Atari 800

Atari 800

Manufacturer

Atari, Inc.

Main developer

Jay Miner (lead, hardware), Joe Decuir ( ANTIC ), George McLeod (CTIA), Doug Neubauer ( POKEY ), Scott Shiffman (hardware), Alan Miller and Howard Bornstein (operating system), Kevin McKinsey and Hugh Lee (housing), Shepardson Microsystems, Inc. (Atari BASIC)

Sales start and new price

November 1979 for $ 999.99 August 1981 for £ 645 August 1981 for 2995 DM Fall 1981 for 1,980,000 ₤ September 1982 for 7,500 F

Cessation of production

August 1983

Main processor

MOS 6502 @ 1.79 MHz ( NTSC ) MOS 6502 @ 1.77 MHz ( PAL )

RAM ex works

8 KB DRAM (from November 1979) 16 KB DRAM (from June 1980) 48 KB DRAM (from October 1982)

Graphics output

Various text and graphic modes 8 monochrome sprites ("Player" and "Missiles") Color selection from a palette of 128 colors (CTIA) or 256 colors (GTIA)

Sound output

4 tone generators (output via TV), built-in loudspeaker for keyboard click and system beep

Scope of delivery (West Germany, 1981)

Computer, power supply unit, instructions, two styrofoam shells, packaging

The Atari 800 is on the 6502 - microprocessor -based home computers of the US manufacturer Atari, Inc.

From the end of 1979, the Atari 800 was initially only offered in the US mail order business and was massively touted as a "timeless computer" because of its versatile possibilities for expansion and thus future viability. After various partnerships initiated by Atari in the education sector, the publication of blockbuster games such as Star Raiders and the expansion of the Atari dealer network, it was possible to continuously increase awareness. The expansion into Europe from mid-1981 onwards, which finally culminated in Atari's market leadership until the end of 1982, also promoted sales.

Due to the failure of its Atari 1200XL , which was introduced in parallel at the beginning of 1983, and the culminating price war with other manufacturers, Atari again lost many of its market shares within a year, mainly to Commodore . Around the same time as the Atari 600XL and Atari 800XL models were announced, production of the Atari 800 was discontinued in mid-1983. Including inventory sales up until about the beginning of 1985 , a total of about two million units of the two Atari 400 and 800 computer models were sold.

Shortly after its publication, the Atari 800 was already considered a milestone in home computer history: in the opinion of many authors, thanks to its user-friendly design and robust workmanship, it gave even completely inexperienced users easy access to computer technology, which until then had been reserved for specialists.

history

Atari's successful game console VCS 2600 with TIA special component

During the final development phase for the Atari 2600 video game console, Atari began planning a successor model in early 1977. The efforts of the engineers were mainly focused on expanding the graphics capabilities of the highly integrated specialty television interface adapter (TIA) built into the Atari 2600 . The improvements promised more demanding games while reducing the effort involved in their development.

Development and prototypes

An early prototype of the Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller (ANTIC) that was still hand-wired was presented to Atari management shortly afterwards. Subsequent feasibility studies on possible combinations of the new special module with other electronic assemblies quickly revealed potential that went beyond its use in a pure game console. An integrated keyboard for programming purposes and the control of external devices, for example for data transfer, seemed both technically and economically possible.

At that time, a modular structure and the ability to program were only reserved for the expensive computers from IBM or DEC used in industry and research and, with clear cutbacks, the much cheaper home computers like Altair 8800 , TRS-80 , PET 2001 and Apple II . The latter, in particular, suffered from the awkwardness of operation, the unreliability of the technology and, compared to the latest generation of game consoles at the time, still from the level of acquisition costs. Technically savvy little, but electronic data processing towards open-minded interest groups on a budget so stayed on the sidelines. With this target group in mind, those responsible at Atari quickly rejected the original plans for a new game console based on the ANTIC in favor of their own, inexpensive and conceptually novel home computer. It had to be easy and safe to use, even for beginners, and it had to be possible to operate the device with standard televisions without the user having detailed technical knowledge. In addition, it should be possible to load games and application programs quickly and conveniently, similar to the plug-in modules known from game consoles .

In addition to the desired ease of use, particularly low manufacturing costs of the device to be developed played a major role; The initially required compatibility with games on the Atari VCS 2600 console was rejected by those responsible after a short time. The technical cornerstones of the new system then submitted by the main developers were found to be good by the company management in August 1977 and further financial means were made available to increase the development staff. Along with this, the home computer project was given the company's internal code name Colleen.

Project Colleen

Main processor of the Atari 800: MOS 6502 as a version with DIL housing .

As the work progressed, those responsible decided to pursue the development of two different expansion stages of the home computer: a heavily disarmed version mainly for entertainment purposes and an application-oriented device with a typewriter keyboard and options for expansion. The development work for the first variant was outsourced in November to a separate project called Candy - the later Atari 400 - which was continued for the high-quality device under the name Colleen .

The first drafts envisaged 4 KB of working memory, two plug-in module slots , a parallel interface for peripheral devices , a keyboard and various expansion options. After the construction of the ANTIC had been completed in January 1978, further efforts concentrated on the completion of the special components Color Television Interface Adapter (CTIA) and Potentiometer and Keyboard Integrated Circuit (POKEY) . The development work on the special modules, available as hand-wired breadboards , dragged on until the end of March and devoured more than ten million US dollars.

Subsequent adjustments of the special modules to the meanwhile selected main processor 6502 from MOS were carried out with the help of the computer system Z-2 from Cromenco. The associated development of the circuit boards for the new computer lasted until mid-June; The last work, particularly concerning the keyboard, was completed in August. The external appearance of the computer had already been determined at the end of April, and the housing and integrated electromagnetic shielding were completed only a little later .

In parallel to the remaining work on some of the mechanical components of the computer, the market for high-level programming languages ​​was explored . The people in charge opted for BASIC , an entry-level language with which the new computer system can be programmed and used by the user for his own purposes. An in-house development by Atari was ruled out due to a lack of capacity with only a short period of six months. After the use of Microsoft BASIC, which dominated the market at the time, had failed due to Atari's technical requirements, Shepardson Microsystems, Inc. was entrusted with the creation of its own BASIC dialect specially tailored to Atari computers at the beginning of October 1978 .

Renamed to Atari 800

After setting the configuration of the main memory to the usual 8 KB, Atari changed the unofficial name Colleen in November 1978 to the official product name Atari 800, which is directly related to the memory size. The double zero after the number 8 classifies the computer as the basic device of the peripheral devices belonging to it. Shortly afterwards, on December 6, 1978, the home computer project with its two devices Atari 400 and Atari 800 was announced to the public in an article in the high-circulation New York Times .

Presentation at the Winter CES 1979

Atari gave interested parties a first look at its new product line in January 1979 at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The Atari 800 could be seen there together with the matching Atari 810 floppy disk drive and the Atari 820 printer . The Atari 800 was first accessible to a larger audience in May at the 4th West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco . The suggested retail price of $ 1000 was announced at Summer CES in Chicago .

The last work was completed in June and the acceptance test for electromagnetic compatibility by the US Federal Communications Commission was successfully completed in August - a key requirement for the device to be sold in North America. The manufacture of the computers, the development of which had previously cost around 100 million US dollars, was transferred to Atari's factory in Sunnyvale , California . However, production could not start until October 1979, as the rapidly growing home computer industry suffered from a continuing shortage of parts from late summer 1979.

marketing

Well before the start of sales, the manufacturer was already promoting its Atari 800, alluding to its universal expandability and thus long-term usability as a "timeless computer" that is equally suitable for beginners and specialists ("[...] can be used by people with no previous computer experience, although it doesn't compromise capability for the sophisticated user ").

Market launch as a bundle offer

First marketed by Sears

The first series of devices was offered from November 1979 as part of a test marketing both in the Christmas edition of the mail order catalog and in the photo departments of some shops of the Sears Roebuck retail chain . In addition to the computer with power supply unit, connection and instruction material, the buyer received an Atari 410 program recorder and other accessories for US $ 999.99 . This included the basic equipment for the educational system and the BASIC programming language, both in the form of a plug-in module along with the associated instruction material.

Shortly after sales began, Atari began to present its devices and associated entertainment software, such as the Star Raiders game, at trade shows. In addition to general product advertising, it was also possible to open up new sales channels. From the second quarter of 1980, the presentations were accompanied by further extensive and long-term advertising campaigns. After an interim price increase to 1080 US dollars, Atari also changed the marketing strategy for the Atari 800 on June 1, 1980, away from the bundle offer towards the individual device. Program recorder and educational system were no longer included in the scope of delivery, instead the factory-installed working memory was increased to a modern 16 KB.

