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Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YDRjtmAiNpo5mK5N3d7QwZ
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---
title: Atari 1200 XL
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Home Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1982'
cpus:
- MOS 6502C
params:
name: 1200 XL
company: /companies/atari
company_name: Atari
specs:
- label: NAME
value: 1200 XL
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: Atari
- label: TYPE
value: Home Computer
- label: ORIGIN
value: U.S.A.
- label: YEAR
value: '1982'
- label: KEYBOARD
value: Full stroke keyboard + function keys
- label: CPU
value: MOS 6502C
- label: SPEED
value: 1.79 MHz
- label: CO-PROCESSOR
value: GTIA (video output, sprites), POKEY (sound, I/O), ANTIC (video, display lists)
- label: RAM
value: 64 KB
- label: ROM
value: 16 KB (the Basic is on a cardridge)
- label: TEXT MODES
value: 'five text modes, max: 40 x 24, min: 20 x 12'
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
value: '12 graphic modes, maximum : 320 x 192'
- label: COLORS
value: 16 colors with 16 intensities
- label: SOUND
value: four channels, 3.5 octaves
- label: I/O PORTS
value: Monitor (RGB) video output, RF TV output (to switchbox), Cartridge slot, Peripheral connector, 2 x Joystick connectors
- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
value: None
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: External power supply unit
- label: PRICE
value: $599.99 (USA, June 1983)
tabs:
- photos
- adverts
- hardware
- emulators
- links
- docs
- videos
photos:
- title: 1200 XL
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
- title: LEFT SIDE
subtitle: ''
text: Power switch, ROM cartriges housing and 2 joysticks plugs.
image: null
- title: KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
- title: REAR SIDE
subtitle: ''
text: |-
**(1)** Serial connector for peripherals\
**(2)** TV aerial plug\
**(3)** DIN plug for NTSC colour or monochrome monitor\
**(4)** TV chanel selector\
**(5)** Power plug. Power is supplied by an external 9V 3A transformer
image: null
- title: INSIDE
subtitle: ''
text: |-
The mainboard is normally covered with a metallic magnetic shield.\
All of the custom components was the same as the ones of the 400/800 models.\
**(1)** 16 KB OS ROMs\
**(2)** ANTIC custom chip\
**(3)** 6520 PIA chip\
**(4)** Custom version of the 6502 processor made by Rockwell for Atari\
**(5)** GTIA custom chip in charge, with the ANTIC chip, of the various video modes\
**(6)** POKEY sound generator custom chip. GTIA and POKEY were manufactured by Oki\
**(7)** 64 KB RAM chips. Here 8 Mostek 4564
image: null
- title: MAINBOARD CLOSE-UP
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
adverts:
- title: U.S. AD APRIL 1983
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
hardware:
- title: INDUS GT
subtitle: 5''/14 disk-drive
text: The Indus GT Double Density Drive is considered by many the best floppy drive available for the 8-bit Atari's with its digital readouts and smoke plexi cover.
image: null
- title: ASTRA 2001 FD UNIT
subtitle: Dual 5.25
text: Dual 5.25" FDD unit using single side, single or double density floppy drives
image: null
- title: PERCOM DISC DRIVE
subtitle: Advert
text: |-
March 1983 Advert said:
The Percom Data AT-88 offers 88 Kbytes (formatted) in single-density, with plug-in ease of attachment to your Atari. The AT-88 has integral power supply, "no-patch" to Atari DOS and critical constant speed regulation.\
Take advantage of this low introductory price of $488...
image: null
- title: CORVUS SYSTEMS HARD-DRIVE
subtitle: 10Mb hard-drive
text: |-
This is a 10Mb hard-drive. With up to 8 multiplexers with 8 ports each it's possible to connect up to 64 Atari 800's up to a single 10 or even 20 megabyte Atari system. Still in use Today at the Fordham Prepatory School in the Bronx, NY is a 64 Atari 800 computer network hooked up to a single Corvus Hard drive system !
