Never owned or used any Atari stuff but some of these games and the demo in particular is amazing! It's amazing what the demo scene manages to get out of 8 bit computers. The demo that is shown here and some of the stuff I have seen on the C64 would have blown me away even on an Amiga back in the day.
Same. I also always considered Atari 8-bit being closer to Amiga than to c64. And of course there are reasons for that. Like both Atari 800 and Amiga being designed by the same people.🙂
Looks like Atari gear is coming along now. I might have to get my 800Xl out of the garage which would be the last machine I retrieve from the storage and finally bring into the house after being out there for 20 years.
Candy (400) and Colleen (800) were the development code names for the two computers and were supposed to have been two attractive secretaries at Atari headquarters. I don't now if this is true, but I read this a number of times in magazine articles about the development of the computers. I have this image in my head of two elderly women sitting around crocheting a "Ready" prompt onto a blue background.
The XL/XE series had to have you use a "Translator" disk loaded to emulate the original 800, choosing "Colleen" (the code name) means you'll be able to run software which depended on the old BIOS. You're also getting the benefit of an R:Time-8 cartridge, keeping the clock, as the Atari had none, so no timestamps on files! :O SpartaDOS X was a third party product which was pretty much essential for those who had hard disk drives for their 800, it had subdirectories and a command line, which was alien to a kid who'd spent a year on floppies with only files. 😻
@ms mad lemon - since you have 4 joystick ports, I highly recommend M.U.L.E. Best open world rpg: Mercenary, Escape from Targ Fun single player games: Jumpman, Pitfall II, Miner 2049er, Mr. Robot, Realm of Impossibility/Zombies!, Racing Destruction Set, Pinball Construction Set Best educational game: Rocky's Boots
I still remember a music stereo demo with the melody coming out of the TV and the singer's part played back from the keyboard's loudspeaker, cos it's fully programmable too. 🍺😂
This makes Incog look nice and tempting. I like how you did the light through the grille and left the faux button (power light) as is. You are smart and intuitive with the computer's use! Things like disabling the loader to get the cart working. I personally don't recommend installing Incognito because it's difficult the install does some permanent damage to the machine. Nevertheless this is an excellent video showcasing the result. You did great. For those wondering, best to have an expert install it. Alternatively an XL or XE machine is easy to bring out when desired. A U1MB install doesn't damage an XL or XE and is very similar to an Incognito. Yes e-type looks frustrating. =) Galaxing looks like it's using artifacting so requires composite video. You show a great selection of games here. Yes Atari Blast! has perhaps the best graphics for the A8's. 20:13 Yes the internal speaker has a creature living in there that bites hands and fingers that get too close. Yes Star Raiders is an 8K ROM because originally the 800 was only supposed to have 8K, thus the name '800'.
I started with the spectrum but moved onto the Atari 800xl. Since that day I've been an Atarian. I have most of the Atari machines way before they became collectors items. I would never mod my Atari. However I love watching other people mod theirs. I never had a C64, but now have the C64 Maxi as the games are very similar.
Fairlight - Actually, that titlescreen music is from Spell of Dstruction/Wizardry. The in-game tune is from Fairlight. Star Raiders - This uses a bunch of keys on the keyboard to control various things. You really need the manual. Luckily, you can find it online at Atarimania.com in the XE/XL Games section. Quite a few other manuals as well there. If you don't already have it, check out Ridiculous Reality. It's a neat little puzzle game from 2012, where you have to move screens around like a sliding tile puzzle to get your little guy to all the keys and then the exit door.
Hi Maddie. Really cool! I still have an Atari 800XE like new in the box. Haven't really been playing with it (yet). But this video makes it much more attractive :) I was just wondering.. Does the cheat code for Manic Miner also work on the Atari version? (6031769). Enter the cheat code when playing, and it should put a foot in front of your lives. That would allow you to hold the 5 key and chose levels using the 1-4 keys as combinations. It's really cool! It DOES at least work on the Spectrum...
Looks like some of these games expect to use NTSC artifacting to get extra colours (E-Type, Galaxian), but of course it doesn't work because you're on PAL. It's interesting that they felt the need to do that, I'd have thought the Atari 8 bits already had plenty of colours.
It was usually to do with how the different graphics modes handled the number of colours and the amount of pixels/pixel sizes they could use and the amount of memory each mode used up. Using a higher resolution mode usually resulted in less colours available or more memory used. Artifacting increased the colours available without using up more memory.
You mentioned that it was like an 8-bit Amiga, but it was more that the Amiga was a 16-bit Atari 800. Jay Miner developed the custom chips for both and I think there were others from the Atari design team involved with the Amiga design. The Amiga was originally going to be released by Atari, but they messed up and lost the rights to Commodore.
