The Story of the Atari 400, An Entry Level Computer to Change the World - Tech Retrospective
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- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- The Atari 400, released in 1979 was Atari's flagship entry level computer introduced to dominate the still new computer industry. While it didn't quite achieve that goal, it's combination of the MOS 6502 processor with powerful graphics and sound with it's uuuhhh interesting keyboard has proved it to be a great retro computer system worth remembering!
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It was my first home computer and I loved it. The keyboard was challenging. But the games were good. And, I got my start programming on it.
Me too. I believe it was Xmas 1982 when I got mine. Like many people, it was sold to fund the next system, an 800XL
Me too - I loved the "sprites" feature on this machine - they were called "player-missile graphics". It was easy to make sprites move horizontally in Basic, but the vertical movement was much harder - it could only be done convincingly by embedding machine code scripts into the Basic program to move the bit-patterns around. The basic chip - the 6502 - was the same one that was in the Commodore CBM and PET machines, which I used to program at work.
@@triffid68 you and I opened up the same box for Christmas in 1982! Nice to share fond memories with folks with a similar childhood journey!
@@humormewithspecifics Absolutely! For a few years, I was jealous of classmates that had a VCS. Then I convinced my parents that a computer is good for my education. I read the magazines and the Atari specs were much better than the rest. I believe I got the carts Asteroids and Defender with it.
@@triffid68 Terrific! I have to give my dad the credit, he wanted a system my brothers and I could learn from and enjoy. I think it worked, I earned my PhD in computing in 2015 and my brothers are also in tech fields. We found our common passion early via the Atari 400. My first system came with pacman and centipede!
OMG My first computer Atari 400, I bought it with my first salary in 1982, and I learn Atari Basic programming with, yes a programmer was born..😍
My father but a 400 when I was in high school. He very rapidly replaced the keyboard with one from a 800 and cranked the memory to 48K he also added a floppy drive at a later date as well. I remember developing a golf game on it during that time period. I also remember typing many a long program from a atari computer magazine as well and saving it onto cassette tape. Yeah I hated that keyboard as well.
Hehe today I would do that, but back then when we got ours I was 12 and no one in the family would start to mod the machine and it was hell of expensive over here in central europe!
This was my first computer 😍
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They would put these in store windows playing the attract mode of 'Star Raiders' to show off the graphics. One test they had was the 'drop test': they would take a running unit a few inches off a surface and drop it while it was still running, and the Atari 400/800 could take it because they were metal.
I don't doubt that they are built like tanks!
I thought I wanted to learn to program so I got a 400, replaced the keyboard with a full stroke keyboard that was "ok". I had the memory increased to 16k. I even had that obnoxiously loud floppy drive. I recall entering an animated picture of a waterfall from Byte magazine. It had some hex or binary data to enter. I got the thing to run, and said, "That's it?! I did all that work for THIS!? ERRG!" Ha Ha!
This was actually my first computer my parents bought me for Christmas in 1979. Obviously the 800 would have been a nicer machine, but I felt pretty lucky to be getting the 400 as a Christmas present. They actually took me with them to buy it but I couldn't open it until Christmas morning. LOL! I learned to type almost 70 words per minute on that crazy keyboard learning BASIC, for two years, until I got my Apple ][+ for Christmas in 1981, and we ended up selling the 400 to pay for part of the Apple ][+. I have a couple of them now, although I usually go for an 800XL if I'm going to use one of the 8-bit machines, I have actually traveled with the 400 sticking it in a backpack, and connecting to the hotel TV when I arrive. It was fun going through TSA with them wondering WTAF this thing was! LOL!
I bought my Atari 400 in 1979 - it came with 16K of RAM compared to the 8K all the other 400's had.
I replaced the KEY BOARD adding a Mechanical Keyboard and UPGRADED THE RAM to a HULKING 64K - Sold software to PIZZA PARLOURS and designed Graphics ran three Concert Companies with it.