The Corvus hard disk system also sported a unique and innovative back-up system called "The Corvus Mirror" which was a VCR interface system that allowed you to plug a standard Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) up to the Corvus Hard Drive System to save back-ups of the hard disk onto actual Video Tapes!!!
image: null
- title: TOUCH TABLET
subtitle: ''
text: The touch tablet was the best tool for drawing and painting. It shipped with the AtariArtist cartridge.
image: null
emulators:
- title: SIO2PC
url: http://www.cswnet.com/~nkennedy/sio2pc.htm
platform: MS DOS
text: PC emulates Atari Disk
- title: Altirra
url: http://www.virtualdub.org/altirra.html
platform: Windows
text: Altirra, an 8-bit Atari computer emulator
- title: Atari800Win
url: http://www.concentric.net/~Twist/atari800win/
platform: Windows
text: ''
- title: Atari800Win Plus
url: http://a800win.atari-area.prv.pl/
platform: Windows
text: Atari 8 bit emulator for windows
- title: WAHCE Home Page
url: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Node/4391/
platform: Windows
text: ''
- title: XFormer
url: http://www.emulators.com/xformer.htm
platform: Windows
text: ''
- title: Chris Lam's Website
url: http://www.chrislam.co.uk/
platform: Apple
text: homepage for Horizon
- title: The Atari 800 Emulator for the Mac
url: http://www.serve.com/derekl/atari/atari_emu.html
platform: Apple
text: ''
- title: WACKE
url: http://www.ctaz.com/~jlfenton/Wacke.html
platform: Apple
text: ''
- title: ACE
url: http://www.csh.rit.edu/~shaggy/software.html
platform: Unix / Linux
text: ''
- title: Atari++
url: http://www.math.tu-berlin.de/~thor/atari++/
platform: Unix / Linux
text: Unix based emulator of the Atari eight bit computers, namely the Atari 400 and 800, the Atari 400XL, 800XL and 130XE, and the Atari 5200 game console
- title: Atari800
url: http://atari800.sourceforge.net/
platform: Multiplatform
text: Atari800 is an Atari 800, 800XL, 130XE and 5200 emulator for Unix, Amiga, MS-DOS, Atari TT/Falcon, SDL and WinCE
links:
- title: 8-bit ATARI Assembly Language
url: http://oort.com/turbots/asm.htm
text: ''
- title: Antic - The Atari Resource
url: http://www.atarimagazines.com/
text: ''
- title: APE - Atari Peripheral Emulator for DOS and Windows - Home Page
url: http://www.nacs.net/~classics/
text: ''
- title: Atari 2600-7800 FAQ
url: http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~dzubera/2600faq.html
text: ''
- title: Atari 8-Bit Computers Frequently Asked Questions
url: http://www.chez.com/cmpi/paleo/8bits/atari/faq_atar.htm
text: ''
- title: 'Atari 8-bit computers: 400/800/XL/XE'
url: http://www.santellocco.com/ATARI/
text: dedicated website in italian
- title: Atari 8-bit New User, Emulator Help FAQ - v2.1
url: http://www.sonic.net/~nbs/new_and_emu.html
text: ''
- title: Atari 8-bit SpartaDOS Project
url: http://www.celebritybase.net/atari8/
text: ''
- title: Atari Gaming Headquarters Main Page
url: http://www.atarihq.com/
text: ''
- title: Atari Magazines
url: http://www.atarimagazines.com/
text: Contains the full text of all issues of ANTIC magazine and moste of the STart ones !
- title: Atari XL-XE Games And Demos Page
url: http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/~sgl/atari/
text: ''
- title: ATARI.ORG
url: http://www.atari.org/
text: Looking for something on any Atari machine ? Follow the links !
- title: ATARIARCHIVES.ORG
url: http://www.atariarchives.org/
text: Wow! This site is preserving and archiving information about & software for Atari and other classic computers. Everything here is available with the permission of the copyright holders.
