Do Atari Systems Need USB?

Wow it's January 2003 already, the years just seem to fly by.

This month I thought I'd pursue a topic I have seen on a few Atari sites and other Atari on-line magazines; do we need a USB interface for the Atari computers?

USB has been in the Mac and PC world for several years now, and there is a ton of peripherals that can work with the USB interface. Before we discuss this some of you may ask what USB is, and where did it come from?

USB stands for Universal Serial Bus, an industry standard specification for attaching peripherals to a computer. It delivers high performance and the ability to plug and unplug devices while the computer is running. Several companies to include, Compaq, DEC, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, and Nortel developed USB.

I currently use about ten USB devices around my desktop PC, and it would be great to have some of these work on both my Atari 8-bit and Atari 16/32 computers.

I recently contacted Mr Guus Assmann of the Netherlands to see how his Atari 8-bit USB project was coming along.

Del: I was asking about USB for the Atari and I was informed by "Mr Atari" (Sijmen) that you might not mind having some of your Atari projects, like the Atari USB card covered in my monthly article?

Guus: Tempting offer... I'll consider it.

Del: Let me know if you'd like to. I'd need photos of the cartridge and written material about it.

Guus: You might wonder why am I answering like this? Well, it's not a problem to publish things, but it shouldn't be vaporware. The USB cartridge is not vaporware, but it has not been tested yet, and thus there are no drivers for it yet.

There's another catch as well. I don't think the Atari 8-bit is fast enough for a lot of USB stuff. Yes, it's capable of driving a printer, using a keyboard or mouse or Memory Stick... But not a webcam or a scanner I think.

This kind of information should be in the article too, but I prefer it to be based on facts.

Mind you, it's not a no to publish, it's rather a "yes but beware". There's also the problem of producing the part. The test PCB is a lot of work to assemble. It's a double-sided, home-made PCB, so there's no vias, just holes with wires through them.

Del: I understand your point, then this article could be "What if" we could build this USB adapter, would it serve a real need? Can someone write the drivers? Can it be modified for the ST series? You know what I mean. I would not want to promise vaporware either.

Guus: Yes, and yes and yes. The drivers will be taken care of. The PCB is already in a test version. It could be manufactured professionally, provided that enough can be sold.

I have made three PCBs already. Two were sent to Germany, in order to get software written for it. I'll make yet another one and send that to either England or the USA. It can also be adapted for the ST series.

I'm not sure yet, if it is to be connected to the cartridge port or built into the unit. Maybe even both. It will take some time to get this done. I'm a bit rusty on the ST... :-)

I have acquired the 1040ST, a 1040STE, a Mega STE, a TT030 and a Falcon. So I can test on all of those. The common factor is the cartridge slot of course...

Del: Thank you for your time, and I will check back with you once you have more information on this Atari USB project for future issues.

I'd like you readers to e-mail me and give me your opinion on having a USB interface for the XL/XE and ST/TT computer systems.

Also tell me what kind of devices you would like to see supported for the 8-bit and 16-bit systems. Once a driver is created to make the peripheral work, in many cases you still need a program to work with the device, like a scanner or camera. Any Atari programmers out there up for the task?

I would like to see something like the Buslink USB file transfer cable, or USB CD-ROM drive and software converted for Atari some day. More on this USB project as it unfolds.

See you next month in the world of Atari...

MyAtari magazine - Feature #4, January 2003