Ah, memories of spending all afternoon hammering out a program in Basic on that membrane keyboard, and not being one of the wealthy kids with the cassette backup, having your idiot brother walk through and trip over the power cord and unplug the computer erasing all your hard work.
*cut to dramatic crane shot*
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I had a Atari 400 when it first came out and there was a improved keyboard you could buy extra that made it almost as good as the Atari 800 keyboard it was called the "B-key 400" upgrade and was worth every penny... I had the 16K version and it was more then enough to run every one of those cartridge and cassette games very well... then I bought a Atari 810 floppy drive and that made a big difference in the type of games you could get... Good times... :)
My feeling is the Atari 400 looked less strange as you say but more super advanced and space aged. I love the look of the Atari 400. You can add tank wheels to this A400 and use it in Battlezone, the game. Looked so sleek!
Why don't you show some footage of the machines actually running?
Anybody felling ill that that key is missing lol
Still have mine that my father bought for me!
That's sweet!
Yes, I had an Atari 400. I didn't mind the keyboard - it was what I was given at Christmas back in 1983. I programmed that thing to death until I bought a 1200XL.
1200xl? That was some big doings back then👍
we do kinda consider the atari 5200 console as 'part of the line too'. considering it is technically identical and runs the exact same code. just with a different cartridge slot :P atari's biggest mistake is that they simply kept producing that inferior 2600, then threw the 7800 on top, and the lynx and jaguar and at some point all that shit was in the stores at the same time with the same atari brand on it. (yeah. your lynx is totally gonna sell if you put it next to a mid 1970s contraption playing et ;) other than the lynx. they are all 6502 based.and except for the 2600 and 7800 with identical or very simular hardware to the xl/xe line (development for the 2600 is just weird. it's a horrid contraption yeah it's all 6502. but it's quite a bit... different from all the usual nes/pcengines/c64/atari stuff. they should just have scrapped that line and the company probably would have survived ;)
9:04 Aesthetics 3/5? What?! How can you give that raging '70s color scheme keyboard only a 3/5?! hahaha Personally I love it, and that anti-kid membrane idea isn't bad. My love of mechanical keyboards at times clashes with my love of having many pets in the house.
Had an 800. Loved it. Ran a BBS written in basic on it with 48k ram and a blazing 300 baud modem. It ran all night long while one user at a time exchanged a Zork game or two. When I wasn’t watching tv I’d flip a switch and watch the action. Thrilling! Every time I heard the modem answering I felt as though I were in a secret lab. I’m not really exaggerating.
I recommend watching at 1.5x - it sounds perfectly normal at that speed!
Hi there from Ukraine! Perfect review! Being a user of the most popular in my country ZX-Spectrum128k, I like to watch such reviews of a similar 8-bit retrocomputers. All the best for your channel!
My first computer was the Atari 800XL, but I had a fried that owned the Atari 400 and the keyboard was terrible to type on. It felt a lot like the speak and spell. Writing code in Basic took so long because you made so many typos with the keyboard.
It really does suck. Not a problem if you are just planning on playing games though
True about the keyboard IF you weren't a typist (and I'm willing to bet in 1979 most guys weren't - but I was).
I play games most of the time so that that 400 was the best thing for me
Still have my Atari 400 that I received for Christmas as a kid . A few years ago I upgraded the RAM to a 48k kit and it still works like new . Games were so much better than the 2600 variants . I also picked up another 400 a few years ago for cheap and put 32k ram in it I believe . I have around 70 cart games , the floppy disk drive , cassette , and a stack of games for those . I have an 800 , 600xl , and a couple of 800xl's , but always pull out the 400 as it's the one that brings back good memories .
I swapped a BSA Bantam 125 cc motorbike for an Atari 400 way back when,so started my love affair with computers.Since that day I started buying the latest machines from the Vic 20 all the way up to a 386 pc,cutting edge at the time,and here I am some 40 years later building ever bigger and better PC's,Thank you Atari.
