The list contains 72 persons from Kleinschmalkalden that could be called up for military service (Wehrpflichtig). The estimated population at that time is 350. The conclusion is that our family lived in Kleinschmalkalden and Thüringen since the late Middle Ages and possibly longer. In our opinion it seems unlikely that we will find older sources. That makes this discovery even more special.
That time we also found another Giegengack in the same document. He is mentioned in the listing of the village Hergos (Herges, now part of Herges-Hallenberg, about 18 km south of Kleinschmalkalden):
From Helmut Giegengack we received an article written by Rainer König where a Valten Giegengak is mentioned. The story was based on a document from 1583 that, at the time it was discovered, was the oldest with the name Giegengack written in it. Later on we contacted Kleinschmalkaldens local historian Rainer König, and he sent us the photo he made from the original pages of the book 'Gerichtshandlungen Brottroda' (Jurisdiction in the town of Brotterode).
These two pages from the 'Gerichtshandlungen Brottroda' are about the lawsuit against the thief Hans Mahler, who had robbed Valten Giegengak. At the bottom part of the left page is written: 'Gefraget was sie denn Valten Giegengak in der Kleinschmalkalden aus dem Haus gestolen?'. Meaning: 'It was asked what they (the thieves) stole from the house of Valten Giegengak in Kleinschmalkalden'.
Picture made available by Sam Dellit, Australia. He visited the Schmalkalden archive in the summer of 2006.
According to Sam Dellit from Australia, who sent us this photo, in the books in the Schmalkalden archive 'there are numerous references to Giegengacks, including several years when a Giegengack was the official recorder'. He found three more Giegengacks on other pages of this Rechnungsbuch and that brings him to the conclusion that 'with 4 adult Giegengacks in Kleinschmalkalden in 1592, almost certainly takes the Giegengacks back to at least 1550 in Kleinschmalkalden'.
It is always special to find your family name in a document that's more than 365 years old. It's about the confirmation (Konfirmationen or aanneming) of three 14 year old boys in 1641 and 1642: Jörg, Moritz and Petter Giegengagk. Petter is one of the oldest ancestors of the German and the USA-lineage.
"It is Sunday, 21 April 1996, and I am now finally making a start with writing my story!" With these words Tom Coolman, born as Antonius Adrianus Maria Gigengack, starts his biography, about which he mentions: "This booklet intends to describe my journey in life." And: "The matters I write about are as close as possible to the way I spent my life with my family and friends; at least as close as I can possibly remember. You should know that I am not an author, just a Dutch migrant who has worked hard all his life. So please take the good with the bad when you try to read my scribbling."
Journalist Dewi Gigengack from Holland wrote the story 'Back to our roots' about the role of DNA in tracing her roots. The story was published in the seven Dutch regional newspapers of the Wegener Media group.
Dewi and her father Erik took part in the Genographic Project and they sent their DNA-samples to the lab.
Click on the image or click here to go to a readable pdf and read about mitochondrial Eve, Homo sapiens, the exotic haplogroup M and group M253 that could be of Norman Viking descent (article In Dutch only).
The Genographic Project is a multi-year research initiative led by National Geographic geneticist Dr. Spencer Wells. More info on the Genographic Project here.
In April 2010 we (Erik Gigengack and his family) visited New York. On that occasion we were invited at a wonderful Giegengack party in Brooklyn, NY. The location was the lovely house of Cath Teegarden, daughter of Lucie Giegengack-Teegarden.
So present at the party were the organizers Lucie and daughter Cath, Cath's husband Rick, their kids Becca and Margot; Bob Giegengack plus his daughter Katie; Mary Giegengack and her husband, John Jureller; Ed Giegengack and his wife Terry plus their sons Philip, Paul, and Danny; Bob White (Jane's husband) plus his daughter Liz; and the five from the Netherlands: Erik Gigengack and his wife Greta, their kids Guus and Dewi and her boyfriend Sander. Nancy George McNabb and her husband Alan had hoped to come, too, but couldn't make it.
We enjoyed the warm and interesting conversations and the great food prepared by Cath. Although we forgot to take pictures, we will long remember this sparkling family gathering.
The Germany-weekend in March 2010 started with the visit at Herbert (r.) and Käthe (l.) Gigengack in Bocholt. In the middle: Frans Gigengack from Hengelo. Wonderful stories were told.
From Bocholt the delegation of Gigengacks from the Netherlands went to Thüringen to visit Kleinschmalkalden. From left: John, Frans, Magdalene and Helmut (from Chemnitz), Frank, Erik and Ingo.
See the videos of the visit to Kleinschmalkalden, Schmalkalden and Bocholt in March 2010, made by John Gigengack.
All Giegengacks can send us their portrait picture and we'll place it at the website! Also the portraits of your parents, partner and kids are most welcome. Family members with profile photos on Facebook, Hyves etc., please send them to us! The photos will be a great resource for enlivening our family tree! The portraits in digital format can be e-mailed to: info[at]gigengack[.]nl
From left to right: Frank, John and Frans Gigengack. The København travelers visited the Garnisons Church, the Christians Church, the former Frederiks Hospital, the former Sølvgaden Kaserne, the Landsarkivet for Sjælland and the Arsenal Museum. But there also was time for a beer! Photo: Erik Gigengack (Hengelo, NL).