From mid-1980, Atari computers became so well known that third-party manufacturers also saw promising sales potential for both hardware and software and brought their products onto the market.

Development of the education sector

In addition to manufacturing and distributing entertainment software, Atari stepped up efforts to place its home computers in North American educational institutions, an area previously dominated by Apple II and Commodore PET. This was based on the calculation that schoolchildren and students would fall back on what was already known and trusted from school - an Atari computer - when making private purchases later. In addition to special sales conditions for education, the Talk & Teach Cassette Courseware program series also included the right software at an early stage. In addition, from mid-1980 Atari relied increasingly on the collaboration with the organization Science Research Associates belonging to IBM , which had committed itself to promoting computer-aided teaching and which took over sales for Atari in the education sector. As part of this cooperation, IBM financed a discount that gave educational institutions from elementary schools to universities an additional free Atari 400 when purchasing an Atari 800 computer. A little later, Atari itself launched a similar price campaign for schools in the form of the 3 for 2 deal : When buying two Atari 800 or Atari 400 computers, the buyer received another Atari 400 free of charge.

The sales figures given for the years 1979 and 1980 for the Atari 400 and Atari 800 models together fluctuate between 50,000 and 300,000 units. Revenues for 1980 alone were approximately $ 20 million.

Mass marketing

In the course of the first half of 1981, the Atari computers were able to establish themselves as permanent fixtures on the home computer market, which was previously dominated mainly by Tandy , Apple and Commodore, despite permanent delivery difficulties and some technical problems with accessories . Atari's computer division had sales of $ 10 million in mid-1981, but the total losses from ongoing production were similarly high. In order to cope with the increasing demand and to quickly implement the planned worldwide marketing, Atari made personnel expansions in the company management in April. Along with this, Ataris introduced individually selectable and specially tailored extension packages for its computers. These “starter kits” each contain coordinated, ready-to-connect hardware and software for the areas of programming (Atari Programmer), entertainment (Atari Entertainer), education (Atari Educator) and network activities (Atari Communicator). Only a little later in August 1981 it was already possible to increase sales to 13 million dollars, which was the first time that the profit zone was reached.

Atari Program Exchange

In addition to expanding the hardware sector, Atari also invested in the training of its customer service and dealerships, as well as in software support for home computers. This included the almost monthly releases of new in-house programs and games, the long-awaited publication of technical documentation from third-party manufacturers and the support of independent program authors. The latter included the organization of open programming competitions with correspondingly high prizes, technical training in Atari's Acquisition Centers and the establishment of the Atari Program Exchange (APX) publication platform. By founding APX, Atari made it possible for software manufacturers, who were often completely inexperienced in business management, to sell their programs through the Atari dealer network, which is now fully developed in North America.

International sales

In the wake of the American sales successes, Atari started developing the lucrative European market in the summer of 1981. As in the USA, the publication in Great Britain ( £ 645  ), Italy ( ₤ 1,980,000  ) and the Benelux countries was accompanied by extensive advertising measures in the print sector and presentations at special exhibitions. In France, on the other hand, sales (7500 F) did not begin until September 1982, presumably because of time-consuming hardware adjustments to the SECAM television standard.

In western Germany, Atari Elektronik Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH, which had been responsible for the Atari 2600 marketing since 1980, took over sales and customer service in August 1981 . The marketing of "private computers", the official name of Atari Germany, required considerable investments, especially for advertising, sales training and service activities. In line with the promotional efforts in the video games sector, Atari placed corresponding advertising in the print media. In addition to being sold by mail order and in specialist shops, the computers were also available in larger department store chains such as Horten and Karstadt . The recommended retail price of the Atari 800 with 16 KB RAM was 2995 DM, the Atari 810 floppy disk drive cost almost 2000 DM and the BASIC plug-in module could be purchased for 272 DM. Before the official start of sales, Telectron GmbH offered the US version of the Atari 800 with 8 KB of RAM for 4200 DM as early as 1980.

During the international expansion phase, Atari reacted to the increasingly worsening competitive situation, especially in North America, with technical overhauls of its computers in the form of a revised operating system for new devices ("OS Version B") and a bug-fixed version of the BASIC programming language. According to its own information, Atari was able to sell around 300,000 home computers in the 1981 financial year, finally establishing itself as mass-produced goods and making Atari the US market leader.

Price wars and market leadership

The introduction of various cheap computers like the Sinclair ZX81 also defied Atari considerable price reductions. Atari granted an initial discount of 16 percent in January 1982, which brought the non-binding retail price of the Atari 800 to 899 US dollars. In addition, the delivery took place in a silver-colored high-gloss packaging, as it had been introduced for the Atari 400 a year earlier. Commodore's aggressive pricing policy also had an impact in West Germany: In August 1982 Atari Germany was forced to lower the sales price from DM 2995 to 1995 DM for the first time, but drastically.

Atari GTIA, successor to the CTIA graphics module.

From the early autumn of 1982 - presumably with the price war that Texas Instruments had started in the American home computer market - Atari refrained from further direct price reductions and instead switched to sales-related discount campaigns: When purchasing Atari's hardware and software, buyers could save up to through “software coupons” Allows $ 60 on many products from Atari's range of products. In addition, buyers of the Atari 800 received two additional 16 KB memory expansions free of charge from October, which means that Atari actually only offered the computer in the highest configuration level with 48 KB RAM. In parallel to its discount campaigns, Atari massively expanded customer service, especially in North America, in the course of 1982. The Atari Service Centers , which were set up nationwide in the USA, took on consulting and repair services, but also upgraded older computers to the new GTIA graphics module and the revised operating system. They also enabled the profitable sales aimed at by Atari's company management through large retail chains such as JC Penney , Kmart and Toys “R” Us , which were unable to offer any advice or warranty services due to a lack of qualified staff. This sales policy, which is now mainly geared towards mass marketing, brought Atari approximately 600,000 home computer sales in the course of 1982, of which the Atari 800 alone accounted for around 200,000 units. With a total of around 1.2 million 400 and 800 models sold, Atari was able to successfully defend its market leadership.

Despite Atari's dominant position in the world market, only about 2000 Atari 800 computers were sold in West Germany in the course of 1982. Because of the sales problems and the associated high price pressure, Atari Germany's investments only paid off slowly and the home computer division gradually developed into the unpopular stepchild of the national video game market leader.

Announcement of the successors and sales

In March 1983 Atari launched a successor model with a modern 64 KB RAM and a new case design. Due to the lack of compatibility with its predecessors, this Atari 1200XL was not a great success, so that it did not get beyond a very short release phase in the USA. Sales of the Atari 800 soared all the more to unexpected heights, since its price had been reduced to US $ 500 with the introduction of the new device and it also did not cause any fear of program incompatibilities.

With the announcement of the official successor Atari 800XL at the Summer CES in Chicago and the related discontinuation of production in August, the price decline accelerated further; in September 1983, the devices were finally offered for 165 US dollars. The 400 and 800 models put together, Atari sold a total of around 2 million units.

Modern replicas

The manageable architecture of the system and extensive documentation from the manufacturer enable the miniaturized replica of the electronics of the Atari 800 and compatible models with today's technical means with at the same time manageable effort. Such a modern realization took place for the first time in 2014 - as with other home computer systems - as an implementation on a programmable logic circuit ( FPGA ) together with an embedding system . The replication using FPGA technology was initially only intended as a technical feasibility study, but later also demonstrated its practical benefit: Due to the miniaturization and the possibility of battery operation, it is an easily stowable, reliable and transportable alternative to the original, gentle technology.

Technical specifications

The housing of the Atari 800 contains a total of three circuit boards and a sturdy cast aluminum housing to shield the electromagnetic interference fields caused by the computer .

Atari 800 in working condition Plug-in module flap open Cover for plug-in module and expansion slot removed View of the inner workings with the main and secondary circuit board and aluminum shield

The main components of the largest board are the special POKEY module and the input / output modules and peripheral connections. As a component carrier, it also provides slots for the smaller circuit boards. These contain the processor module with 6502- CPU (English Central Processing Unit ) together with the special modules GTIA and ANTIC and the modules for voltage regulation plus television signal generation . The read-only memory ( ROM ) as well as the main memory are housed in the expansion slot in the form of plug-in cards. In addition to the computer, the basic equipment included an external power supply unit, an antenna cable and antenna switch box and the operating instructions for the device.

