10 Amazing Atari 400/800 Facts

Runner [Music] the word legacy is perhaps thrown around far too much in the world of computing but when it comes to atari's 8-bit range it couldn't be more relevant fresh from designing the best-selling 2600 VCS atari's Engineers set to work on the follow-up a powerful home computer that was equally Adept at playing games this might seem normal today but back then computers really weren't seen as games machines starting with the release of the Atari 400 and 800 in 1979 and continuing on with the XL and XC models the Atari a bit series as it will become known was the very first home computer to feature custom graphics and sound chips fact it's designed but very much become the template that all home microbes would follow those initial models sold over 2 million units a big chunk of the 5 million plus sales across the entire range and are as iconic as they are revolutionary so I thought it might be nice to make an amazing facts video looking at those original Atari 8-bit computers in particular and it seems that you guys agreed as the 400 and 800 just about saw off the challenge of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128k to win the viewer poll on my community tab if you want to influence the videos that I make on this channel then be sure to get involved in future polls but right now it's time to get on with the show give my lovely audience what they asked for as I proudly present 10 amazing Atari 400 800 facts brings the computer age home okay Ma what's the capital of Nebraska Atari home computers can teach you or reach you with important information anytime day or night I already checked the computer the Bears lost [Music] in fact there's no end to your possibilities with Atari home computers they're easy to use and afford but best of all they just might be the wisest investment you'll ever make hey Mom what's the capital of Delaware Dover I told you she's smart Atari home computers we brought the computer home it's always much rumored computer range was finally announced in December 1978 it was revealed that there would be two different models called the Atari 400 and Atari 800 which would be based on the exact same technology the names referred to the amount of memory included in each model 4K of RAM and the base 400 and 8K in the premium prized 800. however by the time the two computers actually shipped nearly a year later in November 1979 RAM prices had fallen so much that Atari ended up including 8K in both machines with room for both to be expanded with prices continuing to fall Atari soon upgraded the memory of the 800 to the 448k by filling all its internal expansion slots this ended up making a bit of a mockery of the names as they no longer correlated to anything inside the actual computer despite the bigger memory and better keyboard of the premium model the 400 actually proved to be the far more successful machine out setting its sibling by two to one mainly down to the high price of the 800 their Source software companies largely targeting the hello end machine meaning the 800s extra cartridge Port A Memory was rarely used many people remember Atari if the hugely popular 2600 VCS console but the development of their first home computer started before the iconic wood grain system even hit the shelves when atari's Grass Valley Research Center were designing the 2600 in 1976 they felt that the system would only have a commercial life of about three years so we're already thinking about a successor the new design would retain many of the features of the 2600 would be far less limited and contain Advanced graphics and sound chips along with much more memory this new system was scheduled for a 1979 release an Atari management had identified two gaps in the market they wanted to fill a low end machine aimed primarily at Gamers that would essentially replace the 2600 and a high-end offering that would take the form of a powerful home computer these machines were nicknamed Colleen and Candy after two Atari secretaries and would be compatible with each other despite having their own unique features however by the time the new machines are ready to be announced in 1978 it was clear that the 2600 VCS had plenty of life left in it and atari's pair and Company Warner Brothers didn't want to jeopardize this so the decision was taken to turn Colleen now known as the Atari 400 into a lower priced base model computer by adding a full membrane keyboard much like the one later found on Sinclair's mx81 making it ideal for younger kids who would much rather play games as it could just be wiped clean the decision turned out to be a pretty good one although the idea of turning this technology into a console wasn't completely forgotten as the Atari 5200 super system later showed most revolutionary feature of the Atari 400 and 800 were undoubtedly their custom chips the offered potential users unparalleled power when it came to both graphics and sound first of these new Chips would be called the CTR an evolution of the television interface adapter from the 2600 with the c standing for color it would sit alongside antic alphanumeric television interface controller which was there to generate conventional bitmap Graphics in several different modes with variations in color support and resolution like the tier chip in the 2600 the new seat here was there to generate Sprites which Atari themselves called player missile Graphics but had been expanded to also provide the color for antics play Fields hence the sea the idea was that seat here and antique would work in unison to provide RK quality visuals the seat here was replaced two years later by the GTR with the G standard for graphics the added extra color abilities to the machine this was actually the original design but the chip revision was delayed so much that Atari had no choice but to ship with CTR third custom chip to make up the design was the famous Pokey tensiometer and keyboard this would be responsible for reading the keys controllers and serial Communications as well as providing four Channel sound amongst several other functions this chip was designed by none other than Doug noibauer who is most famous for coding the system's first ever killer app in Star Raiders Pokey had a very distinctive sound with its added versatility it became a Mainstay of atari's arcade machines throughout the early 80s oh another huge Innovation found in the atariabi computers as they eventually