I just picked one up but don't have any cartridges. is it normal for it to boot into a green scrreen?
Booting solid green... no.
I would reseat every socketed chip.
Before powering on again, check power supply voltage and amperage with a multimeter and make sure the values conform to what's on the power brick. The 400 uses an AC adapter that doesn't convert to DC, unlike the 600/800xl and later.
There may be a leaking capacitor too.
Did you get it working?
Where did you get your dates from? You are off by a year in either direction like the system being released in '78 and missing being part of the Holy Computer Trinity by months due to delayed releases. Also the 400 was selling with 16K by early '79 and companies like Memotek were selling 32K, 48K, 64K, 128K and 512K on a single board to fit the 400 single RAM slot and the 800 slots by 1980.
Though the 400 sold over 1Million units that was shortly after the Vic20 sold its 1Million units first. At the time neither Apple or TRS80/Tandy sold a million units until years afters Commodore and Atari did first.
Simply going through Archive.org and go through their computer magazine section will clarify some dates and options for you.
You also forgot the Antic video-coprocessor chip used with the GTIA video processor. It is what gives the Atari 8bit machine sprite capability.
Listen to Magix! :)
My Atari 400 has an aftermarket keyboard that is much better than the original. There were 3 or 4 different aftermarket keyboards available.
Did you own a 400? what do you remember about it?
Yep my first computer was an Atari 400 with 16K, a tape drive and a few cartridges including Atari BASIC and Star Raiders, which was an amazing game for the period ua-cam.com/video/C2oL8lsusfU/v-deo.html. Over time I upgraded to 48K, added an 810 disk drive, an 850 interface, 300 baud modem, dot matrix printer, and a 3rd party full stroke keyboard. By the time I was done, it was the equivalent of an Atari 800 system with a slightly inferior keyboard and without the superfluous 2nd cartridge port.
Atari was so far ahead of the times people didn't appreciate it, everything we enjoy today is a result of Atari
Well this is just the type of channel I love! Subscribed!
My first pc I used in grade 3 was the Atari 400. I loved it
Yeah I defiently wouldn't want to write a thesis on that keyboard
My elementary school had a 400. Easy to remember by that "keyboard." So i think it was the first computer i ever used. I got a commodore 64 at home later on.
My first computer was the Atari 400. The keypad didn't bother me nearly as much as not being able to save my programs. I had to wait months in order to be able to buy a tape cassette which was unreliable at loading your programs. Eventually I bought an 800XL and then later an 135XE.
Great look at a forgotten system. I think when looking at pricing there is something to consider. Apple, Atari, and TI all priced these systems like a new pharmaceutical. There was an assumed sell through number that would represent the break even point for the manufacturer. The computer manufacturers wanted to recover the system R&D costs with the intial sales. Software R&D was also high, so even with high margins, that could not make up for a low margin base machine. The TI99 was released in 1979 for $1150. It wasn't until the machine got discounted to below $100 that TI claimed the production cost exceeded the selling price. Commodore, and Compaq broke those molds and put heavy pressure on, and eventually killed the TI99 and the Atari lineup.
Sorry, but Compaq had zero to do with putting TI off the home computer business. That was Commodore alone and only on price. The Atari line up was not killed by Compaq or Commodore although they dealt heavy damage. The Commodore again by selling cheap trash and undercutting Atari's pricing until Jack Tramiel put the final nail in the coffin by buying Atari and continuing to sell cheap trash (the ST line). Compaq's contribution to putting Atari out of business was only that it was yet another IBM clone and eventually they put all the 8-bit computers in the dust bin of history, including Commodore's. The Atari 8-bits lasted into the 90's and the Commodore 8-bits only a year or two longer. Oh yeah, I still have my original 400, and based on the comments, this was hardly a forgotten system. It got me into software and hardware design.
