![[Comp.Sci.Dept, Utrecht]](/icons/li-dsol.png)
Note from archiver<at>cs.uu.nl:
This page is part of a big collection
of Usenet postings, archived here for your convenience.
For matters concerning the content of this page,
please contact its author(s); use the
source, if all else fails.
For matters concerning the archive as a whole, please refer to the
archive description
or contact the archiver.
Subject: Atari 8-Bit Computers: Frequently Asked Questions
This article was archived around: 20 Dec 2008 05:23:13 GMT
Archive-name: atari-8-bit/faq
Posting-Frequency: 60 days
Last-modified: October 31, 2008
Welcome to the comp.sys.atari.8bit newsgroup!
Atari 8-Bit Computers
Frequently Asked Questions List
___________ _______________
| ///////// | _____________ | ||||||||||| |
|___________| | | | ||_______|| |
|______/////| |____[---]____| | / _________ \ |
|LLLLLLLLLLL| |LLLLLLLLLLL || | LLLLLLLLLLL L |
|LLLLLLLLLLL| |LLLLLLLLLLL || | LLLLLLLLLLL L |
|__[_____]__| |__[_____]____| |___[_____]_____|
130XE 800XL 800
___________ __---------__
| ///////// | | / _____ \ |
|___________| _____________ | / |_____| \ |
|______/////| |____[---]____| | ___________ |
|LLLLLLLLLLL| |LLLLLLLLLLL || | ========== =|
|LLLLLLLLLLL| |LLLLLLLLLLL || | ========== =|
|__[_____]__| |__[_____]____| |___[_____]___|
65XE 600XL 400
___________ _____________
| ///////// | ___________ | |
|___________| |/// / | | |
|______/////| |// / | /\___________ |=============|
|LLLLLLLLLLL| |/O\ |\/ |LLLLLLLLLLL| | LLLLLLLLLLL |
|LLLLLLLLLLL| |-----------| |LLLLLLLLLLL| | LLLLLLLLLLL |
|__[_____]__| |____O_O_O_O| |__[_____]__| |___[_____]___|
800XE XE 1200XL
Additions/suggestions/comments/corrections are needed! Please send to:
Michael Current, michael@mcurrent.name
Copyright (c) 1992-2008 by Michael D. Current, and others where noted. Feel
free to reproduce this file, in whole or in part, so long as the content of
that portion reproduced is not modified, and so long as credit is given to
this FAQ list or its Maintainer, or the author of that section reproduced
when given.
This document is in a constant state of development and comes with no
guarantees. If you see any problems, I need to hear from you!
The latest version of this document is posted to the following Usenet
newsgroups every 60 days:
comp.sys.atari.8bit, comp.answers, news.answers
Known mirrors of the the latest version of this document:
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq
http://faqs.cs.uu.nl/na-dir/atari-8-bit/faq.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq/
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq/preamble.html (Multipart ed.)
You may also request my latest working version at: michael@mcurrent.name
**********************************************************************
* For other 8-bit Atari related FAQs please see the "Welcome FAQ": *
* ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/atari-8-bit/welcome *
* http://faqs.cs.uu.nl/na-dir/atari-8-bit/welcome.html *
* http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/welcome/ *
**********************************************************************
UPDATES SINCE PREVIOUS POSTING:
2008.10.31 3.10 added SDrive by C.P.U.
2008.10.26 SECAM-related tweaks throughout
------------------------------
Subject: 0.1) Table of contents
0.1) Table of contents
The Computers
1.1) What is an Atari 8-bit computer?
1.2) What is the Atari 400?
1.3) What is the Atari 800?
1.4) What is the Atari 1200XL?
1.5) What is the Atari 600XL?
1.6) What is the Atari 800XL?
1.7) What is the Atari 65XE?
1.8) What is the Atari 130XE?
1.9) What is the Atari 800XE?
1.10) What is the Atari XE?
1.11) What are the SALLY, ANTIC, CTIA/GTIA, POKEY, and FREDDIE chips?
1.12) What is the internal layout of the 8-bit Atari?
