ClassicGaming.com's Museum
Atari 8 Bit Computers - 1979-1987
(Officially discontinued 1992)

Atari 400

Atari 800XL

Hey you got your computer in my game machine! You got your game machine in my computer!

The Atari 400 and 800 computers were considered ahead of their time. Using special co-processors to free up the main CPU (which would later duplicated and expanded when some of the designers created the Amiga computer after leaving Atari), this allowed for fast and responsive graphics, sound and peripheral access by not burdening the CPU by having everything processed by it. Also, borrowing some ideas from their Atari 2600 game console, they added hardware based player and missile control. The advantage was that it made games easier to program, giving the programmer easier collision detection and control over your character on the screen. Unheard of in personal computers at the time (everyone else needed to actually do this on the software end, which meant it slowed down gameplay), it was just another feature to prove that Atari was serious about gameplay on this computer. Atari also programmed in special character graphics, which allowed basic graphics programming and special characters using their special ATASCII code. This meant that for any programs running on their computers, ready made graphics, text, and special characters were available for anyone to use. (Click here for a demonstration of Atascii Bulliten Board Animations)

An Atari Computer Cartridge

Going with their ease of use policy, Atari decided to forego the common personal computer feature of having to open up the computer and plug in special cards when you want to expand your computer. Instead, they had several methods of expandability. First and foremost were the cartridge slots (1 in the 400 and 2 in the 800), that could be used to to plug in ready made games and software. Second, were the special SCIO ports (the precursor to today's USB ports) that could be used to plug in Atari made devices such as floppy drives, printers and modems, all of which were intelligent and handled things that most other computers needed extensive software for. Plug any device in and go, truly plug and play! Third were the joystick/controller ports, of which there were 4. These used the same standard plugs as found on the 2600 game console.

The 400 model was considered a pure gaming computer, coming with a bare 16k of memory and a membrane keyboard. It was intended as an introductory model in to the world of computing, and it's membrane keyboard had children in mind. The 800 model was considered the real computer and with it's 48k of ram it was intended to compete against the Apple II. It's list price of only a $1000 helped as well.

Staying In The Game

By 1981, Atari computers had become a standard just behind Apple's Apple II series. While not as successful as they had hopped, it still enjoyed a strong and loyal following. However, by 1982 a new generation of home computers were emerging with more memory as a standard. Commodore had released it's popular game computer the Vic20 in 1981, which became a warm-up for the legendary Commodore 64 that was released in 1982. The commodore had many similar characteristics to the Atari 800, however it came with a standard 64k of memory, a slightly higher resolution, a more advanced custom sound chip, a more compact look, and a competitive price because of it's off the shelf parts.

Atari 1200XL

Atari decided to fire back with it's own upgrade, the Atari 1200XL. With the Atari 400 retired the year before and the 800 now to follow, Atari felt it needed a worthy follow-up. Designers were brought in to give it a sleeker and more technological look. The 2nd cartridge port was removed and the remaining one was moved to the side. 2 of the joystick ports were removed, and all expandability was removed. Extra function keys were added however (such as a help key), and the computer came with a standard 64K. However once it hit the market, it was soon found that much of the vast array of Atari software already out there would not run on the 1200XL. Combined with it's lack of expandability, it became an immediate flop and was sold for less than a year. People actually ran out to buy from the remaining stock of 800 models before they disappeared.

Atari Learned from this mistake quickly and followed up later that year with the Atari 600XL and 800XL. The 600XL was the replacement for it's venerable 400, but now included a regular keyboard and the ability to expand up to 48k. The 800XL replaced the original 800 model, coming with 64K and expandable to 128K. Both retained the sleek new look and extra function keys of the failed 1200XL, however unfortunately they also both only had one cartridge slot and 2 joystick ports. The missing cartridge slot was replaced with a new expansion slot called the Parallel Bus Interface. Unfortunately, the only thing ever released for this new port was the ram expansion cartridge for the 600XL.

Atari 600XL

Atari 800XL

These computers were the mainstay of the Atari computer line for the next two years, and though not as popular as the original Atari 800, they kept Atari up among Apple and Commodore.

Atarodore

In 1984, the 2nd Great Video Game crash occurred, and Atari was hit hard. New updates to the Atari computer line were in the works but were soon scraped. Warner was looking to unload Atari, and on July 2nd, 1984 they found a buyer.

Over at Commodore, it's founder and president Jack Tramiel was in trouble. He and his family were being thrown out by the board of directors. With his fortune at hand, he and his sons were looking to start a new brand of computers based on next generation technology that would be a 16 bit update to the popular Commodore 64. However, they needed manufacturing plants, warehouses, distribution channels, etc. Enter Atari.

