| Revision as of 21:20, 25 July 2003 editDmsar (talk | contribs)957 editsmNo edit summary← Previous edit | Revision as of 00:47, 7 August 2003 edit undoDan Mazurowski (talk | contribs)96 editsm clarifying some tech details, add Flare2 referenceNext edit → | ||
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| The '''Atari Jaguar''' and the ] were the last two ] systems to be developed, not by Atari but by outside contractors; Atari did not want any direct involvement in hardware production. | The '''Atari Jaguar''' and the ] were the last two ] systems to be developed, not by Atari but by outside contractors; Atari did not want any direct involvement in hardware production. | ||
| In ], ] and ] said that not only could they make a console far superior to the ] or the ] but be cost efficient at the same time. | In ], Flare2 (a company formed by ] and ] with Atari funding) said that not only could they make a console far superior to the ] or the ] but be cost efficient at the same time. | ||
| Atari immediately agreed and the system was released in 1993 for $250 under a $500 million manufacturing deal with ]. | Atari immediately agreed and the system was released in 1993 for $250 under a $500 million manufacturing deal with ]. | ||
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| The final nail in its coffin was the release of both the Sony ] and ]. | The final nail in its coffin was the release of both the Sony ] and ]. | ||
| In a last ditch effort, Atari tried to play down these two consoles by claiming the Jaguar was the only 64-bit system. | In a last ditch effort, Atari tried to play down these two consoles by claiming the Jaguar was the only 64-bit system. | ||
| Their effort was in vain, and production of the Jaguar stopped after |
Their effort was in vain, and production of the Jaguar stopped after Atari purchased ] in a reverse takeover. | ||
| === Specs === | === Specs === | ||
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| <table> | <table> | ||
| <tr><th valign="top">CPUs:</th> | <tr><th valign="top">CPUs:</th> | ||
| <td>"Tom" chip (contains 3 video-related processors), 25.59 MHz | |||
| <td>"Tom" (the video processor) - 32/64 bit graphics processor at 26.59Mhz, 64 bit object processor, 64 bit ], 64 bit DRAM controller | |||
| *Graphics processing unit (GPU) - 32-bit RISC architecture, 4K internal cache, provides wide array of graphic effects | |||
| *64 bit object processor - programmable; can behave as a variety of graphic architectures | |||
| *64 bit ] - high speed logic operations, Z-buffering & Gourad shading | |||
| *64 bit DRAM controller (not a processor) | |||
| "Jerry" (the audio processor) - 32 bit DSP at 26.6Mhz | "Jerry" (the audio processor) - 32 bit DSP at 26.6Mhz | ||
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| === External Links === | === External Links === | ||
| * http://dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Console_Platforms/Atari/Jaguar_64/ | * http://dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Console_Platforms/Atari/Jaguar_64/ | ||
| * Jaguar FAQ: http://www.digiserve.com/eescape/showpage.phtml?page=a2 | |||
Revision as of 00:47, 7 August 2003
The Atari Jaguar and the Atari Lynx were the last two Atari systems to be developed, not by Atari but by outside contractors; Atari did not want any direct involvement in hardware production. In 1990, Flare2 (a company formed by Martin Brennan and John Mathieson with Atari funding) said that not only could they make a console far superior to the Sega Genesis or the Super NES but be cost efficient at the same time. Atari immediately agreed and the system was released in 1993 for $250 under a $500 million manufacturing deal with IBM.
Initially the system sold well, but because of poor games it was eventually considered a failure. The system was quite difficult to program for, as the hardware had a large number of bugs, including one in the memory controller that kept some of its processors from being able to execute code from the system RAM . The final nail in its coffin was the release of both the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn. In a last ditch effort, Atari tried to play down these two consoles by claiming the Jaguar was the only 64-bit system. Their effort was in vain, and production of the Jaguar stopped after Atari purchased JT Storage in a reverse takeover.
Specs
| CPUs: | "Tom" chip (contains 3 video-related processors), 25.59 MHz
"Jerry" (the audio processor) - 32 bit DSP at 26.6Mhz Motorola 68000 at 13.295Mhz |
|---|---|
| RAM: | 2MB |
| Storage: | Cartridge - up to 6MB |