It's a matter of perspective, to me it feels like an 8bit Amiga because I've known the Amiga all my life before I even knew the Atari 8bit. Of course it goes without saying that the Atari 8bit came before the Amiga,. And yes I mentioned in previous videos that Jay Miner created the custom chips for both, which is why both the Amiga and Atari 8-bit remind me of one another. I don't think Atari was interested in the Amiga itself as a whole, just the custom hardware behind it, I think their plans were to release another computer line from it. For this, Atari offered the Amiga team very little for the Amiga's custom hardware, where as Commodore took the Amiga itself as a whole, on board.
Coming back to this because I haven't finished mods to plug in the Incognito yet :D Now remembering that you also tried to push that power light because it looks like a button... You said that happened when it first arrived, but surely you didn't get an Atari 800 when they were new. Right? Cuz I realized back in the 70's there would have never been a power swith actually on top, usually in the back, and probably a rocker switch. So I realized they likely would not expected that to be power. I still wondered what it was though, as I was inquisitive in my youth and tried to press anything that might do something. I couldn't afford an 800 but a friend had Atari 2600 (which I thought almost every game was pitiful compared to the 8-bit line). Then I saw the "cheap" Atari 400 with membrane keys when visiting my rich uncle in California, so I'm not sure what I would have thought since my first computer was Atari 800XL, so much cheaper build but slightly more capable and the furniture store was going out of business so it was 40 bucks.
This incognito, is this a flashcart for the Atari 8 bit computer line? Also are there bios and roms already pre-installed or do you have to go to the incognito website and download firmware similar to the krikzz everdrive flashcarts in order to get this to work? In other words, would this be difficult for a newbie to set this up? Or fairly easy?
Atari developed the 400 and 800 with internal codenames "Candy" and "Colleen". So pre-XL machines are known as "Colleen" to distinguish them from the (slightly) different XL design. I've never seen any explaination of the names, perhaps they were the names of children of the developers?
Found this on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family *Development* Management identified two sweet spots for the new computers: a low-end version known internally as "Candy", and a higher-end machine known as "Colleen" (named after two Atari secretaries).[15] Atari would market Colleen as a computer and Candy as a game machine or hybrid game console. Colleen included user-accessible expansion slots for RAM and ROM, two 8 KB ROM cartridge slots, RF and monitor output (including two pins for separate luma and chroma, allowing a complete S-Video output) and a full keyboard. Candy was initially designed as a game console, lacking a keyboard and input/output ports, although an external keyboard was planned that could be plugged into joystick ports 3 and 4. At the time, plans called for both to have a separate audio port supporting cassette tapes as a storage medium.[16] A goal for the new systems was user-friendliness. One executive stated, "Does the end user care about the architecture of the machine? The answer is no. 'What will it do for me?' That's his major concern. ... why try to scare the consumer off by making it so he or she has to have a double E or be a computer programmer to utilize the full capabilities of a personal computer?" Cartridges would for example, Atari believed, make the computers easier to use.[17] To minimize handling of bare circuit boards or chips, as was common with other systems of that period, the computers were designed with enclosed modules for memory, ROM cartridges, with keyed connectors to prevent them being plugged into the wrong slot. The operating system boots automatically, loading drivers from devices on the serial bus (SIO). The DOS system for managing floppy storage was menu-driven. When no software is loaded, rather than leaving the user at a blank screen or machine language monitor, the OS goes to the "Memo Pad" mode allowing the user to type using the built-in full-screen editor.[13] As the design process for the new machines continued, there were questions about what the Candy should be. There was a running argument about whether the keyboard would be external or built in.[18] By the summer of 1978, education had become a focus for the new systems. While the Colleen design was largely complete by May 1978, it was not until early 1979 that the decision was made that Candy would also be a complete computer, but one intended for children. As such, it would feature a new keyboard designed to be resistant to liquid spills.[19] Atari intended to port Microsoft BASIC to the machine as an 8 KB ROM cartridge. However, the existing 6502 version from Microsoft was around 7,900 bytes, leaving no room for extensions for graphics and sound. The company contracted with local consulting firm Shepardson Microsystems to complete the port. They recommended writing a new version from scratch, resulting in Atari BASIC.[20]
Coleen was a code name used during development of the model 800 and Candy was for the model 400 . The names were secretary's who worked at Atari, at the time...
I do not understand how IBM was able to over take the Atari , 2500$ vs 1000$ , ST was the first computer to ever pass the 1000$ 1MB ram price point. The 800 was 1000$ vs 3500$ But i guess software as the mom and dad would use IBM at work so they wanted the same software at home. You think 123 would have made software for it.
