Atari 1600XL
Prototype Case


 

        First, let me point out that the above image has been scanned in from a 16 year old 35mm slide and we have done the best possible job to try to retreive the image in as high a quality as possible, however the slide has a great deal of minor scratches and other damage and this image was the best we could retreive.    What you are viewing about is a slide taken of a prototype case design in July of 1983.   It is believed, based on testimonials from 3 engineers that this may have been a suggested design case for the Atari 1600XL system.    Although we cannot guarantee as of yet that this is 100% accurate, it seems likely that this case design as well as a similar case design may have been targeted for use in the Atari 1600XL and/or Atari Sierra 68000 Project.   Note the cartridge slot on the side of the unit as well as 2 joystick ports.   Also notice the 2 disk drive ports appear to be designed to accomodate the "Ziggy"-type self-ejecting 5.25" diskette drives which were originally slated for use in the early Apple Lisa (Ziggy) systems.     The AHS has spoken with Ajay Chopra, Joe Miller and Jay Titsler who all confirm that a dual-processor Atari system capable of running Atari 6502 code as well as Intel 80186 code had been built and in prototyping stages.   The project was cancelled when James Morgan became CEO and turned Atari's focus back to its roots in videogaming and began to redirect engineering work into the Atari 7800 Prosystem as well as several other Atari videogame related projects.