website/content/museum/atari-600-800-xl.md

---
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
  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'
  comments:
  - author: Petr Hajek (Czech Republic)
    date: Friday 2nd October 2020
    text: |-
      I had Atari 800XL with memory extended to 320kB (original 64 + additional 256). I did the "upgrade" by myself by some manual I found in computer magazine (sorry, cannot remember the magazine name). New memory chips was mounted over originals.\
      It worked, but not natively - special programing for memory bank switching was required.\
      As an external accessories I had:\
      \- "Alfigraf" - a plotter like printer created mainly from Meccano\
      https://www.atarimax.com/jindroush.atari.org/data/hardpics/alfi.jpg\
      http://blog.3b2.sk/igi/post/Plotter-ALFI-Alfigraf.aspx (in czech language, sorry)\
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v$cLFLjMeJW64\
      \- BT100 printer - an one-dot printer\
      https://www.atarimax.com/jindroush.atari.org/aczhwbt.html\
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload$9$v$0cwn8_0KPTo

      and cassette palyer with Turbo2000 system https://www.atarimax.com/jindroush.atari.org/aturbo.html
  - author: Joe Jones
    date: Wednesday 21st June 2017
    text: does anyone have a picture of the jumper installation for the Rambo 256 installed in an Atari 1200XL
  - author: Joe Jones (USA)
    date: Wednesday 21st June 2017
    text: Does anyone have a picture of the US doubler chips for the Atari 1050 disk drive?
  - author: Bartimaus (U.S.A.)
    date: Thursday 2nd February 2017
    text: Would you reccomend buying the Atari 800, the 1200XL, or the 600?
  - author: Deathstrike
    date: Saturday 3rd September 2016
    text: As an owner of the Atari 800XL, 2 disk drives, 850 interface, 1030 modem and an Epson RX printer, I have to say out of my classic collection this is one of the best overall machines I have ever owned!!! I sometimes wish Atari had accepted Nintendo''s offer to sell the NES under its name, it would have allowed Atari to continue and who knows what they could have developed being at the top of the game and computer world!!!
  - author: Eric Rousseau (Canada)
    date: Tuesday 5th February 2013
    text: The Atari 6502 CPU was a custom made and incorporated "74LS245" that allowed it to disconnect from address and data bus. This allowed the Antic CPU (Display processor) to access video memory while 6502 waits. I think a HALT pin was added for this purpose or something similar.
  - author: Gnu
    date: Friday 1st February 2013
    text: Yes, the CPU is called the 6502C. The letter isn''t a speed bump designator like the A or B, it''s just a 6502 with a custom pinout. I don''t think it was ever used elsewhere and I think all they did was add a HALT PIN.
  - author: Dean ( United Kingdom)
    date: Wednesday 30th January 2013
    text: I don''t believe the prossesor was a 6502C, the 6502 was 1MHz, the 6502A was 2MHz so an A variant would have been enough to run at 1.79MHz and I remember as a kid opening the computer I was looking for the 6502 processor and there is no chip inside with the part number 6502 $ the chip wasn''t numbered 6502 it had a different part number because I believe it was a modified 6502. from what I remember I don''t think there ever was a 6502C, a manufacturer did produce an 65C02 which was a lower power CMOS version but I am fairly sure didn''t come until some time later and was not used in the Atari computers.
  - author: Dean ( United Kingdom)
    date: Wednesday 30th January 2013
    text: I don''t believe the prossesor was a 6502C, the 6502 was 1MHz, the 6502A was 2MHz so an A variant would have been enough to run at 1.79MHz and I remember as a kid opening the computer I was looking for the 6502 processor and there is no chip inside with the part number 6502 $ the chip wasn''t numbered 6502 it had a different part number because I believe it was a modified 6502. from what I remember I don''t think there ever was a 6502C, a manufacturer did produce an 65C02 which was a lower power CMOS version but I am fairly sure didn''t come until some time later and was not used in the Atari computers.
  - author: Jim
    date: Saturday 4th August 2012
    text: |-
      The 800XL was a solid little 8 bit that was a capable gaming system (what a surprise!) that handled productivity apps as well.

