8 Bit Computers

Atari 400/800 - 1979

Atari became famous for arcade games machines and some of the most famous games of the era. It was no surprise when the Atari computers came along able to play these same games almost as good as in the arcade. They had good graphics, high quality sound and the games could be loaded from cartridge rather than loaded from a cassette tape. They were exceptionally well made and many are still working today. There were many 8 bit Atari computers but they varied mainly in case design. My own collection is limited to the two that started the Atari home computers, the Atari 400 and 800. These were, internally, very similar with a 6502 processor and able to take plug-in cartridges. The 400 was aimed at gaming and came with 16K of memory, space for a single cartridge and a membrane keyboard. Like many, mine has been modified with a proper keyboard reflecting the fact that many 400s were bought as general purpose computers and were chosen simply because they were cheaper than the 800. The 800 came with a proper keyboard and two cartridge slots so you could leave the BASIC cartridge in one and load a game in the other. The 800 came with 48K of memory though the initial ones came with as little as 8K, presumably to keep the initial price down as, at £400, it was already very expensive.

The 400 and 800 were replaced by the 1200XL (big, shiny case), the 600XL and 800XL (small shiny case) then the XE series (large pale grey case). Memory increased as did graphics and sound capabilities.