Interesting meeting with Karsten Skjold Petersen (left), senior research worker at The Royal Danish Arsenal Museum (Tøjhusmuseet). He - as an expert in social history of the recruited professional soldiers in Denmark - could tell a lot about Valentin Gi(e)gengack's life as a sergeant in the Danish army.
Four family members visited København from the 18th to the 21st of October 2008, to find tracks of one of our forefathers Valentin Gi(e)gengack.
Frans Gigengack, John Gigengack and Erik and Frank Gigengack (all from the Netherlands) visited the places where their oldest known forefather Valentin had lived and worked, where he was married, where his children were baptized and where he died.
Update: Since July 2012 we know that Valentin Giegengack descends from Moritz Giegengack who moved to to Roßdorf.
What is the meaning of the name Giegengack and where does it originate from? Is our family name of Celtic descent or is it Slavic? It could also be a normal German name. For sure it wasn't thought up by Dutch people, like the book 'Xenophobe's guide to the Dutch' said. But the editor removed that theory in the last edition of the book.
This is a picture of the Kermis in the Netherlands like it was in the old days. In the background is a carousel, the one that is in our family for a long time now. The Hengelo Branch of the Gigengack Family is in the Kermis Business for more than hundred years. An example: in 1874 the Gigengack carousel [draaimolen] was in the little town of Wijhe (Overijssel, the Netherlands) for the first time.
Here is a picture of the Gigengack Coat of Arms that we received from at least three family members during the first year of this website. The one showed here is from Marion and Peter van Dijk from New Zealand. (Marion is the daughter of Ettina Maria Gigengack from Haarlem, the Netherlands).
We are still searching for an answer about how long this coat of arms is used. It must be for 'some time' before registering. Also about the origin, meaning and use of the symbols, we look for further information. Please let us know if you have more information about the Gigengack Coat of Arms: Contact.
With the help of John Gigengack from Duivendrecht we show some books that have our family name in the title. Although the books are not really about (members of) our family, it is remarkable that these writers are inspired by our surname.
We like to thank the makers of this website for their permission to use this image at our site. Do you also have a nice photo of Kleinschmalkalden or another picture that tells something about our family? Send your response here: Contact.
The old Giegengack House in Kleinschmalkalden (Thüringen, Germany) that is build from wood. Photo Guus Gigengack, March 2004.
Your email address - this will be shown on the page and will allow the system to notify you of further comments added to this picture.
A.H. Stephens Historic State Park is a 1,177 acres (476 ha) Georgia state park located in Crawfordville. The park is named for Alexander Hamilton Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederate States of America, and a former Georgia governor.[2] The park contains Stephens' home, Liberty Hall, which has been fully restored to its original 1875 style. The park's museum houses one of Georgia's largest collections of Civil War artifacts. The park also offers several mill ponds for fishing and nature trails. Bedrock is a complex of granitic gneiss and granite on which deep soils of the Cataula and Cecil series have developed.[3][4]
The park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as A.H. Stephens State Park. It includes four contributing sites, twelve contributing structures, and one other contributing object. It includes Colonial Revival and Rustic Style architecture.
The Liberty Hall, also known as Bachelor's Hall, built in 1834, is one of the structures on the site, and is separately listed on the NRHP.[5] It is currently a National Historic Landmark maintained by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. A.H. Stephens bought the estate in 1845, and lived in its house until 1875, when he tore down the main structure to build Liberty Hall. The two-story "big house" is a traditional 4 × 4 with four rooms on each level.
Many of Stephens' books are housed in a smaller structure behind, where he spent much of his time after the war. After Stephens's death in 1883, Liberty Hall, owned by his surviving relatives, served as a boardinghouse until 1932, when it was donated to the state of Georgia. The vice president's grave is on the front lawn, beneath a marble statue in his honor.
The Atari Jaguar is a home video game console that was developed by Atari Corporation. The console is the sixth programmable console to be developed under the Atari brand, originally released in North America in November 1993. It is also the last Atari console to use physical media. Controversially, Atari marketed the Jaguar as being the first 64-bit video game console,[1] while competing with the existing 16-bit consoles (Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System) and the 32-bit 3DO Interactive Multiplayer platform (which launched the same year).
Development on the Atari Jaguar started in the early 1990s by Flare Technology. The console was released to test markets in New York City and San Francisco in November 1993 and to the general public in 1994. The Jaguar shipped with Cybermorph as the pack-in game.[12]
The multi-chip architecture, hardware bugs, and lacking developer support tools made game development difficult. Underwhelming sales further contributed to the console's lack of third-party support.[13] This, in addition to the lack of internal development at Atari, led to a games library comprising only 50 licensed titles + another 13 games on the Jaguar CD.
Atari attempted to extend the lifespan of the system with the Atari Jaguar CD add-on and marketing the Jaguar as the low-cost next generation console, with a price tag over $100 less than any of its competitors.[14] With the release of the Sega Saturn and Sony PlayStation in 1995, sales of the Jaguar continued to fall, ultimately selling no more than 250,000 units before it was discontinued in 1996. The commercial failure of the Jaguar prompted Atari to leave the video game console market.