      The thing I remember was the availability of affordable peripherals, including this unique ''letter quality'' printer that had the characters rotating on a sort of a cylindrical cam arrangement. This left the sentences and words looking a little bit wavy, but the letters themselves were eminently readable.\
      The Five and a Quad disk drive on mine came with the 3.0 dos that was a piece of crap, but my cousin with an 800 gave me a copy of 2.5 that worked much better.

      The 800XL and the 64 were the best composite 8 bit home computers of that time, and just about kissing cousins. This was the case to the point that some disk software such as my copy of Broderbund''s Paper Clip word processor included versions for both in the same box.\
      That being said, the Apple II trumped them in serious productive software and open architecture.
  - author: roz smith (UK)
    date: Friday 27th April 2012
    text: |-
      I have a very large collection for sale. Includes consols, games and extras........\
      If anyone is interested please feel free to contact me for futher details.
  - author: BoctorPoo
    date: Sunday 26th February 2012
    text: The C64 fanboys are just making the system look bad for the rest of us who like both of them.
  - author: midasmaze
    date: Saturday 23rd April 2011
    text: |-
      Yea, I love how commodore 64 people feel the need to post comments about how great their 16 colored, 1 mhz, low priced, made outta recycled Vic 20 computers, are. The facts are this, Atari was faster (1.79 mhz). had way more colors to pick from. Using display lists could show all of these colors at the sametime, and the Atari 8 bit games just look better. Want proof?, go play Shamus on both emulators, C64 and Atari 800.\
      Oh and I own almost every book ever made on the Atari''s, plenty of documentation to go around. (wouldnt have been able to make Midas Maze without them).\
      Maybe its just C64 people know the only reason the C64 out sold Atari''s is because it was low priced and Atari''s 2600 division tried to play down the 8-bit computers in fear it would cost them their jobs. nuff said. Oh and to the guy about the Amiga ,(it had displaylists too),. It was the son of Atari 8 bits , made by Jay Miner and team, same guy that did some of Atari''s custom graphic chips. The commodore 64 had no influence on the Amiga what so ever. Atari didnt wanna pay what they wanted for the Amiga so Commodore ended up with it. Stupid Atari corp.
  - author: R6502A (London, England)
    date: Friday 23rd April 2010
    text: |-
      To David2200,

      Why do you C64 fanboys always have to junk Atari on Atari forums? There are many undocumented features of the Atari, and a host of other computers, that have been exploited to enhance graphics and sound. This sort of discovery is not unique to the C64. Take a look at YouTube for demos using HIP, TIP ans RIP software driven graphics modes.
  - author: David2200
    date: Sunday 28th March 2010
    text: |-
      Atari 600/800XL had faster CPU, and initially (at technical level) better graphics. But the problem with Atari was that a lot of advanced functions on their graphic hardware was undocumented$ Only some companies had that information for use in gaming software. On the other way all the Commodore hardware was excellently documented and totally available to all people. So anyone programmer or company had all the inforamtion for the Commodore but not for the Atari.

      Other fact was that Commodore was much cheaper and it sold very well: much more machines means much more games/Software.

      Finally, over time people discovered bugs in the VIC chip wich allowed to do things that even weren''t considered while designing the chip. Some were incredible effects.

      As a programmer (amateur or not) a would prefer C64 over Atari, becasuse I had all the information, and more things were discovered later (outside chip specifications).

      As a gamer: it is clear wich machine has much better game libray.

