--- title: Atari 800 categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1979' cpus: - '6502' params: name: '800' image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800_system_s1.jpg company: /companies/atari company_name: Atari specs: - label: NAME value: '800' - label: MANUFACTURER value: Atari - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: '1979' - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: '1982' - label: KEYBOARD value: |- QWERTY full Stroke keyboard, 62 keys\ 4 function keys (Reset, Option, Select, Start) - label: CPU value: '6502' - label: SPEED value: 1.79 Mhz - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: ANTIC (Scrolling, Sprites, Video), CTIA / GTIA (Color, Sprites, Collisions), POKEY (timers, sound, keyboard, serial I/O), PIA 6520 (I/O, including the 4 joystick ports) - label: RAM value: 8 KB to 48 KB (with memory expansion boards) - label: ROM value: 10 KB - label: TEXT MODES value: 40 x 25 - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: 'several graphic modes, maximum : 320 x 192' - label: COLORS value: |- 16 (each color can have 8 luminances) = 128 colors maximum in the lowest graphic mode (requiring display list interruption to have them simultaneously)\ and up to 256 colors in some specific modes for machines having the GTIA chip instead of the CTIA - label: SOUND value: 4 voices, 3.5 octaves - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: 40.5 (W) x 33 (D) x 11 (H) cm / 4200 g - label: I/O PORTS value: Monitor RGB output, RF TV video output, 2 cartridge slots, Atari Serial Input/Ouput (SIO) port, 4 controller jacks, 4 internal slots for memory modules - label: OS value: 400/800 OS in ROM - label: POWER SUPPLY value: External power supply - label: PRICE value: $1000 (US, 1979), £300 (UK 1983) tabs: - photos - adverts - hardware - emulators - links - docs - videos forum_thread: 455 photos: - title: LARGE VIEW subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800_system_s2.jpg - title: MOTHERBOARD EXPLAINED subtitle: '' text: |- The mother board is only populated with passive and input/output components. The 'active' daughter cards are inserted into the five slots. Notice the impressive number of resistances perfectly aligned. **(1)** 2 ROM cartridge slots. This is where the Basic language cartridge is inserted.\ **(2)** The 'main' card (Microprocessor and specialized components) is inserted here.\ **(3)** ROM card slot.\ **(4)** Each of these 3 connectors can receive a 16 Kb RAM card.\ **(5)** Switch cutting off the power supply when the cartridge lid is raised.\ **(6)** Composite video output connector (B&W monitor).\ **(7)** D.C. power regulation components.\ **(8)** T.V. channel selector.\ **(9)** Power supply input, provided by an external transformer.\ **(10)** On/Off switch.\ **(11)** Serial connector.\ **(12)** RGB video connector.\ **(13)** Keyboard 'OPTION' key.\ **(14)** Keyboard 'SELECT' key.\ **(15)** Keyboard 'START' key.\ **(16)** Power leds.\ **(17)** Keyboard 'SYSTEM RESET' key.\ **(18)** Keyboard connector.\ **(19)** Four joystick sockets.\ **(20** Loudspeaker.\ **(21)** PIA circuit (Peripheral Interface Adapter) which handles the 4 joysticks.\ **(22)** Specialized Component called ' POKEY', in charge of the keyboard, inputs/outputs, components synchronization and sound.\ **(23)** System clock circuit (frequency generator). image: /media/museum/photos/s_atari800_motherboard.jpg - title: DAUGHTERS CARDS subtitle: '' text: |- These five daughter cards form the main part of the system. They are plugged into the five mother board connectors intended for this purpose **(1)** This specialized circuit called CTIA or GTIA handle colors, graphics layers and some inputs/outputs.\ **(2)** These ROM circuits can be replaced with others containing other languages or software.\ **(3)** The Atari 800 can receive up to 3 x 16 Kb memory boards.\ **(4)** Color adjustment potentiometer.\ **(5)** MOS 6502 microprocessor.\ **(6)** Two quartz hidden into this grey metal box, are used to synchronize the microprocessor and video.