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  Main board with module holder

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  Aluminum shield with attached secondary board

CPU and 16 KB RAM card of an Atari 800. To identify the individual components, move the mouse pointer over them and click for further information if necessary.

Main processor

→ Main article : MOS Technology 6502

The Atari 800 is based on the 8-bit - microprocessor MOS 6502 , which was often used in contemporary computers. The CPU can access an address space of 65536 bytes , which also defines the theoretically possible upper limit of the main memory of 64 kilobytes (KB). The system clock for PAL devices is 1.77  MHz , for those with NTSC output it is 1.79 MHz.

Special modules for generating graphics and sound

→ Main articles : ANTIC , CTIA / GTIA  and POKEY

The three special components developed by Atari, Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller (ANTIC), Graphic Television Interface Adapter (GTIA) with its predecessor Color Television Interface Adapter (CTIA) and Potentiometer And Keyboard Integrated Circuit (POKEY) are an essential part of the computer architecture . They are functionally designed in such a way that they can be used flexibly within their area of ​​responsibility and at the same time relieve the CPU.

Mixing of two different graphic modes (large and normal text) with the aid of a raster line interrupt .

The two graphic modules ANTIC and CTIA / GTIA generate the image displayed on the television or monitor. For this purpose, the operating system or the user must first store corresponding data in the main memory in the form of the "display list". The CTIA / GTIA allows, among other things, the integration of a maximum of eight independent but each monochrome graphic objects, the sprites. These objects, also called “players” and “missiles” in Atari jargon, are copied into the background image generated by the ANTIC according to user-definable overlapping rules and subjected to a collision check. It is determined whether the sprites touch each other or certain parts of the background image ("playfield"). These abilities were developed - as already indicated by the names "Playfield", "Player" and "Missiles" - for the simplified creation of games with interacting graphic objects and fast game play. The capabilities of the two special modules ANTIC and CTIA / GTIA combined give the display options of the Atari computers a flexibility unmatched by other home computers at the time. Further electronic components are combined in the third special module POKEY. These essentially concern the sound generation for each of the four sound channels, the keyboard query and the operation of the serial interface Serial Input Output (SIO) for the communication of the computer with the corresponding peripheral devices.

Thanks to the highly integrated design ( LSI ), the special modules combine many electronic components and thereby reduce the number of components required in the computer, which in turn results in significant cost and space savings. Not least because their construction plans were never published, they could not be copied economically with the technology at the time, which meant that the illegal reproduction of computers for the Atari 800, which was quite common in the home computer industry, could be excluded.

The screen standards PAL, NTSC and SECAM are supported by different external electronic circuits of the CPU, correspondingly modified special modules ANTIC (NTSC version with part number C012296, PAL version with C014887) and GTIA (NTSC version with part number C014805, PAL version with C014889, SECAM version with C020120) as well as different versions of the operating system adapted to it.

Overview of the graphics levels provided by the Atari 800 operating system

Graphics level	Display type	Resolution (pixels)	Colours	Memory requirement (bytes)
0	normal text	40 × 24	2	992
1	Large text	20 × 24	5	672
2		20 × 12	5	420
3	Dot graphics	40 × 24	4th	432
4th		80 × 48	2	696
5			4th	1176
6th		160 × 96	2	2184
7th			4th	8138
8th		320 × 192	2
9	GTIA modes	80 × 192	16
10			9
11			16

Storage and storage allocation

The address space that can be addressed by the CPU and ANTIC is segmented in the Atari 800 into different sections of different sizes. For practical reasons, it is common for their addresses instead of decimal notation , the hexadecimal to use. It is usually preceded by a $ symbol to make it easier to distinguish. The addresses from 0 to 65535 in decimal notation correspond to addresses $ 0000 to $ FFFF in the hexadecimal system.

The 32 KB area from $ 0000 to $ 7FFF is intended exclusively for main memory and is equipped with 16 KB RAM in the smallest expansion stage of the Atari 800. In addition, extensions of up to 48 KB, for example, are possible, whereby the occupied memory addresses then reach up to $ BFFF. After inserting a plug-in module, the 8 KB area in the middle of the main memory segment from $ 8000 to $ 9FFF is switched off and the ROMs in the plug-in module are displayed there. This means that when plug-in module-based programs such as Atari-BASIC are used, about 8 KB of RAM are less available. The addresses of the special modules and other hardware components are located within a segment ranging from $ D000 to $ D7FF, immediately followed by the mathematical floating point routines ($ D800 to $ DFFF) and the operating system ($ E000 to $ FFFF). The range from $ C000 to $ CFFF is intended for system software to be supplemented later by Atari, but can also be used with main memory or alternative operating system components.

After switching on the computer, the CPU first reads the contents of the ROM modules with the operating system, which initializes the Atari 800 and connected peripheral devices. If there are no plug-in modules with executable content, the so-called Memo Pad is started by the operating system . It is a rudimentary text entry program without any further options such as saving.

Interfaces for input and output

As connections to the outside world are four controller connectors on the front side of the housing, a coaxial RF antenna connection for the TV, a shaft for the exclusive use of ROM-plug-in modules and a socket of the proprietary serial interface ( Serial Input Output, short SIO ) are available. The latter is used to operate appropriately equipped "intelligent" peripheral devices with identification numbers. A transmission protocol and connector system specially developed by Atari for this purpose is used. Printers, floppy drives and other devices with two SIO sockets can be connected in a " chain " manner with just one type of cable . One of the two sockets is used to communicate between the device and the computer (serial bus input) and the remaining socket is used to connect and manage another device (serial bus extender). The standard RS-232C (serial) and Centronics (parallel) interfaces used in many other contemporary computer systems are provided by the Atari 850 interface unit, which can be purchased separately .

Inputs and outputs of the Atari 800. To identify the individual components, hover over them with the mouse pointer and click for further information if necessary.

Peripherals

The Atari 800 can basically be operated with all peripheral devices published by Atari for the XL and XE series, which do not require the parallel bus that comes out with XL and XE computers. In the following, only those available from the end of 1979 to the end of 1983 are discussed.

Mass storage

→ Main article : Atari mass storage devices for 400/800 , XL  and XE

In connection with mainly western home computers from the 1980s, cassette recorders and floppy disk drives were mainly used for data backup , while hard and removable disk drives were increasingly used in the professional environment for personal computers . The cheapest variant of data recording using compact cassettes generally has the disadvantage of lower data transfer rates and thus long loading times, whereas the much faster and more reliable floppy and disk drives were much more expensive to purchase. When the Atari 800 was released, cassette and a little later floppy and hard disk systems were available as mass storage.

Cassette systems

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  Program recorder

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  Compact cassette with computer program

In contrast to other contemporary home computers such as the TRS-80 or the Sinclair ZX81, the Atari 800 cannot be operated with conventional cassette recorders to store data . Rather, it needs a device that is matched to its serial interface - the Atari 410 program recorder. The average data transfer rate is 600  bit / s; 50 KB of data can be stored on a 30-minute cassette . In addition, the Atari 410 still has the specificity of a stereo - the magnetic head , thus parallel to the read operation, the playing music or spoken instructions for use is also possible. In order to save costs and space, the device has no built-in loudspeaker, rather the audio signals are output via the SIO cable via POKEY on the television. There is also no SIO socket installed in the Atari 410 program recorder, so that it must always be connected as the last link in the chain of peripheral devices.

Floppy disk systems

Together with the Atari 410 program recorder, shortly after the Atari 400 and 800 were launched on the market, a floppy disk drive matched to Atari's SIO interface was also available, the Atari 810 floppy station 720 sectors of 128 bytes each can be written, which means that 90 KB of data can be stored on each disk side. The average data transfer rate is around 6000 bit / s, ten times what the Atari 410 data recorder is able to transfer in the same time. During the entire production period, the manufacturer made several changes to the drives. For example, there are versions with partially defective system software and those with different drive mechanisms.

Front and rear view of the Atari 810 floppy disk drive in the "garage door" version, d. H. with a drive mechanism from the manufacturer Tandon . To identify the individual components, hover over them with the mouse pointer and, if necessary, click on them for further information.

In addition to the 810 floppy disk station, another device was available for a short time in North America in the form of the much more powerful Atari 815 floppy disk drive. It has two drive mechanisms, each of which operates with double the write density and so 180 KB of data can be stored per 5¼ ″ disk side. Due to the complicated construction involved, only manual production was possible. Due to the resulting high price of 1500 US dollars and at the same time high susceptibility to errors, the device was taken out of the range by Atari after delivery only in small quantities of around 60 copies.