      Of course I like Atari 800XL very much, an it is the Amiga precursor, but if I had to chooes a machine over the two I''d go with a C64 (or a C128).
  - author: Sign Of Rain (PA USA)
    date: Sunday 3rd January 2010
    text: |-
      Due to losing my job at the end of the year I have come to terms that I must sell off my Atari 800XL ENTIRE collection. It is now available on eBay. Feel free to e-mail me if you need additional photos of the games, etc. Thanks so much for being nice and sending this along to anyone who may have an interest. Item $160391970886 - Collectable Atari 800XL Home Computer w all accessories\
      http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem$item$160391970886
  - author: Randy Todhunter (Arkansas, USA)
    date: Saturday 12th April 2008
    text: I have a used 800XL that I am interested in selling. It has a 1050 disk drive and NES monitor and an Okidata 182 dot matrix printer that would go with it. I bought it new, I think in 1984, but it has been boxed up for 20 years or so. I got it out today and hooked it up and everything still seems to work. The monitor begins to fade a little after its one for 30 minutes, but otherwise everything seems okay. I am trying to find the best venue for selling it, so please accept my apologies if this is not appropriate for this site. I would appreciate any suggestions that anyone would have of other sites where interested buyers could be found. Anyone have any idea what it would be workth? I have Visi-Calc and Speedscript that would go with it.
  - author: Maarten Jongkind (Netherlands)
    date: Tuesday 22nd May 2007
    text: |-
      I bougth my atari 600XL together wit a memmory expension box in order to get from 16K to 64K, the same spec's as the 800XL byt according to my fellow atari users it made it a better machine than the 800XL wich had a sligtly differens os.\
      Because I was only 14 at the time I simply could only affort me a cassete drive for loading and saving programs, that cassettedrive was truly rubbisch, after a while using it, the knobs just broke off which I then repaired by replacing it by any of the other good knobs. After a while there were simply no knobs left.

      In those day's I went to a technical school where the use and the programming experience of the atari gave me a big advantage compared to the school wich still used Exody sorseres computers. I also remembered that the computer nerds at school were divided in Commodore 64 (50%) Atari (45%) and the rest, vic20 sinclair, TI and so on (5%) we constantly compared the capacity and spec's to eachother and the Atari alway came out on top. More colours, better imaging and a superiour soundchip. The problem however was that the marketing of the commodore was much better together with its availability of software and hardware excesories.

      The lesson than is repeated today looking at Microsft for example, Better is not a garantee of success.
  - author: Daniel Clohesy (Melbourne, Australia)
    date: Sunday 25th February 2007
    text: I have an Atari 600 computer with heaps of peripherals and games/software that I picked up at a garage sale for peanuts. Problem is, it lacks a transformer! I bought it anyway thinking that I might be able to pick one up later on (seeing as all this stuff only cost me $5!). So anyway, could anyone help me by telling me what sort of transformer I need or if anyone's got one to sell I'd be interested. I'm DYING to have a go on the machine and it would be a real shame if the system only served as a display piece. Thanks, mates!
  - author: Stormtrooper of Death (Neo-Tokyo)
    date: Sunday 21st January 2007
    text: |-
      Concerning the 1050 diskdrive: It could be upgraded by several turbo-boards, like the US-Doubler or the Happy-board. In the past, I had a 1050 with Happy-turbo-upgrade, led-screen that showed tracks, and switch built to make disk protection on/off\
      The Atari 1050 diskdrive, was a very special diskdrive, that had the ability to have its rom re-programmed so, it could read MS-DOS disks or Apple disks.

      Also the XEP-80 add-on was a nice thing. You could do some 640x200 graphics, and the printer-interface of the XEP-80 could also be used for a modem or other serial devices (with the appropriate drivers, though)

      When using the Diamons OS, you could attach a normal Atari ST mouse to the XL/XE system, and could use it.

      If you soldered a second Pokey music chip on top of the on that was already on the motherboard, you could get 8 channels stereo-sound

      The original GTIA chip could display 4096 colors at screen by using interlace techniques.

      Greetings from Stormtrooper of Death, former member of the High Tech Team
  - author: Olivier (France)
    date: Thursday 15th June 2006
    text: |-
      No, it will not.

      You can only use cartridge compatible with Atari 400, 800, 600XL, 800XL and XE gaming system (and all other XE & XL family systems).

      Atari 2600 was a completely different hardware
  - author: Chopper (UK)
    date: Thursday 15th June 2006
    text: |-
      Hi All

      I've just found a 600 XL in good condition in my attic at home, but it only has the Missle Command game. My question is, do you know if the carts from a Atari 2600 will run in the 600?