Atari was being split in to several pieces by Steve Ross, one of the Warner brass. The coinop division was sold to Namco, with Warner still retaining 40% ownership. The computer and home video game system division were sold to Jack Tramiel for $240 Million in stocks with Warner retaining 25% of the new company. Jack called his company Atari Corp. and as part of the deal promised to still support the 8bit line. However, video games fell by the wayside because of contract disputes between the new Atari Corp. and GCC, who had built the next generation Atari gaming consoles.

Power Without The Price

While working on the new 16 bit computers, Jack went ahead and kept his promise to still support the 8 bit line, by developing two new 8 bit computers. Using his tried and tested low price with a lot packed under the hood strategy (that had worked with the Commodore 64) he had the 600XL and 800XL scaled down and re-designed. The result was the Atari 65XE and 130XE.

Atari 65XE

Atari 130XE

The 65XE and 130XE made their debut in 1985 (with the european model of the 65XE being called the Atari 800 XE) with the XE standing for Xl Extended. The lower end of the line, and considered more of a gaming computer (as all previous low end Atari models were), the 65XE came with 64K of memory and no expansion bus. The 130XE came 130K of memory, some enhanced memory access circuitry (which was never really used), and the expansion interface used in the XL series (Parallel Bus Interface) was dropped. An expansion bus was only added to the 130XE after many of the people in Atari user groups complained. So Jack threw in an Enhanced Cartridge Interface (ECI), which was nothing more than a cartridge slot that could double accept other devices as well (though Atari never made anything for it). The look of the two new models was a bit of a sneak peek at the new 16 bit series. Not as futuristic looking as the XL series, these new casings had a modern, high-density molded plastic look.

This Is The End?

The XE series lasted for about two years before Atari Inc. fully shifted it's efforts to their new 16 bit line. Commodore had sued Atari Corp. because many of the Commodore engineers had left with Jack, so they felt Jack was using proprietary information for his new computers. They also attacked by buying a company by the name of Amiga (which consisted of former Atari engineers) who had borrowed money from the Warner Atari to develop their new system. The deal was that if it wasn't paid back by a certain date in 1984, ownership of Amiga and the technology would revert to Atari. This purchase gave Amiga the money to pay back Atari (now Atari Corp.) and have a large stream of money R&D. Jack chose to strike back at Commodore by countersuing on a number of issues, the Amiga deal being one of them. They also sped up development of their own 16 bit computer to reach the market first, now that Commodore had access to it's own advanced 16 bit technology through the Amiga purchase. Since Jack felt the future of his Atari Inc. lay in this 16 bit market, by 1986 the importance of the 8 bit line fell by the wayside. The Atari ST series (both the 520 and 1040 models) became the new face of Atari computing.

If the problems with Commodore weren't enough, Jack now had a new dilemma. After two years of on again and off again (mostly off) negotiations with GCC, Atari had no presence in the home video gaming market. In that time, a Japanese company by the name of Nintendo had snuck in and revitalized the "dead" industry with their Nintendo Entertainment System. The contract finally being settled in '86, Jack revived the two former Atari gaming console projects to quickly re-enter that market. For some reason, he also decided to enter with a third console, and the Atari 8 bit computer line was briefly reborn as the Atari XEGS in their own update to the Atari 5200 idea.

Atari XEGS

In a move similar to what Warner's Atari had down with the Atari 5200 console (which was an Atari 400 computer re-designed to function solely as a game console), the XEGS (XE Gaming System) was a repackaged 65XE computer with kid friendly pastel colored buttons. Unlike the Atari 5200 however, this was still a fully functioning 65XE, and could accept all Atari computer devices (disk drives, modems, printers, etc). An optional detachable keyboard was also available, as well as Atari's first ever light gun (to compete with the NES's lightgun). The idea was to use Atari's already established home computer game cartridges inventory, and the XEGS even came with the 8 bit version of Missile Command built in. However, Jack Tramiel used extremely poor marketing tactics (as he would time and again during his tenure with Atari) and marketed the XEGS through computer stores. Not knowing what to do with them, many computer store owners simply let them sit on the shelf, and the XEGS was a dismal failure.

After this last gasp, the Atari 8 bit line was finally dead as a marketable product. Atari Inc. officially dropped all support of the 8 bit computer line in 1992 (about the same time as they dropped the 16 bit line and got out of computers altogether).

The Games of the Atari 8 bits