website/content/museum/atari-800.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Atari 800	Computers	Home Computer	U.S.A.	1979	6502	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts hardware emulators links docs videos related oc_id source 800 /media/museum/photos/atari_800_system_s1.jpg /companies/atari Atari label value NAME 800 label value MANUFACTURER Atari label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1979 label value END OF PRODUCTION 1982 label value KEYBOARD QWERTY full Stroke keyboard, 62 keys\ 4 function keys (Reset, Option, Select, Start) label value CPU 6502 label value SPEED 1.79 Mhz label value CO-PROCESSOR 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 value RAM 8 KB to 48 KB (with memory expansion boards) label value ROM 10 KB label value TEXT MODES 40 x 25 label value GRAPHIC MODES several graphic modes, maximum : 320 x 192 label value COLORS 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 value SOUND 4 voices, 3.5 octaves label value SIZE / WEIGHT 40.5 (W) x 33 (D) x 11 (H) cm / 4200 g label value I/O PORTS 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 value OS 400/800 OS in ROM label value POWER SUPPLY External power supply label value PRICE $1000 (US, 1979), £300 (UK 1983) photos adverts hardware emulators links docs videos 455 title subtitle text image LARGE VIEW /media/museum/photos/atari_800_system_s2.jpg title subtitle text image MOTHERBOARD EXPLAINED 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). /media/museum/photos/s_atari800_motherboard.jpg title subtitle text image DAUGHTERS CARDS 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. /media/museum/photos/s_atari800_daughtercards.jpg title subtitle text image DUST COVER /media/museum/photos/atari_800_dustcover.jpg title subtitle text image PROMOTIONAL PICTURE /media/museum/photos/atari_800_prm-pic_1.jpg title subtitle text image AMERICAN ADVERT "Atari brings the computer age home" /media/museum/pubs/9yvk5ilpvu921.jpg title subtitle text image US ADVERT from Byte magazine (september 1980) /media/museum/pubs/atari800_pub_byte_1980-09_1.jpg title subtitle text image AMERICAN ADVERT /media/museum/pubs/atari-obslete.jpg title subtitle text image ADVERT Picture courtesy of [Steve Browning, www.sbrowning.com/vintage](http://www.sbrowning.com/vintage). /media/museum/pubs/atari_800_pub_1.jpg title subtitle text image ADVERT #2 Picture courtesy of [Steve Browning, www.sbrowning.com/vintage](http://www.sbrowning.com/vintage). /media/museum/pubs/atari_400-800_pub_1.jpg title subtitle text image ADVERT #3 Picture courtesy of [Steve Browning, www.sbrowning.com/vintage](http://www.sbrowning.com/vintage). /media/museum/pubs/atari_800_pub_2.jpg title subtitle text image ADVERT #4 Picture courtesy of [Steve Browning, www.sbrowning.com/vintage](http://www.sbrowning.com/vintage). /media/museum/pubs/atari_800_pub_3.jpg title subtitle text image US ADVERT #5 (1979) 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... /media/museum/pubs/atari_400-800_pub_2.jpg title subtitle text image US ADVERT #6 (1980) /media/museum/pubs/atari_800_pub_6.jpg title subtitle text image US ADVERT #7 (1980) from Popular Science magazine 1980 /media/museum/pubs/atari800_pub_popscience_1980.jpg title subtitle text image GERMAN ADVERT More power for less money /media/museum/pubs/atari_800_germanad_1.jpg title subtitle text image INDUS GT 5''/14 disk-drive 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. /media/museum/hardware/atari_800_indus-gt_disk-drive_1.jpg title subtitle text image ASTRA 2001 FD UNIT Dual 5.25 Dual 5.25" FDD unit using single side, single or double density floppy drives /media/museum/hardware/atari_800_astra2001fd_1.jpg title subtitle text image PERCOM DISC DRIVE Advert 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... /media/museum/hardware/atari_800_percomad_1.jpg title subtitle text image CORVUS SYSTEMS HARD-DRIVE 10Mb hard-drive 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!!! /media/museum/hardware/atari_atari800_hd-corvus-systems_1.jpg title subtitle text image ATARI 830 ACOUSTIC COUPLER 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 /media/museum/hardware/atari_800_acousticcoupler_1.jpg title subtitle text image TOUCH TABLET The touch tablet was the best tool for drawing and painting. It shipped with the AtariArtist cartridge. /media/museum/hardware/atari_800xl_touchtablet_s1.jpg title subtitle text image ATARI 825 PRINTER 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. /media/museum/hardware/atari_800_825printer_s1.jpg title url platform text Atari800 http://atari800.sourceforge.net/ MS DOS Atari 800, 800XL, 130XE and 5200 emulator for Unix, Amiga, MS-DOS, Atari TT/Falcon, SDL and WinCE title url platform text SIO2PC http://www.cswnet.com/~nkennedy/sio2pc.htm MS DOS PC emulates Atari Disk title url platform text Altirra http://www.virtualdub.org/altirra.html Windows Altirra, an 8-bit Atari computer emulator title url platform text Atari800Win http://www.concentric.net/~Twist/atari800win/ Windows title url platform text Atari800Win Plus http://a800win.atari-area.prv.pl/ Windows Atari 8 bit emulator for windows title url platform text WAHCE Home Page http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Node/4391/ Windows title url platform text XFormer http://www.emulators.com/xformer.htm Windows title url platform text Chris Lam's Website http://www.chrislam.co.uk/ Apple homepage for Horizon title url platform text The Atari 800 Emulator for the Mac http://www.serve.com/derekl/atari/atari_emu.html Apple title url platform text WACKE http://www.ctaz.com/~jlfenton/Wacke.html Apple title url platform text ACE http://www.csh.rit.edu/~shaggy/software.html Unix / Linux title url platform text Atari++ http://www.math.tu-berlin.de/~thor/atari++/ Unix / Linux 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 url platform text Atari800 http://atari800.sourceforge.net/ Multiplatform Atari800 is an Atari 800, 800XL, 130XE and 5200 emulator for Unix, Amiga, MS-DOS, Atari TT/Falcon, SDL and WinCE title url text 8-bit ATARI Assembly Language http://oort.com/turbots/asm.htm title url text Antic - The Atari Resource http://www.atarimagazines.com/ title url text APE - Atari Peripheral Emulator for DOS and Windows - Home Page http://www.nacs.net/~classics/ title url text Atari 2600-7800 FAQ http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~dzubera/2600faq.html title url text Atari 8-Bit Computers Frequently Asked Questions http://www.chez.com/cmpi/paleo/8bits/atari/faq_atar.htm title url text Atari 8-bit computers: 400/800/XL/XE http://www.santellocco.com/ATARI/ dedicated website in italian title url text Atari 8-bit New User, Emulator Help FAQ - v2.1 http://www.sonic.net/~nbs/new_and_emu.html title url text Atari 8-bit SpartaDOS Project http://www.celebritybase.net/atari8/ title url text Atari Gaming Headquarters Main Page http://www.atarihq.com/ title url text Atari Magazines http://www.atarimagazines.com/ Contains the full text of all issues of ANTIC magazine and moste of the STart ones ! title url text Atari XL-XE Games And Demos Page http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/~sgl/atari/ title url text ATARI.ORG http://www.atari.org/ Looking for something on any Atari machine ? Follow the links ! title url text ATARIARCHIVES.ORG http://www.atariarchives.org/ 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 url text Dead Hackers Society http://www.dhs.nu/ Downloads, tools, news and more title url text Homepage Nyman Atari 8 bit http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2741/8bit.html title url text Ken's Atari 8-bit Page http://home.columbus.rr.com/ksiders/atari.htm title url text Mac-Atari Fusion http://www2.bitstream.net/~marksim/atarimac/ Atari 8bit Resources for Mac Users title url text MacFalkner's XL Homepage http://members.aol.com/MacFalkner/atariindex.htm title url text Personal Atari Web Page http://rjespino.tripod.com/atari.html jpeg viewer for the Atari 8-bit and some other tools title url text Polish Atari Wikipedia http://atariki.krap.pl A lot of info about Atari (in polish) title url text Reminiscing 8-Bit Atari Games http://www.qlam.com/atari/atari.html title url text Satantronic Atari Crew, Atari XL-XE and Falcon 030 http://www.napri.sk/web/satantronic/ title url text The Atari 800 XE Laptop http://www.benheck.com/Games/Atari_800/Atari_800_laptop_1.htm This guy explain how he made a laptop Atari 800 ! title url text The Atari Historical Society http://www.atari-history.com/ The complete history of Atari Arcade and Home games and computers. Complete site with pictures, commercials (streaming), and full text articles. Amazing site ! title url text www.ataricave.com http://www.ataricave.com Atari 8-bit Games reviews, original manuals, music, maps and more! title url text XL Search - The Atari 8-bit File Archive Search Engine http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/xlsearch/ title url text Web Wiz CAPTCHA http://www.webwizcaptcha.com Programming on the Atari computers title url cover text ATARI 800 OWNER'S GUIDE http://www.trailingedge.com/atari8/ /media/museum/docs/couvs/atari_800_owner-guide.jpg [**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 url cover text ATARI SYSTEM REFERENCE MANUAL http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/atarixe/index.htm /media/museum/docs/couvs/doc_atarirefmanual.jpg [**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 :** title url text Atari 800 in store demo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgT8279DVGQ Length: 4 min 42 s title url text Atari Home Computer laser disc - Introduction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54mvCo1uq5A Length: 5 min 20 s title url text Atari Home Computer laser disc - Conclusion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQDQWvwZ-2w Length: 1 min 30 s title url text Learning french on the Atari 800 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6cZPY5TXtA Length: 3 min 49 s title url text Atari 800 laptop (modern creation) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID1KsnermXk Length: 36 s /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 460 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230530201247/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=460 2023-05-30

The 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, then on the Commodore Amiga (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) 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.