After Hasbro Interactive bought out Atari in the late 1990s, the patents to the Jaguar were released into the public domain, with the console being declared an open platform.[15] Since then, the Jaguar has gained a cult following, with a developer base that produces homebrew games for the console.[16]
The Jaguar was developed by the members of Flare Technology, a company formed by Martin Brennan and John Mathieson. The team had claimed that they could not only make a console superior to the Genesis or the Super NES, but they could also be cost-effective.[citation needed] Impressed by their work on the Konix Multisystem, Atari persuaded them to close Flare and form a new company called Flare II, with Atari providing the funding.[citation needed] Flare II initially set to work designing two consoles for Atari Corp. One was a 32-bit architecture (codenamed "Panther"), and the other was a 64-bit system (codenamed "Jaguar"); however, work on the Jaguar design progressed faster than expected, so Atari Corp. canceled the Panther project to focus on the more promising Jaguar.
The Jaguar was introduced in 1993 at a price of $249.99,[6] under a $500 million manufacturing deal with IBM. The system was initially available only in the test markets of New York City and San Francisco, under the slogan "Do the Math",[6] claiming superiority over competing 16-bit and 32-bit systems. A U.S.-wide release followed six months later, in early 1994.[18] Computer Gaming World wrote in January 1994 that the Jaguar was "a great machine in search of a developer/customer base", as Atari had to "overcome the stigma of its name (lack of marketing and customer support, as well as poor developer relations in the past)". The company "ventured late into third party software support" while competing console 3DO's "18 month public relations blitz" would result in "an avalanche of software support", the magazine reported.[19]
The Atari Jaguar struggled to attain a substantial user base. In 1993, Atari reported that it had shipped 17,000 units as part of the system's initial test market.[20] By the end of 1994, Atari reported that it had sold approximately 100,000 systems and had reduced the price to improve the competitive nature of the console.[21] By the end of 1995, Sony and Sega had entered the marketplace with competing consoles and Atari's sales declined rapidly. In Atari's 1995 annual report, it noted:
Jaguar sales were substantially below Atari's expectations, and Atari's business and financial results were materially adversely affected in 1995 as Atari continued to invest heavily in Jaguar game development, entered into arrangements to publish certain licensed titles and reduced the retail price for its Jaguar console unit. Atari attributes the poor performance of Jaguar to a number of factors including (i) extensive delays in development of software for the Jaguar which resulted in reduced orders due to consumer concern as to when titles for the platform would be released and how many titles would ultimately be available, and (ii) the introduction of competing products by Sega and Sony in May 1995 and September 1995, respectively.[22]
In addition, Atari Corp. had severely limited financial resources, and so could not create the level of marketing which has historically backed successful gaming consoles.[23]
In a 1995 interview with Next Generation, then-CEO Sam Tramiel declared that the Jaguar was as powerful, if not more powerful, than the Sega Saturn, and slightly weaker than the PlayStation.[24] Next Generation received a deluge of letters in response to Tramiel's comments, particularly his threat to bring Sony to court for price dumping if the PlayStation entered the U.S. market at a retail price below $300[aj 1] and his remark that the small number of third party Jaguar games was good for Atari's profitability (which angered Jaguar owners who were already frustrated at how few games were coming out for the system).[25]
The Jaguar's underlying hardware was crippled by a flaw in the CPU's memory controller, which prevented code execution out of system RAM.[citation needed] Less severe defects included a buggy UART.[citation needed] The memory controller flaw could have been mitigated by a mature code-development environment, to unburden the programmer from having to micromanage small chunks of code.[citation needed] Jaguar's development tools left much to the programmer's own implementation, as documentation was incomplete.[citation needed]
Design specs for the console allude to the GPU or DSP being capable of acting as a CPU, leaving the Motorola 68000 to read controller inputs. Atari's Leonard Tramiel also specifically suggested that the 68000 not be used by developers.[26] In practice, however, many developers used the Motorola 68000 to drive gameplay logic due to the greater developer familiarity with the 68000, bugs that made using the custom chips difficult, lacking developer support tools (particularly early on), and the adequacy of the 68000 for certain types of games.[26]
Atari Corp. tried to play down competing consoles by proclaiming the Jaguar was the only "64-bit" system. This claim is questioned by some, because the CPU (68000) and the GPU executed a 32-bit instruction-set, but sent control signals to the 64-bit graphics co-processors (or "graphics accelerators"). Atari Corp.'s reasoning that the 32-bit "Tom" and "Jerry" chips work in tandem to add up to a 64-bit system was ridiculed in a mini-editorial by Electronic Gaming Monthly, which commented that "If Sega did the math for the Sega Saturn the way Atari did the math for their 64-bit Jaguar system, the Sega Saturn would be a 112-bit monster of a machine."[27] On the other side, Next Generation, while giving a mostly negative review of the Jaguar, maintained that it is a true 64-bit system, since the data path from the DRAM to the CPU and Tom and Jerry chips is 64 bits wide.[28]
