In 1991, the Sega Genesis was at the cutting edge of videogame technology in America and enjoying strong sales. NEC's Turbografx-16 was a distant second, and the Super Nintendo was yet to be released. Rumors swirled about various new peripherals and consoles - Genesis and Neo-Geo CD drives, the Sony Playstation, and a CD drive for the forthcoming Super Nintendo. Another rumor to circulate in 1991 was that Atari was back with a new 32-bit console called the Panther that was set to debut against the Super Nintendo later that year. However, after the Summer CES that year, Atari announced that the Panther was cancelled so that they could concentrate on a new machine, the 64-bit Jaguar. Behind the scenes, Atari had actually been developing both systems at the same time, but the Jaguar had progressed at such a rate that it made sense to skip the Panther.
Atari was very tight-lipped about its new machine at first, but then it began sending out press releases announcing the Jaguar with various technical specifications. Atari said they planned to debut the machine in 1993, and that there would definitely be a 64-bit RISC based processor at its core. This was exciting news to gamers, as it would seemingly make it the most technically advanced machine, well beyond the 16-bit Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. Even better, Atari said the price would be between $100 and $150.
Technically, the Jaguar was impressive. Five processors reside in three chips, two of them being proprietary (Tom and Jerry) with a third being a Motorola 68000 coprocessor. The GPU runs at 26.591Mhz and is rated at 26.591 MIPS (Millions of Instructions Per Second). There is a 64-bit data bus for communication and two megabytes of fast-page mode DRAM. Development systems cost between $7,500 and $9,000 and ran on IBM PC or Atari TT030 computers, with art development possible on various other machines.
When Atari finally announced the official launch of the Jaguar, the price tag was $200 and was bundled with a Cybermorph cartridge and one controller. However, when it actually hit store shelves the price had climbed to $250. Even with a higher price tag, sales were brisk. IBM was manufacturing the system for Atari, and things were looking up. Atari was set to market the Jaguar with a $3 million advertising budget, a telephone support line, and promised support from over 20 third party developers. However, retailers and the media were still skeptical that Atari could deliver quality software and keep all of its promises.
When the machine actually hit the streets, the reaction was mixed. Some gamers were excited by the increased power, while some felt that the system fell short of its promises. Some people claimed that the the Jaguar wasn't actually a true 64-bit system, that it was simply two 32-bit processors working in parallel. However, Atari was pressing forward with their advertising campaign touting its 64-bit power, and an impressive number of third-party titles had been announced in development. Unfortunately for these developers, the Jaguar proved very difficult to program for and Atari did not have sufficient development tools. Many Jaguar games were consequently delayed, and others were rushed out the door and were less than impressive. Ultimately, many announced developers simply did not develop any Jaguar titles.
Showing posts with label Atari Jaguar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Atari Jaguar. Show all posts
Monday, March 19, 2007
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Specifications of Atari Jaguar
A. Physical dimensions:
Size: 9.5" x 10" x 2.5"
Controls: Power on/off
Display: Programmable screen resolution. Horizontal resolution is
dependent on the amount of scanline buffer space given to the
"Tom" graphics processor. Maximum vertical resolution varies
according to the refresh rate (NTSC or PAL). Reportedly, a
stock Jaguar (without additional memory) running NTSC can
display up to 576 rows of pixels.
24-bit "True Color" display with 16,777,216 colors
simultaneously (additional 8 bits of supplimental graphics
data support possible)
Multiple-resolution, multiple-color depth objects (monochrome,
2-bit, 4-bit, 8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit) can be used
simultaneously
Ports: Cartridge slot/expansion port (32 bits)
RF video output
Video edge connector (video/audio output)
(supports NTSC and PAL; provides S-Video, Composite, RGB
outputs, accessible by optional add-on connector)
Two controller ports
Digital Signal Processor port (includes high-speed synchronous
serial input/output)
Controllers: Eight-directional joypad
Size 6.25" x 5" x 1.6", cord 7 feet
Three fire buttons (A, B, C)
Pause and Option buttons
12-key keypad (accepts game-specific overlays)
The Jaguar has five processors which are contained in three chips. Two of
the chips are proprietary designs, nicknamed "Tom" and "Jerry". The third
chip is a standard Motorola 68000, and used as a coprocessor. Tom and
Jerry are built using an 0.5 micron silicon process. With proper
programming, all five processors can run in parallel.
