In 1978 Atari entered the personal computer industry by introducing the Atari 400 and 800 home computers. The graphics and sound capabilities were very advanced. Its built in player & missile graphic made it easy for programmers to port games to these machines. The availiabity of popular video games made them very successful. This line of computers continued to live on in the XL and XE series from Atari. These new machines were still compatible with the 400 & 800. The XE was introduced in 1985 and was sold until the early 90s.
As you can see from the above picture, Atari offered a large variety of peripherals. There was also application software available, like Atari Writer and the Atari Financial Packet. Atari was big in publishing educational titles, too. Atari presented themselves as the perfect family computer. Something for everybody: Games, Word Processing, Learning Programming, Home Finances, Education and much more. Atari, we brought the computer age home!
|
Atari 400
|
Atari 800
|
|
1.8 MHz 6502 CPU |
1.8 MHz 6502 CPU |
|
16 K RAM |
48 K RAM |
|
10 K ROM |
10 K ROM |
|
16 colors / 16 intensities |
16 colors / 16 intensities |
|
40 columns by 24 rows 320 x 192 pixels |
40 columns by 24 rows 320 x 192 pixels |
|
Four sound voices |
Four sound voices |
|
Pressure-sensitive monopanel keyboard |
Typewrite-style keybaord |
Return to the Atari Exhibiton.