From mid-1982 onwards, a large number of Atari-compatible floppy disk drives from various third-party manufacturers appeared. These include differently powerful devices from Percom, drives with additional data track display from Rana and also dual drives from Astra.

Hard drive systems

Around the middle of 1982, the US company Corvus introduced 5¼ ″ hard drive models with storage capacities of 5 to 20 MB for the Atari 800. In contrast to Atari's peripheral devices such as the 810 floppy disk drive, the connection is not made via the serial interface. Rather, two of the four joystick sockets are being misused by Corvus hardware and software for data exchange with the hard disk drive. By chaining up to four Corvus drives, a maximum storage capacity of 80 MB can be achieved. In addition to the significantly increased storage capacity, compared to the Atari 810 floppy disk drive, the hard disks offer a significantly shorter average access time and significantly greater reliability, which enables more effective work. In addition, an extension called Corvus Multiplexer local network, which was then sold separately by Corvus, allows several Atari 800 computers to be connected to one and the same hard drive at the same time. This network capability was used, for example, in computer-aided lessons in various schools and in larger mailboxes . The price of the cheapest Corvus drive, together with the necessary control electronics and software, was 3195 US dollars when it was launched.

Due to the various copy protection mechanisms used at the time, only very few programs functioned together with the Corvus hard drives without additional modifications. The integrator board presented by another third party in 1983 eliminated these difficulties and also allows the hard disk drives to be used without first having to load their control software from a floppy disk drive.

Output devices

→ Main article : Atari printers for 400/800 , XL  and XE

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  Thermal printer

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  Interface unit

The image output on the Atari 800 can take place on a monitor or via a built-in HF modulator on a standard color or black-and-white television set.

The Atari 822 thermal printer and the needle-based Atari 820 and Atari 825 models are used to fix text and graphics in writing. Third- party printers can only be operated with the help of additional devices, as the Atari 800 does not have the corresponding standard interfaces. This can be remedied by connecting an Atari 850 interface module, which can be used to operate RS-232 and Centronics printers from Epson , Mannesmann and others.

In addition, there are a wealth of output options from third-party manufacturers: starting with The Voicebox by The Alien Group, which is intended for voice output, to 3D glasses that you can build yourself for viewing stereographic content on the television, to the programmable robot gripper, all areas of interest at the time are covered.

Input devices

→ Main article : Atari input devices

The typewriter keyboard of the Atari 800 contains a total of 56 individual keys, one space and four function keys. As an extension to the keyboard, Atari offered an external number block with the designation CX85 for the simplified entry of digits for use with various user programs such as spreadsheets or accounting programs.

All other input devices, like the numeric keypad, are also connected to one or more of the four controller sockets on the front of the computer housing. These include joysticks from various manufacturers, paddle controllers , special small keyboards, the trackball controller from TG Products and graphics tablets from Kurta Corporation and Koala Technologies Corp.

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  External numeric keypad CX85

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  Joystick CX40

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  Joystick Competition Pro

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  Paddle controller

Extensions

The Atari 800 was designed from the start as an expandable system. For this purpose, an easily accessible expansion slot with a total of four slots is available, with one of the slots being permanently occupied by the card with the operating system. The remaining three allow storage upgrades or 80-character cards. The following discussion is limited to the commercial products most frequently featured in contemporary trade journals.

random access memory

Expansion card from Axlon with 32 KB RAM.

With the initially built-in RAM of 8 KB, hardly more than games was possible, because when using BASIC the memory space is not even enough for the integration of the highest resolution graphics level. If a floppy disk drive is to be used to load and save the created BASIC programs, the capacity limit will also be reached quickly with the 16 KB RAM that will be delivered later. The reason for this is the memory-intensive floppy disk operation system (DOS) which, in addition to the user's BASIC program, takes up a large part of the working memory. With the Atari 800, however, the easily accessible expansion slots and the cards provided by Atari with a maximum of 16 KB RAM can be easily upgraded to a convenient 48 KB RAM.

The disadvantage of the maximum memory expansion with only 16 KB plug-in cards is the associated full occupancy of the expansion slot. There are therefore no further slots available, for example for 80-character cards. For this reason, third-party manufacturers such as Mosaic and Axlon brought the first 32 KB RAM cards onto the market in early 1981. At the end of 1981 models were added that provided up to 128 KB of working memory with the help of technical refinements (memory bank switching). These RAM disk systems emulate one or more floppy disk drives with a data transfer rate that can exceed that of the Atari 810 floppy disk drive by twenty times.

80 character cards

The 80-character cards produced for the Atari 800 are used for a clearer and less tiring display of the image content. Due to the high horizontal resolution of 560 pixels, these are not suitable for use with a television set, but require appropriate computer monitors. The Full-View 80 card, published by Bit3 at the end of 1982 , is placed in the last of the expansion slots. The 80-character mode can be activated by calling a command, whereby ANTIC and GTIA are switched off and the graphics processor Synertek 6545A-1 on the plug-in card takes over the image generation. The corresponding software is contained in the card's read-only memory, in contrast to the Austin-80 Video Processor expansion later released by Austin Franklin Associates . Their control software is housed on a plug-in module intended for the right slot.

software

As with other home computers of the 1980s, commercial software was distributed on various data carriers. The inexpensive compact cassettes, particularly popular with game manufacturers, were, however, very prone to errors due to the high mechanical stress on the magnetic tape, and their use was often associated with long loading times. In addition, certain operating modes, such as relative addressing, which is advantageous for operating databases, are not possible with datasettes. In the case of the plug-in modules, which are much more expensive to manufacture, the programs contained therein were available immediately after switching on the computer, which was a great advantage in particular for system software and frequently used applications. The best compromise between loading time, possible operating modes, reliability and storage capacity was achieved by the floppy disks whose use was supported by the 810 floppy disk drive when the Atari 800 was released.

The range of programs for the Atari 800 computer included the selection of commercial programs sold by Atari and APX as well as software ( listings ) developed by third-party manufacturers and published in magazines and books . The commercial programs were offered on cartridge, diskette and cassette.

Illegal copies ("pirated copies") always made up a large part of the software in circulation and often presented small software developers with existential economic difficulties. As a result, copy protection systems were increasingly used, especially in games, as the best-selling software.

System programs

After switching on, the operating system generates an editable screen if there are no plug-in modules or peripheral devices connected.

The initialization and configuration of the Atari 800 hardware is the responsibility of the Operating System (OS), which is housed in the read-only memory . After numerous bugs had become known, Atari released OS-B in 1982, a bug-fixed version. The subroutines of the 10 KB operating system control various system processes that can also be initiated by the user. This includes the implementation of input and output operations such as keyboard and joystick queries, floating point calculations , the processing of system programs after interruptions and the provision of a screen driver for generating the various graphic modes. The start addresses of the individual subroutines are summarized in a jump table in order to maintain compatibility with later operating system revisions or new versions. To differentiate it from the operating system of the later XL and XE models, the OS of the Atari 400 is often referred to as the Oldrunner .

Programming languages ​​and application programs

The processing of user-specific tasks often requires specially tailored software solutions, the application programs. If these do not exist or if they cannot be used for technical or economic reasons, suitable programming languages ​​are used. Especially in the first few years after the Atari 800 was launched, many programs had to be created by the user himself.

Assembly language

The creation of time-critical action games and applications in control engineering, for example, required optimal use of the hardware in the early 1980s. In the home computer sector, this was only possible through the use of assembly language with appropriate translation programs, the assemblers . In many cases assemblers were delivered with an associated editor for entering the program instructions (“source code”), often also as a program package with debugger and disassembler for error analysis. In the professional development environment, cross assemblers were often used. This made it possible to generate executable programs for home computers on more powerful and easy-to-use third-party computer platforms.

Shortly after the publication of the Atari computers, only the slow assembler editor from Atari, which was delivered on a cartridge, was available. It offered little comfort and could therefore only be used sensibly for smaller projects. In contrast to other assemblers, however, it allowed the created source files and executable programs to be saved on cassette, which was particularly advantageous for many Atari 800 users without a floppy disk station and made it easy for them to overlook the disadvantages. The assemblers required for professional program development were only available later with Synassembler ( Synapse Software ), Atari Macro Assembler (Atari), Macro Assembler Editor (Eastern Software House), Edit 6502 (LJK Enterprises) and the powerful MAC 65 ( Optimized Systems Software ) .

In many cases, programming beginners preferred the clear and easy-to-use, but less powerful, high-level programming languages.