You can expand the memory to 32k or 48k, it will therefore run one of the most amazing 8bit games of all time, Rescue on Fractalus. Not bad for a 1979 purchased budget computer with average of 8k.
Ah… my first computer at the age of 15. I received it as a Christmas gift in 1980. By that time Atari was already selling it with 16kB. And yes my parents bought into the hype/dream of getting their kid into computers. It worked big time as I made a career of it. But for the first year all I did was play games and type in programs from magazines. That slowly changed and I started to design and program software. That meant that the membrane keyboard had to go and I purchased a real keyboard to replace it. It had ugly purple/pink keys and stood up an extra inch but it worked very well.
BTW, your retrospective is spot on.
I remember seeing the release of the VIC-20, the TI99/4A, the Tandy Color Computer, and the ZX81/Timex 1000 and thinking why would anyone buy these inferior computers. I did lust for an 800 but I made due with my ugly 400. The Apple II got my attention when I first saw Lode Runner being played in the fall of 1982. And the C64 seemed so crude and not any better than the Atari computers of the time. It took a few years for the C64 software to really show its capabilities and by that time I had already moved on to 16-bit computers. So, from my perspective, the Atari 8-bit systems were the best 8-bit home computers available in North America.
The 400 that I bought my son in 1980 was a super video game computer, it was fast. My wife loved playing Pac man. She racked up points like crazy.
My first computer when I was 16. Learned programming on it
.. BASIC and later Assembly language for high speed animation in games. I was literally obsessed. Things I learned on that computer.. I still use today as a software engineer. I still have my 400. Thanks Nolan Bushnell!
👍 And Jay Miner, who created the custom chips for the 400/800 and later for what became the Commodore Amiga
I had a 400 would stay up late programming,the keyboard was excellent 👌
Who was superior? Atari 8 bit or the C64? The C64 had a better sound chip and low price. Everything else goes to the Atari. Power is a combination of processor and speed. Atari was 79% faster! Had easier peripheral hook up and could self boot.Graphics had better detail. (Not limited to a few colors per 8x8 block)
It was my first computer that I bought at the Wiz in the Bronx and boy was I in heaven. I later bought the 800xl and then moved on to IBM pc's. I learned 6502 basic and some assembly on it but god did I HATE the keyboard.
When I was a kid I used to see these on display at Sears. I wanted one soo bad but they were ridiculously expensive.
I loved mine!
Originally I started with the CTIA chip based ATARI 800 (before the 800 was fitted with the GTIA graphics chip). Later I sold that and got the GTIA chipped ATARI 800. I didn't care for the membrane style keyboard of the ATARI 400.
I have an Atari 400 with the original CTIA graphics chip. This was rare since after GTIA was developed all Atari Computers Used that and they would upgrade your CTIA chip to GTIA for free.
So I was lucky enough to find an original 400 with the CTIA, and there are one or two games that used the different graphics modes to simulate color that the GTIA can't reproduce.
In 1979 I was 8 and loved this machine writing my first graphics games like Castle and made me find every book on BASIC everywhere. Loved the cartridge and 8k memory along with cassette deck app saves (wow that was buggy) - Atari 400 was best path forwards for humanity on prices - it was the computer maybe first a family could afford since 1977 Atari 2600. If you were an electrical engineer at the time you probably had an EPROM rw capability and were building your TRS computer from parts and then this 1M unit win comes along.. Thx for trip down computing lane!