Omg I need this 😸 Omg music bringing back memories Anyone remember spy Vs spy Mountain king Bounty Bob strikes back miner 69er Escape from planet of the robot monsters 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💕
Actually if you used disk, you may not, its the ocean loader music when loading from their tapes, but shhh dont tell anyone else in the comment section ;o))
Hmm you suck at Bomb Jack lol ;) Some instructions, to jump press the jump button, to jump higher push the joystick up and press the jump button, to descend quicker push the joystick down, to hover keep hitting the jump button.
Never owned or used any Atari stuff but some of these games and the demo in particular is amazing! It's amazing what the demo scene manages to get out of 8 bit computers. The demo that is shown here and some of the stuff I have seen on the C64 would have blown me away even on an Amiga back in the day.
Same. I also always considered Atari 8-bit being closer to Amiga than to c64. And of course there are reasons for that. Like both Atari 800 and Amiga being designed by the same people.🙂
Perfect timing was looking for something good to watch
MAN I LOVE THAT SONY! Beautiful seeing all those buttons & knobs.
It's amazing what they can get 8 bit machines to do. Happy Xmas, Maddi and Neelix.
... if I am not wrong:
Colleen is another name for ATARI 800 and
Candy is another name for ATARI 400
they were also the names of some secretaries at Atari at the time.
Looks like Atari gear is coming along now. I might have to get my 800Xl out of the garage which would be the last machine I retrieve from the storage and finally bring into the house after being out there for 20 years.
Oh nice. I have incognitor myself. It is the best upgrade for Atari 800. Fujinet and Incognito, expands Atari 800 nicely.
Candy (400) and Colleen (800) were the development code names for the two computers and were supposed to have been two attractive secretaries at Atari headquarters. I don't now if this is true, but I read this a number of times in magazine articles about the development of the computers. I have this image in my head of two elderly women sitting around crocheting a "Ready" prompt onto a blue background.
Love the bass on that music!
Raise my hat for your beautiful explanation⚘⚘
The XL/XE series had to have you use a "Translator" disk loaded to emulate the original 800, choosing "Colleen" (the code name) means you'll be able to run software which depended on the old BIOS. You're also getting the benefit of an R:Time-8 cartridge, keeping the clock, as the Atari had none, so no timestamps on files! :O SpartaDOS X was a third party product which was pretty much essential for those who had hard disk drives for their 800, it had subdirectories and a command line, which was alien to a kid who'd spent a year on floppies with only files. 😻
@ms mad lemon - since you have 4 joystick ports, I highly recommend M.U.L.E.
Best open world rpg: Mercenary, Escape from Targ
Fun single player games: Jumpman, Pitfall II, Miner 2049er, Mr. Robot, Realm of Impossibility/Zombies!, Racing Destruction Set, Pinball Construction Set
Best educational game: Rocky's Boots
As a hardware person you also will probably like D-BUG.
A fun cerebral game is SCRAM.
I still remember a music stereo demo with the melody coming out of the TV and the singer's part played back from the keyboard's loudspeaker, cos it's fully programmable too.
🍺😂
This makes Incog look nice and tempting. I like how you did the light through the grille and left the faux button (power light) as is. You are smart and intuitive with the computer's use! Things like disabling the loader to get the cart working.
I personally don't recommend installing Incognito because it's difficult the install does some permanent damage to the machine. Nevertheless this is an excellent video showcasing the result. You did great. For those wondering, best to have an expert install it. Alternatively an XL or XE machine is easy to bring out when desired. A U1MB install doesn't damage an XL or XE and is very similar to an Incognito.
Yes e-type looks frustrating. =) Galaxing looks like it's using artifacting so requires composite video. You show a great selection of games here. Yes Atari Blast! has perhaps the best graphics for the A8's.
20:13 Yes the internal speaker has a creature living in there that bites hands and fingers that get too close.
Yes Star Raiders is an 8K ROM because originally the 800 was only supposed to have 8K, thus the name '800'.
This will be accompanying me tomorrow on my dog walk at lunch time
I started with the spectrum but moved onto the Atari 800xl. Since that day I've been an Atarian. I have most of the Atari machines way before they became collectors items. I would never mod my Atari. However I love watching other people mod theirs. I never had a C64, but now have the C64 Maxi as the games are very similar.
Thanks for video, can't wait to receive mine
Oh wow all these modern retro boards should do that colour thing!
Fairlight - Actually, that titlescreen music is from Spell of Dstruction/Wizardry. The in-game tune is from Fairlight.