became known was the sio which stood for serial input output sio provided a daisy chainable system that allowed multiple Auto configuring devices to connect to the computer through a single connector each peripheral would have its own built-in drivers with atari's own Disk Operating System built into the ROM to handle disk drives Atari dos was menu driven another Innovation for the time making it very easy to use this was not only the first time somebody had created an expansion slot that could be used in this way it was also the first time a company had developed a standardized system that every third-party producer of peripherals would have to use this did mean that Atari computer add-ons were often more expensive than their counterparts for other computers the advantages of this system definitely meant the extra cost was worth it for instance let's just compare the speed of loading disks on the Atari computers to some other Home microbes of the era particularly the Commodore 64. itari sio was of course the true predecessor to today's USB format and was credited as such by the developers although the man who came up with a full match a minor passed away in 1994 one of his right-hand men in Jody cure went on to help Advance the development of both USB and later on Bluetooth and has been recognized for all these achievements in this field although these new machines were selling well the price point proved to be a stumbling block for Atari when compared to its Rivals both computers were expensive to make and Atari soon realized that they needed to come up with a cheaper solution especially with the Advent of new low cost facility specs machines but the Commodore 64 MSX and in Europe the Sinclair ZX Spectrum atari's eventual answer to this problem after several different ideas was the 1200 XL a 64k computer with a new ROM that included a self-test new function case and new connectors that saw the cartridge Port moved to the side of the machine initially seemed like a perfect replacement for the more serious Atari 800 even if it offered no solution to the lower end of the market that the Atari 400 had tried to compete in however the changes to the operating system meant that the 1200 XL suffered from a multitude of compatibility problems that saw it widely criticized by the Computing press of the era consumers were equally unimpressed and continued to buy the previous incarnations of the A8 instead the machine was withdrawn in June 1983 without ever setting Photon European soil but Atari did see hope in the Excel idea and decided to redesign it again in order to better satisfy the needs of the public he also needed to come up with something quickly as the market was being taken over by Commodore and their price war with Texas Instruments Atari didn't lick their wounds for too long over the year advised 1200 XL and at the 1983 summer CES they announced four new versions of the Excel range each of these would fill a different Gap in the market from a budget offering to a high and business orientating machine the 600 XL would be the base machine and featured a compact design alongside 16k of memory next up is the 800 XL which used a deeper version of the 600 case and at a full 64k of RAM this would prove to be the big seller for Atari and Remains the best-selling product in the entire range after the 600 XL and 800xl hit the market they would be followed by the 1400 XL and 1450 XL which would both add a built-in 300board modem plus a voice synthesizer with the 1450 xld and a built-in double-sided floppy disk drive these were shown in Prototype form but never entered full production further machines were also planned called the 1600 XL 1650 xld and 1850 xld that added even more features including dual processor architecture all of these new excels were canceled when James Morgan became the new CEO of Atari and wanted the company to return to his video game roots when Atari launched the Atari 8-bit family in 1979 the company kept most of the hardware detail secret this was because they intended to be the primary supplier of software for the platform as had been the case with the 2600 console though this initially annoyed many home hobbyists it didn't put them off completely as they endeavored to discover all the computer Secrets it became a worthy challenge more than anything else for these people and by the end of the Atari computer's first year on the market increasingly sophisticated software from outside of Atari was started to become available but there were a limited number of distribution channels at this time and getting software widely distributed was incredibly difficult not to mention very expensive so Atari employee Dale Yocum who had been watching the market very closely approached his bosses with the idea of setting up their own third-party publishing arm with atari's distribution capabilities the products would be seen by many more prospective customers and at the same time a tire would make money on every sale profits that would otherwise be lost they loved the idea and the Atari program exchange or apx for sure was born Atari included warranty cards with every computer and everyone who sent them back and registered their new home micro was sent an apx catalog in return this would list the latest apx products which were initially made up of programs developed internally and encourage people to send in their own Creations for appraisal with the promise of financial reward this scene turned into a very successful Venture for the company and some of the titles were so good that Atari purchased them outright and published them on disk and cartridge and notable examples of this include caverns of Mars Eastern front and dandy foreign big feature that separates the Atari 400 and 800 from the XL and XE machines that followed is the addition of four joystick ports which was paired down to two on all successive computers this has long been above bare of Atari computer owners who consider this decision the only backward step in the design Evolution when you look at the way the four player feature was used in games it's hard not to agree most famous example is undoubtedly mule which benefits greatly from the addition of two extra players but other notable titles include Atari basketball Emi soccer roadblock which is basically a conversion of the Tron light cycles game said Myers Floyd of the Jungle asteroids and dandy which was of course the predecessor to gauntlet