- "Tom"
- 750,000 transistors, 208 pins
- Graphics Processing Unit (processor #1)
- 32-bit RISC architecture (32/64 processor)
- 64 registers of 32 bits wide
- Has access to all 64 bits of the system bus
- Can read 64 bits of data in one instruction
- Rated at 26.591 MIPS (million instructions per second)
- Runs at 26.591 MHz
- 4K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM
- Performs a wide range of high-speed graphic effects
- Programmable
- Object processor (processor #2)
- 64-bit RISC architecture
- 64-bit wide registers
- Programmable processor that can act as a variety of different video
architectures, such as a sprite engine, a pixel-mapped display, a
character-mapped system, and others.
- Blitter (processor #3)
- 64-bit RISC architecture
- 64-bit wide registers
- Performs high-speed logical operations
- Hardware support for Z-buffering and Gouraud shading
- DRAM memory controller
- 64 bits
- Accesses the DRAM directly
- "Jerry"
- 600,000 transistors, 144 pins
- Digital Signal Processor (processor #4)
- 32 bits (32-bit registers)
- Rated at 26.6 MIPS (million instructions per second)
- Runs at 26.6 MHz
- Same RISC core as the Graphics Processing Unit
- Not limited to sound generation
- 8K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM
- CD-quality sound (16-bit stereo)
- Number of sound channels limited by software
- Two DACs (stereo) convert digital data to analog sound signals
- Full stereo capabilities
- Wavetable synthesis, FM synthesis, FM Sample synthesis, and AM
synthesis
- A clock control block, incorporating timers, and a UART
- Joystick control
- Motorola 68000 (processor #5)
- Runs at 13.295MHz
- General purpose control processor
Communication is performed with a high speed 64-bit data bus, rated at
106.364 megabytes/second. The 68000 is only able to access 16 bits of
this bus at a time.
The Jaguar contains two megabytes (16 megabits) of fast page-mode DRAM,
in four chips with 512 K each. Game cartridges can support up to six
megabytes (48 megabits) of information, and can contain an EEPROM
(electrically erasable/programmable read-only memory) chip to save game
information and settings. Up to 100,000 writes can be performed with the
EEPROM; after that, future writes may not be saved (performance varies
widely, but 100,000 is a guaranteed minimum). Depending on use, this
limit should take from 10 to 50 years to reach.
The Jaguar uses 24-bit addressing, and is reportedly capable of accessing
data as follows:
Six megabytes cartridge ROM
Eight megabytes DRAM
Two megabytes miscellaneous/expansion
All of the processors can access the main DRAM memory area directly. The
Digital Signal Processor and the Graphics Processor can execute code out
of either their internal caches, or out of main memory. The only
limitations are that
(1) "jump" instructions in main memory have certain restrictions; the JMP
(unconditional jump) command is longword-aligned, while the JR
(jump-indexed-by-register) command must be either word- or longword-
aligned. And
(2) running out of the cache is much faster (up to four times faster) and
efficient.
Some believe that the inability to jump/branch in main memory makes the
main memory feature useless.
Swapping data between the caches and the main memory is a quick, low
overhead operation, and therefore the main memory is often used as "swap
space" for cache code. The RISC compiler included in the latest Jaguar
developer's kit produced code that transparently swaps code through the
cache. This effectively allowed developers write RISC code without
concern for the cache size limits.
Compressed cartridge data can be uncompressed in real-time, and ratios of
up to 14:1 have been cited. In theory, a Jaguar cartridge can store up to
84 megabytes (672 megabits) of data, though actual results will vary
widely (most often, images are compressed, while sound and code are not).
Compression is performed with BPEG, an enhanced JPEG image decompression
mechanism. BPEG supercedes the former JagPEG algorithm, working up to 10
times faster and with more flexibility.
Other Jaguar features:
- Support for ComLynx I/O for communications with the Atari Lynx hand-held
game system and networked multiconsole games (on DSP port, accessible
by optional add-on connector). Networking of up to 32 Jaguar units
available.