Star Raiders - This uses a bunch of keys on the keyboard to control various things. You really need the manual. Luckily, you can find it online at Atarimania.com in the XE/XL Games section. Quite a few other manuals as well there.
If you don't already have it, check out Ridiculous Reality. It's a neat little puzzle game from 2012, where you have to move screens around like a sliding tile puzzle to get your little guy to all the keys and then the exit door.
I had zero interest in the Atari 800 until watching this - now I really want one!
Shame they are quite pricey to buy now :(
I'v just bought an 800XL it's a seriously underrated machine.
Sunday treat ! Thanks for the premium entertainment :)
Hi Maddie. Really cool! I still have an Atari 800XE like new in the box. Haven't really been playing with it (yet). But this video makes it much more attractive :) I was just wondering.. Does the cheat code for Manic Miner also work on the Atari version? (6031769). Enter the cheat code when playing, and it should put a foot in front of your lives. That would allow you to hold the 5 key and chose levels using the 1-4 keys as combinations. It's really cool! It DOES at least work on the Spectrum...
Looks like some of these games expect to use NTSC artifacting to get extra colours (E-Type, Galaxian), but of course it doesn't work because you're on PAL. It's interesting that they felt the need to do that, I'd have thought the Atari 8 bits already had plenty of colours.
It was usually to do with how the different graphics modes handled the number of colours and the amount of pixels/pixel sizes they could use and the amount of memory each mode used up. Using a higher resolution mode usually resulted in less colours available or more memory used. Artifacting increased the colours available without using up more memory.
@@MrPGT Interesting... thanks for the info :-).
Well worth the wait. Check out Boogie Nights demo, its on the card. Dual POKEY next?
Dual POKEY definitely has to be done, so at some point, yes!
You mentioned that it was like an 8-bit Amiga, but it was more that the Amiga was a 16-bit Atari 800. Jay Miner developed the custom chips for both and I think there were others from the Atari design team involved with the Amiga design. The Amiga was originally going to be released by Atari, but they messed up and lost the rights to Commodore.
It's a matter of perspective, to me it feels like an 8bit Amiga because I've known the Amiga all my life before I even knew the Atari 8bit.
Of course it goes without saying that the Atari 8bit came before the Amiga,. And yes I mentioned in previous videos that Jay Miner created the custom chips for both, which is why both the Amiga and Atari 8-bit remind me of one another.
I don't think Atari was interested in the Amiga itself as a whole, just the custom hardware behind it, I think their plans were to release another computer line from it. For this, Atari offered the Amiga team very little for the Amiga's custom hardware, where as Commodore took the Amiga itself as a whole, on board.
@@MsMadLemon Yeah, I did watch that, but I'm old and I forget things, lol.
wow, i have been impressed to see waht an 8bit Ataria was able to do. thats awsome hot...
Coming back to this because I haven't finished mods to plug in the Incognito yet :D Now remembering that you also tried to push that power light because it looks like a button... You said that happened when it first arrived, but surely you didn't get an Atari 800 when they were new. Right? Cuz I realized back in the 70's there would have never been a power swith actually on top, usually in the back, and probably a rocker switch.
So I realized they likely would not expected that to be power. I still wondered what it was though, as I was inquisitive in my youth and tried to press anything that might do something. I couldn't afford an 800 but a friend had Atari 2600 (which I thought almost every game was pitiful compared to the 8-bit line). Then I saw the "cheap" Atari 400 with membrane keys when visiting my rich uncle in California, so I'm not sure what I would have thought since my first computer was Atari 800XL, so much cheaper build but slightly more capable and the furniture store was going out of business so it was 40 bucks.
This incognito, is this a flashcart for the Atari 8 bit computer line? Also are there bios and roms already pre-installed or do you have to go to the incognito website and download firmware similar to the krikzz everdrive flashcarts in order to get this to work? In other words, would this be difficult for a newbie to set this up? Or fairly easy?
Looks like this is another case of the superior technology losing out.
Atari developed the 400 and 800 with internal codenames "Candy" and "Colleen". So pre-XL machines are known as "Colleen" to distinguish them from the (slightly) different XL design. I've never seen any explaination of the names, perhaps they were the names of children of the developers?
