Oh and you need the basic cartridge to write programs. When i get more time, i will add to this section explaining a little more about them. Also if you buy a the 410 tape recorder or 810 floppy disk drive you can write your own games. It featured a membrane keyboard similar to that of the philips g7000, internal slots for memory that were not user upgradeable, one game cartridge slot and 4 controller ports for joysticks. Atari basic programming has progressed so much further from the earliest days when it was introduced on an atari 2600 game program for the vcs machine. Designed primarily as a computer for children, the atari 400 has an advanced childproof design featuring pressuresensitive, wipeclean keyboard. Saving basic programs from emulators page 2 atari 8bit. Obviously, it wont be the latest version, because i need one for power pc and mac os x 3. This is the home page of the macintosh os x port of david firths fantastic atari 800 emulator. The atari 400 and 800 were both announced in december 1978, though they didnt actually start shipping until late in 1979.
The interpreter originally shipped on an 8 kb cartridge. Fun projects for the atari, 6502 anwendungen, 6502 applications, 6502 applications book, 6502 assembly language programming, 6502. The 400 and the 800 can use the same type of atari joystick, atari paddle controller, av plus sound cable and ac adapter. Since they were atari products, they were supremely strong graphical performers.
Thirtytwo basic programs for the atari computer tom rugg, phil feldman, tim ba. Saving basic programs from emulators atari 8bit computers. Like, pacman, space invaders, rescue on fractalus if you can find one 400 version is awesome, and pitfall 2. Nov 07, 2015 just what the world needs, right, another book of simple atari basic programs. All are based on the mos technology 6502 cpu running at 1. Like atari basic, atari microsoft basic included a number of new commands and features to take advantage of the atari platform. Just what the world needs, right, another book of simple atari basic programs.
Btw, ive also got a power mac g4, so i think ill try to run an atari emulator for mac on that. In this videos i provide code examples, game play, and other interesting tutorials. It likely wasnt popular since the world was not yet used to programming, especially trying to. Optimized systems software was the first independent company to write software for atari personal computers. Basic programming cartridge, keyboard controllers, atari 2600 time. A, was written for atari 400800 computer s by optimized systems software oss. Aug 25, 2012 atari mac 65 assembly graphics programming. If you are interested in learning more about the atari 400800xl65xe 8bit computer then please subscribe and i. The atari 800 in my collection is a 48k unit with a tape drive and an 810 disk drive pictured below. Altirra is the best atari 8bit emulator we have seen so far, for playing atari 8bit games on a windows pc. Atari microsoft basic was highly compatible with contemporary basics like applesoft basic and commodore basic, in contrast to their own atari basic which was a somewhat different dialect and incompatible in many ways. Leave a comment in learning 6502 assembly, before doing much with how to do things, i thought it might be helpful to at least have a basic understanding of the 56 opcodes in the 6502s instruction set. In 1979, the atari 400 and atari 800 were born to fulfill this promise.
View and download atari 400 technical reference manual online. In addition to the free games offered by the dog daze home page, hundreds of other 1980sera atari computer games are available for free at the following web sites. View and download atari 400 basic reference manual online. The basic programs i wrote for the trs80 would run only on a trs80. Unfortunately, there was a fairly nasty bug in rev. Emulation of atari 400, 800, 600 xl, 800xl, xe, 5200 games system. A history of ataris 8bit personal computers low end mac. Xformer runs your atari 400800, atari 800xl, and atari xe software on your pc the original xformer project began in 1986 as an effort to run atari 800 basic on the atari st desktop computer using emulation to translate the 6502 machine code of the atari 800 to the 68000 machine code of the atari st. Listed below i have included some code sample from some simple atari basic programs i have written.
I had access to a number of 8bit computers in my childhood, but my most favorite was the atari 800, a 1. An atari would be a nice investment emulators are great but theres nothing like the feeling of a real mccoy, the real slow part of an atari system is the io, but thanks to many atari enthousiasts and hobbiests there is now a plethora of higher speed options, one of them is sio2pc which allows you to connect your atari to a pc windowsunix. These were released in november 1979 and built around the same 6502 processor used in the atari vcs, the apple ii, and commodores early personal computers. My father bought this machine in 1980 or 1981, and my older brother learned to program basic on it when he was very young. I have several atari cartridges and most of the original manuals for the machine as well. It runs atari 400, 800, 600 xl, 800 xl, xe and 5200 games, supports xe compatible memory expansions, has cycleexact 6502 emulation, nmi interrupts, scanlinebased pokey interrupts, and antic and gita emulation, has exact pokey registers, is able to load atari executable and basic programs directly, has support for the cassette recorder.