Interpreter high-level languages

→ Main articles : Atari BASIC , BASIC A +  and Microsoft BASIC

Atari 800 with the plug-in modules BASIC and The Monkey Wrench II

The BASIC published by Atari was supported by two more: Microsoft BASIC, which was the quasi-standard at the time, and a product called BASIC A + from Optimized System Software, which was downwardly compatible with the Atari BASIC . BASIC A + in particular contains extended editing options, simplifications in the command structure and it supplements many features not implemented in Atari and Microsoft BASIC. This includes, for example, convenient use of the sprites ("player missiles graphics") through specially provided command words. In contrast to the Atari 400, the Atari 800 allows the simultaneous operation of two plug-in modules, each specially designed for the different slots. For example, the Atari BASIC can be expanded with various commands with the help of The Monkey Wrench II program .

The fundamental limitations inherent in the nature of the interpreter, such as the low execution speed and the large amount of memory required, had a disadvantageous effect on the usability of BASIC programs. These disadvantages can be mitigated by special programs, BASIC compilers . Executable machine programs are generated that can run without a BASIC interpreter and thus often allow faster execution. Various compilers are available for the Atari BASIC: ABC BASIC Compiler (Monarch Systems), Datasoft BASIC Compiler ( Datasoft ) and BASM (Computer Alliance).

In addition to the BASIC programming language in its various dialects, the logo interpreter language was available when the Atari 800 went on sale . Supported by elements such as turtle graphics ( turtle graphics ), a child-friendly and interactive introduction to the basics of programming is possible. The Atari PILOT programming language, which was later launched on the market, is similar in its properties . With QS-Forth (Quality Software), Extended fig-Forth (APX) and Data-Soft Lisp ( Datasoft ), further programming languages ​​join the product range for the Atari 800.

Compiler high-level languages

As a middle ground between high-level interpreter language (slow to execute, but easily readable source codes and simple error analysis) and assembly language (difficult to learn and cumbersome to use, but no alternative to generating faster and memory-efficient programs at the beginning of the 1980s), they also established themselves in the home computer sector During the 1980s the high-level compiler languages. The execution speed of the machine programs generated with it was much faster compared to interpreted programs such as the built-in BASIC, but did not quite reach that achieved by assemblers. However, the speed disadvantages compared to assembled programs were often accepted in favor of an easier-to-maintain source code .

During the product lifecycle until the end of 1983, the only compiler language available to Atari 800 users was APX Pascal.

Application software

In addition to the programming languages ​​for creating your own applications, the range of programs for Atari computers includes only a small selection of ready-made commercial application software compared to its contemporary competitor Apple II. The best-known application programs include VisiCalc (Visicorp, spreadsheet), The Home Accountant (Continental software, accounting), Atari Writer (Atari, word processing), Bank Street Writer ( Broderbund , word processing) and Letter Perfect (LJK Enterprises, word processing).

In addition, the Atari 800 was also used for online applications, including banking with the Pronto software and the operation of mailboxes using various self-written programs. In addition, application software presumably developed in-house made it possible to use it as the official computer of the tennis organization ATP , in the logistics area of ​​the aircraft carrier USS  Nimitz , to create sets for the German music group Kraftwerk and as a simulation computer for training employees of a California marine research institute.

Tutorials

There is a large number of programs that are used for the computer-aided transfer of teaching content and its subsequent interactive query. The knowledge to be conveyed is presented in a playful form with a constantly increasing level of difficulty in order to motivate the learner on a permanent basis. Great importance is attached to an age-appropriate presentation, which ranges from small children to students. For the youngest, animated stories with comic-like characters are often used as accompanying tutors, for young people the teaching content to be queried is dressed up in adventure games or action-packed space adventures, whereas in the higher-level teaching content for students and adults, lexically presented knowledge with subsequent query and success balance predominate. The learning areas covered by the software extend to reading and writing, foreign languages, mathematics, technology, music, geography, demography, typing schools and computer science. The best-known manufacturers include Atari, APX, Dorsett Educational Systems, Edufun, PDI and Spinnaker Software.

Games

Atari game Star Raiders as a plug-in module. The picture on the right shows the circuit board installed inside with two ROM modules that contain the program.

By far the largest part of the commercial and freely available Atari software are the games. The early shoot-'em-up games such as Star Raiders or the board game implementation 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe already came a year ago later more action games, adventures and arcade implementations were added. Both professional manufacturers and hobby programmers benefit from the publication of technical documentation by Atari, the programming instructions in the computer magazines and books as well as the powerful development tools that have meanwhile emerged. Among the published titles, however, there were also many bad ports of, for example, Apple II games without the unmistakable “Atari look”, namely a mixture of different “colorful” and softly shifted graphics, supplemented by typical POKEY music and sound effects.

Among the games released for the Atari computers are many that were considered video game classics as early as the early 1980s: Star Raiders (probably 1979), Asteroids (1981) and Pac-Man (1982). In particular, the 3D game Star Raiders was seen by many game designers at the time as a defining experience and a reason to opt for an Atari computer and not an Apple II or Commodore PET. Subsequent works such as Miner 2049er (Bill Hogue, Big Five Software, 1982), Eastern Front (1941) ( Chris Crawford , APX, 1982), Capture the Flag (Paul Edelstein, Sirius Software, 1983), Archon (John Freemann , Electronic Arts, 1983) and MULE ( Daniel Bunten , Electronic Arts, 1983) are among the outstanding titles of their time and enabled software houses such as MicroProse and Electronic Arts to quickly rise to become industry giants.

In addition to the Infocom adventures, the most popular games for Atari computers include mostly shoot-'em-up games such as Crossfire ( Sierra On-Line , 1981) and Blue Max (Synapse Software, 1983), and racing games such as Pole Position (Atari , 1983), war simulations such as Combat Leader ( SSI , 1983), but also graphic adventures such as Excalibur (APX, 1983) and Murder on the Zinderneuf (Electronic Arts, 1983).

Magazines

In the 1980s, along with specialist books, computer magazines played a major role for many home computer owners. The editions, which were often published monthly, contained test reports on innovations, programming instructions and software for typing. They also served as an advertising and information platform as well as for establishing contact with like-minded people.

The English-language magazines Antic, Analog Computing, Atari Connection and Atari Age dealt specifically with Atari home computers ; Occasional reports and programs for the Atari computers were published by the high-circulation Byte Magazine , Compute! and creative computing . While the Atari 800 was being sold in Germany, information and programs could be found in the magazines Chip , Happy Computer , PM Computermagazin , Computer Personal and Mein Home-Computer .

emulation

After the end of the home computer era in the early 1990s and with the advent of powerful and affordable computing technology in the late 1990s, dedicated enthusiasts increasingly developed programs for emulating home computers and their peripheral devices. To play old classics of various home computer systems, a single modern system with data images of the corresponding home computer programs was sufficient with the help of the emulators. The emergence of the emulators continued, among other things. a. an increased transfer of otherwise possibly lost software to modern storage media, which makes an important contribution to the preservation of digital culture.

The most powerful emulators for Windows and Linux systems are Atari ++, Atari800Win Plus, Mess32 and Altirra.

reception

Contemporary

North America

The appearance of the Atari 400 and 800 was consistently well received. The high-circulation magazine Compute! wrote of a new generation of computers:

"With the introduction of the Atari line of computers we are seeing a third generation of microcomputer - not just from the hardware end but also from a marketing approach."

"With the Atari computers, a third generation of microcomputers will be introduced - and not only from a technical point of view, but also in terms of the marketing concept."

- John Victor, Compute !, November / December 1979

The same reviewers also state that the classification of the new devices can most likely be described as a hybrid between video game and computer. They contained the best of both worlds, which makes them a personal computer and home device alike. These properties predestined the Atari 800 for learning and entertainment purposes. Since the best hardware is useless without the appropriate software for its use, Atari has learned from the mistakes of the competition and provided the user with extremely easy access to the colorful graphic and sound properties of his devices with the programming language Atari BASIC. This marketing of coordinated hardware and software - also in the extremely popular Star Raiders game, which is tailored directly to the Atari 8-bit computers - is a novelty.

An Atari 800 in use (1985)

Due to the modular concept, however, more connection cables would be required than with the compact Commodore PET, for example, which can be a disadvantage under certain circumstances, as well as the non-validating storage of programs on the cassette. From the summer of 1980, delivery difficulties and the lack of application-oriented software were criticized, and Adam Osborne's computers were not predicted to have a great future.