Excellent video. I do disagree with the statement that home computers were a sideshow for Atari...I actually feel it was the other way around. It was game consoles that clearly became the sideshow/afterthought to me. A lot of people nowadays don't realize that back in the 70's, it was often just one or two genius "wizards" (like Woz) who really held everything together. In Atari's case, we know it was Jay Miner, but I'm sure there were several others. My point is, companies back then didn't always have the luxury to split up development teams (and therefore split their corporate focus) while still maintaining a quality product lineup. The result for Atari is clear as day imo...Atari moved all their top talent to the computer side of the house (likely somewhere around 1978, no doubt as a result of management envying the Apple ]['s profit margins) and (apparently) they let the all the C- students run the game console side of the house. How else does one explain the sheer magnificence of 1979's 400/800 line while the "pride and joy" 5200 console of 82 was plagued with very poor decisions all throughout its understandably short life? I simply refuse to believe that Atari engineers suddenly became incompetent and didn't know that the 5200 controllers had to be better than the dog poop they released AND that they would need to be properly tested for durability. I also refuse to believe that Atari's engineers weren't astute enough to know that the 1982 consumer, who had most likely just spent a small fortune on their 2600 game library, wouldn't expect some kind of backwards compatiblility solution to be available on day one. I am SURE many people at Atari knew that. Nostalgia aside (and I have plenty of it) the 5200 was a complete mess, and while the 7800 gets a pass due to the ownership turmoil around 1984, I personally give it no such pass either, especially not with the criminal inclusion of the 2600's sound chip and those obsolete joystiks. (Sorry, even though I own, and love, my own 7800, I don't sugar coat History! lol). Now, the XEGS, sure, was a clever(?) recycling idea, but it was also a very, very sad exercise to witness, as the damage of splitting the company in two back in 78 had already been completely baked into Atari by 86, and the IBM PC clones were tee-ing up to obliterate their (magnificent) 800/ST aspirations anyway. Thanks for another great, informative video.
My first-ever computer! Well, actually, I had a Sinclair (the first white one), but it was total shit. The Atari 400 was amazing, and I taught myself BASIC and also 6502 assembler. Although I got a disk drive later, I had a casette drive at first. This meant loading programs from audio cassette which took 4-10 minutes, ugh!
Hi ! I would rate aesthetic 6/5. I own one myself. This weird membrane keyboard, combined with the star-wars-cruiser design, is a head turner in an office !
I feel sorry for the people who invested in the 800. All they really got for their extra money was a better keyboard. (Yes, the 400's keyboard was naff all right, but it was well worth putting up with for the sake of saving £300.) Also, some competitors lied about the 400's capabilities: I remember one ad comparing systems with the one advertised saying "Atari 400: Memory 8K" (lie - it had recently been expanded to 16K) "Expandable: No" (lie - it had an expansion slot for more memory).
My 1st computer was a 400 with a tape drive bought in 1979. Then went to the 800 with a floppy drive. Then the 1030 XE. Then the 1040 ST. Then lastly the Lynx. Used the ST until Atari basically went out of the computer business and there were no more updates and the software stopped being developed.
Then had to go to (what were then called IBM compatibles) using MSDOS and then windoze. Windoze was in no way equal to the GUI that Atari (or Apple or Commodore) had developed by then. The only reason we didn't go Apple was the price. Used them until I just couldn't stand using 2nd rate computers and OS, got rid of all of it and went to Apple. Now I couldn't imagine using any other computers in the future.
The 400 was used a lot in businesses completely owing to the membrane keyboard. In a business it worked very well as it kept the internals cleaner and accidents could be wiped away.
"This thing looks a lot more strange." It looked cooler too, when I was twelve, but that 400 keyboard would have sucked to use for more than a very short time.
I don't recall my Commodore 64 having comparatively more armour than most battleships. Did the FCC ruling change later, or did Commodore find a different way around the problem?
Bought an Atari 400 with money I got from the sale of a TRS-80 Model 1. I was about 15 at the time and beyond excited when I called the shop I'd ordered it from to find out they had finally got one in stock.. I came off the phone and err... jumped through a doorway bashing my head on the frame and knocked myself out..
Thankfully I survived to play Star Raiders non stop to Star Commander Class 1 level. Absolutely loved the way the machine looked although the keyboard was pretty horrible to type on.
i have a 400 myself, i found it a little beat up, missing the connecting cable (male plug, single prong), i put one on it, i have no power adapter. what adapter do i need, and what do i do to get it to work or test it to see if it works?
