Atari PC2
 | |
| Atari PC2 with monitor, keyboard and mouse (Atari product photograph, 1988) | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Atari Corporation (Atari Taiwan Manufacturing) |
| Type | IBM PC compatible (XT class) |
| Released | Shown 24 April 1987 (Atari Computer Show, London) as the Atari Business PC; on sale March 1988[1] |
| Discontinued | About 1989[1] |
| Intro price | PC2-SD £599.99, PC2-DD £649.99, PC2-HD £949.99 (March 1988)[1] |
| CPU | Intel P8088-2 at 4.77 MHz, 8 MHz in turbo mode |
| Memory | 512 KB, 640 KB with four extra DRAMs |
| Storage | PC2-SD one 5.25-inch 360 KB drive; PC2-DD two; PC2-HD one drive and a 20 MB RLL hard disk |
| Display | — |
| Sound | PC speaker |
| Graphics | NSI Logic EVC315-S: EGA, CGA, MDA and Hercules |
| FPU / coprocessor | Socket U68 for an Intel 8087 |
| Ports / interface | Keyboard (5-pin DIN), Atari mouse (9-pin D), serial (25-pin D), parallel (25-pin D), digital monitor (9-pin D), IEC C14 mains inlet |
| Expansion | One XT slot on the board, carrying a riser card with four XT slots |
| OS / Firmware | MS-DOS 3.21 with GW-BASIC and GEM Desktop, Write and Paint |
| Predecessor | Atari PC1 |
| Successor | Atari PC3 |
The Atari PC2 is the PC1 rebuilt as an office machine in a case with room for drives and expansion cards. It was shown at the Atari Computer Show in London on 24 April 1987 as the Atari Business PC, again as the PC2 at the Personal Computer World Show in London on 23 September 1987, and went on sale in March 1988.[1] Electrically it is the same XT-class machine as the PC1, with the same P8088-2, 512 KB of memory and EVC315-S graphics.[1]
In the United Kingdom the PC2 was the entry model, because the PC1 was not sold there. It was shown in the United States at the Fall COMDEX in November 1987, but by the Spring COMDEX of 1988 a US release had been abandoned.[1]
Hardware
[edit | edit source]The main board is Atari's own design, slightly larger than a standard AT board. ataripc.net records it only as "Atari part number unknown, revision 1.1".[1][2] The case is galvanised, powder-coated steel, with room for the board, the supply, two 5.25-inch drives and four expansion cards.[1]
The chip set matches the PC1: an Intel P8272 floppy controller (up to three drives), a Western Digital WD8250 UART, Intel P8259, P8253 and P8237 interrupt, timer and DMA controllers, and the Atari C101683. The board also carries an SSI 441 CP, which atari-computermuseum.de describes as undocumented. The 8087 socket is U68; its jumper, at the front edge of the board, goes from pins 1–2 to 2–3 when a coprocessor is fitted.[1]
The Monitor Select DIP switches on the back panel are set the same way as on the PC1; see Atari PC1.[1]
Expansion
[edit | edit source]The board has one XT slot, which carries a riser card with four XT slots, so expansion cards lie horizontally in the case. The XT bus runs at 4.77 MHz, has 62 contacts and a theoretical throughput of about 0.96 MB/s.[1]
Configurations
[edit | edit source]- PC2-SD: one Chinon FZ-502 5.25-inch 360 KB drive.
- PC2-DD: two of the same drive.
- PC2-HD: one drive and a 20 MB RLL hard disk on an Adaptec ACB-2072 controller.[1]
The supply is mains-powered from an IEC C14 inlet.[1]
Documentation
[edit | edit source]ataripc.net shows the English PC2 owner's manual in an on-line page viewer, but does not offer it as a download.[2] For the closely related PC1, Atari's owner's manual is hosted here: File:Atari PC Owner's Manual (1987).pdf.
Related pages
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 "Atari PC2 / Atari Business PC", atari-computermuseum.de, last edited 1 July 2024, https://www.atari-computermuseum.de/pc2.htm. Secondary source for the show dates and release, the UK and US history, the model suffixes and UK prices, the case and board, the riser card and XT bus figures, the chip list, the U68 socket and its jumper, and the PC2-HD drive and controller.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Atari PC2 8088", its motherboard page and "Atari PC2 Owner's Manual – English", ataripc.net, https://www.ataripc.net/pc2-8088/. Secondary source for the board revision and the owner's manual.