It keeps some features these machines : The graphic modes (320 x 200 / 16 colors, 640 x 200 / 4 colors, 640 x 400 / 2 colors, 320 x 480 / 256 colors and 640 x 480 / 16 colors) and the sound chips (the old Yamaha PSG and the two 8 bits PCM channels of the STe).
Two new graphic modes have been added : a "small" 256 colors SVGA (640 x 480) and a true color VGA mode (32768 / 65535 colors in 320 x 480). Also when running on a TV, the resolutions are different: True Color mode is 640x480 in PAL and 640x400 in NTSC. The other TV resolutions also have a difference of vertical resolution between PAL and NTSC: 200 or 400 lines in NTSC, 240 or 480 in PAL.
New interfaces were added too : an ADC 16bit 50 KHz and a DSP I/O port. The videochip has also genlocking features.
The Falcon was sold with the single-task TOS operating system in ROM (4.04). It is the old Atari ST TOS with new functions to handle the DSP and the new graphic modes. The GUI was slightly enhanced with colored icons and 3D windows.
Hopefully a multi-task TOS - MultiTOS) was also delivered on disks. This multitasking system uses the MiNT kernel and an enhanced GUI. MiNT (which stands for MiNT is NOT TOS) is a multitasking Operating System with lot of Unix features. It was initially done by Eric Smith. It was bought later by Atari and became then "MiNT is NOW TOS). Atari planned first to put it in ROM, but it was not finished and was shipped on disks.
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More information by Malcolm Ramage:
There are at least 3 types of 'ST' style Falcon, the first version was in an FX-1 type case (Complete with FX-1 keyboard, yellow lettering with red function key numbers), the second was like the machine here (In ST colouring) and the release machine (Lighter case than the FX-1, but still had the dark keys with all lettering in white).
C-Lab licenced the Falcon and released their own version with a slight modification to the audio hardware. The Mk I was a bare falcon with no hard drive, the Mk II included a 500MB hard drive and the Mk X was in a pizza style box with a Mega STe keyboard, but was nothing more than a Mk II in a fancy box.
When C-Lab stopped manufacturing the Falcon in 1995, the machine vanished. No further development was done on the Falcon hardware after 1992.
this is the first computer i ever used, i remember it had a bumblebee for the cursor, after it's hard drive died my parents threw it out and got a Tandy 1000
Thursday 3rd January 2008
erika (cambridge, ontario)
Does anyone have a Falcon 030 for sale or know where I can get one?
Saturday 19th November 2005
Dave Wolnik (Phoenix, Az)
If anyone is interested in a bit of obscure trivia regarding the Falcon: a company called Bell & Howell (manufacturer of many things from cameras to industrial machines) used Falcons as a control computer for their postal inserting equipment (essentially automated machines that insert mail into envelopes at high speed.) To this day, some of these old mail machines are still in operation in some very prominent mail houses, and the company's technicians scrounge for used machines and parts for these computers to keep them running.
Tuesday 20th September 2005
Sprockett (Vancouver, BC)
NAME
FALCON 030
MANUFACTURER
Atari
TYPE
Home Computer
ORIGIN
U.S.A.
YEAR
1992
CPU
Motorola MC68030
SPEED
16 MHz (68030) / 32 MHz (56001)
CO-PROCESSOR
optional FPU (Motorola 68882)
RAM
4 MB (up to 14 MB)
ROM
512 KB
TEXT MODES
40 or 80 chars. x 25 lines (bitmapped graphics)
GRAPHIC MODES
ST Modes, TT Modes, VGA (640 x 480), True Color.
COLORS
Two modes : 16 / 15 bit with True color mode or 262144 with paletted mode
SOUND
8 channel 16 bit PCM audio system
I/O PORTS
RGB, VGA, PAL, DSP, SCSI, Stereo IN/OUT, Midi (2), LocalTalk, Cardridge, RS232c, Centronics, Analog Joystick (2), Digital Joystick (2), 68030 Bus
BUILT IN MEDIA
3.5'' FDD and 2.5'' IDE hard disk (44, 65 or 80 MB) depending models.
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