Atari TT030
Type	Personal computer
Released	1990
Discontinued	1993
Processor	Motorola 68030 32MHz
Memory	2/16 MiB
OS	Atari TOS 3.0x

The Atari TT030 is a 32-bit version of the 16-bit Atari ST family. Atari TT030 Computer File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The three-letter acronym MIB may refer to any of several concepts: Management information base, a computing information repository used (for example) by SNMP In marbles, any marble, but esp. ... Atari ST GEM desktop The Operating System (TOS) was the operating system of the Atari ST range of computers. ... 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. ...

History

Atari realized that to remain competitive, they needed to begin taking steps to exploit the power offered by other processors in the Motorola 68000 series. At that time, the best option was the 68020. It was the first true "thirty-two bit bus/thirty-two bit instruction" chip from Motorola. Unlike the original 68000 used in the STs, the 68020 was capable of fetching a 32-bit value in one cycle, while the older STs took two cycles to fetch a 32-bit value. Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is an American multinational communications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. ... The Motorola 68000 is a CISC microprocessor, the first member of a successful family of microprocessors from Motorola, which were all mostly software compatible. ... The Motorola 68020 is a microprocessor from Motorola. ... 32-bit is a term applied to processors, and computer architectures which manipulate the address and data in 32-bit chunks. ...

The TT was initially designed around the 68020 CPU, however as the project progressed, Atari realized that the 68020 was not the best option for the TT. The 68020 still lacked certain important features offered by the next successor in the 68000 line, the new 68030. The new 68030 featured a full 32-bit address/data bus and internal registers; separate Supervisor, User, Program, and Data virtual memory spaces; built-in memory-management hardware; and 256-byte on-chip instruction and data caches. Motorola 68030 Processor from a Macintosh IIsi The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor in Motorolas 68000 family. ... Virtual memory is an addressing scheme implemented in hardware and software that allows non-contiguous memory to be addressed as if it is contiguous. ...

When the decision was made to switch from a 68020 to a 68030 CPU, it presented a whole new set of problems. The original specifications for the TT's clock speed was 16 MHz, which was selected to maintain backward compatibility. The existing ST chips used in the TT (DMA and video chips for example) could not handle anything over 16 MHz. Some software also had problems running at faster speeds. To make the system work with a 32 MHz 68030, Atari had to scale back their plans somewhat, and add a large amount of cache to the system. As a result, the processor runs at 32 MHz, while the system bus runs at 16 MHz. The Motorola 68020 is a microprocessor from Motorola. ... Motorola 68030 Processor from a Macintosh IIsi The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor in Motorolas 68000 family. ... Look up cache in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

TOS 3.01 was the operating system that came with the Atari TT. It was a 512 KiB ROM specifically designed for the TT. However, it did not feature pre-emptive multitasking. Another variant, known as TT/X, used Unix System V R4 and WISH (motif extension). According to the International Electrotechnical Commission a kibibyte (a contraction of kilo binary byte) is a unit of information or computer storage. ... Pre-emptive multitasking is a form of multitasking. ...

The TT030 was first introduced at CeBIT in Hanover, Germany and launched in 1990. It retailed for $2995 with 2 MiB RAM and 50 MB hard drive. The US release followed the following year. In 1993, Atari's exit from the computer business marked the end of the TT. A number of TT machines were built as developer systems for Jaguar. A crowded exhibition hall during CeBIT 2000. ... Hanover (German: , IPA: ), on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), Germany. ... MCMXC redirects here; for the Enigma album, see MCMXC a. ... 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 was a video game console introduced to the U.S. market in November 1993 against the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as a powerful next generation platform. ...

Details

The TT featured a number of devices that had previously been unavailable for Atari systems. For example, an Appletalk network port (unfortunately, there never was a driver for it, maybe due to license problems), VME expansion bus, new VGA video graphics modes, and a true SCSI port. Existing ST features such as MIDI ports, cartridge port, and the ASCI/DMA port were retained in this system. AppleTalk is a proprietary suite of protocols developed by Apple Computer for computer networking. ... VMEbus is a computer bus standard originally developed for the Motorola 68000 line of CPUs, but later widely used for many applications and standardized by the IEC as ANSI/IEEE 1014-1987. ... 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. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ...