1.13) Who designed the Atari 8-bit computers?
1.14) What issues surround NTSC vs PAL versions of the 8-bit Atari?
1.15) What are the pinouts for the various ports on the Atari?
Video Display and Sound Speakers
2.1) What video display devices and speakers can I use with my Atari?
2.2) What is artifacting?
Mass Storage
3.1) What are the Atari 410, 1010, XC11, and XC12 Program Recorders?
3.2) What other cassette recorders can I use with my Atari?
3.3) How do I run a program from cassette?
3.4) What are the Atari 810, 815, 1050, and XF551 Disk Drives?
3.5) What other floppy disk drives can I use with my Atari?
3.6) What kinds of 5.25" floppy disks can I use with my Atari drives?
3.7) What can I do to extend the life of my floppy disks?
3.8) What hard drives were designed for my Atari?
3.9) How can my Atari utilize my PC's or Mac's storage drives?
3.10) How can I use SD/MMC cards with my Atari?
3.11) How can I use a USB flash drive with my Atari?
Printers
4.1) What are the Atari 820, 822, and 825 Printers?
4.2) What are the Atari 1020, 1025, 1027, and 1029 Printers?
4.3) What are the Atari XMM801 and XDM121 Printers?
4.4) What other printers can I use with my Atari?
4.5) How can my Atari utilize my PC's or Mac's printer?
MODEMs and networking hardware
5.1) What are the Atari 830, 835, 1030, XM301, and SX212 Modems?
5.2) What other modems can I use with my Atari?
5.3) How can I my Atari utilize my PC's modem/network?
5.4) What networking hardware is there for the Atari?
5.5) How can I connect my Atari to a high-speed/Ethernet network?
Hardware interfaces
6.1) What is the Atari 850 Interface Module?
6.2) What is the Atari XEP80 Interface Module?
6.3) How can I use a SCSI/SASI device with my Atari?
6.4) How can I use an IDE device with my Atari?
6.5) Can I attach an ISA card to my Atari?
6.6) How can I use a USB device with my Atari?
More hardware
6.7) What are the power requirements for my Atari components?
6.8) What accessories did Atari produce for their 8-bit computers?
6.9) What preventative maintenance can I do on my Atari system?
6.10) What graphic tablets were produced for the Atari?
6.11) What lightpens were produced for the Atari?
6.12) What lightguns were produced for the Atari?
6.13) What paddles were produced for the Atari?
6.14) What voice/sound synthesis hardware was produced for the Atari?
6.15) What sound-digitizers/samplers were produced for the Atari?
6.16) What sound-enhancement upgrades were produced for the Atari?
6.17) What MIDI enhancements are there for the Atari?
6.18) What graphics enhancements are there for the Atari?
6.19) What types of memory upgrades are there for the Atari?
Core software: OS, BASIC, DOS, Modem handlers
7.1) What versions of the Atari Operating System (OS) are there?
7.2) What is the ATASCII character set?
7.3) What is Atari BASIC?
7.4) What are Atari DOS I, DOS II, DOS 3, DOS 2.5, and DOS XE?
7.5) What are MyDOS, SpartaDOS, and other popular DOS versions?
7.6) How do I modify Atari DOS to support more than two drives?
7.7) Are there Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for the Atari?
7.8) What should I know about modem device handlers?
Software
8.1) What programming languages are available for the Atari?
8.2) What cartridges were released for the Right Slot of the 800?
8.3) What games support 4 or more simultaneous players?
8.4) What programs run only on the 400 and 800 models, and why?
8.5) What programs make use of the Light Gun or a light pen?
8.6) What programs have a track ball mode or support a mouse?
8.7) What programs have a paddle(s) or Koala Pad mode?
8.8) What programs have a CX85 Numerical Keypad mode?
8.9) What programs have a Touch tablet mode?
8.10) What kinds of extra RAM and RAMdisks can be installed?
8.11) What programs support more than 64K RAM?
8.12) What programs require more than 64K RAM?
8.13) What voice/sound synthesis software is there for the Atari?
