|||   Atari | |  / |/ ___\| | | |  / |  _ \    Frequently Asked Questions
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  Created by Robert Jung (rjung@netcom.com), because no one else wanted to.
      Dedicated to ASTEROIDS, for getting me hooked in the first place
 
Last update: 10/28/1993
 
==============================================================================
 
This file is not maintained by, overseen by, endorsed, or otherwise associated
with Atari Corp. or any of its subsidiaries. It's just a collection of
questions and answers, with a few news tidbits thrown in.
 
This file is posted on a monthly basis, usually around the first of the month.
It is maintained by Robert Jung at rjung@netcom.com on the Internet. Send
corrections, news, updates, comments, questions, or other stuff to that
address. All mail is welcome!
 
Updates since the last publically posted FAQ have a vertical bar in the first
column.
==============================================================================
 
Q. What is the Atari Jaguar?
                       
A. The world's first 64-bit home console video game system. Developed after
   three years of research, manufactured by IBM, the Jaguar offers high-speed
   action, spectacular graphic effects, and CD-quality sound for $200.
 
==============================================================================
 
Q. How does IBM fit into this?
 
A. IBM has a $500 million contract with Atari Corp. to assemble, test,
   package, and distribute Jaguar units. Manufacturing is done at IBM's
|  Charlotte, NC facility, and the Jaguar is IBM's first attempt at producing
|  a consumer grade product for an outside vendor.
 
   IBM has no known participation in the design of the Jaguar. IBM has no
   plans to create games for the Jaguar.
 
===========================================================================
 
Q. Okay, who did designed the Jaguar?
 
A. Details are murky. Atari claims that the Jaguar took over three years to
   develop, and was released because work was progressing faster than
   expected. Seeing an opportunity to leapfrog the new systems from Nintendo
   and Sega, they decided to bring the machine to light.
 
   The Jaguar chipset is reportedly co-developed by Flare, a British company
   with ties to Atari, according to Jez San of Argonaut Software. The
|  proprietary chips are manufactured by an unnamed Japanese firm and also by
|  Motorola.
 
==============================================================================
 
Q. What are the specifications of the Jaguar?
 
A. Physical dimensions:
 
       Size: ?" x ?" x ?"
   Controls: Power on/off
|   Display: Resolution up to 720 x 526 pixels
             32-bit "True Color" display with 16,777,216 colors on-screen
               simultaneously
      Ports: Cartridge slot
             ComLynx connection
             High-speed synchronous serial port
             Video outputs -- S-Video, RF, Composite, RGB
               (supports NTSC and PAL)
             Two controller ports
             32-bit expansion port
             Digital Signal Processor port
Controllers: Eight-directional joypad
             Three fire buttons (A, B, C)
             Pause and Option buttons
             12-key keypad (accepts game-specific overlays)
 
  The Jaguar has five processors, which are contained in three chips. Two of
  the chips are proprietary designs, nicknamed "Tom" and "Jerry". The third
  chip is a standard Motorola 68000 used as a coprocessor. Tom and Jerry are
  built using an 0.5 micron silicon process.
 
  - "Tom"
    - 750,000 transistors, 208 pins
    - Graphics Processing Unit (processor #1)
      - 64-bit RISC architecture
      - Rated at 26.6 MIPS (million instructions per second)
      - 4K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM
      - Performs a wide range of high-speed graphic effects
      - Programmable
    - Object processor (processor #2)
- 64-bit RISC architecture
      - Programmable processor that can act as a variety of different video
        architectures, such as a sprite engine, a pixel-mapped display, a
        character-mapped system, and others.
    - Blitter (processor #3)
      - 64 bits
      - Performs high-speed logical operations
      - Hardware support for Z-buffering and Goudraud shading
    - DRAM memory controller
|     - Accesses the DRAM directly
 
  - "Jerry"
    - 600,000 transistors, 144 pins
    - Digital Signal Processor (processor #4)
      - 32 bits
      - Rated at 26.6 MIPS (million instructions per second)
      - 8K bytes of zero wait-state internal SRAM
      - CD-quality sound
      - Full stereo capabilities
      - Wavetable synthesis, FM synthesis, FM Sample synthesis, and AM
        synthesis
    - A clock control block, incorporating timers, and a UART
    - Joystick control
- Motorola 68000 (processor #5)
    - Rated at 13.3MHz
    - General purpose control processor
 
   Communication is performed with a high speed 64-bit data bus, rated at
   106.4 megabytes/second. The 68000 is only able to access the lowest 16
   bits of this bus.
 
   The Jaguar contains two megabytes (16 megabits) of fast page-mode DRAM.
   Game cartridges can support up to six megabytes (48 megabits) of
   uncompressed or compressed information. Compressed data can be uncompressed
   in real-time, and can be equivalent to almost 50 megabytes (400 megabits).
   Compression is performed with JagPEG, an enhanced JPEG image decompression
   mechanism.
 