- title: Dead Hackers Society
url: http://www.dhs.nu/
text: Downloads, tools, news and more
- title: Homepage Nyman Atari 8 bit
url: http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2741/8bit.html
text: ''
- title: Ken's Atari 8-bit Page
url: http://home.columbus.rr.com/ksiders/atari.htm
text: ''
- title: Mac-Atari Fusion
url: http://www2.bitstream.net/~marksim/atarimac/
text: Atari 8bit Resources for Mac Users
- title: MacFalkner's XL Homepage
url: http://members.aol.com/MacFalkner/atariindex.htm
text: ''
- title: Personal Atari Web Page
url: http://rjespino.tripod.com/atari.html
text: jpeg viewer for the Atari 8-bit and some other tools
- title: Polish Atari Wikipedia
url: http://atariki.krap.pl
text: A lot of info about Atari (in polish)
- title: Reminiscing 8-Bit Atari Games
url: http://www.qlam.com/atari/atari.html
text: ''
- title: Satantronic Atari Crew, Atari XL-XE and Falcon 030
url: http://www.napri.sk/web/satantronic/
text: ''
- title: The Atari 800 XE Laptop
url: http://www.benheck.com/Games/Atari_800/Atari_800_laptop_1.htm
text: This guy explain how he made a laptop Atari 800 !
- title: The Atari Historical Society
url: http://www.atari-history.com/
text: The complete history of Atari Arcade and Home games and computers. Complete site with pictures, commercials (streaming), and full text articles. Amazing site !
- title: www.ataricave.com
url: http://www.ataricave.com
text: Atari 8-bit Games reviews, original manuals, music, maps and more!
- title: XL Search - The Atari 8-bit File Archive Search Engine
url: http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/xlsearch/
text: ''
- title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA
url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com
text: Programming on the Atari computers
docs:
- title: ATARI 1200 XL OWNER'S GUIDE
url: http://www.trailingedge.com/atari8/
cover: null
text: |-
[**ATARI 1200 XL OWNER'S GUIDE**](http://www.trailingedge.com/atari8/)written by Atari
 compiled/archived by David Williams\
 type of document : PDF\
 source : [www.trailingedge.com](http://www.trailingedge.com/)
- title: ATARI SYSTEM REFERENCE MANUAL
url: http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/atarixe/index.htm
cover: null
text: |-
[**ATARI SYSTEM REFERENCE MANUAL**](http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/atarixe/index.htm)written by Bob DuHamel (1987)
 compiled/archived by Ivo van Poorten\
 type of document : PDF\
 size : 160 KB\
 source : [Daves Old Computers](http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield)
**... READ THE ONLINE VERSION BY CLICKING BELOW :**
videos:
- title: Atari Home Computer laser disc - Introduction
url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54mvCo1uq5A
text: 'Length: 5 min 20 s'
- title: Atari Home Computer laser disc - Conclusion
url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQDQWvwZ-2w
text: 'Length: 1 min 30 s'
comments:
- author: Mark Brzozowski (New York)
date: Saturday 16th September 2006
text: |-
There is one detail I would like to correct. I can remember very clearly that Atari 1200XL WAS sold in Poland (i.e. Europe) at the time. I used to go to this store and check out latest electronics and when I saw the box for 1200XL, I was hooked. The computer looked very elegant and futuristic at the time. I would go back there every couple of weeks. It was months later (sometime in the fall) when I went there again and noticed that 1200XLs were gone and replaced by 600XL and 800XL. Was very upset, as these didn't look as nice to me as the 1200XL model.\
It was years later that I got to own 1200XL. Now I have two of them with original boxes and one of them is in M/NM condition. Even the new smell is still there:).\
I don't think I noticed that it was mentioned that the original keyboards, though great, stopped working after a while, so they had to be replaced. I have one sitting right here (just in case) that was made by Mitsumi and has a sticker from Radio Shack. One of my computers has this slight problem with the keyboard. I have to press the key few times, sometimes harder, for the keystroke to register.\
As for compatibility, I can play Bounty Bob Strikes Back (1984) cartridge just fine (for example).
- author: Steve
date: Thursday 7th June 2018
text: Just to let you know the Photo of the inside of this with the IC''s identified is incorrect. You have POKEY and ANTIC round the wrong way!
- author: Jeff (USA)
date: Tuesday 3rd April 2018
text: I have an Atari 1200XL and it works like a charm, and still looks like it was 30+years ago. If you have this one, keep a hold on it! I find that mine works better than my 800XL...just perspective.