8.14) What programs support stereo and upgraded sound?
8.15) What games support online action via modem?
8.16) What programs support Atari computer networking?
Working with Atari files: Compression, File formats, Copying
9.1) How can I work with .arc files on my 8-bit Atari?
9.2) What file formats for entire disks/tapes/cartridges are there?
9.3) How can I copy my copy-protected Atari software?
Interoperating with "modern" computers
10.1) What programs can log in to other computers via modem?
10.2) What programs can I use to host a BBS on the Atari?
10.3) How can I read/write Atari disks on an MS-DOS PC?
10.4) How can I read/write MS-DOS PC disks on my Atari?
10.5) How do I transfer files using a null modem cable?
10.6) How can my PC utilize my Atari disk drive?
10.7) What about interoperating with the Apple Macintosh?
10.8) Are there 8-bit Atari tools for the Commodore Amiga?
Timeline
11.1) What is the history of Atari's 8-bit computers platform?
------------------------------
Subject: 1.1) What is an Atari 8-bit computer?
Based in Silicon Valley in the U.S.A., the company known as Atari produced
a line of home computers from 1979 to 1992 often referred to collectively as
the "Atari 8-bits," the "8-bit Ataris," the "400/800/XL/XE series," etc.
The computers included the 400, 800, 1200XL, 600XL, 800XL, 65XE, 130XE, 800XE,
and the XE video game system.
Notable home computers that were introduced before the Atari 400/800:
1977: Apple II, Tandy Radio Shack TRS-80 (Model I), Commodore PET
Notable home computers that were introduced after the Atari 400/800:
1979: Texas Instruments TI-99/4
1980: Commodore VIC-20, TRS-80 Color Computer, Osborne 1
1981: Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, IBM PC, Sinclair ZX81 / TS 1000, BBC Micro
1982: Kaypro II, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64
1983: Coleco Adam, MSX
1984: Apple Macintosh, Amstrad CPC
1985: Atari ST, Commodore Amiga
1987: Acorn Archimedes
In marketing their computers to the public, Atari always had to contend with
their company history and reputation as a maker of video games. While the
8-bit Atari computers in their heyday were technically quite comparable if not
superior in the worlds of home and business personal computing, they also live
up to the name "Atari" with a huge library of video games which were often
outstanding for their time.
The 8-bit Atari computers do not use the same cartridges or floppy disks as
any other Atari platforms, such as the 2600 Video Computer System (VCS), the
5200 SuperSystem, the 7800 ProSystem, or the ST/TT/Falcon computers. All of
these but the 5200, however, do share the same joystick/controller hardware
port.
The 5200 SuperSystem is actually nearly identical to the 8-bit computers
internally, yet cartridges for the 5200 and the 8-bit computers cannot be
exchanged, primarly due to the physically different cartridge ports.
Here are some of the performance specifications of the 8-bit Atari computers:
(Some of the rest of this section by Bill Kendrick)
CPU: 6502 (MOS Technology)
CPU CLOCK SPEED:
NTSC machines: 1.7897725 MHz
non-NTSC machines: 1.773447 MHz
SCREEN REFRESH RATE:
59.94 Hz (NTSC machines) or 49.86 Hz (PAL machines)
GRAPHICS MODES:
ANTIC CIO/BASIC Display Resolution Number of
Mode # Graphics # Type (full screen) Colors
---------------------------------------------------------------
2 0 Char 40 x 24 1 *
3 - Char 40 x 19 1 *
4 12 ++ Char 40 x 24 5
5 13 ++ Char 40 x 12 5
6 1 Char 20 x 24 5
7 2 Char 20 x 12 5
8 3 Map 40 x 24 4
9 4 Map 80 x 48 2
A 5 Map 80 x 48 4
B 6 Map 160 x 96 2
C 14 ++ Map 160 x 192 2
D 7 Map 160 x 96 4
E 15 ++ Map 160 x 192 4
F 8 Map 320 x 192 1 *
F 9 + Map 80 x 192 1 **
F 10 + Map 80 x 192 9
F 11 + Map 80 x 192 16 ***
* 1 Hue; 2 Luminances
** 1 Hue; 16 Luminances
*** 16 Hues; 1 Luminance
+ require the GTIA chip. 1979-1981 400/800's shipped with CTIA
++ Not available via the BASIC GRAPHICS command in 400/800's.
