--- title: Atari 600 / 800 XL categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1982' cpus: - MOS 6502C params: name: 600 / 800 XL image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800xl_system_s1.jpg company: /companies/atari company_name: Atari specs: - label: NAME value: 600 / 800 XL - label: MANUFACTURER value: Atari - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: '1982' - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: January 85 - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: Atari Basic - label: KEYBOARD value: Mechanical keyboard - label: CPU value: MOS 6502C - label: SPEED value: 1.79 (NTSC) / 1.77 (PAL) MHz - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: GTIA (video), POKEY (sound, I/O), ANTIC (video) - label: RAM value: 16 KB (600 XL up to 64 KB) / 64 KB (800 XL, expandable to 128 KB) - label: ROM value: 24 KB - label: TEXT MODES value: 'five text modes, max: 40 x 24, min: 20 x 12' - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: '16 graphic modes, maximum : 320 x 192' - label: COLORS value: 256 (16 colors with 16 intensities) - label: SOUND value: 4 voices, 3.5 octaves - label: I/O PORTS value: Composite video output, cartridge slot, peripheral port (SIO), parallel bus, 2 joystick plugs - label: POWER SUPPLY value: External power supply unit - label: PRICE value: 183 (december 84) tabs: - photos - adverts - hardware - software - emulators - links - docs - videos forum_thread: 46 photos: - title: LARGE VIEW subtitle: '' text: With the 'Flight Simulator II' cartridge image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800xl_withcart_s1.jpg - title: KEYBOARD LEFT subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800xl_keybcloseup_s1.jpg - title: KEYBOARD RIGHT subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800xl_fkeys_s1.jpg - title: LEFT AND RIGHT SIDES subtitle: '' text: Two joystick connectors are located on the right side - The first Atari 800 had four. image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800xl_leftrightsides_s1.jpg - title: REAR CONNECTORS subtitle: '' text: |- From left to right:\ • 13-pin serial connector, specific to Atari peripherals (disk drives, tape recorder, printers) which can be connected in chain.\ • Parallel Bus Interface (PBI), hiden by a plastic lid\ • Video output DIN socket\ • TV channel selector\ • Power in DIN socket and switch. A simple jack would be sufficient as only one 5V voltage is supplied by the external PSU image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800xl_rearcon_s1.jpg - title: OPENED subtitle: '' text: To meet US FCC rules, all the active components are covered with metallic protection against magnetic fields. image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800xl_opened_s1.jpg - title: 800 XLF MAINBOARD subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** 8 x 4264 chips (64K x 1 bit) hold the 64 KB RAM\ **(2)** Two ROM chips (24 KB) hold the Atari BASIC interpreter\ **(3)** Keyboard connector\ **(4)** The POKEY chipset can produce complex sounds; it also manages the keyboard\ **(5)** 6520 I/O chip\ **(6)** 6507 8-bits processor, an evolution of the 6502 using the same instructions set.\ **(7)** FREDDIE chipset, in charge of memory management, only available on the 800XLF version.\ **(8)**GTIA and ANTIC custom chipsets, manage the various text and graphic modes. image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800xl_mainboard_s1.jpg - title: 800XL BOX subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800xl_box.jpg - title: 800XL BOX (2) subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800xl_box_1.jpg adverts: - title: U.K. AD. 1984 subtitle: '' text: |- In the same magazine, Robert Hardling, the marketing manager of Atari Corporation said: I envisage the situation where each house in 20 years time will have two, three or maybe more computers, ranging from a basic game machine through a home computer for education and home management and culminating in a fully fledged hyghly sophisticated computing work-station.\ In the future, there may be only 3-4 major worldwide manufacturers. The IBM's, Apple's, Commodore's and Atari's of the world. image: /media/museum/pubs/atari_600xl_pub_1.jpg - title: GREEK ADVERT (MARCH 1985) 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: /media/museum/hardware/atari_800_indus-gt_disk-drive_1.jpg - 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: /media/museum/hardware/atari_800_astra2001fd_1.jpg - 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: /media/museum/hardware/atari_800_percomad_1.jpg - title: '1090 EXPANSION BOX #1' subtitle: '' text: |- The 1090 is the only expansion or card cage unit ever produced by Atari. It had five internal expansion slots, allowing the user to add five different cards to the PBI bus. Atari was planning to produce many cards for the 1090, but only four - the Atari 1066 CP/M module, a 80-column card, a hard-disk card and a 64K memory board - are known to have reached the prototype stage.\ A few expansion boxes were built but never sold before the 1090 project was canceled in 1984. image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_800xl_1090expansion_2.jpg - title: COMPLETE SYSTEM subtitle: '' text: As very few top covers were built, a complete expansion box is thus a true rarity! image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_800xl_1090expansion_1.jpg - 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: /media/museum/hardware/atari_atari800_hd-corvus-systems_1.jpg - title: TOUCH TABLET subtitle: '' text: The touch tablet was the best tool for drawing and painting. It shipped with the AtariArtist cartridge. image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_800xl_touchtablet_s1.jpg - title: '1029 PRINTER #1' subtitle: '' text: |- This printer was a modified version of the Seikosha GP-500. Atari replaced the standard Parallel Centronics interface with the custom Atari serial connectors. It was a 80-column, 50 CPS version with a 7x5 dot matrix head. Commodore used same hardware basis for its MPS-801 printer. image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_800xl_1029printer_s1.jpg - title: '1029 PRINTER #2' subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_800xl_1029printer_s2.jpg 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 SYSTEM REFERENCE MANUAL url: http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/atarixe/index.htm cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/doc_atarirefmanual.jpg 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' related: - /museum/atari-1200-xl - /museum/atari-1400-xl - /museum/atari-1450-xld - /museum/atari-400 - /museum/atari-65-130-xe - /museum/atari-65xep-65xem - /museum/atari-800 - /museum/atari-800xe software: - /software/atari-basketball-648 oc_id: 27 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230605140423/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=27 date: '2023-06-05' --- The Atari 800XL, together with the 600XL, were successors of the [Atari 400/800](/museum/atari-400/) series and the unsuccessful [Atari 1200 XL](/museum/atari-1200-xl/) in a more compact case. They could use almost the same software, just so long as the program was written correctly, because of some slight differences between OS versions. The 800XL had 64 KB of RAM, two joystick ports and kept all the custom chips (Pokey, GTIA, Antic) of the previous models. It also featured the new Parallel Bus Interface (PBI) providing high speed access to the system bus. The new version of the graphic Antic chip offered 16 graphics modes instead of 12 for the 800. An enhanced version, called **800XLF**, appeared in summer 1984. It was equipped with the new "Freddie" chip which allowed faster memory management, especially for graphics display. This version was released in Europe with SECAM video interface. Alongside the [Commodore 64](/museum/commodore-c64/) and the [Apple II](/museum/apple-ii/), the 600 and 800XL were among the most popular home computers.\ They would be replaced in 1985 with the [XE](/museum/atari-65-130-xe/) series when Atari launched the [ST](/museum/atari-520-st-st-stm/). --- **Martin Scott Goldberg** says :\ Regarding the comment "and can use the same software just so long as the program was written correctly", a translator disk was provided with the 1050 disk drive (the drive released with the XL series) that allowed the 600/800xl to run all older software. What it basicly did was load the original 400/800 OS over the XL one in memory.