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I noticed that on the die shot of the Atari TIA chip, at the top you can see an Atari logo and at the bottom there are two initials: JM + AH. I assume that JM means Jay Miner, but who is the AH? I would have thought Joe Decuir would have been the other, but I guess I'm wrong :-)

(Updated 2018-09-07 from 'RH' to 'AH' since it appears to be an 'A' rather than an 'R' if we go by the 'ATARI' label on the top of the die shot for font reference)

(Update 2018-09-14: I received an email from Joe Decuir via Kevin Savetz that states: “I think AH are the initials of the chip layout designer. I wish I remembered his name. Joe”.. so if someone can figure out the layout designers name, that would answer the question?)

bjb
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    Not realy an answer, but I would considere the letters to read AH. Compare the shape to the writing of ATARI on the upper end. The R got a distinctive diagonal lower right. So it seams to me as a weak etched vertical line. - And no, I don't remember anyone round the TIA development with AH either. – Raffzahn Sep 06 '18 at 18:07
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    RM Could be Ron Milner. – tofro Sep 06 '18 at 18:08
  • @tofro: Given the second letter in the second terms looks nothing like the M in JM, that seems unlikely. –  Sep 07 '18 at 03:04
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    Note two letters don't necessarily need to be a person's initials. (The schematics here: http://www.atariage.com/2600/archives/schematics_tia/index.html are signed "JD" (Joe Decuir) and "JM" (Jay Miner) only) Assuming it's really "AH" it could mean something blatantly obvious like "Atari Home" - sounds plausible to me. – tofro Sep 07 '18 at 07:13
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    I could see the AH being initials of a layout designer or assistant that helped with the transfer from schematic into Rubylith to make the masks. – Ben Combee Sep 10 '18 at 16:27
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    "I received an email from Joe Decuir" Wow. Awesome. First hand information, veryfying at least what it was about, and why it is there. – Raffzahn Sep 15 '18 at 00:30
  • "Atari Headquarters"? – Joaquín Ferrero Sep 16 '19 at 15:07

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Perhaps Anthony Henderson? AtariAge says he worked at Atari circa the 2600, and worked on Graphics there.

Dylan McNamee
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