[^^^^^^]¢ 4/28/94¢¢ PRESS RELEASE¢¢ Fine Tooned Engineering¢ unveils MARS 8 Project.¢¢ (Ed. This press release is important¢ to all 8 BIT'ers, and proves that the¢ venerable 8 BIT is not only alive and¢ well, but thriving. Just think what¢ power your 800XL will have! OL'HACKERS¢ is happy to spread the word for FTe!)¢ *****¢ FTe will be introducing a "new" ¢ product for the Atari 6502-based ¢ 800XL's that is simply "OUT OF THIS¢ WORLD". The MARS 8 has been ¢ described as an all-in-one "wonder-¢ board", that has had well over two ¢ years of R&D invested in it's making.¢¢ Once installed, you won't ever¢ need to peek "under the hood" of your¢ 800XL again. This enhancement will ¢ allow your Atari 8-Bit to have more ¢ memory than a Mega4! The memory has ¢ an option for battery backup and may ¢ be used with 256K, 1MB, or 4MB SIMMS.¢¢ We even threw in SpartaDOS X, The¢ R-Time 8, MAC/65, Action!, Basic XL, ¢ and Basic XE, just so you can show ¢ your friends the "raw power" that ¢ these machines are capable of!¢¢¢ The price structure and availability¢ is as follows.¢¢ The MARS 8 Project¢ (for 800XL's only)¢¢ Level Options Avail¢¢¢ "Galaxy The MARS8 board May 94¢ Plus" w/ SpartaDOS X,¢ R-Time 8¢ $139.95 Basic XL w/TK&RT¢ & 256K (exp to 4mb)¢¢¢ "Cosmic MAC/65 w/TK Jun 94¢ OSS" Action! w/TK&RT¢ Basic XE¢ & Toon-a-Matic (c)¢ Option¢ add $69.95 ¢¢¢ "Stellar X-press! Jul 94¢ Sysop" D-Ram Battery Bkup¢ & Toon-a-Matic (c)¢ Option¢ add $79.95 ¢¢¢ "Twilight All of the above!¢ Zone" Complete with Aug 94¢ easter eggs...¢¢ $249.95 (everything)¢¢¢ Order a "Galaxy Plus" before¢ 5/31/94 & recieve a "Cosmic ¢ OSS" upgrade voucher towards¢ the "Twilight Zone" model. ¢ (which will be released 8/94)¢¢ The $139.95 for the Galaxy Plus¢ is an introductory offer. We have¢ "working" prototypes, and these¢ little beasties are "costly" to¢ manufacture. Due to the unique ¢ nature of the MARS 8 Project we have¢ decided to release it early, without¢ any idea of how many of them to¢ produce. We are commited to this¢ price until 6/1/94. This is a very¢ "cool" product, and we hope that the¢ Atari Community feels the same. We¢ will offer a 30 day money-back¢ guarantee on this first run of¢ boards, knowing that once you plug it¢ in, you won't want to take it back¢ out! It would have been nice to¢ have this product "reviewed" by a¢ magazine such as Current Notes, but¢ we will be shipping the first boards¢ at the end of May. (which means July¢ issue) **** All prices and features¢ are subject to change, as we have¢ REALLY gone out on a limb to let¢ everyone know what's happening...¢¢ As far as the SpartaDOS 3.2f¢ SHAREWARE is concerned, people have ¢ been at two extremes. One side which¢ is complaining about "no code" being¢ modified and/or SpartaDOS ownership¢ conflicts. While the other side has¢ balanced out all the "bad vibes" from¢ the first group.¢¢ FTe is commited to doing¢ everything that we can to keep the¢ end-user as happy as possible. It¢ should be obvious that a tremendous¢ amount of energy has been placed with¢ getting the MARS 8 Project off the¢ ground.¢¢ We are simply going to get this ¢ Project finished and out-the-door ¢ before any significant amount of time¢ will be spent on SpartaDOS 3.2f ¢ Hopefully, it will do well enough so¢ that a few more people can be put on¢ staff, to get even more "cool"¢ products out so that we can put a few¢ more people...¢¢ (I think you get the idea!) <grin>¢¢ On that note, I wanted to thank ¢ each and every one of you who have ¢ sent in your "REGISTRATION" for ¢ SpartaDOS 3.2f w/Toolkit. It's ¢ refreshing to see that there are ¢ still people out there who care as¢ much about these machines as we do. ¢ The money recieved from these¢ programs will be used for new¢ upgrades and products for the Atari¢ 8-Bit Computers.¢ Thanks,¢ Mike¢ ¢ Fine Tooned Engineering ¢ PO Box 66109¢ Scotts Valley, CA 95067¢ ¢ Telephones:¢ (408)Get-REAL¢ (438-7325) or (800)For-6502 ¢ (367-6502) (for orders only) ¢¢ [||||||]¢