By the end of 1995, Atari's revenues declined by more than half, from US$38.7 million in 1994 to $14.6 million in 1995.[10] In late 1995, Atari Corp. ran early-morning infomercial advertisements with enthusiastic salesmen touting the powerful game system. The infomercials ran most of the year, but did not significantly sell the remaining stock of Jaguar systems.[23] By November 1995, mass layoffs and insider statements were fueling journalistic speculation that Atari had ceased both development and manufacturing for the Jaguar and was simply trying to sell off existing stock before exiting the video game industry.[29][30] Though Atari Corp. continued to deny these theories going into 1996, core Jaguar developers such as High Voltage Software and Beyond Games stated that they were no longer receiving communications from Atari regarding Jaguar projects.[31] In its 10-K405 SEC Filing, filed April 12, 1996, Atari informed their stockholders of the truly dire nature of the Jaguar business:
From the introduction of Jaguar in late 1993 through the end of 1995, Atari sold approximately 125,000 units of Jaguar. As of December 31, 1995, Atari had approximately 100,000 units of Jaguar in inventory.[10]
The filing also confirmed the theory that Atari had given up on the Jaguar in late 1995, and in the subsequent months were concerned chiefly with liquidating its inventory of Jaguar products.[10][32] On April 8, 1996, Atari Corp. merged with JT Storage in a reverse takeover.[33]
Jaguar is a custom chip set primarily intended to be the heart of a very high-performance games/leisure computer. It may also be used as a graphics accelerator in more complex systems, and applied to workstation and business uses. As well as a general purpose CPU, Jaguar contains four processing units. These are the Object Processor, Graphics Processor, Blitter, and Digital Sound Processor. Jaguar provides these blocks with a 64-bit data path to external memory devices, and is capable of a very high data transfer rate into external dynamic RAM.
Graphics processing unit (GPU) – 32-bit RISC architecture, 4 KB internal RAM, all graphical effects are software-based.
Blitter – 64-bit high speed logic operations, z-buffering and Gouraud shading, with 64-bit internal registers.
Atari Games licensed the Atari Jaguar's chipset for use in its arcade games. The system, named COJAG (for "Coin-Op Jaguar"), replaced the 68000 with a 68020 or MIPS R3000-based CPU (depending on the board version), added more RAM, a full 64-bit wide ROM bus (Jaguar ROM bus being 32-bit), and optionally a hard drive (some titles such as Freeze are ROM only). It ran the lightgun games Area 51 and Maximum Force, which were released by Atari as dedicated cabinets or as the Area 51/Maximum Force combo machine. Other games (3 On 3 Basketball; Fishin' Frenzy; Freeze; Vicious Circle) were developed but never released.
The Atari Jaguar Duo was a proposed console similar to the TurboDuo and Genesis CDX. It was an attempt by Atari to combine the Atari Jaguar and Atari Jaguar CD to make a new console. A prototype model, described by journalists as resembling a bathroom scale, was unveiled at the 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics Show,[37] but the console was cancelled before production could begin.[38]
The redesigned controller, dubbed the "ProController", included additional action buttons, and the JagLink peripheral added network styled play to compatible games.
Prior to the launch of the console in November 1993, Atari had announced a variety of peripherals and add-ons for the Jaguar to be released over the console's lifespan. This included a CD-ROM-based add-on console, a dial-up internet link with support for online gaming, a virtual reality headset, and an MPEG-2 video card.[39][40] However, due to the poor sales and eventual commercial failure of the Jaguar, most of the peripherals in development were scrapped. The only peripherals and add-ons released by Atari for the Jaguar were a redesigned controller, an adapter for four players, a CD console add-on, and a link cable for local area network (LAN) gaming.
The redesigned second controller for the Jaguar, the ProController by Atari, added three more face buttons and two triggers.[41] The controller was created in response to the criticism of the original controller that the console came with, which was said to not possess enough buttons for fighting games in particular. Sold independently, however, it was never bundled with the system after its release. A peripheral that allowed 4 controllers to be plugged into the console was also released. Dubbed the "Team Tap", it was released independently and as a bundle with White Men Can't Jump.[42] However, the Team Tap was only compatible with White Men Can't Jump and NBA Jam Tournament Edition.[43] Eight player gameplay with the Team Tap peripheral is also possible if a second Team Tap is plugged into the second controller port on the console,[42] but neither of the compatible games supports eight players.[41] Local area network multiplayer gameplay was achieved through the use of the Jaglink Interface, which allowed two Jaguar consoles to be linked together[41] through a modular extension and a UTP phone cable. The Jaglink was compatible with three games: AirCars, BattleSphere and Doom.