      Thanks\
      C
  - author: Martijn Scherjon (Holland)
    date: Wednesday 31st May 2006
    text: |-
      Of course there is no real competition between C64 and Atari 800XL, C64 is obviously a superior machine in all aspects (besides a few tech specs perhaps). I dont know why atari die hards want to footlight these machines so much.. Anyway, the 800XL was the computer that started my gaming frenzy which by now has been lasting over 20 years... My brother had a 600XL with an addon to make it a 800XL. Those days were the pioneering days of many a IT specialist. I remember my brother programming in basic, doing lengthy syntaxes and I was asking him "can't you just type "move left" and "move right" to make the sprite move ?".

      River Raid, Pitfall and Caverns of Mars were my old favos back then. Of course I bought myself a Commodore 64 a little bit later to be able to do some serious gaming...
  - author: Jon N. (Los Angeles, CA)
    date: Wednesday 10th May 2006
    text: This was my third computer, and probably the most used computer I ever had in the 80's. I bought it with a floppy drive (1050 I think), and had to drive all the way to Irvine, CA to get the other drive. I hooked up a Star Micronics Dot matrix printer to it. My first home office machine. I remember that I once had to replace the keyboard, and that was a real hassle. By then, Atari was switching to the SE line, and I sold the unit. This was the last of the commercial retail computers that I ever purchased. I then went on to a IBM XT Clone, that I assembled myself.
  - author: Kroah (France)
    date: Tuesday 31st January 2006
    text: |-
      Hi,

      If you are a fan of MULE, have a look to my decompilation and reverse engineering page of this wonderful game. You'll find a lot of informations about the hidden rules used and secrets . http://bringerp.free.fr/RE/
  - author: Richard (Rio Rancho)
    date: Friday 2nd December 2005
    text: Woah, looks like that $20 600XL of mine was more of a deal than I thought; it's a prototype/mockup unit! Contact me if you have questions, this thing is sure interesting...
  - author: m chorley (derby, england)
    date: Saturday 8th October 2005
    text: |-
      olde retro: the 800xl and 600xl machines are a little different as the 600xl has less memory and is cosmetically smaller. its is harder to find 600xl's as i recall they were produced in a smaller quantity.\
      Frank(pennsylvania): the only games i can remember of this kind were the following: star raiders & star raiders II, Universe by a company called Omnitrend, there was a public domain game made in a similar vain to the Star Trek simulator, but I can't recall the name of it.
  - author: Antonio (Peru)
    date: Thursday 2nd June 2005
    text: |-
      Hi, i also really started computing with the 800XL after getting my 2600 VCS, i got a 1020XE tape drive and many games in cassettes and some cartridges , the Atari computer was really something in programming and gaming of course , some years ago i had the luck to get more computers ,i already got 3 800XLs ,the 1020XE tape drive and a damaged 1027 printer , i'd like to know if anyone know how to do a network of these systems,or if someone wishes i could sell one.\
      Good luck!
  - author: olde retroe (usa)
    date: Wednesday 25th May 2005
    text: Is a 600xl a good computer? it's not really slow (as compared to others of it's time) is it? If I would get one, should I get 600xl or 800xl?
  - author: Frank (Pennsylvania)
    date: Wednesday 20th April 2005
    text: What was the name of the game for the Atari 800XL system that was similar to Star Trek, you had to plot a course, use energy, fight with phasers and torpedoes, and find and destroy all the bad guys (their names began with a K and a Z). I think you needed a disk drive. I wonder where I can find one of thiese games? Thanks.
  - author: adamofevil (usa)
    date: Monday 17th January 2005
    text: |-
      I am sure that a lot of you Atari users once had an Atari 8-Bit computer back in the day. Maybe you still do. You might remember a classic game called M.U.L.E. A game that you wish would have been ported over to the PC but never was.

      If you are a M.U.L.E. fan like I am, you probably used to have hordes of your friends over your house to play the best 4-man multi-player game ever written! After playing this game for hours upon hours, days upon days, years upon years, finally everyone grew up or grew apart and stopped getting together to play.

      If you are a M.U.L.E. fan like I am, you probably have done a bit of M.U.L.E. re-searching on the internet, in hopes for one day someone to create an internet capable version of this great classic.

      Well, I have some very good news for you. If you run Windows (98/XP) operating system, THE WAIT IS OVER!!!

