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---
title: Atari 65XEP / 65XEM
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Home Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1985'
cpus:
- MOS 6502C
params:
name: 65XEP / 65XEM
company: /companies/atari
company_name: Atari
specs:
- label: NAME
value: 65XEP / 65XEM
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: Atari
- label: TYPE
value: Home Computer
- label: ORIGIN
value: U.S.A.
- label: YEAR
value: '1985'
- label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
value: Atari Basic
- label: KEYBOARD
value: Full-stroke keyboard, 57 keys + 5 function keys (Help, Start, Select, Option, Reset)
- label: CPU
value: MOS 6502C
- label: SPEED
value: 1.79 MHz
- label: CO-PROCESSOR
value: GTIA (video), POKEY (Sound, I/O), ANTIC (Video), FREDDY (memory)
- label: RAM
value: 64 Kb
- label: ROM
value: 24 Kb
- label: TEXT MODES
value: 'Five text modes, maximum : 40 x 24'
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
value: '11 graphic modes, maximum : 320 x 192'
- label: COLORS
value: Monochrome green (65XEP), 16 colors with 15 intensity level each (65XEM)
- label: SOUND
value: 4 voices, 3.5 octaves (65XEP), 8 voices, 11 octaves (65XEM)
- label: SIZE / WEIGHT
value: Unknown (65XEP)
- label: I/O PORTS
value: Composite video output, Cardridge port, Expansion port, SIO peripheral port (tape, disk, printer, modem), 2 x joystick connectors
- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
value: 360 Kb 3.5'' floppy disk drive (65XEP), none (65XEM)
- label: OS
value: AtariOS (65XEP)
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: Built-in poxer supply unit (65XEP), external power supply unit - 1A, 5v cc (65XEM)
- label: PRICE
value: Less than $400 (65XEP), less than $200 (65XEM)
tabs:
- photos
- hardware
- emulators
- links
- docs
- videos
photos:
- title: 65XEP LARGER VIEW
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: 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
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 65XEM AMY sound chip
url: http://www2.asw.cz/~kubecj/achamy.htm
text: Detailed history of this chip
- 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: Asshat
date: Thursday 9th January 2014
text: http://steamwalletcodes.com/
- author: Asshat
date: Thursday 9th January 2014
text: http://steamwalletcodes.com/
- author: Asshat
date: Thursday 9th January 2014
text: http://steamwalletcodes.com/
- author: Stormtrooper of Death (europe)
date: Sunday 5th November 2006
text: 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.
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-800
- /museum/atari-800xe
oc_id: 958
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230202014654/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=958
date: '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](/museum/commodore-sx-dx-64-executive-computer/)
It was actually a portable version of the Atari [65XE](/museum/atari-65-130-xe/) 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](/museum/commodore-c64/)'s SID chip. However, the AMY chip never reached production, so the 65XEM never passed the prototype stage either.
Thanks to [Cyberroach](http://www.cyberroach.com/cyromag/) for the picture.
---
**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.
<table> <tr> <td></td> <td>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.</td> <td></td> </tr> </table>
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