One device that was left out was the BLiTTER graphics chip, which first appeared in the Atari Mega ST systems four to five years earlier. Apparently, Atari felt that the Motorola 68030 was enough power to drive the graphics, so one was not included. A Blitter (acronym for BLock Image TransferrER) is a chip that specialises in bitmap data-transfer using bit blit methods. ... Overview The Atari Mega STE was Ataris last ST series machine. ... Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is an American multinational communications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. ...

A new version of TOS was developed for this system. An Atari version of Unix was also released (System V). Atari ST GEM desktop The Operating System (TOS) was the operating system of the Atari ST range of computers. ... Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a computer operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ... AT&T UNIX System V was one of the versions of the UNIX operating system. ...

This machine marked Atari's last big push into the workstation market. The MEGA STe and the Falcon030 were released after this system, but they weren't aimed at business quite the same way that this system was. The TT was doomed almost from the beginning. A 50 MHz 68030 was already on the market at the time, and the 68040 wasn't too far off. A 32 MHz Processor/16 MHz bus system just didn't sound powerful enough to the workstation market. Multitasking was the big buzz word in 1990/1991, and this system was not designed to handle it. Multitasking was offered in 1993, with the release of Multi-TOS. This multitasking version of TOS took advantage of the TT's MMU, which offered multitasking as well as memory protection. The Atari Falcon was Ataris final computer product, more specifically named the Atari Falcon030 Computer System. ... The Motorola 68040 is a microprocessor from Motorola. ... In computing, multitasking is a method by which multiple tasks, also known as processes, share common processing resources such as a CPU. In the case of a computer with a single CPU, only one task is said to be running at any point in time, meaning that the CPU is... Atari ST GEM desktop The Operating System (TOS) was the operating system of the Atari ST range of computers. ... This 68451 MMU could be used with the Motorola 68010 MMU, short for memory management unit or sometimes called paged memory management unit as PMMU, is a class of computer hardware components responsible for handling memory accesses requested by the CPU. Among the functions of such devices are the translation...

Another problem was that Atari didn't release Unix for the TT until mid-1992. By the end of that year, Atari dropped all Unix development. A special version of the TT was designed to be a UNIX station, called TT/X it was supplied with UNIX System V R4 and WISH (an extension of OSF Motif). Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a computer operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ...

Technical specifications

All STs were made up of both custom and commercial chips:

• Custom chips
  • TT Shifter "TT Video shift register chip" — Enabled bitmap graphics. Featured a 64-bit wide bus with interleaved access to ("dual purpose") system memory and on-chip buffers for high bandwidths. Contiguous 32 KiB memory for ST modes, 154 KiB for TT modes.
  • TT GLU "Generalized Logic Unit" — Control logic for the system used to connect the STs chips. Not part of the data path, but needed to bridge chips with each other. Used in TT and MEGA STE.
  • DMA "Direct Memory Access" — Three independent channels, one for floppy and hard drive data transfers, one for the SCSI port and one for 85C30 SCC network port. Direct access to ("dual purpose") system memory in the ST. 2 chips used.
  • MCU "Memory Control Unit" — For system RAM.
• Support chips
  • MC6850P ACIA "Asynchronous Common Interface Adapter" — Enabled the ST to directly communicate with MIDI devices and keyboard (2 chips used). 31.25 kBaud for MIDI, 7812.5 bit/s for keyboard.
  • MC68901 MFP "Multi Function Peripheral" — Used as an interrupt controller, timers and RS232C ports (2 chips used).
  • NCR 5380 "SCSI Controller" — 8-bit asynchronous transfers up to 4 MB/s.
  • WD-1772-PH "Western Digital Floppy Disk Controller" — Floppy controller chip.
  • Zilog 85C30 SCC "Zilog Serial Controller Chips" — Two high-speed SDLC serial ports.
  • YM2149F PSG "Programmable Sound Generator" — Provided 3-voice sound synthesis, also used for floppy signalling and printer port.
  • HD6301V1 "Hitachi keyboard processor" — Used for keyboard scanning and mouse/joystick ports.
  • MC146818A "Motorola Real Time Clock"

