Shocking Revelation--Developer Info (Jul.14,1993)










From: Atari SIG (xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)

Date: 02/19/94-08:32:27 PM Z









From: xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Atari SIG)
Subject: Shocking Revelation--Developer Info (Jul.14,1993)
Date: Sat Feb 19 20:32:27 1994


From: Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com
>Newsgroups: rec.games.video.misc,rec.games.video
Subject: Re: [Jaguar] Shocking Revelation
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 00:34:20 PDT

I hadn't said anything about this before, hoping that someone else would
bring it up first..

The "source" of the information about the Jaguar on CompuServe is
Rob Nicholson, of Handmade Software, one of the leading Lynx game developers,
and now a Jaguar developer.

Until the Atari "NDA Police" stepped in, Rob had been pretty forthcoming
with information and answers to questions, including some of mine.

If you read the Atari press releases closely, you'll see that the Jaguar
has a "64 bit RISC chip", a "DSP", and a "Motorola 68000 controller".

Well...  once upon a time, there were "1 MEGABIT CARTRIDGES!!!!!!"

Turned out they were only 128K in reality.. some PR guy had just found
a new way to make his system *sound* better than any of the competitors.

(The Atari 520ST *must* be better than an Amiga 500, right..?  It's got
20 more of whatever it is they're talking about...  of course, they BOTH
had 512K of memory... the "520" was just the decimal equivalent..)

Anyway.. turns out the Jaguar has *two* 64bit chips.  They're RISC processors
that can be programmed as Digital Signal Processors (DSPs).  AND.. it has
a 68000 chip that can "control" the system...   

Read: Control = CPU

The way Rob answered my question was Yes, the game cartridges will likely
be written in 68000 machine code, to be run on the 68000 CPU.. er..
"controller"...

The 68000 will in turn control the two RISC chips which will then render the
graphics, and produce the sound, using their 64 bit data paths.

(Remember also the reference in Atari press releases to the "32 bit
expansion bus" that will connect to telephone lines and cable TV systems..?

The 68000 has a 32 bit address bus...)

The point about the first games being in 68000 code, and later ones being
in native 64bit RISC code came from Rob, and addresses one of the criticisms
I've heard about the Jaguar.. that it would be difficult for developers to
port their games to a new, unknown RISC machine.  Porting to a 68000 should
be a lot easier initially.

Later, as more experience is gained, more of the game functions could be
written in RISC code, and less would be done by the 68000.

NOTE:  This is NOT an "anti-Atari" kind of thing.

It just appears that the very little information that has been "officially"
released has been couched in very "non-standard" language (which in fact
could be argued to be the "norm" in the games marketplace..)  which has
lead to a lot of speculation which has been unnecessary.

A 32bit processor acting as a CPU controlling two 64bit RISC processors is
STILL a VERY powerful system.  I just wish they'd say it that way.

BobR

>Newsgroups: rec.games.video.misc,rec.games.video
From: rrusbasa@nyx.cs.du.edu (Bob Rusbasan)
Subject: Re: [Jaguar] Shocking Revelation
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 93 18:06:13 GMT

Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com writes:
> I hadn't said anything about this before, hoping that someone else would
> bring it up first..

Thanks for verifying the claims I made.  I would like to think that the
things I've posted in the past would give some credence to what I said,
since I have never spread wild rumors, but apparently Robert Jung thinks
otherwise.  ;-)

Robert, the reason I believed the claims is that they took place on the
CompuServe Atari forum.  Basically everyone there is a big fan of Atari,
just gushing with praise for their products (although they do criticize
the advertising).  There are also people closely associated with Atari
active on the forum, people with inside information (although they often
can't disclose it).  When I saw this bunch frankly discussing the
implications of a 68000 being the main CPU in the Jaguar, well, it may
not have been an official announcement, but it was damn close in my
mind.  These people are NOT Jaguar bashers, and some of them know
quite a bit about the Jaguar architecture.

To everyone else:  If any people *not* named "Bob" or "Robert" want to
take part in this thread, feel free to do so.  ;-)

> Until the Atari "NDA Police" stepped in, Rob had been pretty forthcoming
> with information and answers to questions, including some of mine.

Before the question is posted, "NDA Police" refers to people at Atari
who apparently asked Rob (there we go again with the "Robert"s) to
adhere more closely to his non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

My one question:

> The 68000 has a 32 bit address bus...)

> A 32bit processor acting as a CPU controlling two 64bit RISC processors is
> STILL a VERY powerful system.  I just wish they'd say it that way.

Having studied the 68000, I am aware that it is programmed almost like
a 32-bit chip.  The general consensus, however, is that it is a 16-bit
chip.  Right?  That is, after all, what the Genesis, a 16-bit machine,
uses.  Later chips in the family became full 32-bit CPUS.

Before anyone start yelling at me that these tech specs don't have
anything to do with game play, I know that.  If we are going to
discuss the specs, however, we should be accurate.









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