I found a power supply that works well on Amazon . It's called a "Line 6 PX-2 Power Supply" . It's made for a guitar pedal , but the plug is correct and the cord is quite long . It's rated near the minimum to power the Atari 400 but doesn't even get warm when playing games so I think it's perfect . They make cheaper generic versions of this power supply down to like $12 ones , I can't vouch for them though .
Not sure if you know or not , but the video cable on the Atari 400 is RF so you have to use an RCA to coaxial adapter and you plug that into the antennae input on the TV . A lot of younger people try plugging that directly into the digital video in and it doesn't work at all .
@@bryanobrien2726 thank you, and i have a 2600 myself, so i already figured out the antennae thing, just needed a power cord
i find the look cooler... I used the keyboard, and like it or hate it, I have forgotten what my opinion was, I just look back with overwhelming nostalgia and love for this machine. I managed to get 2 of these last year, one was in perfect shape with a ram upgrade, and the other was a little "used" looking let's say... Funny thing you guys, The used one looks more like mine and gives me the "feels" than the clean pristine one... I absolutely can't believe my dad got this for us... What a home run pop. Love love love this machine and the history of not just playing games, but programming on it..And a lil hacking type stuff... type "poke 510,kill" and return then press reset, then do it again, then move the cursor over the letters at the top and press enter.. it sometimes opens up a graphic that made me imagine tron... Watching the computer work.. So cool... I'm not so "critical" of the design, I'm alway more interested in uniqueness.. Music is sometimes boring when it sounds like every other song.. Ya know? So the 400 was and is cooler, but that's just my opinion.. :) Cheers you guys, What memories do you have floatin around in your head when you were a kid?
I learned Logo on an Atari 400 at school. The keyboard was garbage but for six-year-old fingers that could only mash one key at a time it was fine.
Man i really got to have the atari 400 along with both sega and nintendo games for it because it’s an fucking AWESOME system,it’s an absolute must have for both atari,sega and nintendo fans,not even the most beautyful girls could ever roll a dice against it,every atari fan should own one,whether it’s the 400,800,600XL or the XE,it’s gonna be rock hard and rock & roll just to possess 1 of those cool systems😁
I got my atari 400 G model wich does have the 16KB ram upgrade preinstalled as well as containing GTIA chip and i am happy with it,the keyboard just feels more like a virtual keyboard like we use on our smartphone,but it just feels strange as you don’t get any (supposedly) sound feedback and you can’t see both the display and keyboard atonce,it’s on or the other,that would,ve be otherwise more helpful to get more used with it.
My dad brought the atari 400 for us all to use i would of been about 4 - 5 years old so can vouch that it was robust, dropped off the table a few times brawling with me elder brother. Loved it at the time. Upgraded to an atari 800xl some years later. Didn't know at the time but must of been a wedge for my dad to afford at the time. Was happy to find my dads strip poke game though.
Great job. I remember seeing the 400 in JC Pennies catalog. I was mesmerized at the time.
My first computer was a Sinclair ZX81. My experience with their membrane keyboard meant I had to get the 800! Pulled it out a year ago and it still works like it did in 1982.
I had one. Geez the keyboard sucked.
But the gameplay on some of the games was absolutely AMAZINGGGGGG. I spent years of my life playing Joust.
I remember having to take mine apart to "fix" that "innovative" keyboard !!! Ugh
I just bought an Atari 400 from eBay for $31.00 plus shipping and tax ($61.14 total). Whether I bought a factory-spec system or one of its later upgraded (factory or user) systems is to be determined...
Ahhh memories. worked at Venture stores when they came out competeing with TI and Commodore. I was a sight and sound mgr and they gave each S&S mgr a 400 for free so we would get comfortable with it and sell it over the others. Back then no one knew computers and I remember trying to write a program that came with it were a train would travel across the screen going faster and faster and getting louder and louder but when I wrote the program all it did was go a little ways and then crash straight down to the bottom off the page, lol. After so many trys I just got frustrated and put it away and my wife sold it in a garage sale years later brand new.
grew up playing Atari and Atari 400, I remember being annoyed we had the 400 LOL!
