• Tag Archives Atari 8-bit

  • Antic (December 1985)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    antic_vol_4-08_1985-12_shoppers_guide_page_0001

    Source: Antic – December 1985

    Antic was one of two popular magazines in the U.S. dedicated to the Atari 8-bit line of computers (the other being ANALOG). Antic also had some coverage of the Atari ST at various times. The December 1985 issue includes the following:

    Features

    • Video Star Atari – This article covers software and hardware to digitize images from video cameras or other anaglog sources. The emphasis is on Computereyes though other products are mentioned.
    • Behind the Scenes at Lucasfilm – Antic goes behind the scenes at Lucasfilm Games to, among other things, get previews of The Eidolon and Koronis Rift.
    • DiskIO Plus – A type-in utility program that provides keyboard shortcuts for almost all DOS functions and works with most software.
    • 4th Annual Shoppers Guide – A holiday shopping guide for those interested in Atari hardare and software. Products include the Atari 130XE, Atari 800XL, Atari 520ST, Atari 1050 disk drive, Indus GT disk drive, various printers, the Commodore 1702 monitor, Atari 850 interface module (mostly for printers), Atari 1030 modem, Ballblazer, Rescue on Fractalus, M.U.L.E., Spy vs. Spy, Great Cross Country Road Race, F-15 Strike Eagle, Wiztype, Halley Patrol, Homepak, BBS Construction Set, BASIC XE, Mac/65 Assembler Editor, Paper Clip, and much more.
    • Proburner Review – Antic calls this EPROM burner from Thompson Electronics the best one on the market.
    • Antic Catalog Goes to U.K. – Antic makes the magazine and their catalog of softare available to U.K. users.

    ST Section

    • 1st Annual ST Shoppers Guide – Another holiday shopping guide, this one specific to the Atari ST. Items listed include the Atari CD-ROM drive, SF354 Single-side disk drive, SF314 Double-sided disk drive, the SM124 Monochrome Monitor, the SC1224 RGB Color Monitor, 4xForth Programming Language, Easy-Draw, VIP Professional, Chat (terminal program), A Mind Forever Voyaging, and much more.
    • 4XForth Review – A review of this FORTH programming language implementation for the Atari ST.
    • Introducing 520ST Assembly Language – Primarily this means 68000 assembly language. I never programmed much in assembly but I did do a little 68000 assembly in college.
    • ST Logo Exploration – Logo was the only programming language initially included with the Atari ST. This type-in program and tutorial hepls you to map memory.

    Departments

    • BBS Crashbuster – This type-in program helps to prevent BBS crashes by stripping out non-standard ATASCII characters from input strings. In other words, it prevents users from crashing your BBS with bad input.
    • Build Your Own EPROM Burner – Parts list and instructions for buildin an EPROM burner for $30.
    • Box-In – In this type-in strategy/arcade game, you must move boxes around to trap the monster before he gets you.
    • I/O Board – Letters from readers about Atari 800 problems, BBS lists, Trip Hawkins and Atari, Blue Max and the 130XE, Print Shop, and more.
    • Help – Help with downloading large files with ProTerm, Supra contact info, and a correction for ST Sound, a previous type-in program for the Atari ST.
    • Antic Online – Not on the web but on Compuserve.

    …and more!


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  • Atari 800XL

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Atari 800XL

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/163614659938/monochrome-monitor-atari-800xl

    Atari’s original computer line consisted of the Atari 400 and Atari 800 which were released in 1979. These were initially followed up with the Atari 1200XL in 1983, and then by the Atari 600XL and Atari 800XL in 1984.

    The 1200XL was a bit of an odd duck. It was essentially compatible with the earlier machines being based on the same architecture and using all the same major chips (6502, Pokey, etc.). It’s biggest improvement was probably that it shipped with 64K of RAM whereas the original 800 maxed out at 48K. However, changes to some of the ports and the operating system ROMs caused some incompatibilities and in addition, the 1200XL was a very expensive machine, introduced at $899. It just was not a worthwhile upgrade for Atari 800 owners and there wasn’t much to attract new users to the 1200XL over the older and much cheaper 800.

    The following year, the 600XL and 800XL were produced. These fixed most of the minor incompatibilities of the 1200XL OS, included built-in BASIC (the 1200XL did not) and added the PBI expansion port (particularly useful if you wanted to add serious expansions like a hard disk). The 800XL looked much like the 1200XL except smaller. The 600XL was smaller still and both the 800XL and 600XL removed the function keys of the 1200XL. The 600XL was a direct replacement for the Atari 400 and like that machine only included 16K. Other than less memory and a missing monitor port, it was essentially the same as an 800XL. The 800XL was meant to replace both the Atari 800 and 1200XL. Like the 1200XL it had 64K of memory and it also had a composite monitor port (in Europe, the 600XL had this also). Taken as a whole, the 800XL is arguably the best of the Atari 8-bits.

    The XL line would be replaced with the XE line after only about two years.





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  • Atari 800XL (Computer Direct, 1985)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Ad on page 73 of the Oct 1985 (Issue 65) of Compute! (Vol. 7 No. 10)

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/163640696477/pages-from-the-80s-ad-on-page-73-of-the-oct-1985

    The above ad is from the October 1985 issue of Compute! In 1985, the Atari 130XE had recently been introduced as the successor to the Atari 800XL. Here, it looks like we have Computer Direct trying to unload the rest of their 800XL inventory…

    As I recall, I had pretty good results dealing with Computer Direct back in the day, though it was for Commodore related stuff, not Atari. Their advertising is a little questionable though. I like how they advertise the 800XL as an “88K Computer”. I believe they are just combining the 64K RAM size with the 24K ROM size but that’s a weird way to do things. Bigger numbers make for a better ad I suppose. They do the same with the Atari 130XE in this ad. It’s a “152K System” because of its 128K RAM and 24K ROM.

    Even though the 130XE is newly released, it is the 800XL being pushed in this ad, particularly as a package with a bunch of XL themed peripherals. While XL peripherals were generally compatible with the 130XE, the color scheme changed from browns to greys. They were offering the same deal for $50 more with the 130XE instead of the XL. However, this would have still been with the older peripherals. I’m not sure if the newer XE versions were out at this point. No doubt they were also trying to unload their remaining XL stock before it became too hard to get rid of. Ironically, by this time Atari 8-bit computers weren’t really doing that well. There was very little software support compared to what was available for Commodore and Apple. The XE systems would continue to sell through the early 1990s though.





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