In 1994 at the CES, Atari announced that it partnered up with Phylon, Inc. to create the Jaguar Voice/Data Communicator. The unit was delayed and eventually in 1995 mass production was canceled all together, but not before an estimated 100 or so were made. The Jaguar Voice Modem or JVM, as it became known, utilized a 19.9kbit/s dial up modem and had the ability to answer incoming phone calls and store up to 18 phone numbers. Players were required to directly dial each other for online game play. The only Jaguar game that supports the JVM is Ultra Vortek; the modem is initialized in the Ultra Vortek start up screen by entering 911 on the key pad.[44]
The Atari Jaguar CD is an add-on to the Jaguar that made use of CD-ROMs to distribute games. It was released in September 1995, two years after the Jaguar's launch. Twelve games were released for the system during its manufacturing lifetime, with more being made later by homebrew developers. Each Jaguar CD unit came with a Virtual Light Machine, which displayed light patterns corresponding to music, if the user inserts an audio CD into the console. It was developed by Jeff Minter, who had created the program after experimenting with graphics during the development of Tempest 2000.[45] The program was deemed a spiritual successor to the Atari Video Music, a system which served a similar purpose, released in 1976.[46]
An additional accessory for the Jaguar CD, which allowed Jaguar CD games to save persistent data such as preferences and saved games, was also released.[41] Known as the Memory Track, it was a cartridge that contained a 128 K EEPROM, and was to be inserted into the cartridge slot on the Jaguar CD while the user played a Jaguar CD game. The program manager for the Memory Track is accessed by pushing the option button while the system is starting, and exited by pushing the * and # keys simultaneously.[47] There were plans to make a second model of the Jaguar console that combined both the Jaguar and the Jaguar CD into one unit, a la the TurboDuo.[48] Originally codenamed the Jaguar III, and later the Jaguar Duo, the proposed model was scrapped after the discontinuation of the Jaguar.[49]
A virtual reality headset compatible with the console, tentatively titled the Jaguar VR, was unveiled by Atari at the 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics Show.[50] The development of the peripheral was a response to Nintendo's virtual reality console, the Virtual Boy, which had been announced the previous year.[51] The headset was developed in cooperation with Virtuality, who had previously created many virtual reality arcade systems, and was already developing a similar headset for practical purposes, named Project Elysium, for IBM.[52] The peripheral was targeted for a commercial release before Christmas 1995.[53] However, the deal with Virtuality was abandoned in October 1995.[54][55] After Atari's merger with JTS in 1996, all prototypes of the headset were allegedly destroyed. However, two working units, one low-resolution prototype with red and grey-colored graphics and one high-resolution prototype with blue and grey-colored graphics, have since been recovered, and are regularly showcased at retrogaming-themed conventions and festivals.[56][57] Only one game was developed for the Jaguar VR prototype: a 3D-rendered version of the 1980 arcade game Missile Command, entitled Missile Command 3D, though a demo of Virtuality's Zone Hunter was also created for Jaguar VR demonstrations.[55]
An unofficial expansion peripheral for the Atari Jaguar dubbed the "Catbox" was released by the Rockford, Illinois company ICD. It was originally slated to be released early in the Jaguar's life, in the second quarter of 1994,[58] but was not actually released until mid-1995.[59] The ICD CatBox plugs directly into the AV/DSP connectors located in the rear of the Jaguar console and provides three main functions. These are audio, video, and communications. It features six output formats, three for audio (line level stereo, RGB monitor, headphone jack with volume control) and three for video (composite, S-Video, and RGB analog component video) making the Jaguar compatible with multiple high quality monitor systems and multiple monitors at the same time. It is capable of communications methods known as CatNet and RS-232 as well as DSP pass through, allowing the user to connect two or more Jaguars together for multiplayer games either directly or with modems. The ICD CatBox features a polished stainless steel casing[59] and red LEDs in the jaguar's eyes on the logo that indicate communications activity. An IBM AT-type null modem cable may be used to connect two Jaguars together.[60] The CatBox is also compatible with Atari's Jaglink Interface peripheral.
An adaptor for the Jaguar that allows for WebTV access was revealed in 1998; one prototype is known to exist.
Reviewing the Jaguar just a few weeks prior to its launch, GamePro gave it a "thumbs sideways". They praised the power of the hardware but criticized the controller, and were dubious of how the software lineup would turn out, commenting that Atari's failure to secure support from key third party publishers such as Capcom was a bad sign. They concluded that "Like the 3DO, the Jaguar is a risky investment – just not quite as expensive."[61]
The small size and poor quality of the Jaguar's game library became the most commonly cited reason for its failure in the marketplace. The pack-in game Cybermorph, despite being an impressive polygonal game for its time, was criticized for design flaws and a weak color palette, and compared unfavorably with the SNES's Star Fox. Other early releases like Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy, Raiden, and Evolution: Dino Dudes also received poor reviews, the latter two for failing to take full advantage of the Jaguar's hardware. Jaguar did eventually earn praise with titles such as Tempest 2000, Doom, and Wolfenstein 3D.[63] The most successful title during the Jaguar's first year was Alien vs. Predator.[64] Both Alien vs. Predator and Tempest 2000 were named among the system's defining titles by GamePro in 2007.[6] However, these occasional successes were seen as insufficient while the Jaguar's competitors were receiving a continual stream of critically acclaimed software; GamePro concluded their rave review of Alien vs.Predator by remarking "If Atari can turn out a dozen more games like AvP, Jaguar owners could truly rest easy and enjoy their purchase."