Found this on Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family
*Development*
Management identified two sweet spots for the new computers: a low-end version known internally as "Candy", and a higher-end machine known as "Colleen" (named after two Atari secretaries).[15] Atari would market Colleen as a computer and Candy as a game machine or hybrid game console. Colleen included user-accessible expansion slots for RAM and ROM, two 8 KB ROM cartridge slots, RF and monitor output (including two pins for separate luma and chroma, allowing a complete S-Video output) and a full keyboard. Candy was initially designed as a game console, lacking a keyboard and input/output ports, although an external keyboard was planned that could be plugged into joystick ports 3 and 4. At the time, plans called for both to have a separate audio port supporting cassette tapes as a storage medium.[16]
A goal for the new systems was user-friendliness. One executive stated, "Does the end user care about the architecture of the machine? The answer is no. 'What will it do for me?' That's his major concern. ... why try to scare the consumer off by making it so he or she has to have a double E or be a computer programmer to utilize the full capabilities of a personal computer?" Cartridges would for example, Atari believed, make the computers easier to use.[17] To minimize handling of bare circuit boards or chips, as was common with other systems of that period, the computers were designed with enclosed modules for memory, ROM cartridges, with keyed connectors to prevent them being plugged into the wrong slot. The operating system boots automatically, loading drivers from devices on the serial bus (SIO). The DOS system for managing floppy storage was menu-driven. When no software is loaded, rather than leaving the user at a blank screen or machine language monitor, the OS goes to the "Memo Pad" mode allowing the user to type using the built-in full-screen editor.[13]
As the design process for the new machines continued, there were questions about what the Candy should be. There was a running argument about whether the keyboard would be external or built in.[18] By the summer of 1978, education had become a focus for the new systems. While the Colleen design was largely complete by May 1978, it was not until early 1979 that the decision was made that Candy would also be a complete computer, but one intended for children. As such, it would feature a new keyboard designed to be resistant to liquid spills.[19]
Atari intended to port Microsoft BASIC to the machine as an 8 KB ROM cartridge. However, the existing 6502 version from Microsoft was around 7,900 bytes, leaving no room for extensions for graphics and sound. The company contracted with local consulting firm Shepardson Microsystems to complete the port. They recommended writing a new version from scratch, resulting in Atari BASIC.[20]
Coleen was a code name used during development of the model 800 and Candy was for the model 400 . The names were secretary's who worked at Atari, at the time...
Awsome!
I don’t think there were many logical rational design decisions back then. Have you forgotten our conversation on telephone button controllers 🤣🤣😂
Lol this is true, i've not forgotten about those.
My goodness, that first reply I did, i was half asleep!
Amazing Atari music? Try the intro to Necromancer.
You made me laugh at this deatchase 😀👍
If you want to see what the Atari 8 Bit is capable of, check out Project M, it's a Game still in development: ua-cam.com/video/DuZywAxfGkw/v-deo.html
I LOVE black cats....which is probably why I have 2 of them now! Sorry only here for the cat :)
ANTIC glory!
I do not understand how IBM was able to over take the Atari , 2500$ vs 1000$ , ST was the first computer to ever pass the 1000$ 1MB ram price point. The 800 was 1000$ vs 3500$ But i guess software as the mom and dad would use IBM at work so they wanted the same software at home. You think 123 would have made software for it.
They could so by Pentagon.
Good video
Y/C video after R189 replaced with 180 Ohm resistor is better 😉
If only this was available on the 400 as well...
When playing Bombjack push joystick up and press fire to jump higher
Where can I find these demos?
If you do a search for 'Numen' and 'Far Away' Demos for Atari 8bit they should be around, a good place for demos is pouet.net
More Atari 8 bit computer please.
Up late tonight.
Omg I need this 😸
Omg music bringing back memories
Anyone remember
spy Vs spy
Mountain king
Bounty Bob strikes back miner 69er
Escape from planet of the robot monsters 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💕
Got mine and tried playing ally cat and kept getting garbage graphics to find out you cannot have basic enabled 😂
I don’t recognize the track?!
Actually if you used disk, you may not, its the ocean loader music when loading from their tapes, but shhh dont tell anyone else in the comment section ;o))
@@MsMadLemon I actually have both input options & well now the modern Manosoft virtual tape deck & a sd2iec setup..
@@studiokadaver Load Batman the movie from cassette and the loader has this music :o)
You have a nice accent ....are you an Arab?
Thank you, yes I am originally
@@MsMadLemon I love all your videos especially the ones on tape recorders and walkmans.
Hmm you suck at Bomb Jack lol ;) Some instructions, to jump press the jump button, to jump higher push the joystick up and press the jump button, to descend quicker push the joystick down, to hover keep hitting the jump button.
Lol only this Atari version, on the C64 I got past a few levels, this one is tougher for some reason, I can't hover as easily as in the C64.
Also if you have a joystick with autofire, it's a bit like easy mode ;)
3rd!!!
;) LOL
Lol! What're you like