When the Atari computers, contrary to Osborne's predictions, were able to establish themselves and even become market leaders, the specialist press continued to make recommendations mainly for price-conscious households:

"Atari has much better graphics, and just about everyone says that if you're only interested in games, that's the machine to get."

"Atari has better graphics and has a reputation for being the game machine par excellence."

- Jerry Pournelle, Byte Magazine, July 1982

In line with the trade press, game designers such as David Fox (programmer at Lucasfilm-Games ) and Scott Adams (founder of Adventure International) saw the Ataris as the most graphically and sound-technically powerful devices in the entire home computer market:

“User-definable character sets, player-missile graphics, fine scrolling, vertical-blank interrupts, and display-list interrupts can be combined with color mapping to give the Atari a performance edge that will probably never be equaled (except by Atari). ”

"User-defined character sets, player missile graphics, fine shifting, raster interrupts and display list interrupts can be combined with the color settings and thus give the Atari a performance that can probably never be achieved (except by Atari itself)."

- David Fox, Mitchelle Waite

“The Atari is my personal favorite. In my opinion it is the finest micro available […] I like the capabilities of the machine. It is well engineered. The graphics and sound capabilities are excellent. The machine is fairly well thought out. It's well built. The Atari is the one I use at home. "

“The Atari is my personal favorite. In my opinion, it is the best micro [computer] […] available at the moment. I like the capabilities of this machine: sophisticated technology with excellent graphics and sound capabilities, which is very well thought out and structured. It's the Atari that I also use at home. "

- Scott Adams

In the course of time, Atari's marketing concept also came under criticism because its capabilities as an application computer were not emphasized and supported clearly enough. Although the Atari computers have enjoyed a good reputation as high-performance personal computers since their introduction, when the high-performance Atari 815 floppy disk drive was discontinued at the latest, the focus of the devices was shifted to the home area, with a particular focus on the entertainment and education sector. In addition, there would be errors in the choice of distribution channels. The relocation of sales through large chain stores would have prompted smaller specialist shops with the corresponding expertise and services to take the Atari computers out of their range due to the lack of competitiveness. This would mean that another important mainstay for supplying computers with high-performance application software would have been omitted, so that the Atari 800 was ultimately only perceived and purchased as a pure game console.

German-speaking area

Shortly after its appearance in Germany, the Atari 800 was characterized by the high-circulation computer magazine Chip at the time as a device for the advanced user, "which, in addition to its hobby use, also takes the professional field as a basis for its purchase decision." The stable device design, the graphic possibilities, the color output, a detailed documentation, the already existing large program library together with various programming languages ​​such as Atari PILOT and Atari Assembler.

Retrospective

An Atari 800 with joystick on display at The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis

Shortly after being replaced by the technically hardly changed successor models 600XL and 800XL, the Atari 800 was certified as having an excellent construction that set a new standard on the home computer market. The fantastic graphics are mainly reflected in the good games, one of the strengths of the Atari 800. According to Michael S. Tomczyk and Dietmar Eirich, one of the few points of criticism was the price that was too high when it was introduced:

"Atari [...] brought the Atari 400 and Atari 800 home computers onto the market very early on, which were solid and excellent devices, but unfortunately too expensive in the early stages of home computers."

- Dietmar Eirich and Sabine Quinten-Eirich, 1984

In retrospect, According to Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton, Atari for the first time understood how to combine the properties of a pure game machine with the capabilities of home computers at the time while being easy to use. The two authors consider one of the main reasons for the success of this demanding task to be the experience of the Atari engineers who were already involved in the development of the successful VCS-2600 game console. As a result, special electronic components were used for the first time in a home computer to relieve the main processor. Their graphic refinements in the form of, for example, the player / missile graphics were groundbreaking for later devices. Thanks to the use of a special component, the sound properties also belonged to the top quality category at the time and the Atari 400 thus replaced the Apple II as the best gaming computer.

The authors of the Internet platform Gamasutra see the release of the game Star Raiders as a decisive reason for the popularity of Atari computers increasing in a very short time :

“Upon release, Star Raiders became the first 'killer app' of computer gaming. It was the first computer game that could be called a 'machine seller'. "

“Immediately after the start of sales, Star Raiders became the first ' killer application ' in the computer games sector. As the first game ever, it could also be called the 'draft horse' for computer sales. "

- Gamasutra, 2008

An Atari 800 in the Computer History Museum in Mountain View

Tomczyk blames Atari's original and controversial practices regarding the publication of technical documentation for the permanent lack of powerful application software:

“Unfortunately, Atari neutralized their own advantage. To everyone's shock and dismay, they decided to keep secret vital technical information like memory maps and bus architectures which programmers needed to write software. They then tried to blackmail programmers by indicating that they could get technical information only if they signed up to write Atari-brand software. This alienated the fiercely independent hobbyist / programmer community, and as a result many serious programmers started writing software for other machines instead. "

“Unfortunately, Atari deprived itself of its own advantage. To the general lack of understanding and horror, Atari decided to withhold essential technical information about the memory allocation and the internal interaction of the electronic components. Instead, they tried to blackmail programmers into making this information available only in exchange for an assurance of marketing rights. This approach was not well received by the programmers, who value independence, and many programmers turned to other computers. "

- Michael S. Tomczyk, 1985

A later change in the restrictive information policy would not have helped to make up for the backlog that had already arisen. As time went on, games for the Atari home computers were mainly released, which means that they are now perceived more and more as pure game machines:

“Many customers thought the Atari 400 and 800 were more expensive versions of the Atari 2600 videogame machine. Some people even doubted whether the Atari 400 and 800 were real computers. "

“Many buyers thought that the Atari 400 and 800 were just more expensive versions of the Atari 2600 game console. It was sometimes even doubted that Atari 400 and 800 were real computers at all. "

- Michael S. Tomczyk, 1985

Due to the competition that Atari created itself with the in-house game console VCS 2600 and mainly due to the emerging competition from Texas Instruments and Commodore with their extensive program libraries in the application area, the sales success could not have continued. From 1983 onwards, the Apple II and, above all, the newly released Commodore 64 would have gained decisive market shares.

literature

• Atari Inc .: Technical Reference Notes. 1982.
• Atari Inc .: Field Service Manual.
• Jeffrey Stanton, Robert P. Wells, Sandra Rochowansky, Michael Mellin: Atari Software 1984. The Book Company, 1984, ISBN 0-201-16454-X .
• Julian Reschke, Andreas Wiethoff: The Atari professional book. Sybex-Verlag GmbH, Düsseldorf, 1986, ISBN 3-88745-605-X .
• Eichler, Grohmann: Atari 600XL / 800XL Intern. Data Becker GmbH, 1984, ISBN 3-89011-053-3 .
• Marty Goldberg, Curt Vendel: Atari Inc. - Business is Fun. Syzygy Company Press, 2012, ISBN 978-0-9855974-0-5 .

Web links

Commons : Atari 8-bit computers  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Atari ++ emulator for UNIX / Linux systems (English)
• Altirra Emulator for Windows Systems
• Xformer 10 Emulator for Windows 10 (English)
• AtariAge International Forum for Atari 8-Bit Friends (English)
• Michael Currents website with many resources, including a. the frequently asked questions about Atari (FAQ, English)