- author: zozo (france)
date: Thursday 30th October 2014
text: i have one in 1988 but ... je n''est pas fais grand chose avec les jeux ne se trouvaient plus ! j''ai preferé le commodore plus/4
- author: ScottInNH (USA)
date: Thursday 8th September 2011
text: |-
I got one of these in 1983. The keyboard was awesome. I used to type and store my programs on tape which had recorded music on it (the 1010 only used 1 track to record data, but it would read data from both left and right tracks. Just enter a POKE command to silence the data squench and you could listen to music while loading.. neat!). It took a while but I typed in nearly every Antic and Analog program listing.
Later got the 1050 floppy + US Doubler chip.
This model did not last long not because of compatibility, but because of cost. The cases were heavily shielded to comply with older stricter FCC regs which were not needed anymore. So while the 1200XL was cheaper to build than the 800, it was not cheap enough, and the 800XL was built with less shielding and a cheaper keyboard.
The one thing I always hated about the Atari though was the fact that all the games catered to 48K ram due to the large base of Atari 800s (though I always thought those users upgraded... and probably did). This held back game quality and you could see many C64 games using all 64KB but the Atari one cutting corners to run in 48K. The other thing bad was the BASIC language was very slow.. if anyone remembers TurboBASIC which was FREE software (much later on).. it blew away everything and had near machine language speed. Some really smart Polish programmer wrote it out of disgust for Atari Basic''s speed.
I tossed my 1200XL (regrettably) in 1997 during a move, along with a 1020 plotter and other neat stuff. I also had a 520STfm, but sold it.
The 1200XL got me into programming, and that''s what I do today.
For those who still have these computers, you can get expansion for it including IDE hard drive interfaces, SD card readers, Ethernet networking (wired.. but you can plug it into a cheap wireless access point). It will work with a modern LCD display as it had a decent NTSC signal (not sure about monitor mode.. maybe that works also).
Favorite games were Alternate Reality, FireBug (a free game in a magazine), Archon, Blue Max, and Rescue on Fractalus.
- author: Anonymous
date: Thursday 8th September 2011
text: The 1200XL suffered from poor marketing on the part of Warner Communications. It is the best 8-bit computer of the early 1980''s. They produced \~120,000 units in 1983. The sales flopped when 3party software had issues. They originally shipped with version 10 operating system. The rev 11 is almost identical to the 600/800XL OS and fixed many bugs. Don''t know if they actually shipped with Rev 11 since the production run was less than 6 months. It had the highest quality MOBO and about 2/3 were manufactured in the USA. The last Atari to be made in America. This unit is considered by collectors as the crown jewel of the released 8-bit line. The 1400XL and 1450XLD were never retailed tothe public. They can still be had today on EBAY, but the chronic troblem with aged units is the mylar membrane on the keyboard assembly. Almost 100$ failure rate after almost 30 years. The broken traces can be repaired with conductive pen. A must own for a serious collector.
- author: Anonymous
date: Thursday 8th September 2011
text: The 1200XL suffered from poor marketing on the part of Warner Communications. It is the best 8-bit computer of the early 1980''s. They produced \~120,000 units in 1983. The sales flopped when 3party software had issues. They originally shipped with version 10 operating system. The rev 11 is almost identical to the 600/800XL OS and fixed many bugs. Don''t know if they actually shipped with Rev 11 since the production run was less than 6 months. It had the highest quality MOBO and about 2/3 were manufactured in the USA. The last Atari to be made in America. This unit is considered by collectors as the crown jewel of the released 8-bit line. The 1400XL and 1450XLD were never retailed tothe public. They can still be had today on EBAY, but the chronic troblem with aged units is the mylar membrane on the keyboard assembly. Almost 100$ failure rate after almost 30 years. The broken traces can be repaired with conductive pen. A must own for a serious collector.
- author: Larry Hampton (Oklahoma/USA)
date: Friday 11th March 2011
text: On 12-06-1983, my parents purchased an Atari 1200XL from Sears for $599.99 in Quail Springs Mall, the maintenance agreement was $53.05. 5 days later on 12-11-1983, they purchased an Indus GT disc drive for $449.99 from Wizard''s in Quail Springs Mall.
- author: Jon A ( USA ) (USA)
date: Thursday 11th November 2010
text: I got one of these from a friend who had won it in a Movie Channel contest. I loved my old Ataris.. I originally had only the basic cartridge, but eventually had collected the microsoft assembler, the assembly cartridge, a couple game carts, a 1541 ( modded of course ), an Atari plotter ( the little 4 inch wide one ), and a modem. It was absolutely the greatest machine to tinker with, and became my introduction to the world of IT.
