ANTIC Interview 399 - Jim Tittsler, Atari 1600 prototype - a podcast by Randy Kindig, Kay Savetz, Brad Arnold

Jim Tittsler, Atari 1600 prototype

Jim Tittsler got my attention with a tweet, an old photo of a computer in a PC-style case, connected to Atari joysticks and disk drive. In the tweet, Jim wrote: "A prototype of what we hoped would become the #atari 1600: an Atari 800 grafted on to an IBM PC compatible. A Jekyll/Hyde mashup allowing you to plug in cartridges, SIO drives, and  PC expansion cards. It seemed a good idea at the time."

So I reached out to Jim to learn more about that computer, and his time at Atari.

Jim worked in Atari's Special Projects Group, where he worked on several pie-in-the-sky, unreleased, home computer projects including the Atari 1600. When Atari was sold to Jack Tramiel, he was re-hired, where he worked on the Atari ST, the Atari PC-1 IBM compatible, and other projects. He worked at Atari for more than a decade.

This interview took place on September 9, 2020.

Video version of this interview at YouTube

Jim's Atari 1600 tweet

Atari Museum on the Atari 1600

Further episodes of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Further podcasts by Randy Kindig, Kay Savetz, Brad Arnold

Website of Randy Kindig, Kay Savetz, Brad Arnold