![]() ![]() The 1977 version of the Atari VCS, known as the “Heavy Sixer” due it its 6 front-mounted switches, as well as maximum thick case plastic and heavy RF shielding…. ![]() Miner would also lead design on the chipset for the Atari 400 and 800 computers, as well as the groundbreaking Amiga computer sold by Commodore. Miner would eventually rename the chip the TIA or Television Interface Adapter. It is responsible for generating on-screen graphics, sound effects, and handling joystick control inputs. This is then co-opted by Miner as the name of the chip that is the centre of the system, and then used for the overall project name, and thus solidifies a long tradition of naming Atari systems with women’s names (never mind that it was really Joe Decuir’s bike). Thinking of his trusty bicycle with the label of its French bike manufacturer Stella printed upon it, he uses that for the password. When Decuir is developing software for the system, he is required to create a password for the time-sharing computer Atari is leasing time on to compile the code. A further prototype of the programmable system is then further refined by Cyan employee Joe Decuir, with Jay Miner (who later designs the ground-breaking Amiga computer) further refining the hardware at Atari’s Los Gatos plant. It is from this wellspring of innovative thinking that the basic design of what will be known as the VCS, Atari’s 8-bit computers and the QuadraScan vector monitor seen in games like Asteroids will be born, among other marvels. ![]() Cyan is part of the company’s far-out Grass Valley, CA think tank, located northeast of Sacramento. The first prototype the soon-to-be-famous device begins development this year by Steve Mayer and Ron Milner, of the Atari consulting firm Cyan Engineering. Atari’s infamous entry in the programmable home video game system race, known as the Atari VCS or Video Computer System, begins in the latter part of 1975, as the company’s PONG (and its myriad knock-offs) are ruling the arcade and home TV’s. ![]()
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