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When Atari shipped UNIX: 1992's Atari System V
The Atari TT030 Workstation was an early 1990s, UNIX powered beast... that has long been forgotten.
September 10, 2023
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Back in 1990, Atari released the TT030 workstation.

It was a beastly machine. Powered by a 68030 CPU at 32 MHz. A dedicated FPU. Two different types of RAM - System RAM (up to 10 MB) and TT RAM (up to 256 MB). A 3.5” floppy, a 50 MB hard drive, SCSI, MIDI, VGA, RS-232 (four of ‘em). And a resolution of up to 1280×960 (monochrome) or 320×480 (256 colors).

In 1990. This was one seriously powerful rig.

Originally the TT030 shipped with a version of Atari TOS.

AtariTOS is a fork of GEM. Learn more about GEM (and Atari TOS and Multi TOS) in “Looking at 1980's GEM in 2021”. It is a fascinating system.

But, by 1992, a variant of the TT030 (known as the TT/X) shipped with a full blown UNIX operating system: Atari System V

From the official Atari TT030 brochure

So what did a UNIX System V look like on an Atari? Well. It looked like this:

Screenshot courtesy of AtariUNIX.com

For the modern day UNIX (and Linux, etc.) users out there… this is going to look immediately familiar. A nice little xterm shell, xedit, even good old xeyes.

You can find a full listing of the packages included in Atari System V developer pre-release release notes. Which include, you’ll note, X-Windows, Motif window manager, and a complement of GNU compilers and build tools

The Atari System V Developer Prerelease notes courtesy of Archive.org

An Atari TT030 workstation could dual-boot both TOS and Atari System V UNIX. System V even included a graphical tool to select the preferred operating system to boot.

Screenshot courtesy of AtariUNIX.com

When Atari System V shipped in 1992… this is the box it came in…

The Atari System V box (courtesy of AtariUNIX.com)

And the floppies it installed from…

A version of NCSA Mosaic was even ported. Which means the early web is accessible from an Atari TT030.

AtariUNIX.com hosts a small collection of software ports (including Mosaic). As well as some disc images for Atari System V, MINIX, and Net BSD for the TT030.

Neither the TT030, nor the Atari port of System V, saw much success. The TT030 workstation was abandoned in favor of the, more consumer focused, Atari Falcon. And, rather quickly, Atari’s adventures into the land of UNIX were forgotten by almost all.

It was, just the same, an incredibly powerful OS, backed up by what was (for the time) one heck of a machine.

What could have happened in the workstation space had Atari seen some additional success in the market? Could Atari have effectively competed against SGI, SUN, HP and the rest of the UNIX workstation crowd?

It certainly would have been interesting to see.

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November 06, 2025
50% off Lunduke Journal subs extended through Nov 10th

Just a quick heads up:

The Lunduke Journal has a 50% off discount on all types of subscriptions — Monthly, Yearly, and The World Famous Lifetime Subscriptions (tm). And that discount has been extended through this coming Monday (November 10th).

Just for kicks.

All of the details are right here.

Or you can always go to Lunduke.com and click the fancy-shmancy “50% off” link.

Here’s a map on how to find that link.

 

Think of it like a treasure map. Only better. Because you don’t need to stand up and walk. Walking is hard.

-Lunduke

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November 01, 2025
$3/Month, $27/Year, $150/Lifetime for The Lunduke Journal

For those who missed it:

50% off Lunduke Journal subscriptions through Monday (Nov 3rd).

At half-off, that means the price of a full Lunduke Journal is:

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Pick whichever type of subscription you want, get some cool perks, feel awesome about supporting Big-Tech Free, non-Woke Tech Journalism.

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October 30, 2025
50% Off The Lunduke Journal through Nov 3rd

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As a way of saying “Welcome!” to all of you new people, here’s a little (well… big) discount on full subscriptions.

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