• CPU: Motorola 68030 @ 32 MHz (system bus @ 16 MHz)
• FPU: Motorola 68882 @ 32 MHz
• RAM:
  • System RAM ("dual purpose") 2 MiB ST RAM expandable to 12 MiB
  • TT RAM ("single purpose") expandable to 256 MiB TT RAM on daughter board using either 30-pin or 72-pin SIMMs
• Sound: Yamaha YM2149 + National LMC 1992, same as in STe
• Drive: 720 kB (first TT version) or 1.44 MB (later version) 3½" floppy disk drive
• Ports:
  • MIDI In/Out
  • 3 x RS-232
  • Serial LAN RS-422
  • Printer
  • VGA Monitor (analog RGB and Mono)
  • Extra Disk drive port
  • ACSI and SCSI port
  • VMEbus inside case
  • cartridge (128 KiB)
  • keyboard (detachable)
    • Joystick and Mouse ports (on keyboard)
• Operating System:
  • NetBSD
  • TOS (The Operating System) with the Graphical Environment Manager (GEM) graphical user interface (GUI) TOS versions: 3.01, 3.05 or 3.06 in ROM. Four socketed 1 Mibit ROMs providing 512 KiB of ROM space.
• Display modes:
  • Color: 320×200 (16 color), 320×480 (256 colors), 640×200 (4 colors), 640×480 (16 colors), palette of 4096 colors
  • Duochrome: 640×400 (2 colors)
  • Monochrome: 1280×960 mono TT high with special 19 in (483 mm) monitor
• Case: Two-piece desktop-style.
• Release Date: 1990-1991

The (at least) two versions of the TT can be distinguished by: The Zilog SCC or Serial Communications Controller was introduced in the early 80s and provided the ability to do both standard UART style serial communications along with the HDLC protocol for a reasonable price. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with AY-3-8910. ... Motorola 68030 Processor from a Macintosh IIsi The Motorola 68030 is a 32-bit microprocessor in Motorolas 68000 family. ... MegaHertz (MHz) is the name given to one million (106) Hertz, a measure of frequency. ... 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. ... MegaHertz (MHz) is the name given to one million (106) Hertz, a measure of frequency. ... The three-letter acronym MIB may refer to any of several concepts: Management information base, a computing information repository used (for example) by SNMP In marbles, any marble, but esp. ... 30- (top) and 72-pin (bottom) SIMMs. ... The AY-3-8912 was a 3-voice sound chip designed by General Instruments. ... A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. ... Musical Instrument Digital Interface, or MIDI, is a system designed to transmit information between electronic musical instruments. ... RS-232 (also referred to as EIA RS-232C or V.24) is a standard for serial binary data interchange between a DTE (Data terminal equipment) and a DCE (Data communication equipment). ... EIA-422 (formerly RS-422) is a serial data communication protocol which specifies 4-wire, full-duplex, differential line, multi-drop communications. ... 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. ... The RGB color model utilizes the additive model in which red, green, and blue light are combined in various ways to create other colors. ... A photograph of a sign in grayscale The same photograph in black and white Monochrome comes from the two Greek words mono (μωνο, meaning one), and chroma (χρωμα, meaning surface or the color of the skin). A monochromatic object has a single color. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... VMEbus is a computer bus standard originally developed for the Motorola 68000 line of CPUs, but later widely used for many applications and standardized by the IEC as ANSI/IEEE 1014-1987. ... An operating system (OS) is a set of computer programs that manage the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... NetBSD is a freely redistributable, open source version of the Unix-like BSD computer operating system. ... Atari ST GEM desktop The Operating System (TOS) was the operating system of the Atari ST range of computers. ... GEM (Graphical Environment Manager) was a windowing system created by Digital Research, Inc. ... “PUI” redirects here. ... A mebibit (a contraction of mega binary bit) is a unit of information or computer storage, abbreviated Mibit or sometimes Mib. ...

• Internal sheet plate (old) or coating (new) for electromagnetic compatibility
• CPU and FPU on daughter board (old) or directly on main board (new)
• 720 kB DD floppy drive (old) or 1.44 MB HD floppy drive (new)