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OT: Atari PC clone

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tipc

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Who else would know the answer but Atari fans. Why I'm posting here.

Yeeeeeears ago I saw what I recall as a bog standard vanilla pc branded ATARI. I had thought this was the PC-1 (before I actually learned what the PC-1 looked like). Does anyone know what I'm talking about? This was as close to the original 5150 as you can imagine. Was this a hoax, or some very rare Atari item?
 
"In 1987 Atari introduced a line of IBM compatible computer systems starting with its Atari PC-1 which was an all-in-one IBM XT compatible computer with built in disk drive, built in serial, parallel, keyboard, mouse and video ports (video could be configured for CGA, Hercules, EGA and other settings). An internal bus port on the motherboard allowed for an expansion card to use the Atari Mega ST Megafile hard disk system."

https://www.atari.com/history/computer-systems

Atari_pc1.jpg


In Europe, Atari later sold generic beige-box PC clones under the "ABC" (Atari Business Computer) line.

slides_img_10.jpg
 
The other designs Atari had for PC compatibles were the PC2, PC3, PC4, and PC5 which resemble IBM 5170. No vertical 3.5" bay there. http://retropages.uw.hu/Atari.html look down a bunch and see a picture of the PC2 with black drives.
So prototype, system Atari purchased for internal use, or one of the specialties of Ebay: the generic clone enhanced with a badge taken off something else.
 
I know this one. ATARI sold some relabled PCs from Mitac at least in Germany. This is one of them. I had one of these on my workplace desktop in 1990. Trying to get ATARI PCs today is like crazy, they are very expensive.
 
1ST1 said:
I know this one. ATARI sold some relabled PCs from Mitac at least in Germany. This is one of them. I had one of these on my workplace desktop in 1990. Trying to get ATARI PCs today is like crazy, they are very expensive.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Do you know where I could look up more information on this? That would certainly explain the different PC4 I linked in my last post. I was wondering why the motherboard in that particular machine had a slightly different layout and lacked any Atari branding like the example on my website does.

http://www.ataripc.net/pc4-286/motherboard/

Edit: I just found the Mitac PC they rebadged as a PC4.

http://www.100megspopup.com/redawa/AMM/AMM21814.html

In regards to Atari PC pricing, it's not so much the price but the rarity of these PC's. They show up on eBay from time to time, particularly in Germany, and prices are fairly reasonable. Just don't go thinking listings like the one below is normal. This seller has been listing this complete Atari PC3 for years without success because his asking price is WAY too high (it was higher!). I brought a complete PC3 from a seller in Germany over a year ago for less than half that price including shipping to Australia.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ATARI-PC3-8...E-ORIGINALI-/361294079581?hash=item541ece265d
 
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1ST1 said:
Here is more on this one:

https://books.google.de/books?id=jG...y0AUCh1N9w9E#v=onepage&q=mitac 286 pc&f=false
Click to expand...

Interesting. Mitac also had a Paragon 386. Do you know if Atari did the same with that model and released a rebranded PC5 in Germany?

Found some pictures here of what appears to be the entire Paragon range: http://exhibition.ifdesign.de/entrydetails_en.html?beitrag_id=18006

It's interesting to piece this all together as it's starting to all make sense. The original PC4 I know was shown at Comdex '87 while this later Mitac rebadged as an Atari PC4 appears to be from '88, '89 when the Atari PCx series was coming to it's end. It seems to be a transition from the older PCx series to the newer ABC series with generic cases which were to follow in 1990. The fact this only appears to be a German thing isn't surprising as Germany was one of only a few markets where the Atari PC sold well.
 
dafivehole said:
This is all very interesting... I had no idea that Atari made PC clones...

Roger
Click to expand...

I'm not surprised to hear. I've heard that said many times when I've mentioned I have Atari PC's.

They weren't big in the US in fact there were some models of Atari PCx series they didn't bring to the US market at all. If I recall correctly, they sold ok in Canada but the majority of sales came from Europe (Germany in particular). Out of all of the models the Atari PC3 (8088 XT) was the most popular and just happens to be the PC I had all those years ago which is how I came to know of them all the way over in Australia. :D
 
Thanks. Was quite a bit of work to make it look nice and clean again. But it was worth it. :)
 
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