Remarks

1. ^ ^{A b} Marty Goldberg, Curt Vendel: Atari Inc. Business is Fun. Syzygy Company Press, 2012, p. 454.
2. ^ Marty Goldberg, Curt Vendel: Atari Inc. Business is Fun. Syzygy Company Press, 2012, p. 462.
3. ^ ^{A b c} Marty Goldberg, Curt Vendel: Atari Inc. Business is Fun. Syzygy Company Press, 2012, p. 446 f.
4. ^ Compute's First Book of Atari. Small System Services, Inc., 1981, p. 5.
5. ^ Bill Loguidice, Matt Barton: Vintage Game Consoles. Routledge Chapman & Hall, 2014, p. 56.
6. ^ Marty Goldberg, Curt Vendel: Atari Inc. Business is Fun. Syzygy Company Press, 2012, p. 452 f.
7. ^ Allan Lundell: Computer Animation. InfoWorld, Aug 17, 1981, p. 43.
8. ^ Marty Goldberg, Curt Vendel: Atari Inc. Business is Fun. Syzygy Company Press, 2012, p. 457 ff.
9. ^ Bill Wilkinson, Kathleen O'Brien, Paul Laughton: The Atari BASIC Source Book. Compute! Books, 1983, p. 9 f.
10. ^ Atari announces two new Personal Computer Systems. The Intelligent Machines Journal, Feb. 7, 1979, p. 1.
11. ↑ Impressions of the Computer Faire. The Intelligent Machines Journal, June 11, 1979, p. 8.
12. ↑ David Ahl: Random Ramblings. Creative Computing, August 1979, p. 26.
13. ↑ FCC Approves Two Atari Computers. August 13, 1979, p. 4.
14. ^ Scott Mace: Atari ranks number one at Electronic Fantasy. InfoWorld, July 26, 1982, p. 24.
15. ↑ Byte News. Byte Magazine, March 1980, p. 110.
16. ↑ Introducing Atari 800. ( Memento of February 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Merchandising, ISSN  0362-3920 , January 1979, p. 55.
17. ^ ^{A b} Introducing the Atari Personal Computer Systems. Atari Inc., 1979.
18. ↑ Byte News. Byte Magazine, Apr. 1980, p. 115.
19. ↑ Sol Libes: TI, HP, and Atari. InfoWorld, February 18, 1980, p. 7.
20. ^ Mark Garetz: According to Garetz ... InfoWorld, October 13, 1980, p. 38.
21. ^ Robert Lock: The Consumer Electronics Show. Compute !, March / April 1980, p. 4.
22. ^ Michael M. Tomczyk: Atari's Marketing Vice President Profiles The Personal Computer Market. Compute !, July / August 1980, p. 17.
23. ^ Robert Lock: A host of new peripherals. Compute !, July / August 1980, p. 4 f.
24. ^ Robert Lock: The Atari Gazette. Compute !, July / August 1980, p. 58.
25. ↑ George Blank: Image Computer Products. Creative Computing, September 1980, p. 182.
26. ^ Sol Libes: Battle in the Classroom. Byte Magazine, March 1983, p. 495.
27. ↑ Brenda Laurel: The Renaissance Kid. Atari Connection, March 1981, p. 15.
28. ↑ George Blank: Image Computer Products. Creative Computing, September 1980, p. 180.
29. ^ David D. Thornburg, Betty J. Burr: Computers and Society. Compute !, September / October 1980, p. 13.
30. ↑ Sol Libes: Random Bits. Byte Magazine, September 1980, p. 168.
31. ^ Educators take note. Byte Magazine, March 1981, p. 68; Teddi Converse: A Small Country School Big On Computers. The Atari Connection, Fall 1982, p. 3.
32. ^ ^{A b} Thom Hogan: State of Microcomputing. InfoWorld, September 14, 1981, pp. 11, 12.
33. ↑ ^{a b c} Jeremy Reimer: Total share: 30 years of personal computer market share figures. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
34. ↑ Marketing pro will head Atari division. InfoWorld, September 20, 1982, p. 10.
35. ↑ ^{a b} Atari News. Analog Computing, Issue 4, 1981, p. 9.
36. ^ Carl Warren: Atari Model 800 Personal Computer. Popular Electronics, Jun 1981, p. 49.
37. ^ ^{A b} Jean Yates: Hot Lines and Holograms. InfoWorld, March 2, 1981, p. 29.
38. ↑ Thom Hogan: Today's Chaos. InfoWorld, August 31, 1981, p. 7.
39. ^ New VP Marketing At Atari's Computer Division. Compute !, April 1981, p. 168 f.
40. ^ Price Reductions, New Software Announced For Atari Computers. Compute !, June 1981, p. 158.
41. ^ New Products - The Atari 400 Computer System. Atari Connection, September 1981, p. 2.
42. ^ Richard Bills: Hardware Information. Compute !, May 1981, p. 80.
43. ^ Atari Launches Major Software Acquisition Program. Compute !, May 1981, p. 150.
44. ^ Robert DeWitt: APX - On top of the heap. Antic, June 1983, p. 11.
45. ^ Ingersoll Electronics: The new Atari Personal Computers. Ingersoll's Atari Owners Club Bulletin, Jul 16, 1981, p. 5.
46. ^ Atari: fissati i prezzi, mentre già arrivano le novità. MC Microcomputer, Issue 2, October 1981, p. 84.
47. ↑ The Computer of the Year. Chip, December 1981, p. 16 f.
48. ^ Banc d'essai: l'Atari 800. L'Ordinateur Individuel, September 1982, p. 155.
49. ^ Conclusions. L'Ordinateur Individuel, September 1982, p. 160.
50. ↑ Guido Frank: Press meets Atari - Memories from Renate Knüfer. ( Memento of April 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved March 29, 2015.
51. ^ Atari Germany: Atari specialist dealer. Chip, July 1982, p. 46.
52. ^ Advertisement Chip, September, 1981, p. 101.
53. ↑ Atari. Chip Special 3, 1980, p. 9.
54. ^ Herb Moore: Upgrades Available. Antic, October / November 1982, p. 15.
55. ↑ Steve Hanson: Documented Atari Bugs. Compute !, October 1981, p. 94.
56. ^ John C. Dvorak: Will the marketplace ruin itself? InfoWorld, June 14, 1982, p. 57.
57. ↑ David Needle: 400% rise in home-computer sales predicted for 82. InfoWorld, September 20, 1982, p. 12.
58. ^ Lower prices herald new year. InfoWorld, January 25, 1982, p. 1.
59. ↑ Wolfgang Taschner: Cheaper than ever. Chip, Jan 1983, p. 62.
60. ^ Joseph Nocera: Death of a computer. InfoWorld, June 11, 1984, p. 63.
61. ^ Atari Announces Discount Fares To The Computer Age. Atari Connection, Fall 1982, p. 2.
62. ^ Robert DeWitt: Service System. Antic, Nov 1983, p. 21.
63. ^ Coast to Coast Service for your Atari Home Computer. Atari Connection, Summer 1982, p. 14.
64. ^ Home Computer Market Gets Competitive. Byte Magazine, Oct 1982, p. 458.
65. ^ Sol Libes: Race for Space. Byte Magazine, Aug 1982, p. 448.
66. ↑ Philip Faflick, Robert T. Grieves: The Hottest-selling hardware. Time, Jan 3, 1983, p. 37.
67. ^ John Hubner, William F. Kistner Jr .: What went wrong at Atari? InfoWorld, November 28, 1983, p. 157.
68. ↑ Jim Caparell: Editorial. Antic, October / November 1982, p. 9.
69. ↑ Who sold how many computers? PM Computerheft, 1/1983, p. 67.
70. ↑ Guido Frank: Klaus Ollmann - memories of the German Atari manager. ( Memento of April 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved March 29, 2015.
71. ↑ Wolfgang Spahr: Atari Making Inroads In Germany. Billboard, Aug 21, 1982, p. 61.
72. ↑ Atari 1200XL. Byte Magazine, April 1983, p. 486.
73. ↑ Prices continue dropping. Byte Magazine, May 1983, p. 495.
74. ^ Phil Lemmons: A bird's-eye view of the latest offerings. Byte Magazine, Sep 1983, p. 230.
75. ^ Scott Mace: Morgan replaces Kassar as Atari CEO. InfoWorld, August 1, 1983, p. 3.
76. ^ Giselle Bisson: Atari: From starting block to auction block. InfoWorld, Aug 6, 1984, p. 52
77. ↑ Bernd Leitenberger: Computer history (s). Books on Demand, 1st edition 2012, ISBN 978-3-7357-8210-6 , p. 297.
78. ↑ FPGA Atari 800XL. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 24, 2014 ; accessed on April 9, 2015 . 
79. ^ Richard Herring: Anatomy of an Atari. Antic Magazine, April 1983, p. 17 ff.
80. ↑ Julian Reschke, Andreas Wiethoff: The Atari professional book. Sybex Verlag, 2nd edition 1986, pp. 201-214.
81. ↑ Eichler, Grohmann: Atari Intern. Data Becker, 1st edition 1984, p. 74.
82. ↑ Eichler, Grohmann: Atari Intern. Data Becker, 1st edition 1984, p. 41.