Stingley the original models of the Atari 5200 console also retained this 4-port feature but like its computer cousin this was also paired down to two for later revisions of the hardware foreign mentioned the names of some of the engineers within the Atari Grass Valley Research Center that developed the video computer system and then the 400 and 800 computers I really think that Jay Miner and his amazingly talented team deserve an entry of their own for a number of different reasons as if the development of these systems wasn't already enough of a legacy this team both with and without minor who sadly passed away due to kidney failure in 1994 after a long period of poor health went on to create the Commodore Amiga Atari Links and 3DO this is an incredibly interesting story in itself of course because after leaving Atari they set up a meager Inc and initially signed an agreement and accepted funding to develop a new console for Atari did of course become the Amiga but the split of Atari in 1984 caused issues for minor and his team as they didn't want to work with Jack tramel and so canceled the contract returned to the funding and signed up with atari's great Rivals Commodore instead then in a strange turn of Fate many of the team moved to epics to develop the handy but when it came to selling the handheld to another company as their picks have run out of money it was turned down by all their preferential buyers including the likes of Sega and Nintendo and they ended up sending it onto Atari who rebranded it as the links of course much the annoyance of many of the engineers who worked on it Jack Trammell ended up screwing epics on the links in a move that put the company into bankruptcy so they were very much proved right in the end after the failure of the 3DO in its own release successor the M2 the team all went their own ways although many of them are still involved in the video game industry in one way or another to this day there are many ways that the Atari 400 and 800 influenced what came after but lots of people forget the Legacy it left when it came to games there's some hugely popular franchises being first released for the groundbreaking Hardware as well as a number of all-time 8-bit classics some of the big name titles to find their first home in the Atari computers include the likes of star Raiders boulder dash spelunka Bruce Lee rescue and fractalus international karate ball Blazer Drop Zone mercenary alternate reality and mule it was these games that very much helped cement the atariate bit as the first home computer was just as Adept at playing games as any console in fact it could be argued it was more powerful in this regard than any of the dedicated games boxes on the market during this era too it's no wonder that Atari computers are so fondly remembered and still so well supported by great games to this very day with an incredibly vibrant Homebrew scene foreign box before being bizarrely and rather confusingly renamed the Atari VCS the new hybrid console released in December 2020 by the Bob natari saw them returned to the hardware market for the first time since the jaguar in 1993. some 27 years earlier some think nobody thought they would ever see although it very much looked like a console the Atari VCS was of course a compact PC capable of performing a wide range of different tasks and streaming games to Everyday Computing with the addition of a keyboard whilst the name of the console itself was a very clear acknowledgment of his oldest ancestor the actual model numbers were very much a nod back to atari's earliest computers shortly before its General release Atari announced that it would be available with either four gigabytes of RAM or 8 gigabytes which would be known as the 400 and 800 respectively this didn't just copy the names of the first two computers but also used the same name reasoning too with the model numbers referencing the available memory as I spoke about earlier in this video I think this is an interesting fact that a lot of people missed when the hype train for the Atari VCS was in full flow and a very nice way for the modern Atari to acknowledge its roots when it comes to home computers the Atari home computer gets high grade I use an Atari at home and I I use it for word processing and to teach myself other programming languages well the graphics are probably some of the best you can find the Atari 800 computer not only allows you to play games it also allows you to learn math and history only one computer lets you enjoy this library of over 2 000 in lightning and entertaining programs Atari home computers the more you learn the more you can program them there's just no end to it and that runs out my look at 10 amazing Atari 400 800 facts which one of these fabulous facts was your favorite or can you think of any tantalizing tidbits or trivia that I didn't include we always love to hear the thoughts and views of my audience so please get typing in that comment section before I go though I must think all of my little patrons who continue to support my channel for make videos like this possible I went from asking special thanks to following patrons and YouTube backers in particular they're much appreciated pledges Grady Haynes the Vaughan Mitchell Valentino Neptune Sethi Robertson Carl Olson dos gamerman Sonic Mania 999 Paul Daniel Andrew McKay retro resolution as Standish James Taylor Aussie b a big guy and electron star collapse if you also want to help support all more creative Endeavors including this YouTube channel and please go check out my patreon right now we can get access photos to content including downloads exclusive videos creative insights and much more besides I've been the lead and thank you for watching and I'll see you all again for another video very soon

Channel: The Laird's Lair

Views: 20,103

Keywords: Atari 8-bit, Atari 400, Atari 800, 8-bit, Atari XL, Atari XE, XEGS, Home Micro, Home Computer, Warner Bros., Commercial, Advert, 600XL, 800XL, Joe Decuir, Jay Miner, Amiga, 1200XL, POKEY, Prototype, Atari DOS, SIO, Atari VCS, Atari Box, Atari 2600, USB, ANTIC, Grass Valley, APX, Dale Yocum, 1979, Jack Tramiel, Asteroids, 1400XL, PC, Star Raiders, Doug Neubauer, Boulder Dash, Breakout, Centipede, Joust, Robotron, Basketball, Soccer, Pitfall, Pac-Man, Pole Position, Facts, Trivia, Fact Hunt, Xevious

Id: k1FysqYmR5I

Length: 20min 30sec (1230 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 05 2022