Editing Atari Falcon040

{{Infobox computer
| name = Atari Falcon040
| caption = A prototype only. Atari never sold a Falcon040.
| manufacturer = Atari Corporation
| type = Prototype personal computer — never released
| release_date = Never released
| discontinued = Cancelled, 1993
| price = Not applicable
| cpu = Motorola 68040; clock rate not documented
| memory = Not documented
| storage = Not documented
| display = Not documented
| sound = Not documented
| expansion = Slots present on the board; described by AtariForumWiki as "probably PCI", which is not established
| os = Not documented
| predecessor = [[Atari Falcon030]]
}}

'''The Atari Falcon040 was never a product.''' Atari built a number of prototypes of a 68040-based successor to the [[Atari Falcon030|Falcon030]], in a compact "microbox" case, and cancelled the project. None was sold.<ref name="wp" /><ref name="afw" />

This is worth stating at the top because the machine is frequently written about as though it shipped. It did not, and no specification for it should be treated as a product specification.

== What is actually known ==

Very little, and that is itself the point.

* Atari created '''a number of prototypes''' based on the Motorola 68040 — a fully pipelined part with an integrated FPU and larger caches than the 68030 — and cancelled the project.<ref name="wp" />
* The prototypes used a '''"microbox" case''' rather than the Falcon030's 1040ST-derived keyboard case. It could be stood vertically or laid horizontally, and it looks enough like the later Sony PlayStation 2 for the resemblance to have been written up at the time and for the case to be referenced in the PS2 patent applications.<ref name="wp" />
* AtariForumWiki, which carries photographs of a surviving prototype, records that '''the clock rate is unknown''' and that there are expansion slots on the motherboard, "probably PCI slots".<ref name="afw" /> "Probably" is the source's own word. No PCI implementation on an Atari machine of this period has been documented, and that claim should not be repeated as fact.
* Nothing else — memory, storage, video, the state of the DSP subsystem, how many prototypes exist — is documented in any source found for this page.

== Why it was cancelled ==

The Falcon030 itself was discontinued in late 1993, a year after its introduction, as Atari restructured to concentrate entirely on the [[Atari Jaguar]] console.<ref name="wp" /> The Falcon040 went with it. Atari Corporation merged with JT Storage in 1996, which ended any possibility of the design being revived.

== A 68040 Falcon does exist — as a third-party upgrade ==

If you have seen a 68040-powered Falcon running, it was almost certainly not an Atari prototype. The '''Afterburner 040''' was a mid-1990s third-party accelerator for the [[Atari Falcon030|Falcon030]]: a 68040 with two 72-pin SIMM sockets for up to 64 MB of fast RAM, connecting to the Falcon's internal expansion port and to points on its motherboard by flying leads. The original 68030 is disabled when it is fitted and there is no way to switch back.<ref name="acc" />

Later accelerators for the same machine — Rodolphe Czuba's CT60 and CT63 — moved to the 68060 instead.<ref name="acc" />

So: a 68040 Atari Falcon is a real thing that exists in the wild, and a Falcon040 sold by Atari is not.

== See also ==

* [[Atari Falcon030]]
* [[Atari TT030]]

== References ==

<references>
<ref name="wp">''Atari Falcon'', Wikipedia, section "Successors and derivatives", citing Tony Smith, "PlayStation 2 apes ancient Atari?", ''The Register'', 17 November 1999, and the PlayStation 2 patent applications, for the microbox case and its resemblance to the PS2; and ''Next Generation'' issue 4, April 1995, p. 39, for the Falcon030's discontinuation in late 1993 as Atari refocused on the Jaguar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Falcon</ref>
<ref name="afw">''Falcon 040'', AtariForumWiki. Describes the machine as a prototype, states that the clock rate is unknown and that the expansion slots are "probably PCI", and carries photographs of a surviving unit. https://temlib.org/AtariForumWiki/index.php/Falcon_040</ref>
<ref name="acc">''Afterburner 040'' and ''Accelerators'', AtariForumWiki / Atari Wiki. The Afterburner 040 as a mid-1990s 68040 booster with two 72-pin SIMM sockets, connecting to the Falcon's internal expansion port and motherboard, disabling the original 68030; and the CT60/CT63 as the later 68060 boards by Rodolphe Czuba. https://temlib.org/AtariForumWiki/index.php/Afterburner_040</ref>
</references>

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