Questions tagged [atari-800]
For questions relating to the Atari 800 8-bit computer
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Which computer first used stored characters (shape selector) and character bit patterns in the same memory
On the Commodore VIC-20, the VIC chip alternates between cycles where it fetches a byte from screen memory that identifies a character (and also a nybble from color memory), and cycles where it ...
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NTSC scan lines used by 8-bit computers
Several computers of the late 70s used a TV set for their display. I'm not talking about the TRS-80, which came with a monitor that was basically a stripped-down black and white TV set, but computers ...
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Was the Atari 800 expansion port hidden because of RF emission? [duplicate]
I just stumbled on a curious detail about the Atari 8-bit machines that I had not known about: https://forums.atariage.com/topic/133652-400800-expansion-port-pinouts/
I've seen questions about the ...
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Atari SIO vs IEEE 488
When Atari was designing the 800 series of computers, they needed a way to connect peripherals. To comply with FCC regulations on RF emission, it needed shielded cables. To achieve low cost of entry ...
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Did Atari lobby against FCC regulation change?
In the 1970s, FCC limits on RF emissions applied to 'anything that plugs into a TV', and were stringent and difficult to pass. Atari went to extraordinary lengths regarding this when designing their ...
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Was it possible to give an Atari 800 (not XL) 64KB of RAM?
The original Atari 800 could have up to 48K of RAM installed through the use of memory cards. When the 800XL came out, it was now possible to have up to 64K of RAM by disabling the BASIC ROM.
After ...
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Why did the Atari 800 have a flying RF lead?
The Atari 800 had a nice range of output sockets: four joystick ports at the front:
Along the right hand side, a serial interface (SIO) port, an S-video type output, and a power jack socket:
...
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6
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2
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When were Player/Missile graphics in Atari computers first documented?
The Atari 400 and 800 came out in 1979. The hardware included the ability to overlay sprites ("players" and the smaller "missiles") over the display. AFAIK, this capability is ...
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80's Atari-800 game where pieces on a board move automatically according to preset rules
The game I'm thinking of was played on a grid of squares (somewhere in the range of 8x8 to 10x10) where each player put down pieces on their side of the board (I think it was white on the bottom rows ...
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How can I create floppy disks for use with Atari 400/800? [closed]
I recently lost my collection of bootleg Atari 400 games, stored on 5.25 floppy disks. What is the best way to recreate those disks? I currently have
an Atari 400 console
an Atari 1050 disk drive ...
5
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Atari800XL Composite video black and white problem
I just brought back to live my old Atari 800XL (it's has 30years with our family), any way, the video composite output is on black and white, I had another 800xl and works fine with that cable, so it'...
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1
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Any Public Videos of Anyone Playing Jupiter Mission 1999?
When I was growing up, I played a game for the Atari 800 entitled "Jupiter Mission 1999", which has as a premise that you wake up in the middle of the night with astronauts at your door and ...
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How to get rid of keyboard latency in atari800 emulator?
I use the atari800 emulator v. 4.2.0 on windows 10 and linux in latest version.
(https://atari800.github.io)
I notice an annoying keyboard latency of up to 100-200ms (keypress-to-click and ...
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How did Atari lose money on home computers?
The answer recently posted to Did Atari make more money from arcade games or consoles? quotes a New York Times article from 1982 https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/19/business/the-game-turns-serious-at-...
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In the 1970s, had there been a way that a home computer using a TV as monitor could get FCC approval for Apple II style slots without cheating?
I’m reading the book “Atari Inc.: Business is Fun” by Curt Vendel and Marty Goldberg. (By the way, it’s a fun read, highly recommended.) It states that when the Atari engineers had been developing the ...
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