Machine of the Month: Atari 800 Series (1979)

THE ATARI 800 series is often overlooked in retro computing, but this machine genuinely put the wind up companies such as Apple and Commodore, establishing an architecture that sold millions of units with a long production run.

- JOHN KNIGHT

YOU’LL NEED THIS

ALTIRRA For more casual users: www. virtualdub.org/altirra.html.

ATARI800 Advanced users: https://atari 800.github.io/download.html.

On its release, the 800 was ahead of its time and one of the most powerful computers around, bringing innovations such as specialized coprocessors to ease CPU load.

Being an Atari machine, the 800 family features the classic Atari arcade library, but is also an essential experience for fans of ’80s micros.

So, let’s take a brief history lesson before exploring how you can emulate the 800 line yourself at home. –JOHN KNIGHT

1 DEVELOPMENT AND LAUNCH

The 800 series was born when Atari realized its console hardware could be expanded upon with a keyboard, and other kinds of I/O, to make a television-based micro. The Atari 800 would be the foundation upon which other models could follow, using the same basic chipsets and architecture.

>> Launching in November 1979, Atari’s initial lineup consisted of two models: the fully-featured 800 for $1,000, and the stripped-down budget model 400 for $550. The 800 had two cartridge ports, four expansion slots, and a proper keyboard; the 400 had one cartridge port, two expansion slots, and an inexpensive childproof membrane keyboard.

>> Both machines ran a highly clocked MOS 6502 @ 1.79MHz, with 8KB of RAM. The 400 could be expanded to 16KB, while the 800 could take up to 48KB. The 400 would later sell with 16KB and the 800 would sell with its maximum 48KB. The 400 sold twice as many units as its big brother.