.
• Graphics: "VIDEL" video CPU.
  • Palette of 262,144 possible colours.
  • VGA resolution of 640 x 480 with 256 colours.
  • 65,536 colours at 640 × 400.
  • BLiTTER graphics co-processor.
  • Backwards compatible with all ST resolutions.
• Audio:
  • 8 × 16 bit audio DMA channels at up to 50 kHz
  • SDMA sound/DMA Co-processor
  • Yamaha 2149 3 Channel Audio
• Memory: 1, 4, or 14 MB of RAM with 512 kb ROM.
• Bus Speed: 32 MHz.

Motorola 68030 Processor from a Macintosh IIsi The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor in Motorolas 68000 family. ... The Motorola 68881 was a floating-point coprocessor chip that was utilized in some computer systems that used the 68020 or 68030 CPU. The addition of the 68881 chip added substantial cost to the computer, but added a floating point unit that could rapidly perform floating point math calculations. ... The Motorola 56000 (56k) is a family of DSP chips produced by Motorola from the 1980s on, still continuing to be produced in more advanced models in the 2000s. ... Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a computer display standard first marketed in 1987 by IBM. VGA belongs to a family of earlier IBM video standards and largely remains backward compatible with them. ... A Blitter (acronym for BLock Image TransferrER) is a chip that specialises in bitmap data-transfer using bit blit methods. ...

External links

• Atari Museum
• Atari Explorer
• Machine-room.org specs