• Tag Archives Atari 8-bit

  • B Key 400 Keyboard (Atari 400)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Compute! – Issue Number 35 – April 1983



    The Atari 400 and Atari 800 were Atari’s first computers. They were similar in capability to the Commodore 64 which came out a little latar. Ultimately, they were not as popular as the Commodore 64 but that was due more to price than capability. Atari’s 8-bit computers were far more expensive than the Commodore 64. By the time they were able to match prices with Commodore, it was really too late.

    Partly because of their expense, there were initially two models of the Atari 8-bit. The Atari 800 and the Atari 400. They were software compatible with each other but there were some subtle and not so subtle differences between the cheaper 400 and the more expensive 800. Other than price, the main differences were less RAM in the Atari 400 and a membrane keyboard. A membrane keyboard is tolerable if you are just going to play games but if you are going to be doing any substantial typing…programming, word processing, whatever…then it is completely impractical.

    One type of upgrade that was common for a while for the Atari 400 were keyboard upgrades. These replaced the membrane keyboard with something closer to a ‘real’ keyboard that could actually be used for touch typing. These upgrades weren’t cheap for the time but I guess an Atari 400 plus keyboard upgrade was cheaper than an Atari 800 and if you already had a 400 anyway, it was substantially cheaper than buying a whole new computer. Even the much cheaper VIC-20 had a real keyboard but I guess the thing to keep in mind is that the Atari 400 was out several years before the VIC-20 and technology was moving fast and prices were falling faster.

    The ad above is for one of several keyboard upgrades available for the Atari 400. This one is called the “B Key 400” and was produced by Inhome Software. This appears to have been a company based in Canada and the ad also mentions memory upgrades for the Atari 400. The ad itself is from the April 1983 issue of Compute!. Later in 1983 the Atari 800XL (replacement for the Atari 800) and Atari 600XL (replacement for the Atari 400) would be released, both with real keyboards and at lower price points so such upgrades were probably not practical for very long after this.

    I owned both an Atari 800 and Atari 400 briefly in the late 1990s. My Atari 400 just had the original membrane keyboard so I don’t know how good these replacements really were. Like most things, I imagine some were better than others.


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  • ANALOG Computing (November 1988)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: ANALOG Computing – November 1988



    ANALOG Computing was perhaps the best known and one of the longest running magazines for Atari 8-bit Computers. The November 1988 issue includes:

    Features

    • Atari Streamers – A quickie machine-language routine that allows you to create vertically scrolling text displays.
    • Slave II: Nimral’s Grace – The sequel to last month’s Slave Cellars of Golgoloth adventure. Who is trying to kill Shala?

      • >

    • Master Memory Map, Part IV – The memory exploration continues. Jon us on a romp through your computer’s RAM and ROM.
    • Bits ‘n’ Pieces: POPS – This month ANALOG’s electronic wizard presents a hardware project that’ll add four-channel stereo sound to your Atari computer.
    • AUTORUN.SYS Secrets – This machine-language program will help you design AUTORUN.SYS files that’ll do just about anything you want.

    Reviews

    • 3-in-1 Football
    • Panak Strikes – This time around Steve takes a look at thinking games, plus gives us complete reviews of Solar Star and Drop Zone from Microsoft.
    • Battlezone

    Columns

    • Boot Camp
    • Database DELPHI
    • Game Design Workshop
    • End User

    Departments

    • Editorial
    • Reader Comment
    • 8-Bit News
    • BASIC Editor II
    • ST Notes

    …and more!


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  • Adventure International (Atari 400/800/1200)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Video Games Player – November 1983


    This ad is from 1983, probably near the height of popularity for the Atari 8-bit line of computers. It features three games written by Russ Wetmore and published by Adventure International: Preppie!, Preppie II and Sea Dragon. Preppie and Preppie II were original creations by Russ Wetmore and Sea Dragon was a conversion of a game from the TRS-80.

    Preppie! is a Frogger clone but instead of featuring a frog, it capitalizes on the preppy trend of the 1980s. Instead of a highway and river, the setting is a country club where vehicles consist of things like golf carts and lawn mowers with canoes, logs and alligators featured in the water portion. Game play is very much the same as Frogger but instead of just reaching the other side, you must fetch golf balls and return them.

    Preppie! II is a different style of game. It is a maze game in which you must paint the corridors pink by making your way through them. While a different style game, some of the obstacles remain the same, including golf carts and lawn mowers.

    Sea Dragon is a horizontally scrolling shooter featuring a submarine. Game play is somewhat similar to the arcade game Scramble. You control a submarine making its way through an underwater labyrinth. You can shoot torpedoes upwards and forwards and must avoid ships dropping mines, mines rising from the bottom, lasers as well as other enemies and obstacles.

    All three of these games were available both on cassette and on disk for the Atari 400, 800 and 1200. For cassette users, 16K of RAM was required and for disk users, 32K of RAM was required.

    Apparently, Russ Wetmore stopped developing games after 1983 as a result of the great video game crash (which I didn’t really think affected computer games all that much) but went on to develop application software for Atari 8-bit computers.

    The ad above is from the November 1983 issue of Video Game Player.


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