[65] In a late 1995 review of the Jaguar, Next Generation commented that "thus far, Atari has spectacularly failed to deliver on the software side, leaving many to question the actual quality and capability of the hardware. With only one or two exceptions – Tempest 2000 is cited most frequently – there have just been no truly great games for the Jaguar up to now." They further noted that while Atari is well known by older gamers, the company had much less overall brand recognition than Sega, Sony, Nintendo, or even The 3DO Company. However, they argued that with its low price point, the Jaguar might still compete if Atari could improve the software situation. They gave the system two out of five stars.[28] With such a small library of games[66] to challenge the incumbent 16-bit game consoles, Jaguar's appeal never grew beyond a small gaming audience. Digital Spy commented: "Like many failed hardware ventures, it still maintains something of a cult following but can only be considered a misstep for Atari."[67]
In 2006 IGN editor Craig Harris rated the standard Jaguar controller as the worst game controller ever, criticizing the unwarranted recycling of the 1980s "phone keypad" format and the small number of action buttons, which he found particularly unwise given that Atari was actively trying to court fighting game fans to the system.[68] Ed Semrad of Electronic Gaming Monthly commented that many Jaguar games gratuitously used all of the controller's phone keypad buttons, making the controls much more difficult than they needed to be.[69] GamePro's The Watch Dog remarked, "The controller usually doesn't use the keypad, and for games that use the keypad extensively (Alien vs. Predator, Doom), a keypad overlay is used to minimize confusion. But yes, it is a lot of buttons for nuttin'."[70] Atari added more action buttons for its Pro Controller, to improve performance in fighting games in particular.[71][72]
After the Atari Corporation properties were bought out by Hasbro Interactive in the late 1990s, Hasbro released the rights to the Jaguar, declaring the console an open platform and opening the doors for homebrew development.[15][16] A few developers, including Telegames[73] and Songbird Productions, released previously unfinished materials from the Jaguar's past and several brand new titles to satisfy the system's cult following.
In the United Kingdom in 2001, a deal was struck between Telegames and retailer Game to bring the Jaguar to Game's retail outlets. The machine was initially sold for £29.99 brand new and software prices ranged between £9.99 for more common games such as Doom and Ruiner Pinball, and £39.99 for more sought-after releases such as Defender 2000 and Checkered Flag. The machine had a presence in the stores until 2007 when remaining consoles were sold off for £9.99 and games were sold for as low as 97p.[citation needed]
Imagin Systems, a manufacturer of dental imaging equipment, has since purchased the molding plates for the Jaguar's casing as with minor modification they were found to be the right size for housing their HotRod camera.[74] The game cartridge molds were reused to create an optional memory expansion card.[75]
In December 2014, the molds for the console and cartridges were purchased from Imagin Systems by Mike Kennedy, owner of the Kickstarter funded Retro Videogame Magazine, to propose a new crowdfunded video game console called the Retro VGS,[76] later rebranded the Coleco Chameleon[77] after entering a licensing agreement with Coleco. The purchase of the molds from Imagin Systems was far cheaper than designing and manufacturing entirely new molds, and Kennedy described their acquisition as "the entire reason [the Retro VGS] is possible".[78] However, the project was terminated in March 2016 following criticism of Kennedy[79] and doubts regarding demand for the proposed console. Two "prototypes" were discovered to be fakes and Coleco withdrew from the project.[80] After the project's termination, the molds were sold to Albert Yarusso, the founder of the AtariAge website.[81]
Contiki, portable operating system, including a port for the Jaguar with GUI, TCP/IP and web browser support.
^ Many readers found this threat hollow and hypocritical, since Tramiel noted in the same interview that Atari were themselves selling the Jaguar at a loss. However, as noted by the editor in response to the letters, price dumping does not have to do with a product being priced below cost, but its being priced much lower in one country than another (which, as Tramiel said, is illegal). Tramiel and Next Generation agreed that the PlayStation's Japanese price converts to approximately $500.
^ a b "Hasbro Releases Jaguar Publishing Rights". Hasbro Interactive. Retrieved May 14, 2008. Beverly, MA (May 14, 1999) – Leading entertainment software publisher, Hasbro Interactive announced today it has released all rights that it may have to the vintage Atari hardware platform, the Jaguar.
^ a b Goss, Patrick. "Redundant gadgets (Atari Jaguar entry)". Archived from the original on October 11, 2007. Retrieved October 23, 2007.
^ "Letters". Next Generation. No. 4. Imagine Media. April 1995. p. 107. The fact is that occasionally products do launch in some 'test' markets before making it national. Atari's Jaguar is a prime example (it was available in San Francisco and New York six months before anywhere else).
^ a b Thomas, Don (December 1996). "Atari's Historic Road to Nowhere". Next Generation. No. 24. Imagine Media. pp. 97–104.
^ a b Joe Venor (2009). "What's this "Lay off the 68k" and "GPU in Main" Malarkey? (TECHNICAL)". The Owl Project. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
^ a b "Which Game System is the Best!?". Next Generation. No. 12. Imagine Media. December 1995. pp. 36–85.
^ "Atari Drops Jaguar?". Next Generation. No. 13. Imagine Media. January 1996. p. 21. Then in November, UK newspaper The Sunday Times ... put forward that Atari plans to give up on the Jaguar in favor of PC development ... The Sunday Times article is not the only piece of speculation regarding Atari's commitment to hardware to have appeared in the media over the last two weeks.
