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Atari 8-bit computers AI simulator
(@Atari 8-bit computers_simulator)
Hub AI
Atari 8-bit computers AI simulator
(@Atari 8-bit computers_simulator)
Atari 8-bit computers
The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 6502 CPU and three custom coprocessors which provide support for sprites, smooth multidirectional scrolling, four channels of audio, and other features. The graphics and sound are more advanced than most of its contemporaries, and video games are a key part of the software library. The 1980 first-person space combat simulator Star Raiders is considered the platform's killer app.
The Atari 800 was positioned as a high-end model and the 400 as more affordable. The 400 has a pressure-sensitive, spillproof membrane keyboard and initially shipped with a non-upgradable 8 KB of RAM. The 800 has a conventional keyboard, a second cartridge slot, and allows easy RAM upgrades to 48K. Both use identical 6502 CPUs at 1.79 MHz (1.77 MHz for PAL versions) and coprocessors ANTIC, POKEY, and CTIA/GTIA. The plug-and-play peripherals use the Atari SIO serial bus, and one of the SIO developers eventually went on to co-patent USB (Universal Serial Bus). The architecture of the Atari 8-bit computers was reused in the 1982 Atari 5200 game console, but games for the two systems are incompatible.
The 400 and 800 were replaced by multiple computers with identical core technology and different presentation. The 1200XL was released in early 1983 to supplant the 800. It was discontinued in June 1983, but the industrial design carried over to the 600XL and bestselling 800XL released later the same year. After the company was sold and reestablished, Atari Corporation released the 65XE (called the 800XE in some European markets) and 130XE in 1985. The XL and XE are lighter in construction, have two joystick ports instead of four, and Atari BASIC is built-in. The 130XE has 128 KB of bank-switched RAM. In 1987, after the Nintendo Entertainment System reignited the console market, Atari Corporation packaged the 65XE as a game console, with an optional keyboard, as the Atari XEGS. It is compatible with 8-bit computer software and peripherals.
The 8-bit computers were sold both in computer stores and department stores such as Sears using a demo to attract customers. Two million Atari 8-bit computers were sold during its major production run between late 1979 and mid-1985. The primary global competition came when the similarly equipped Commodore 64 was introduced in August 1982. In 1992, Atari Corporation officially dropped all remaining support for the 8-bit line.
Design of the "Home Computer System" started at Atari as soon as the Atari Video Computer System was released in late 1977. While designing the VCS in 1976, the engineering team from Atari Grass Valley Research Center (originally Cyan Engineering) said the system would have a three-year lifespan before becoming obsolete. They started planning for a console that would be ready to replace it around 1979.
They developed essentially a greatly updated version of the VCS, fixing its major limitations, but sharing a similar philosophy. The newer design has better speed, graphics, and sound. Work on the chips for the new system continued throughout 1978 and focused on a much-improved video coprocessor known as the CTIA (the VCS version was the TIA).
During the early development period, the home computer era began in earnest with the TRS-80, PET, and Apple II—what Byte magazine dubbed the "1977 Trinity". Nolan Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications for US$28 million in 1976 to fund the launch of the VCS. In 1978, Warner hired Ray Kassar as CEO of Atari. Kassar wanted the chipset used in a home computer to challenge Apple, so it needed character graphics, some form of expansion for peripherals, and run the then-universal BASIC programming language.
Atari engineer Jay Miner created a display architecture for the Atari 8-bit computer consisting of two chips. The CTIA chip handles sprites and background graphics, but to reduce load on the main CPU, loading video registers and buffers is delegated to a dedicated microprocessor, the Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller or ANTIC. CTIA and ANTIC work together to produce a complete display, with ANTIC fetching scan line data from a framebuffer and sprite memory in RAM, plus character set bitmaps for character modes, and feeding these to the CTIA. CTIA processes the sprite and playfield data via its own color, sprite, and graphics registers to produce the final color video output.
Atari 8-bit computers
The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 6502 CPU and three custom coprocessors which provide support for sprites, smooth multidirectional scrolling, four channels of audio, and other features. The graphics and sound are more advanced than most of its contemporaries, and video games are a key part of the software library. The 1980 first-person space combat simulator Star Raiders is considered the platform's killer app.
The Atari 800 was positioned as a high-end model and the 400 as more affordable. The 400 has a pressure-sensitive, spillproof membrane keyboard and initially shipped with a non-upgradable 8 KB of RAM. The 800 has a conventional keyboard, a second cartridge slot, and allows easy RAM upgrades to 48K. Both use identical 6502 CPUs at 1.79 MHz (1.77 MHz for PAL versions) and coprocessors ANTIC, POKEY, and CTIA/GTIA. The plug-and-play peripherals use the Atari SIO serial bus, and one of the SIO developers eventually went on to co-patent USB (Universal Serial Bus). The architecture of the Atari 8-bit computers was reused in the 1982 Atari 5200 game console, but games for the two systems are incompatible.
The 400 and 800 were replaced by multiple computers with identical core technology and different presentation. The 1200XL was released in early 1983 to supplant the 800. It was discontinued in June 1983, but the industrial design carried over to the 600XL and bestselling 800XL released later the same year. After the company was sold and reestablished, Atari Corporation released the 65XE (called the 800XE in some European markets) and 130XE in 1985. The XL and XE are lighter in construction, have two joystick ports instead of four, and Atari BASIC is built-in. The 130XE has 128 KB of bank-switched RAM. In 1987, after the Nintendo Entertainment System reignited the console market, Atari Corporation packaged the 65XE as a game console, with an optional keyboard, as the Atari XEGS. It is compatible with 8-bit computer software and peripherals.
The 8-bit computers were sold both in computer stores and department stores such as Sears using a demo to attract customers. Two million Atari 8-bit computers were sold during its major production run between late 1979 and mid-1985. The primary global competition came when the similarly equipped Commodore 64 was introduced in August 1982. In 1992, Atari Corporation officially dropped all remaining support for the 8-bit line.
Design of the "Home Computer System" started at Atari as soon as the Atari Video Computer System was released in late 1977. While designing the VCS in 1976, the engineering team from Atari Grass Valley Research Center (originally Cyan Engineering) said the system would have a three-year lifespan before becoming obsolete. They started planning for a console that would be ready to replace it around 1979.
They developed essentially a greatly updated version of the VCS, fixing its major limitations, but sharing a similar philosophy. The newer design has better speed, graphics, and sound. Work on the chips for the new system continued throughout 1978 and focused on a much-improved video coprocessor known as the CTIA (the VCS version was the TIA).
During the early development period, the home computer era began in earnest with the TRS-80, PET, and Apple II—what Byte magazine dubbed the "1977 Trinity". Nolan Bushnell sold Atari to Warner Communications for US$28 million in 1976 to fund the launch of the VCS. In 1978, Warner hired Ray Kassar as CEO of Atari. Kassar wanted the chipset used in a home computer to challenge Apple, so it needed character graphics, some form of expansion for peripherals, and run the then-universal BASIC programming language.
Atari engineer Jay Miner created a display architecture for the Atari 8-bit computer consisting of two chips. The CTIA chip handles sprites and background graphics, but to reduce load on the main CPU, loading video registers and buffers is delegated to a dedicated microprocessor, the Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller or ANTIC. CTIA and ANTIC work together to produce a complete display, with ANTIC fetching scan line data from a framebuffer and sprite memory in RAM, plus character set bitmaps for character modes, and feeding these to the CTIA. CTIA processes the sprite and playfield data via its own color, sprite, and graphics registers to produce the final color video output.
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