Bill wilkinson and his programmers created the disk file management system of dos 1. Atari projects fun projects for your atari 8bit home. Atari computer the atari 8bit family is a series of 8bit home computers introduced by atari, inc. Atari basic is an interpreter for the basic programming language that shipped with the atari 8bit family of 6502based home computers. The emulator is autoconfigurable and will compile on a variety of systems linux, solaris, irix. Be sure to read more about this on the history of atari page. Xformer runs your atari 400 800, atari 800xl, and atari xe software on your pc the original xformer project began in 1986 as an effort to run atari 800 basic on the atari st desktop computer using emulation to translate the 6502 machine code of the atari 800 to the 68000 machine code of the atari st. In my opinion, there are two things such a book can do for you. Occasionally, the computer would lock while editing a program. Also, they can play the same atari video game cartridges. Unlike most basics of the home computer era, atari basic is not a derivative of microsoft basic, and differs in significant ways. Apr 17, 2012 btw, ive also got a power mac g4, so i think ill try to run an atari emulator for mac on that. With home computers taking off, atari decided to add a keyboard to the new device, resulting in the atari 400 and 800 home computers complete with game cartridge slots.
Xformer runs atari 400800, atari 800xl, and atari xe software on windows pcs. I have ported the sdl version of the atrari800 emulator to mac os x, and added a full native cocoa interface, including preferences, menus, file associations, help and more. The atari 400 was a fairly basic system that was aimed at a younger audience and purely as a games machine. The atari 400 was connected to the enlarger with relays. Atari has gone through three versions or revisions of basic. The atari 8bit family is a series of 8bit home computers introduced by atari, inc. They are based on the mos technology 6502 cpu running at 1. Its 6502 motorola main processor talks to a separate graphics chip which offers great graphics for games, a feature that was unavailable on other home computers of the time. Dec 20, 2019 atari basic is an interpreter for the basic programming language that shipped with the atari 8bit family of 6502based home computers. Jun 23, 2018 altirra is the best atari 8bit emulator we have seen so far, for playing atari 8bit games on a windows pc. Whats special about this book is that its programs take advantage of all the sophistication of atari basic.
A, was written for atari 400 800 computer s by optimized systems software oss. Optional 4k ram between 0xc000 and 0xcfff in 400800 mode. The programmer comes with an atari basic computer language cartridge, the atari basic reference manual and the atari basic selfteaching guide that teaches you how to. It has a single cartridge port under the front cover. Nov 04, 2009 meet the atari 800my familys original atari 800, in fact. One is give you useful programs nearly all fail at this. They are still a great way to get familiar with the atari 400 and 800 if.
This new version comes, among other things, with autodetection functionality that automatically selects the right settings based on the atari program you load. Xformer runs atari 400 800, atari 800xl, and atari xe software on windows pcs. It was one of the most powerful 8k basics ever produced. Thunderdome the atari site the family tree c 1983 harry koons version 1. Atari basic is a basic interpreter for the atari 8bit family of 6502based home computers. Apr 17, 2012 an atari would be a nice investment emulators are great but theres nothing like the feeling of a real mccoy, the real slow part of an atari system is the io, but thanks to many atari enthousiasts and hobbiests there is now a plethora of higher speed options, one of them is sio2pc which allows you to connect your atari to a pc windowsunix.
Fifty years of basic, the language that made computers. All of the machines in the family are technically similar and differ primarily in packaging. The atari 400 was one of the few computers of its day not to use a basic written by microsoft, instead it used a version written in house, this made converting programs written in basic for other machines a. Meet the atari 800my familys original atari 800, in fact. Craig also rigged up an apartment security system using his atari 400, which he wrote about in an article on his web site. After that, the possibilities are limitlessyou can solve busi ness or scientific problems, invent your own games or even compose music. Users of these earlier computers still have basic xl available from oss.
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