I had a 400 with 1010 cassette drive. Upgraded the RAM to 48K, got disk drives at hamfests and eventually an 850 serial interface.
your goal was to get a computer, the 800 was shockingly expensive. if you were an atari person this was the only choice.
I bought a 400 but only kept it for a week...hated the keyboard so I saved a little extra money and got an 800xl. Was much happier with it
I had an Atari 800 the games were amazing, years ahead of CBM 64 etc,
ATARI COMPUTERS AND GAMES WERE SELLING WORLDWIDE WITH BACKORDERS ALL OVER THE WORLD!!!!
I had an 800 48K and never used the Right Cartridge. What was it used for? Did it ever get used?
I remember having this back in 85ish. I had Pacman and Basketball.
I got one of these after I had been using my Atari 800 for a few years. I mostly used it as a kiosk to run programs and graphics demos I built on the 800. That membrane keyboard worked, but you had to press just a bit harder than I wanted to to use it. It was my secondary computer and I was working out how to set it up in my car somehow, maybe with the screen as a heads-up projection on the windshield.
Are the Atari 400 cartridges compatible with the Atari 2600?
I had the ATARI 400. My first computer. WOW was that tough to type on haha
I didn’t have a 400. But visually at least, it does have some charm.
I loved my VIC-20, but getting 400 later, it was way better.
I'm a software engineer. My first programming experience was on the Atari 400 at the age of 5.
400 ahead of its time
C64 was crap compared to a 400
Best 8-bit computer made during the 80s hands down.
As soon as I saw the keyboard, I knew I wouldn't have liked it.
I LOVED mine. Was the coolest kid on the block because I had the take deck too, lol.
I had the Atari 800. I had friends with a 400, though.
256 colors! Not 128
Or was that pal?
That keyboard… so many nightmares.
I feel bad for the 400 in this video, mine is in mint condition
started with the 400 and yes, i hated the keyboard
My first computer. Loved it!
Just pick one up yesterday with 10 games
first class again my friend. all the best !
Mine had 16k as standard brand new here in the UK.
forgot sinclair?
Same chipset as an atari 5200 right?
Star Raiders was awesome.
I remember playing Pacman, Galaxian, Defender, Star Raiders, Shamus, and many others back in '82. It was so much fun. This was awesome for a 9 year old. My uncle bought it and kept it at my Grandmother's house. I loved playing it. I got a 600xl a couple of years later. I picked up a boxed glitching one for $5 in 2008.
You left out CTIA and GTIA upgrade since you are discussing 'Launch' systems.
Man...this brings back memories. My Grandpa dabbled in Computer Sales when I was young, and he went all out trying to expose me to the computer scene. After initially being gifted a new 800XL and a 410 Cassette Drive, my collection grew to include a pair of 1050 Floppy Drives, paddles, aftermarket joysticks and a load of games. Fort Apocalypse and Star Raiders were among the favorites, as were Temple of Apshai and F15 Strike Eagle.
Later, I inherited my Grandpa's earlier model, the 400. He included the replacement keyboard (which was a massive upgrade btw).
Oldest peice of tech I have of his is an old laptop, monocolor LCD screen, Bondwell B310 Slimline. Still works, although the battery won't hold a charge.
I needed a machine to write some geophysical software on in 6502 assembly language and so bought an Atari 400 in 1982. The fact that it was an excellent gaming machine was a bonus :-) I still have mine, along with all the game cartridges etc. Very nice machine.
My first exposure to what I call "Atari 8-Bit" is the 600XL, and I loved it, even if it was faulty. I was able to get an 800XL further down the line, and that was my best computing time of the 1980s!