^ "Atari and JT Storage Reorganisation Plan". One Cle. Archived from the original on December 9, 2006. Retrieved November 25, 2006.
^ Vinciguerra, Robert. "A Complete History of Online Console Gaming in the United States". The Rev. Rob Times. RevRob.com. Archived from the original on October 14, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2007.
^ "Nintendo introduces video game players to three-dimensional worlds with new virtual reality video game system". Business Wire / Planet Virtual Boy. November 14, 1994. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
^ Dye, Lee (February 22, 1995). "The Cutting Edge: COMPUTING / TECHNOLOGY / INNOVATION : Virtual Reality Applications Expand : Imaging: Technology is finding important places in medicine, engineering and many other realms". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
^ Plafke, James (January 23, 2013). "Atari Jaguar had a VR headset?! One of the two left intact is up for auction". Geek.com. Ziff Davis Media. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
^ "GameFan's 2nd Annual Megawards". GameFan. No. Volume 2, Issue 2. Shinno Media. January 1994. p. 58. Best New System: Winner: The Atari Jaguar
^ "Review Crew: Syndicate". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 69. Sendai Publishing. April 1995. p. 38.
^ "Tidbits...". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 94. Ziff Davis. May 1997. p. 24. Atari Jaguar game maker Telegames refuses to desert loyal owners of the 64-Bit machine ... and remains the lone third-party publisher. The company has six new games in the works, according to its online site ...
^ "HotRod" (PDF). Imagin. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 17, 2010. Retrieved October 24, 2010.
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Breakthrough Listen is a science-based program to search for intelligent extraterrestrial communications in the Universe.[1][2] With $100 million in funding and thousands of hours of dedicated telescope time on state-of-the-art facilities,[3] it is the most comprehensive search for alien communications to date.[1][4] The project began in January 2016, and is expected to continue for 10 years[5]. It is a component of Yuri Milner's Breakthrough Initiatives program. The science program for Breakthrough Listen is based at Berkeley SETI Research Center[6][7], located in the Astronomy Department[8] at the University of California, Berkeley.
The project uses radio wave observations from the Green Bank Observatory and the Parkes Observatory, and visible light observations from the Automated Planet Finder.[9] Targets for the project include one million nearby stars and the centers of 100 galaxies. All data generated from the project are available to the public, and [email protected] is used for some of the data analysis. The first results were published in April 2017, with further updates expected every 6 months.[10]
The project aims to discover signs of extraterrestrial civilizations by searching stars and galaxies for radio signals and laser transmissions. The search for radio signals is carried out on the Green Bank Telescope in the Northern Hemisphere and the Parkes Telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. The Green Bank Telescope is the world's largest steerable radio telescope, and the Parkes Telescope is the second largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere.[11][12]
Together, the radio telescopes will cover ten times more sky than previous searches and scan the entire 1-to-10 GHz range, the so-called "quiet zone" in the spectrum where radio waves are unobscured by cosmic sources or Earth's atmosphere.[13]
The radio telescopes are sensitive enough to detect "Earth-leakage" levels of radio transmission from stars within 5 parsecs,[14] and can detect a transmitter of the same power as a common aircraft radar from the 1,000 nearest stars.[15] The Green Bank Telescope began operations in January 2016, with the Parkes Telescope due to join it in October 2016.[14] The FAST radiotelescope in China also joined forces in October 2016 with the Breakthrough Initiatives to launch a coordinated search, including the rapid sharing of promising new signals for additional observation and analysis.[16]
The search for optical laser transmissions is carried out by the Automated Planet Finder of Lick Observatory.[17] The telescope has the sensitivity to detect a 100 watt laser from a star 25 trillion miles (4.25 light years) away.[15]
Physicist Stephen Hawking was among the scientists who co-signed an open letter of support for Breakthrough Listen.
Breakthrough Listen was announced to the public on July 20, 2015 (the anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing) by Milner at London's Royal Society. The event was flanked by scientists such as Frank Drake, who is known for the Drake equation that estimates the number of detectable alien civilizations, and Geoff Marcy, an astronomer who has helped find hundreds of exoplanets.[18] The announcement included an open letter co-signed by multiple scientists, including physicist Stephen Hawking, expressing support for an intensified search for alien life.[1][19] During the public launch, Hawking said:
"In an infinite Universe, there must be other life. There is no bigger question. It is time to commit to finding the answer."[1]
The project is the most comprehensive search for alien communications to date.[1] It is estimated that the project will generate as much data in one day as previous SETI projects generated in one year.[1] Compared to previous programs, the radio surveys cover 10 times more of the sky, at least 5 times more of the radio spectrum, and work 100 times faster.[20] The optical laser survey is also the deepest and broadest search in history.[20]
Andrew Siemion, director of the Berkeley SETI Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, describes that "We would typically get 24–36 hours on a telescope per year, but now we'll have thousands of hours per year on the best instruments...It's difficult to overstate how big this is. It's a revolution."[21]
As of April 2016, the targets for the radio search with the Green Bank Radio Telescope in the Northern Hemisphere include the following:[14]
Center regions of at least 100 nearby galaxies, including spiral galaxies, elliptical galaxies, dwarf galaxies and irregular galaxies
The Parkes Radio Telescope will cover similar targets in the Southern Hemisphere from 1–4 GHz, and also the galactic plane and center.[14]
The targets for the Automated Planet Finder will closely match those of the Green Bank radio search, with small adjustments due to the telescope's much smaller field of view.[14]
While the telescopes are observing, the current targets of the Green Bank Radio Telescope and the Automated Planet Finder can be viewed live at the Berkeley Seti Research Center.