      Thanks to the authors of the Atari800WinPlus (http://atariarea.histeria.pl/PLus/index_us.htm) and Kaillera (www.kaillera.com), you can now play the greatest multiplayer game ever made with 4 players OVER THE INTERNET! This is not a clone, it is the ORIGINAL M.U.L.E. un-modified! Same graphics, same sound, same game! The only difference is that it looks a lot better on your computer than it did on your TV back in the day!

      If this interests you, please hop on over to http://atarimule.neotechgaming.com where M.U.L.E. fans from around the world have been gathering and playing online!

      Some of our members include the authors of the most popular M.U.L.E. web sites such as World of Mule (http://www.worldofmule.net/index.htm) and Extreme MULEing (http://mule.eichberger.net/index.php) and M.U.L.E. Fans (http://www.100hosting.com/mule/). Even the creator of the recent M.U.L.E. clone game Space HoRSE (www.gilligames.com) has joined up with us!

      Ahh, the feeling of playing with 4 human players again is quite exhilirating! SO, what are you waiting for? Join us now!! http://atarimule.neotechgaming.com.

      See you there!

      Adam
  - author: Riki (Slovakia)
    date: Sunday 2nd January 2005
    text: If you have ATARI 800 XL emulator for Symbian UIQ please tell mi about it. Thank you.
  - author: Richard (Rio Rancho, New Mexico)
    date: Thursday 30th December 2004
    text: I bought one of these (600XL) from an old game store called Noble for $20, in surprisingly mint condition. It's my first truly retro computer, and a pretty sweet one at that. From what I've heard, the 600XL model has dropped off the face of the planet, too. Now, I am on a quest to get more old computers!
  - author: eitan (israel)
    date: Thursday 5th August 2004
    text: |-
      hi,\
      my first computer was the atari 800 XL, all my way started whith this computer.\
      today i have avery big hi-tec company whith 700 employee.\
      i search alot for atari 800 XL in good condition, but i not found any. if somone want to sale i'll be hapy to buy.
  - author: M.CHORLEY (DERBY,ENGLAND)
    date: Thursday 8th April 2004
    text: I used to own an 800XL from around 1985 to 1990, this debate about which computer was better between the 800xl & C64 was still raging back then. In my opinion the only thing that the c64 had over the 800xl was the bigger software support and the fact that most of the games made use of the memory onboard, whereas the 800xl games only normally utilized around the 48k region so that the games could be used on older atari macines such as the 800. So far as programing friendliness,graphics capability and sometimes sound (you could get some interesting sounds out of the pokey chip and the fact that it 1 more sound channel than the c64) the 800xl has the advantage over the c64. The best set up i had was the 800xl and a modified 1050disk drive fitted with a Happy Chip which made programs load in seconds rather than minutes, The Standard Atari Basic was a joy to use & then came along turbo basic which made things run a hell of alot faster. Friends that owned C64's could never seem to get
      to grips with the BASIC that came with C64 and only tended to use the computer as a games machine, whereas Atari owners could do both. Sadly I sold my old 8-bit back in 1990 due to the increasing domination of 16-bits( shame Atari Didn't secure the rights of the Amiga Architecture rather than the poorer ST architecture), As i may of continued buying Atari products. But alas the firm went bust but the name still lives on.
  - author: de.valdi (Germany)
    date: Monday 8th March 2004
    text: |-
      For me it all started with a used 800XL with an 'XE-generation' tape-drive and a lot of cassettes to feed it. At that time the ST-series already existed and in other countries my system wouldn't have been especially interesting, but I was living in Eastern Germany (=the GDR) and there it was a spectacular thing!\
      Now the GDR doesn't exist anymore, I'm a software developer and when I think back to the 'good old XL', I remember that GHz isn't everything :)
  - author: Lucius (Ontario Canada)
    date: Thursday 26th February 2004
    text: The Atari 800XL was my first computer. Ah those lost hours playing Moon Patrol. I also had a 4 pen mini-plotter. About the coolest thing it did was Spirographs on cash register paper...But hey, this was the 80's.
  - author: Peter (Australia)
    date: Saturday 17th January 2004
    text: |-
      Hi, I'm looking for the worlds BEST picture for the Atari 800XL 64k system. If you think you have one please email it to me. So which one is better Atari800XL or Commodore64 ?\
      Pete
  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.