- The two controller ports can be expanded to support "dozens" of
controllers
- Digital and analog interfaces
- Keyboards, mice, and light guns are possible
- Expansion port allows connection to cable TV and other networks
- Digital Signal Processor port allows connection to modems and digital
audio peripherals (such as DAT players)
- One megabyte per second serial interface
- 9600 baud, RS-232 serial port (accessible with optional interface)
- General-purpose I/O bits via the cartridge port
- Can accomodate future expansions of different processor types, I/O
types, video types, and memory types and/or quantities.
Size: 9.5" x 10" x 2.5"
Controls: Power on/off
Display: Programmable screen resolution. Horizontal resolution is
dependent on the amount of scanline buffer space given to the
"Tom" graphics processor. Maximum vertical resolution varies
according to the refresh rate (NTSC or PAL). Reportedly, a
stock Jaguar (without additional memory) running NTSC can
display up to 576 rows of pixels.
24-bit "True Color" display with 16,777,216 colors
simultaneously (additional 8 bits of supplimental graphics
data support possible)
Multiple-resolution, multiple-color depth objects (monochrome,
2-bit, 4-bit, 8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit) can be used
simultaneously
Ports: Cartridge slot/expansion port (32 bits)
RF video output
Video edge connector (video/audio output)
(supports NTSC and PAL; provides S-Video, Composite, RGB
outputs, accessible by optional add-on connector)
Two controller ports
Digital Signal Processor port (includes high-speed synchronous
serial input/output)
Controllers: Eight-directional joypad
Size 6.25" x 5" x 1.6", cord 7 feet
Three fire buttons (A, B, C)
Pause and Option buttons
12-key keypad (accepts game-specific overlays)
The Jaguar has five processors which are contained in three chips. Two of
the chips are proprietary designs, nicknamed "Tom" and "Jerry". The third
chip is a standard Motorola 68000, and used as a coprocessor. Tom and
Jerry are built using an 0.5 micron silicon process. With proper
programming, all five processors can run in parallel.
- "Tom"
- 750,000 transistors, 208 pins
- Graphics Processing Unit (processor #1)
- 32-bit RISC architecture (32/64 processor)
- 64 registers of 32 bits wide
- Has access to all 64 bits of the system bus
- Can read 64 bits of data in one instruction
- Rated at 26.591 MIPS (million instructions per second)
- Runs at 26.591 MHz
- 4K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM
- Performs a wide range of high-speed graphic effects
- Programmable
- Object processor (processor #2)
- 64-bit RISC architecture
- 64-bit wide registers
- Programmable processor that can act as a variety of different video
architectures, such as a sprite engine, a pixel-mapped display, a
character-mapped system, and others.
- Blitter (processor #3)
- 64-bit RISC architecture
- 64-bit wide registers
- Performs high-speed logical operations
- Hardware support for Z-buffering and Gouraud shading
- DRAM memory controller
- 64 bits
- Accesses the DRAM directly
- "Jerry"
- 600,000 transistors, 144 pins
- Digital Signal Processor (processor #4)
- 32 bits (32-bit registers)
- Rated at 26.6 MIPS (million instructions per second)
- Runs at 26.6 MHz
- Same RISC core as the Graphics Processing Unit
- Not limited to sound generation
- 8K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM
- CD-quality sound (16-bit stereo)
- Number of sound channels limited by software
- Two DACs (stereo) convert digital data to analog sound signals
- Full stereo capabilities
- Wavetable synthesis, FM synthesis, FM Sample synthesis, and AM
synthesis
- A clock control block, incorporating timers, and a UART
- Joystick control
- Motorola 68000 (processor #5)
- Runs at 13.295MHz
- General purpose control processor
Communication is performed with a high speed 64-bit data bus, rated at
106.364 megabytes/second. The 68000 is only able to access 16 bits of
this bus at a time.
The Jaguar contains two megabytes (16 megabits) of fast page-mode DRAM,
in four chips with 512 K each. Game cartridges can support up to six
megabytes (48 megabits) of information, and can contain an EEPROM
(electrically erasable/programmable read-only memory) chip to save game
information and settings. Up to 100,000 writes can be performed with the
EEPROM; after that, future writes may not be saved (performance varies
widely, but 100,000 is a guaranteed minimum). Depending on use, this
limit should take from 10 to 50 years to reach.
