Hardware Meeting 6/26/89
                                 J.Ray 6/29/89

         Attendees: Chris Downend, Tim Hubberstey, Farrokh Khodadadi,
              Jed Margolin, Pat McCarthy, Glenn McNamara, Rich Moore,
              John Ray, Doug Snyder, Alex Taccir.

         NEW EMPLOYEES:

         Tom Clark is the new Component Engineer in Rick Meyette's
         group. Welcome aboard, Tom!!

         Farrokh Khodadadi is a "new" technician in Chris Downend's
         team. He most recently worked in Atari's Field Service.
         Welcome aboard, Farrokh!!


         ANALOG PC DESIGN:

         What will increase our success at designing analog PCBs that
         work? Doug and Pat feel that the hardware engineer should do
         the placement on Scicards. The knowledge required to interact
         with the system can be obtained fairly quickly with the help
         of the PC designers.  Jed feels that a PC-based layout
         program would be a worthwhile investment.


         JAMMA EDGE CONNECTOR CURRENT CAPACITY:

         John Ray announced that the standard we will use (for the
         near term) is 3 Amps per terminal + 1 redundant terminal. So
         both +12V and both -5V terminals need to be used to bring
         power to the board. For a game that requires 5A at +5V, you
         should use three of the four +5V terminals for power. John
         will publish a memo in the near future that will be more
         specific and incorporate some exceptions that Rick Meyette
         suggested. Pat McCarthy will request data from the
         manufacturers that will help us decide on the long-term
         standard.


         EPROM PROGRAMMERS:

         John Ray announced that the version 4.0 Data I/O 288 release
         (expected late July) will incorporate TI's SNAP programming
         algorithm. This algorithm will allow us to program TI parts
         significantly faster. We will need to use only TI EPROMs,
         however, but this is not expected to be a big problem. Chris
         Downend is investigating other EPROM programmers. The
         hardware engineers should keep abreast of flash EEPROMs, as
         they will someday allow each development station to burn
         their EEPROMs right in the PCB!!

         ELECTRO-STATIC DISCHARGE (ESD):

         Our games are subjected to shocks from players who have
         walked across a carpet and then touch a metal part of the
         game. The game must not do anything weird when this happens.
         Pat McCarthy reminded us that Rick Meyette's group needs to
         perform an ESD test on every new game, just like the FCC test
         (and the heat test??). Pat and Rick should look at
         structuring the procedures so that they do not get left out
         on any new games.

         The Hitron power supply was shutting down when subjected to
         ESD. Rick Meyette has a fix to keep it from doing this.


         RF COMPONENTS ON ALL PCBs:

         Rick Meyette should look at a plot of all new PCBs for EMI
         component placement (before the PCB is fabbed). The hardware
         engineer should make sure this happens.

         32K X 8 85nS:

         The hardware engineers responded that this speed will work in
         any current applications where this part is being used.


         DOUG LEAVING:

         Doug Snyder has decided to leave Atari effective July 7. Doug
         has been an extremely creative, productive, valuable
         employee.  We will miss him!!

         Doug -- Best of luck for your future!!  Thanks for a job well
         done!!


         Please forward any additions, corrections, or questions to
         John Ray.