83. ↑ David Small, Sandy Small, George Bank (Eds.): The Creative Atari. Creative Computing Press, 1983, ISBN 0-916688-34-8 , p. 10.
84. ↑ Atari Chips. Retrieved April 10, 2015 . 
85. ↑ Julian Reschke, Andreas Wiethoff: The Atari professional book. Sybex Verlag, 2nd edition 1986, p. 130.
86. ^ Atari, Inc .: Technical Reference Notes - Configurations. Sunnyvale, 1982, p. 28.
87. ↑ Dietmar Eirich: Computer Periphery. Heyne, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-453-47058-3 , pp. 51-53.
88. ↑ User's Handbook to the Atari Computer, p. 14.
89. ^ Carl M. Evans: Tale of Two Circuits. Antic, December 1982 / January 1983, p. 63.
90. ↑ Atari 810 Disk Drive. Analog Computing, Supplement 1, 1981.
91. ^ Marty Goldberg, Curt Vendel: Atari Inc. Business is Fun. Syzygy Company Press, 2012, p. 478.
92. ↑ Introducing the PERCOM Alternative to ATARI Disk Storage. Antic, August 1982, p. 5.
93. ↑ Winston Lawrence: Hardware Review: Percom Double Density Disk Drive. Analog Magazine, No. 7, p. 57.
94. ^ Rana Systems: Introducing the RANA 1000 disk drive. Byte Magazine, March 1983, p. 48.
95. ^ Astra Systems: Look what we have for your Atari computer. Antic, July 1983, p. 39.
96. ^ ^{A b} David and Sandy Small: Fast Drives. Antic Magazine, December 1983, p. 112 f.
97. ↑ Disk System Installation Guide - Atari 800. Corvus Systems, 1982, p. 12.
98. ↑ Hardware News. InfoWorld, June 28, 1982, p. 87.
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100. ^ Robert DeWitt: Printer Survey. Antic, January 1984, p. 53.
101. ^ Brian Moriarty: Hardware Review: The Voicebox. Analog Computing, Issue 8, 1982, p. 34.
102. ^ Brian Moriarty: Stereo Graphics Tutorial. Analog Computing, Issue 7, p. 70.
103. ^ Myotis Systems: The Apprentice. Antic, February / March 1983, p. 38.
104. ^ David Duberman: Antic Pix Controllers. Antic, December 1983, pp. 118-122.
105. ↑ Lon Poole, Martin McNiff, Steven Cook: My ATARI Computer - The key to the ATARI private computer. Te-wi Verlag GmbH, 5th edition 1983, ISBN 3-921803-18-7 , pp. 1-9.
106. ↑ TG Products: Track Ball. Antic, February / March 1983, p. 32.
107. ^ Kurta Corporation: A Perfect Match. Analog Computing, January / February 1981, p. 17.
108. ↑ Clyde Spencer: Koalapad. Antic, November 1983, p. 112.
109. ^ Late Breaking News. Compute !, January 1981, p. 12.
110. ↑ Hardware / Briefs. InfoWorld, February 16, 1981, p. 25.
111. ^ David Small: 128K Memory System for Atari. Creative Computing, May 1982, p. 30.
112. ^ New Axlon memory system for Atari 800 announced. Analog Computing Magazine, No. 4, 1981, p. 13.
113. ↑ Scott Mace: Axlon boosts RAM, shrinks terminal size. InfoWorld, October 4, 1982, p. 1.
114. ↑ David E. Mentley: Bit 3 Board - Full View 80. ABCs of Atari computer, data must, ISBN 0-88190-367-1 , p. 38
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116. ^ Arlan R. Levitan: Wide Angle Atari. MACE Newsletter, October 1982, p. 5 ff.
117. ^ Brian Moriarty: A new 80 column board. Analog Computing, November 1983, p. 62.
118. ↑ Dietmar Eirich: Computer for reference. Compact Verlag, 1989, ISBN 3-8174-3564-9 , p. 212.
119. ↑ Julian Reschke, Andreas Wiethoff: The Atari professional book. Sybex Verlag, 2nd edition 1986, p. 125.
120. ↑ Julian Reschke: Bibomon - the wolf in sheep's clothing. Happy Computer, February 1987, p. 21.
121. ↑ Jeffrey Stanton, Robert P. Wells, Sandra Rochowansky, Michael Mellin: Atari Software 1984. The Book Company, 1st edition 1984, pp. 353-359.
122. ^ New Products - The Atari 400 Computer System. Atari Connection, September 1981, p. 7.
123. ↑ Jerry White: Software Review: BASIC A +. Analog Computing, May / June 1981, p. 29.
124. ↑ Jeffrey Stanton, Robert P. Wells, Sandra Rochowansky, Michael Mellin: Atari Software 1984. The Book Company, 1st edition 1984, pp. 350-352.
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128. ^ Raymond T. Tillman: Atari Pascal - A Good Product? Analog Computing, Issue 11, p. 42.
129. ↑ Jeffrey Stanton, Robert P. Wells, Sandra Rochowansky, Michael Mellin: Atari Software 1984. The Book Company, 1st edition 1984, pp. 210-241.
130. ^ Deborah Wise: Chemical Bank Unveils Pronto. InfoWorld, October 4, 1982, p. 1.
131. ↑ Gregg Pearlman: CompuTalk: Texas Sized BBS. Antic Magazine, August 1987, p. 32 f.
132. ^ Atari and ATP - A Winning Team. Input / Output, autumn 1983, p. 8 f.
133. ↑ Jon Bell: A Trip To The Nimitz. Analog Computing Magazine, September 1983, p. 89.
134. ↑ Getting aquainted record review Kraftwerk. Atari Connection, September 1981, p. 26.
135. ^ Ted Richards: The Bay Area Marine Institute. Atari Connection, September 1981, p. 19.
136. ↑ Jeffrey Stanton, Robert P. Wells, Sandra Rochowansky, Michael Mellin: Atari Software 1984. The Book Company, 1st edition 1984, pp. 263-303.
137. ↑ ^{a b} Jeffrey Stanton, Robert P. Wells, Sandra Rochowansky, Michael Mellin: Atari Software 1984. The Book Company, 1st edition 1984, p. 12.
138. ^ Winnie Schäfer: Game consoles and home computers. Gameplan, 3rd expanded edition, 2009, p. 34.
139. ^ The Best Atari Software. Publications International, 1984, ISBN 0-517-42474-6 .
140. ↑ Andreas Lange: What archives, museums and libraries can learn from gamers - and vice versa. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
141. ↑ Chris Kohler: Retro Gaming Hacks. O'Reilly, 2005, Hack # 59.
142. ↑ Gunnar Kanold: Basic Tenliners 2014. 2014, Preface.
143. ^ ^{A b} John Victor: Atari Computers: The Ultimate Teaching Machines? Compute !, Fall 1979, p. 62.
144. ↑ Michael S. Tomczyk: Star Raiders: The Wizard Behind The Game. Compute !, March / April 1980, p. 75.
145. ↑ John Victor: Atari BASIC. Compute !, January / February 1980, p. 76.
146. ^ Carl Warren: Atari Model 800 Personal Computer. Popular Electronics, Jun 1981, p. 50.
147. ↑ Len Lindsay: Atari in Perspective. Creative Computing, April 1980, p. 22 ff.
148. ^ Adam Osborne: From the Fountainhead West Coast Computer Faire. InfoWorld, May 26, 1980, p. 7.
149. ^ Greggory S. Blundell: Personal Computers in the Eighties. Byte Magazine, Jan 1983, p. 171.
150. ↑ Jerry Pournelle: Computers for Humanity. Byte Magazine, July 1982, p. 400.
151. ^ David Fox, Mitchelle Waite: Computer Animation with Color Registers. Byte Magazine, Nov. 1982, p. 214.
152. ^ Ron Mitchell: Scott Adams: Adventuring with the Atari. Antic, July 1983, p. 14.
153. ↑ Whither Atari. Analog Computing, Issue 9, p. 4 f.
154. ↑ Herbert Bernstein: Test: Atari 400 and 800. Chip, November 1981, pp. 114-121.
155. ↑ Atari 400 & 800. Computer course, volume 2, p. 35.
156. ↑ ^{a b c} Michael S. Tomczyk: The Home Computer Wars. Compute !, January 1985, p. 104.
157. ^ The Heyne Computer Lexicon. Edited by Peter Herzberg, Heyne, 1984, p. 28.
158. ^ ^{A b} Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton: Vintage Games Consoles. Focal Press, 2015, p. 56.
159. ^ Winnie Forster: Game consoles and home computers. 3rd edition, Gameplan, Utting 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-024658-6 , p. 35 f.
160. ↑ 1980: Home Computers. Gamasutra.com, August 21, 2008, accessed November 29, 2015.
161. ^ Bill Loguidice and Matt Barton: Vintage Games Consoles. Focal Press, 2015, p. 57.
162. ^ Jörg and Kerstin Allner: Computer Classics. Data Becker, 2003, ISBN 978-3-8158-2339-2 , pp. 55 f.

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