<s>
The	O
Atari	B-Device
Transputer	I-Device
Workstation	I-Device
(	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
ATW-800	O
,	O
or	O
simply	O
ATW	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
workstation	B-Device
class	O
computer	O
released	O
by	O
Atari	O
Corporation	O
in	O
the	O
late	O
1980s	O
,	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
INMOS	B-General_Concept
transputer	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
introduced	O
in	O
1987	O
as	O
the	O
Abaq	B-Device
,	O
but	O
the	O
name	O
was	O
changed	O
before	O
sales	O
began	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1986	O
,	O
Tim	O
King	O
left	O
his	O
job	O
at	O
MetaComCo	B-Device
,	O
along	O
with	O
a	O
few	O
other	O
employees	O
,	O
to	O
start	O
Perihelion	O
Software	O
in	O
England	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
they	O
started	O
development	O
of	O
a	O
new	O
parallel-processing	O
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
known	O
as	O
"	O
HeliOS	B-Operating_System
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
about	O
the	O
same	O
time	O
a	O
colleague	O
,	O
Jack	O
Lang	O
,	O
started	O
Perihelion	O
(	O
later	O
Perihelion	O
Hardware	O
)	O
to	O
create	O
a	O
new	O
transputer	B-General_Concept
based	O
workstation	B-Device
that	O
would	O
run	O
HeliOS	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
at	O
MetaComCo	B-Device
,	O
much	O
of	O
the	O
Perihelion	O
Software	O
team	O
had	O
worked	O
with	O
both	O
Atari	O
Corp	O
.	O
and	O
Commodore	O
International	O
,	O
producing	O
ST	B-Language
BASIC	I-Language
for	O
the	O
former	O
,	O
and	O
AmigaDOS	B-Operating_System
for	O
the	O
latter	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Commodore	O
had	O
expressed	O
some	O
interest	O
in	O
their	O
new	O
system	O
,	O
and	O
showed	O
demos	O
of	O
it	O
on	O
an	O
add-on	O
card	O
running	O
inside	O
an	O
Amiga	B-Device
2000	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Atari	O
Corp	O
.	O
met	O
with	O
Perihelion	O
and	O
work	O
began	O
on	O
what	O
would	O
eventually	O
become	O
the	O
Atari	B-Device
Transputer	I-Device
Workstation	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
machine	O
was	O
first	O
introduced	O
at	O
the	O
November	O
1987	O
COMDEX	O
with	O
the	O
name	O
Abaq	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Two	O
versions	O
were	O
shown	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
;	O
one	O
was	O
a	O
card	O
that	O
connected	O
to	O
the	O
Mega	B-Device
ST	I-Device
bus	O
expansion	O
slot	O
,	O
the	O
second	O
version	O
was	O
a	O
stand-alone	O
tower	O
system	O
containing	O
a	O
miniaturized	O
Mega	B-Device
ST	I-Device
inside	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
later	O
learned	O
that	O
the	O
"	O
Abaq	B-Device
"	O
name	O
was	O
in	O
use	O
in	O
Europe	O
,	O
so	O
the	O
product	O
name	O
was	O
changed	O
to	O
ATW800	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
team	O
in	O
charge	O
of	O
the	O
ATW	O
's	O
video	O
system	O
,	O
"	O
Blossom	O
"	O
,	O
would	O
later	O
work	O
on	O
another	O
Atari	O
project	O
,	O
the	O
Atari	B-Device
Jaguar	I-Device
video	O
game	O
console	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Atari	B-Device
Transputer	I-Device
Workstation	I-Device
system	O
consists	O
of	O
three	O
main	O
parts	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
All	O
of	O
these	O
are	O
connected	O
using	O
the	O
Transputer	B-General_Concept
's	O
20	O
Mbit/s	O
processor	O
links	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
motherboard	O
contains	O
four	O
slots	O
for	O
additional	O
"	O
farm	O
cards	O
"	O
containing	O
four	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
each	O
,	O
meaning	O
that	O
a	O
fully	O
expanded	O
ATW	O
contains	O
17	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
HeliOS	B-Operating_System
is	O
Unix-like	O
,	O
but	O
not	O
Unix	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
lacks	O
memory	O
protection	O
,	O
due	O
largely	O
to	O
the	O
lack	O
of	O
an	O
MMU	B-General_Concept
on	O
the	O
transputer	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
is	O
not	O
a	O
major	O
issue	O
,	O
as	O
the	O
Transputer	B-General_Concept
's	O
stack-based	O
architecture	O
makes	O
an	O
MMU	B-General_Concept
less	O
important	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Meanwhile	O
,	O
HeliOS	B-Operating_System
is	O
Unix-like	O
enough	O
that	O
it	O
ran	O
standard	O
Unix	B-Application
utilities	O
,	O
including	O
the	O
X	B-Operating_System
Window	I-Operating_System
System	I-Operating_System
as	O
the	O
machine	O
's	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
(	O
GUI	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
HeliOS	B-Operating_System
runs	O
on	O
all	O
of	O
the	O
transputers	B-General_Concept
in	O
a	O
farm	O
concurrently	O
,	O
which	O
allows	O
all	O
computing	O
tasks	O
to	O
be	O
fully	O
distributed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Blossom	O
also	O
includes	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
high-speed	O
effects	O
(	O
128	O
megapixel	O
fill	O
rates	O
)	O
and	O
blitter	B-General_Concept
functionality	O
,	O
including	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
apply	O
up	O
to	O
four	O
masks	O
on	O
a	O
bit-blit	B-Algorithm
operation	O
in	O
a	O
fashion	O
similar	O
to	O
a	O
modern	O
graphics	B-Architecture
processing	I-Architecture
unit	I-Architecture
's	O
ability	O
to	O
apply	O
several	O
textures	O
to	O
a	O
3D	O
object	O
.	O
</s>