The Jaguar uses 24-bit addressing, and is reportedly capable of accessing
data as follows:
Six megabytes cartridge ROM
Eight megabytes DRAM
Two megabytes miscellaneous/expansion
All of the processors can access the main DRAM memory area directly. The
Digital Signal Processor and the Graphics Processor can execute code out
of either their internal caches, or out of main memory. The only
limitations are that
(1) "jump" instructions in main memory have certain restrictions; the JMP
(unconditional jump) command is longword-aligned, while the JR
(jump-indexed-by-register) command must be either word- or longword-
aligned. And
(2) running out of the cache is much faster (up to four times faster) and
efficient.
Some believe that the inability to jump/branch in main memory makes the
main memory feature useless.
Swapping data between the caches and the main memory is a quick, low
overhead operation, and therefore the main memory is often used as "swap
space" for cache code. The RISC compiler included in the latest Jaguar
developer's kit produced code that transparently swaps code through the
cache. This effectively allowed developers write RISC code without
concern for the cache size limits.
Compressed cartridge data can be uncompressed in real-time, and ratios of
up to 14:1 have been cited. In theory, a Jaguar cartridge can store up to
84 megabytes (672 megabits) of data, though actual results will vary
widely (most often, images are compressed, while sound and code are not).
Compression is performed with BPEG, an enhanced JPEG image decompression
mechanism. BPEG supercedes the former JagPEG algorithm, working up to 10
times faster and with more flexibility.
Other Jaguar features:
- Support for ComLynx I/O for communications with the Atari Lynx hand-held
game system and networked multiconsole games (on DSP port, accessible
by optional add-on connector). Networking of up to 32 Jaguar units
available.
- The two controller ports can be expanded to support "dozens" of
controllers
- Digital and analog interfaces
- Keyboards, mice, and light guns are possible
- Expansion port allows connection to cable TV and other networks
- Digital Signal Processor port allows connection to modems and digital
audio peripherals (such as DAT players)
- One megabyte per second serial interface
- 9600 baud, RS-232 serial port (accessible with optional interface)
- General-purpose I/O bits via the cartridge port
- Can accomodate future expansions of different processor types, I/O
types, video types, and memory types and/or quantities.
Atari Jaguar Console - Brief History
In 1993 Atari Corp finally returned to the home video game console market with its advancement 64 bit multimedia entertainment system called the Atari Jaguar 64. This system featured high resolution graphics, superb stereo sound and DSP expansion capabilities which made it the perfect platform for a whole new generation of video games and accessories. However, Atari Corp's short lived re-entry back into the market would not last long, with Sega's Saturn and Sony's Playstation consoles looming on the horizon and Jaguar 64 sales not meeting expectations the plug was pulled on both the Jaguar 64 and Atari Corp itself in 1996 when Atari allowed itself to be reverse merged with JTS Corp, a little known hard disk manufacture who was hungry for a fresh injection of fast cash and an easy route to becoming a company with publicly traded stock. ATC ceased to exist on the stock exchange and JTS took its place. The stock then proceeded to nose dive from $3-4 per share to .65 cents per share (one time as low as .12 cents) and had held around that number until the company went bankrupt.
JTS management then liquidated the remaining stock of Jaguar 64's and related products and ceased support to the Jaguar 64 line. Under the shadow of an SEC investigation for not maintaining Atari's business as specified in the reverse merger agreement, JTS quickly sold the Atari division.
On March 3, 1998 JTS sold its Atari division to Hasbro Interactive for $5 million and Hasbro began to sell retro-game versions of Atari's most popular titles for the PC and Playstation markets. Hasbro only pursued software releases of Atari titles and no plans of utilizing any of Atari proprietary hardware designs for any new console or handheld games ever came about. Hasbro Interactive was purchased among other US companies by Infogrames, a well known European game company. All of the US companies were pulled together an became Atari, Inc. In 2004 Atari would make its first return into the console market with the Flashback-1 console, other consoles are on the horizon including Flashback 2.0, a 100% 2600 VCS compatible game console and rumor has it other more powerful consoles based on Atari proprietary chip designs are in the works.
Atari had many bold plans and announcements for the Jaguar platform when it came out, however many of the promises quickly fell short, It was these unfortunate turns of events which caused certain projects to be cancelled and products which were completed to never see the site of day. Above you see the Jaguar 64 as we know it, in other sectoins you will see an image of what the Jaguar developers system looked like in 1993. You will also see an image of a completely finished Atari product which could have given the Jaguar 64 some real power, other unusual and possibly breakthrough products never saw the light of day
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
