Atari Falcon Tower System

@atari

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atari

· 25 Jan 2019

Atari Falcon tower unit with keyboard & mouse.

The Atari Falcon Tower System consists of an Atari Falcon mounted inside a specialized Tower case.

The Atari Falcon was Atari's last computer system released in 1992 and had the following specifications:

Main CPU 68030 at 16MHz with 256byte cache
DSP Motorola 56001 clocked at 32MHz
Graphics 'VIDEL' chip with palette of 262,144 colours. Various resolutions including VGA 640x480 (256 colour), 640x400 (65,536 colours), ST type resolutions, more..
Graphics Blitter co-processor
Audio with 8 stereo (or 16 mono) 16 bit audio DMA channels at up to 50KHz
Yamaha 2149 3 Channel audio system
Fitted with 14M memory
3.5" HD fitted (with adapter).
External SCSI-II port with DMA
External video connector, for analog RGB colour (VGA/ST) or composite video. (Adapter for SVGA monitor included).
RS232 serial port
Bi-directional printer port
Cartridge port
MIDI IN, MIDI OUT port
Stereo microphone input
Stereo audio output
Two 9-pin joystick ports on external keyboard (one used for mouse)
Two 15 pin enhanced digital/analogue controller ports
2 Joystick connectors, 2 additional on the keyboard (one is used for a mouse)

Rear of tower system. Note the SCSI connector for the CD-R and the SVGA adapter cable. All Falcon sockets are accessible from the rear except the ROM port which is internal only.

The Tower case is a modified PC style tower case, which has a specialized back panel. The back panel allows the full set of rear mounted Falcon connectors to be accessible (see pictures). The additional 2 x MIDI sockets and 2 x joystick connector sockets are also connected separately. Internally the Atari ROM cartridge is accessible, once you open the case.

The Atari Falcon is fitted with the maximum 14MB RAM, and includes a 3.5" HD (approximately 400MB) partitioned as 2 drives 'C' and 'D'. There is also a SCSI CD-R drive fitted inside the case accessible as the 'E' drive. The CD-R drive is connected to the Falcon via an external cable (see picture). This allows you to chain additional SCSI drives if needed, the CD-R acts as the terminator.

A standard (external) Atari keyboard from a Mega, MegaSTe or TT system can be used with this system, and a Mega type Atari keyboard (UK) is included.

Close up of system front showing the CD-R, floppy and controls.

Last but not least a copy of ExtenDOS Gold (manual and disk) which lets you use the CD-R drive under the Atari OS.

ExtenDOS Gold software (manual and disk).

Items:

Atari Falcon Tower system with CD-R, HD, high density 3.5" floppy drive and 14M RAM
Atari Mega style external UK keyboard with cable
Atari mouse
SCSI cable to connect internal CD-R to Falcon.
SVGA adapter cable (use SVGA monitor with the Atari)
ExtenDOS Gold (manual and disk)
Original front 'blanking plate' from the case where the CD-R is installed in case you want to remove the drive.

Showing the inside of the tower case. The Falcon motherboard is mounted onto the PC case, the CD-R drive can be seen towards the top right of the picture. Inside there is cabling for the HD, floppy, etc and the standard PC style PSU. Plenty of room for expansion with both 5.25" bays and a 3.5" bay available.