   Other Jaguar features:
   - Support for ComLynx I/O for communications with the Atari Lynx hand-held
     game system and networked multiconsole games
   - The two controller ports can be expanded to support "dozens" of
     controllers
     - Digital and analog interfaces
     - Keyboards, mice, and light guns are possible
 - Expansion port allows connection to cable TV and other networks
   - Digital Signal Processor port allows connection to modems and digital
     audio peripherals (such as DAT players)
 
==============================================================================
 
Q. Is the Jaguar really a 64-bit system?
 
A. Atari's position is that the Jaguar uses a 64-bit distributed RISC
   architecture, a 64-bit data bus, and a 64-bit graphics RISC processor as
   the primary CPU (central processing unit). The 16-bit Motorola 68000
   serves as a subordinate coprocessor, and can only access the lowest 16
   bits of the bus. The situation has been described as similar to the 16-bit
   ISA bus present in 32-bit personal computers.
 
|  The "Tom" processor is a full-fledged 64-bit chip. The object processor
|  and the blitter are confirmed to use 64-bit registers, although not all of
|  the Jaguar's processors are 64 bits. As Eric Smith of Atari Corp. says,
|  "one wouldn't call a 32-bit workstation with an 8-bit keyboard chip an
|  '8-bit' machine."
 
=============================================================================
Q. How can a graphics processor be the CPU?
 
A. The 64 bit custom graphics chip is a good general purpose RISC unit, but
   it has been optimized for graphics work.
 
===========================================================================
 
Q. What kind of special effects can the Jaguar do?
 
A. The Jaguar is capable of doing the following visual effects:
 
   - High-speed scrolling
   - Texture mapping on two- and three-dimensional objects
   - Morphing one object into another object
   - Scaling, rotation, distortion, and skewing of sprites and images
   - Lighting and shading from single and multiple light sources
   - Transparency
   - "Rendering" up to 850 million one-bit pixels/second (35 million 24-bit
       pixels/second, 26 million 32-bit pixels/second), or 50 million Goroud
       shaded pixels/second. "Rendering" is believed to mean transferring a
       pixel from a frame buffer to the screen.
 
===========================================================================
Q. How come the Jaguar claims to have "32-bit" graphics, when 16 million
   colors only need 24 bits for rendering?
 
A. It is widely believed that the additional 8-bits is used for Z-buffering
   and/or an alpha channel, to allow the Jaguar to perform some of its
   special effects.
 
===========================================================================
 
Q. Okay, get to the meat -- which is better, the Jaguar or the 3DO?
 
A. Ye Gods, the eternal question. The popular consensus is that the biggest
   strength of the Jaguar is that it deliveres performance comparable to the
   3DO for a lower price ($200 Jaguar vs. $500-$700 3DO units). The same
   consensus say the biggest strength of the 3DO is the corporate strength
   behind it: over 300 developers, a consortium of multibillion dollar
   companies, more reliable advertising and promotion, etc. Whether or not
   this makes the games or the machines any better is (hotly) debatable.
 
   Best bet, as always, is to try the two machines, see what games you like,
   which system offers them, then decide.
==============================================================================
 
Q. What's the information on the CD-ROM drive?
 
A. A double-speed CD-ROM drive has been announced for release in 1994, with
   an estimated price of $200. It is reported that the CD-ROM drive is
   capable of transferring data continuously at 350K per second, or run at
   normal audio rates of 175K per second. Storage on a disc is expected to be
   around 700 megabytes (5,600 megabits). The CD-ROM drive plugs into the
   Jaguar's cartridge slot on top of the machine, and offers a cartridge
   slot to permit playing cartridge or CD games.
 
   The Jaguar CD-ROM drive allows delivery of full-screen, full-motion video.
   The CinePak video decompression system has been licensed from SuperMac
   Technologies, and permits over sixty minutes of video to be stored on a
   single compact disc at 30 frames a second. Movie quality pictures can then
   be overlaid on the screen with computer generated graphics if the game
   demands it. Time-Warner has licensed a library of film clips from its
   movies to Atari for use in Jaguar games.
 
   The Jaguar CD-ROM is also designed to interface with audio CD, Karaoke CD,
   CD+Graphics and optional Kodak Photo CD. The system will not be 3DO
   compatible or CD-I compatible. An optional MPEG2 (Motion Picture Experts
Group) compression cartridge may also be available, to allow users to play
   full length motion pictures from CD.
 
|  The original release date for the CD-ROM drive is March, 1994. It has been
|  reported, though, that it will be delayed until September 1994, to allow
|  more CD games to be ready for its release.
 
=============================================================================
 
Q. What's this "Panther" I hear about?
 
A. Quick history lesson: Sometime in the late 1980s, Atari Corp. was doing
   research and development on "next generation" video game consoles. There
   were two systems, a 32-bit machine called the Panther, and a 64-bit
   machine called the Jaguar. It is reported that work on the Jaguar was
   progressing better/faster than expected, so Atari abandoned the Panther to
   focus their energies on the Jaguar instead.
 
   Reports of development work on the Panther have been whispered since 1988;
   some people have erroneously mistaken those rumors to be about the Jaguar.
 
