New TOS "Super Computer" rumours	December 1st, 2000
The last week or so, there has been information spreading about a new "Super" Atari-clone computer. The information has been very very sparse, but still the key-people behind the (so far only rumours, although they claim it is for real) project have said nothing about specs or who are building it. Haven't we heard this before? New Super Ataris (or Amigas for that matter) come and go like Windows is rebooting. And that mean alot. We've had talk about Atari clones from Ge-Soft, Wizztronics, Istari, Centek, CzubaTech, Oxo and Milan which never (so far at least) made it to a state where it is actually produced. And now a new "Super Atari" is apparently planned again. Or planned, we know nothing what is planned, only that there will be (not even this has begun) a poll to receive as many pre-orders of the machine as possible. See, the machine won't be produced until 500 orders are confirmed. And, who will order without knowing 1) What hardware, and 2) What company is behind this mystery-thing? Speculations. Who can it be? Well, the spokesman ("Ulrich from Koeln") strictly denies it to be either Milan or CzubaTech. So, who's left then? Medusa (Hades producer) ? Not impossible. Wizztronics? Hardly. Istari? Unlikely, they work with Cortex. GeSoft? Out of business for years. Centek? If they still own the rights to the Phenix.. not impossible. Which else? Really have no clue. The fact that they call it a new "Super Computer" might idicate a PPC G4 design, as it's a "Super Computer" by definition (1-giga-flops sustained rate). But that speed would decrease performance alot doing 68k emulation, and then be far away from any "Super Computer" numbers. Other hardware alternatives? Well, there is one thing that most people are bypassing. It's the new chip from Transmeta, the "Crusoe" processor. Which is mostly built upon software, and can, regarding to Transmeta cope with any instruction-set native. The only problem is that the only instruction-set currently available is the x86. However when/if the 68k version arrives, we're talking fun stuff, and perhaps this is what the new "Super Atari" is about? No, not likely, but it would be damned nice. So to conclude all the above craptalk into a few words: We have no fu**ing idea what's going on! :-)

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