\ **(7)** Specialized circuit (there are 3 specialized circuits in the Atari 800) handling the graphic scrollings. image: /media/museum/photos/s_atari800_daughtercards.jpg - title: DUST COVER subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800_dustcover.jpg - title: PROMOTIONAL PICTURE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/atari_800_prm-pic_1.jpg adverts: - title: AMERICAN ADVERT subtitle: '' text: '"Atari brings the computer age home"' image: /media/museum/pubs/9yvk5ilpvu921.jpg - title: US ADVERT subtitle: '' text: from Byte magazine (september 1980) image: /media/museum/pubs/atari800_pub_byte_1980-09_1.jpg - title: AMERICAN ADVERT subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/pubs/atari-obslete.jpg - title: ADVERT subtitle: '' text: Picture courtesy of [Steve Browning, www.sbrowning.com/vintage](http://www.sbrowning.com/vintage). image: /media/museum/pubs/atari_800_pub_1.jpg - title: 'ADVERT #2' subtitle: '' text: Picture courtesy of [Steve Browning, www.sbrowning.com/vintage](http://www.sbrowning.com/vintage). image: /media/museum/pubs/atari_400-800_pub_1.jpg - title: 'ADVERT #3' subtitle: '' text: Picture courtesy of [Steve Browning, www.sbrowning.com/vintage](http://www.sbrowning.com/vintage). image: /media/museum/pubs/atari_800_pub_2.jpg - title: 'ADVERT #4' subtitle: '' text: Picture courtesy of [Steve Browning, www.sbrowning.com/vintage](http://www.sbrowning.com/vintage). image: /media/museum/pubs/atari_800_pub_3.jpg - title: 'US ADVERT #5 (1979)' subtitle: '' text: |- Advert said: Compare the built-in features of leading microcomputers with the Atari personal computers. And go ahead, compare apples and oranges. Their most expensive against our least expensive: the Atari 400... image: /media/museum/pubs/atari_400-800_pub_2.jpg - title: 'US ADVERT #6 (1980)' subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/pubs/atari_800_pub_6.jpg - title: 'US ADVERT #7 (1980)' subtitle: '' text: from Popular Science magazine 1980 image: /media/museum/pubs/atari800_pub_popscience_1980.jpg - title: GERMAN ADVERT subtitle: '' text: More power for less money image: /media/museum/pubs/atari_800_germanad_1.jpg 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: 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: ATARI 830 ACOUSTIC COUPLER subtitle: '' text: |- User had to place the handset of his phone into the "cups" on the modem.\ This type of modem wasn't very reliable as it picked up surround noise and randomly disconnect the communication session Features:\ \- Up to 300 bits per second\ \- Bell 103/113 modem compatible\ \- requires Atari 850 Interface Module image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_800_acousticcoupler_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: ATARI 825 PRINTER subtitle: '' text: The Atari 825 printer was a rebadged version of the 80-column Centronics 727 dot-matrix printer. As it was a parallel printer, it required the Atari 850 Interface. It was able to print all the Atari ASCII character set at 50 characters per second. image: /media/museum/hardware/atari_800_825printer_s1.jpg emulators: - title: Atari800 url: http://atari800.sourceforge.net/ platform: MS DOS text: Atari 800, 800XL, 130XE and 5200 emulator for Unix, Amiga, MS-DOS, Atari TT/Falcon, SDL and WinCE - 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 800 OWNER'S GUIDE url: http://www.trailingedge.com/atari8/ cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/atari_800_owner-guide.jpg text: |- [**ATARI 800 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: /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 800 in store demo url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgT8279DVGQ text: 'Length: 4 min 42 s' - 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' - title: Learning french on the Atari 800 url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6cZPY5TXtA text: 'Length: 3 min 49 s' - title: Atari 800 laptop (modern creation) url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID1KsnermXk text: 'Length: 36 s' related: - /museum/atari-1200-xl - /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-800xe oc_id: 460 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230530201247/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=460 date: '2023-05-30' --- The Atari [400](/museum/atari-400/) and 800 were the first home computers to use custom coprocessors and the first to use "sprites" and special video interruptions like display lists; features that would be implemented later on the Commodore [64](/museum/commodore-c64/), then on the Commodore [Amiga](/museum/commodore-amiga-1000/) (Atari 400/800 and Amiga were both designed by Jay Miner). It offered high graphic resolution, lots of colors and great sound capabilities, more than other computers could do then! The two models had same characteristics, but the 800 had 48 KB of RAM (instead of 16 kb), two cartridge ports (only one for the [400](/museum/atari-400/)) and a proper mechanical keyboard (a membrane keyboard for the 400). In fact the very first Atari 800 Computers were shipped with 8 or 16 KB memory, expandable to 48 KB. After initial release, the 800 came standard with 48 KB memory. Prior to production, the 800 was known inside Atari as code name "Colleen". It is rumored that Colleen and Candy (the 400 code name) were actually secretaries at Atari.