In January 2017, the project published its initial targets, which are the 60 nearest stars and a further 1649 stars which are the closest representatives of each spectral type[22]. The initial targets also include 123 galaxies which cover all morphological types of galaxies[22].
In December 2017, Harvard University Astronomy Professor Avi Loeb, an adviser to the Breakthrough Listen Project, cited interstellar asteroid ʻOumuamua's unusually elongated shape as one of the reasons why the Green Bank Telescope would listen for radio emissions from it to see if there were any unexpected signs that it might be of artificial origin,[23] although earlier limited observations by other radio telescopes such as the SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array had produced no such results.[24]
Analyzing radio observations for possible signals requires intensive data analysis to cover all of the possible signal types. To carry out an in-depth search, the data recorder at the Green Bank telescope has been significantly upgraded[25]. The system records 6Ghz of bandwidth at 24GB of data per second, making it among the highest data rate recording systems in radio astronomy, and there is a plan to double its capabilities in the near future[25]. Once this data has been recorded, it is analysed for signals using a computing cluster with 64 GTX 1080 GPUs.[25]
All data generated from Breakthrough Listen project will be open to the public.[26] The data is uploaded on the initiative's Open Data Archive, where any user can download it for software analysis. Breakthrough Initiatives are developing open source software to assist users in understanding and analyzing the data, which are available on GitHub under UCBerkeleySETI.[26]
The data is also processed by the [email protected] volunteer computer network, with the first batch of data being made available to [email protected] in April 2016.[27]
The project is funded with $100 million from Yuri Milner.[28] One third of this funding will be used to purchase telescope time.[29] So far, the project has signed contracts for around 20 percent of the time on the Green Bank Telescope for the next five years, and 25 percent of the time on the Parkes Telescope.[11][30] Another third will be used for the development of new equipment to receive and process potential signals,[29] and the final third will be used to hire astronomy staff.[31]
Frank Drake, chairman emeritus, SETI Institute; professor emeritus of astronomy and astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz; founding director, National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center; former Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy, Cornell University.
Ann Druyan, creative director of the Voyager Interstellar Message, NASA Voyager; co-founder and CEO, Cosmos Studios; Emmy Award- and Peabody Award-winning writer and producer.
Dan Werthimer, co-founder and chief scientist of the [email protected] project; director of SERENDIP; principal investigator for CASPER.
In April 2017, the project released its first set of results, covering the observations of 692 nearby stars at frequencies from 1.1-1.9Ghz (the L-band).[10][33] These observations included 11 events which passed the threshold for significance, but it was concluded that they were all consistent with radio frequency interference.[33] A summary of the observations and the raw data relating to them has been published online. The project plans to continue publishing updated results approximately every 6 months.[10]
The project has begun at lower frequencies as these have a lower frequency range which is easier to record and process, and plans eventually to observe in a wide range of frequencies from 1.15Ghz to 93Ghz.[25]
On August 30, 2017, Breakthrough Listen said it picked a series of 15 radio bursts coming from a dwarf galaxy about 3 billion light years away.[34] Breakthrough Listen researchers said the possibility of source being extraterrestrial life can't be ruled out as yet. The radio emissions were detected by the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. The source is FRB 121102 which was already known but the activity was vastly different in the latest findings.
^ Sample, Ian (20 July 2015). "Anybody out there? $100m radio wave project to scan far regions for alien life". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
^ Vella, Matt (21 July 2015). "Read the Inspiring 'Questions of Existence' Letter from the World's Greatest Thinkers". Time. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
^ Ian Sample (Science editor) (December 11, 2017). "Astronomers to check interstellar body for signs of alien technology". The Guardian. Retrieved December 12, 2017. Green Bank telescope in West Virginia will listen for radio signals from ‘Oumuamua, an object from another solar system ... "Most likely it is of natural origin, but because it is so peculiar, we would like to check if it has any sign of artificial origin, such as radio emissions," said Avi Loeb, professor of astronomy at Harvard University and an adviser to the Breakthrough Listen project. "If we do detect a signal that appears artificial in origin, we'll know immediately." ... While many astronomers believe the object is an interstellar asteroid, its elongated shape is unlike anything seen in the asteroid belt in our own solar system. Early observations of ‘Oumuamua show that it is about 400m long but only one tenth as wide. "It's curious that the first object we see from outside the solar system looks like that," said Loeb.
^ Billings, Lee (11 December 2017). "Alien Probe or Galactic Driftwood? SETI Tunes In to ʻOumuamua". Scientific American. Retrieved 2017-12-12. So far limited observations of ‘Oumuamua, using facilities such as the SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array, have turned up nothing.
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