- author: Scott (USA)
date: Wednesday 19th December 2007
text: |-
I spent many hours learning to program computers on an Atari 1200XL. They keybaord was fantastic. I had it connected to the Atari I/O box, with a 1200 baud modem and a Centronix parallel printer. I later added 4 floppy drives from both Atari and 3rd party manufacturers, and ran a BBS system from this machine. A friend had four 1 megabyte 8" floppies connected to one for his BBS. I later replaced it with a 130xe from which I soldered more memory directly to the motherboard for 320K of memory using bank switching to access. Much like the IBM PCs did with "Extended Memory" later on.
The Atari's were so hackable in their hardware it was hard to keep the screws in them as each week I would see more information on the BBSs on how to upgrade them to bigger and better performance.
- author: Steve Scott (USA)
date: Wednesday 17th May 2006
text: I didn't have a problem with the compatibility. Although I had the compatability chip,I never needed to use it. There were many, many games available. I know I had a bunch stored on disk, with that really cool file system they had. Many of these games were independantly developed.
- author: PvK (Seattle)
date: Friday 1st February 2002
text: |-
Actually, 1200XL's are compatible with most Atari software. Some pre-XL software has problems, but almost all of them are fixed by booting with the translator disk.
PvK
related:
- /museum/atari-1400-xl
- /museum/atari-1450-xld
- /museum/atari-400
- /museum/atari-600-800-xl
- /museum/atari-65-130-xe
- /museum/atari-65xep-65xem
- /museum/atari-800
- /museum/atari-800xe
oc_id: 16
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230606193750/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=16
date: '2023-06-06'
---
The Atari 1200 XL was the predecessor of the [Atari 600/800 XL](/museum/atari-600-800-xl/). It had much of the same characteristics, except the size of its ROM (16 KB instead of 24 KB) the BASIC Interpreter being supplied on a cartridge. Because the built-in Operating System was not designed very well, people are known to have swapped the OS ROM chip from their 800XL & put in the 1200 XL.
This machine was a flop in the marketplace and would be produced for only 4 months before being replaced with the 600 & 800 XL machines. This computer was not distributed in Europe.
---
**Curl Vendel** says:\
The Atari 1200 XLS was an original concept design of the 1200XL. This design was done by Regan Cheng and was an empty non-functional shell.
**Martin Scott Goldberg** says:\
People found out really quick it wasn't compatible with most 400/800 software (a translator disk was later available), which is why Atari rushed to produce the 600 and 800 xl's and put them out that same year. What the 1200XL is known for though, is having the BEST keyboard of any Atari computer - including the ST/TT/Falcons.
**Dante Stella** specifies:\
The Atari 1200XL did not suffer from widespread compatibility problems; a relatively small amount of software that (generally) did not precisely conform to 400/800 standards (primarily 3rd-party games) did not work.\
The Translator disk was a relatively obscure product (I think it cost less than $5). A cool trick was to boot from the translator disk, press and hold reset, insert an incompatible cartridge and reboot (ok, it was 20 years ago - but I think I remember that right). I think it was from the 600XL and 800XL that Atari added built-in Atari Basic, an expansion bus and the DIN video connection. Atari also moved distribution from department stores and standalone computer shops to mass-marketers like K-Mart.
An anonymous visitor comments:\
The only issue I ever had with my 1200XL, was that sometimes it would have both lights suddenly go on for no reason when Id start it up the first time. It would take several rounds of resets and on off switches before it would go back to normal.\
The 1200xl was replaced because the 800xl was less expensive to produce (much worse keboard), and the 800xl also included a BUSS port which atari was then going to sell expansion devices for. That never actually happened, but a company called ICD did invent a plug in interface that allowed a hacker to connect SCSI hard drives up to it! There was also a printer interface that I have in my basement that claims to have hooked up to the 800xl buss, but I never managed to get it working. (Plus the same ICD interface adds printer support as well as the hard drive)
<table> <tr> <td></td> <td>We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.</td> <td></td> </tr> </table>