Conference 7.286::atarist

I (as are many others, I'm sure) anxiously awaiting the appeaerance of
Stacy at Atari dealers.

There is a picture of the Stacy on the cover of the May issue of
"Current Notes".  The latest rumor is that Stacy might be available in
early November.  Atari has done a certain ammount of "act getting
together" lately, and so these rumors micht actually be true.

Stacy is supposed to be *exactly* an Atari 1040 ST, in a laptop
package.  Some things that we know, or have heard:

	- 68000 (8mhz?)
	- 1MB memory, expandable to 4MB.
	- Either dual 720K 3�" floppies, or single 720K + a 3�" hard
	  drive.  Atari will offer 30MB (SCSI).
	- 640x400 pixel flat panel backlit display.
	- Full size QWERTY keyboard array, with calculator-size numeric
	   keypad, function keys, etc.
	- Built-in trackball for use as mouse.  (It can accept an
	  external mouse as well.)
	- 4 hours use/battery charge
	- Serial port, parallel printer port, MIDI port, DMA interface
	  (easily converted to SCSI with external adaptor.)
	- Cartridge port (accepts GCR cartridge).

The retail price for the 1MB dual floppy configuration is rumored to be
about $1500.

The "Spectre GCR" cartridge will soon be available also, probabally
before Stacy.  A product of "Gadgets by Small", the cartridge accepts
the Apple Macintosh ROMs, and contains some other magic that turns the
Atari into a MAC.

Reports are that GCR will run all well-behaved Apple software, and much
of the not-so well behaved stuff.  It can read and write Macintosh disks
using the Atari's disk drive, and even manages to emulate the Mac's
sound capabilities.

An advertisment in the September "Current Notes" says:

	"Reads and writes Macintosh format disks with an Atari Disk Drive 

	Runs the newest Mac software like HyperCard, which needs 128K Roms

	Uses Spectre Format or Macintosh Format Disks

	Hard Disk Compatible

	The screen is 30% larger, and the overall speed of the Spectre
	is 20% faster than the Mac Plus.

	Suggested Retail: $299.95  (Which does NOT include the MAC Roms,
	which will cost another $100 or more from an Apple dealer.)

We also know, from STREPORT articles and other sources, that Spectre GCR
is compatible with Stacy.  The two were seen running together at a
recent Atari trace show.

Gadgets by Small, Inc. 40 W. Littleton Blvd.; #210-211, Littleton,
Colorado, 80120, phone (303) 791-6098.

David Small has a current product out called "Spectre 128" which
doesn't do MAC sound, and doesn't read/write MAC disks without the use
of some external (and extra cost) hardware.  It can, however, work with
disks in it's own format in the Atari disk drive, and with the hard disk.

Also see recent postings in this conference about "Aladin".

    Spectre uses the 128K ROMs, and not the 256K ROMs, which are used on
    the newer MACs.
    
    							-Dave

    
    Hi, 
    
    At the UK Personal Computer show, in London this weekend, the
    distributor for Spectre, had a STACEY, Lap top st fitted with a GCR
    plugged in to the cartridge port, running Aldolpus (sic) Pagemaker !!!!
    
    IT LOOKED GREAT..... The LCD display is a little slow to update, i.e.
    when you roll the tracker ball, the (mouse) pointer vanishes if you
    roll fast, but generally it worked well!!!!!!
    
    See my other note for ST presence at the show !
    
    Pat Keane.