   The Panther reportedly was considered a "32-bit" machine by Atari, though
   for reasons unknown. It featured three chips, consisting of a Motorola
68000 running at 16Mhz, an object processor called the Panther, and an
   Ensoniq sound processor called Otis, featuring 32 sound channels. The
   Panther could supposedly display 8,384 colors from a palette of 262,144
   colors, and could display 83,840 sprites of any size simultaneously.
 
==============================================================================
 
Q. What do I get when I buy a Jaguar?
 
A. The Jaguar package has a suggested retail price of $250, and contains the
|  Jaguar itself, one controller, an AC adaptor, and the game CYBERMORPH.
   There are rumors that a lower-priced package will be made available,
   without the free game, but that information has not yet been confirmed.
 
==============================================================================
 
Q. How does the ComLynx port on the Jaguar work? Can I connect my Lynx to it?
 
A. The ComLynx port allows communication between Jaguar units and Lynx units.
   In theory, it would be possible to daisy-chain multiple units of either
   machine type for multiplayer games. At the current time, however, no such
   plans are in the works. Instead, it is seen as allowing Lynxes to be used
 Jaguar game as controllers.
 
==============================================================================
|
Q. Who are the third-party developers for the Jaguar?
|
A. The following companies have been announced as official developers for
|  Jaguar software:
|
|    Anco Software Ltd.       Maxis Software         Telegames
|    Beyond Games Inc.        Microids               Tiertex Ltd.
|    Dimension Technologies   Midnight Software Inc. Titus Eurosoft
|    Ocean Software Ltd.      Tradewest              High Voltage Software
|    Rebellion Software Ltd.  Trimark Interactive    Krisalis Software Ltd.
|    Retour 2048              U.S. Gold Ltd.         Loriciel U.S.A.
|    Silmarils
|
==============================================================================
 
Q. What are the upcoming Jaguar games?
 
A: Note: These lists are hardly definitive. It's based on many sources, and in
         some cases, it just might be dead wrong. Games also often change from
 pre-release to production.
 
   Upcoming Jaguar cartridge games:
 
   Title              Players  Description
   -----------------  -------  ------------------------------------------
   Alien vs. Predator    1     Be the Marine, the Alien, or the Predator...
   Batman: The           1?    The protector of Gotham rises again
     Animated Series
   Battlewheels         1-6?   Build it, arm it, drive it, shoot it
   Battlezone 2000       1     The tank wars continue
   Checkered Flag II     1?    Formula 1 racing with fully rendered 3D
   Cisco Heat            1     Race through the streets of San Fran
   Club Drive            1?    Relax at a fantasy driving vacation resort
   Cresent Galaxy       1-2    Side-scrolling shooting over five planets
   Cybermorph            1     Rescue survivors in a shape-changing ship
   Cyberpunk City        1     William Gibson's futureview on a cartridge
   Dracula the Undead    1     Escape from the Count's castle
   Dino Dudes:Evolution  1?    Guide humans to survive prehistoric dangers
   Kasume Ninja         1-2    Hone your fighting skills with 91 moves
   Raiden               1-2    Destroy the enemy's military might
   Steel Talons          1     Take off in an Apache helicopter simulator
   Tempest 2000          1     Return of the demons, spikes, and zappers
 Tiny Toon             1?    Stop Montana Max from mining TiToonium
     Adventures
 
   Upcoming Jaguar CD-ROM games:
 
   Title              Players  Description
   -----------------  -------  ------------------------------------------
   Dracula               1     Bram Stoker's creature stalks the Jaguar
   Space Pirates         1?    Scabbards, swashbuckling, and space
 
==============================================================================
 
Q. How can I reach Atari Corp.?
 
A. Customer Service:         (408) 745-2000
   Mailing Address:          Atari Corp.
 
Interested developers should contact Bill Rehbock at (408) 745-2082.
 
==============================================================================
                       
Q. How is development for the Jaguar done?
 
A. Jaguar game development environments exists for the Atari TT030 computer
   or an IBM PC/compatable. Art development can be performed on any machine,
   whether a low-end Apple Macintosh or commercial rendering software such as
   SoftImage.
 
   Estimated price for a developer's package is $9,000 for the TT030 setup,
   and $7,500 for the PC/compatable platform. The package includes a Jaguar
   development unit, documentation, and development/debugging software. The
   PC development system is reported to have inferior debugging tools.
 
   The centerpiece of the TT030 deveopment platform is DB, an assembly-
   language level debugging tool. The Jaguar and the TT030 are connected with
   a parallel cable, and software can be debugged interactively without
   interfering with the Jaguar's screen display. DB supports the use of
   scripts and aliases, which simplifies the use of complex or common
   functions.
 
|  Atari grants final code approval, but does not see the need to "censor"
|  games. Every game is given one man-month of compatability and quality
|  testing before it is approved. Atari offers technical support via FAX,
|  mail, electronic mail and voice. Atari allows developers to source their
|  own cartridges, documentation and shells if desired.
 
==============================================================================
 
So, there it is... have fun!
 
BTW: If you want to see the biggest flamewar in the history of usenet, check
     out rec.games.video.misc where I asked for this FAQ. EVERY message is
     either flaming/defending the jaguar/3do (with a couple of cd32 snippets
     thrown in).