website/content/museum/atari-65xep-65xem.md

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Atari 65XEP / 65XEM	Computers	Home Computer	U.S.A.	1985	MOS 6502C	name company company_name specs tabs photos hardware emulators links docs videos comments related oc_id source 65XEP / 65XEM /companies/atari Atari label value NAME 65XEP / 65XEM label value MANUFACTURER Atari label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1985 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE Atari Basic label value KEYBOARD Full-stroke keyboard, 57 keys + 5 function keys (Help, Start, Select, Option, Reset) label value CPU MOS 6502C label value SPEED 1.79 MHz label value CO-PROCESSOR GTIA (video), POKEY (Sound, I/O), ANTIC (Video), FREDDY (memory) label value RAM 64 Kb label value ROM 24 Kb label value TEXT MODES Five text modes, maximum : 40 x 24 label value GRAPHIC MODES 11 graphic modes, maximum : 320 x 192 label value COLORS Monochrome green (65XEP), 16 colors with 15 intensity level each (65XEM) label value SOUND 4 voices, 3.5 octaves (65XEP), 8 voices, 11 octaves (65XEM) label value SIZE / WEIGHT Unknown (65XEP) label value I/O PORTS Composite video output, Cardridge port, Expansion port, SIO peripheral port (tape, disk, printer, modem), 2 x joystick connectors label value BUILT IN MEDIA 360 Kb 3.5'' floppy disk drive (65XEP), none (65XEM) label value OS AtariOS (65XEP) label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in poxer supply unit (65XEP), external power supply unit - 1A, 5v cc (65XEM) label value PRICE Less than $400 (65XEP), less than $200 (65XEM) photos hardware emulators links docs videos title subtitle text image 65XEP LARGER VIEW null 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 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 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 65XEM AMY sound chip http://www2.asw.cz/~kubecj/achamy.htm Detailed history of this chip 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 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 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 author date text Asshat Thursday 9th January 2014 http://steamwalletcodes.com/ author date text Asshat Thursday 9th January 2014 http://steamwalletcodes.com/ author date text Asshat Thursday 9th January 2014 http://steamwalletcodes.com/ author date text Stormtrooper of Death (europe) Sunday 5th November 2006 Although the 65XEM never made it to mass production, the 800XL and XE systems could be upgraded to Stereo sound, by adding a second POKEY chip to the mainboard. Then you could have 8 channels stereo sound (double as Amiga 4 channels... lol). Some newer games made use of this upgrade and had stereo sound-FX or music. /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-800 /museum/atari-800xe 958 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230202014654/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=958 2023-02-02

The 65XEP was the first portable computer Atari designed. It was first exhibited in 1985, at the CES show. With the 65XEP, Atari intended to compete with the Commodore SX-64

It was actually a portable version of the Atari 65XE including a 3.5" 360 KB disk drive, a 5" green CRT and a battery pack. The price was fixed at less than $400, but Atari never released this machine. Apparently only one prototype was built.

At the same time, Atari announced a second variation of the 65XE, the 65XEM (for XE Music). This version featured a new powerful polyphonic sound chip called AMY with 8 independent sound voices and 64 oscillators. It was able to synthesize voice and any musical instrument sound much better than the Commodore 64's SID chip. However, the AMY chip never reached production, so the 65XEM never passed the prototype stage either.

Thanks to Cyberroach for the picture.

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About the AMY soundchip, Malcolm Ramage adds:
While the XEM was the only machine announced that (Should have) used the AMY soundchip, early design notes for the Atari ST also mention the chip. Using AMY in the ST, and the XEM were dropped due to a small problem, nobody knew how to program the chip!
When Jack Trammiel took over Atari, he cut the staff down to around 500, getting rid of the old research and design teams and replacing them with many of the designers he trusted who came with him from Commodore. All the machines already in development were cancelled, including the Sierra project, from which the AMY chip came from. While demo;s of the chip in action were played when the XEM was shown, these were tests done before Atari was sold.
Without the knowledge to use AMY, this advanced sound system was doomed to stay in the research labs forever.

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.