GRAPHICS INDIRECTION (COLOR REGISTERS AND CHARACTER SETS):
Nine color registers are available. Each color register holds any of 16
luminances x 16 hues = 256 colors. (Four registers are for player-missile
graphics.
Character sets of 128 8x8 characters, each with a normal and an inverse
video incarnation, are totally redefinable.
PLAYER-MISSILE GRAPHICS: (byte height and OR corrections from Piotr Fusik)
Four 8-bit wide, 120 or 240 byte high single color players, and four
2-bit wide, 120 or 240 byte high single color missiles are available.
A mode to combine the 4 missiles into a 5th 8-bit wide player is also
available, as is a mode to OR colors or blacken out colors when players
overlap (good for making three colors out of two players!) Players
and missiles have adjustable priority and collision detection.
DISPLAY LIST INTERRUPTS (DLI's):
Screen modes can be mixed (by lines) down the screen using the Display
List - a program which is executed by the ANTIC graphics chip every
screen refresh:
All other screen attributes (color, player/missile horizontal position,
screen width, player/missile/playfield priority, etc.) can be ajusted
at any point down the screen via DLI's.
SCROLLING:
Fine scrolling (both vertical and horizontal) can be enabled on any
line on the screen.
SOUND:
Sound is monaural/monophonic (one channel output).
Up to 4 separate simultaneous voices can be produced, configured as one of
the following:
- 4 voices, each with one of 256 unique frequencies/pitches
- 2 voices, each with one of 65,536 unique frequencies/pitches
- 1 voice with one of 65,536 pitches and 2 voices with one of 256 pitches
Each voice may be produced with one of 8 available "noise" settings/
polynomial-counter combinations, commonly called "distortion" settings.
(There are actually only 6 distinct combinations of 3 poly-counters
offered, but one of the poly-counters has 2 available settings itself,
resulting in 2 additional noise settings for the total of 8 available.)
Each voice may be produced at one of 16 volumes.
Direct control of the position of the speaker cone is also available, with
4-bit (16 position) resolution. Known as "volume only mode" on the Atari.
A fifth "voice" is produced as a separate signal by the internal speaker
on the Atari 400/800. This is typically used only for keyclick and
buzzer. In XL/XE systems these sounds are output as part of the normal
monaural audio output signal.
------------------------------
Subject: 1.2) What is the Atari 400?
Released along with the 800 in 1979, the 400 was the low-end model of the two.
The only 8-bit Atari with a membrane keyboard rather than a full-stroke
keyboard. One of the few 8-bit Ataris lacking a composite monitor port.
Originally released with just 8K RAM, but most were sold with 16K RAM.
Atari sold the 48K RAM Expansion Kit for the 400, which required a little
soldering, to dealers only.
Only the 400 and 800 8-bit Atari models have four controller (joystick) ports.
The 400 was produced in both NTSC (North America) and PAL (Europe) versions.
Early 400 units contain the CTIA chip; later units, including all European/PAL
units, contain the GTIA chip, which is also present in all later 8-bit Ataris.
Atari marketing used the trademark, The Basic Computer, as an alternative name
for the 400 from 1981-1982.
The 400 was made in the USA (early production) and Hong Kong (later).
Production of the 400 ended in May 1983.
------------------------------
Subject: 1.3) What is the Atari 800?
Released along with the 400 in 1979, the 800 was the high-end model of the
two. The 800 is the only 8-bit Atari with a Right Cartridge slot, in addition
to the Left Cartridge slot as present on all 8-bit Ataris. Originally
released with just 8K RAM, many were sold with 16K, later on 48K was standard.
The 800 is also the only 8-bit Atari with a four-slot modular design, where
the first slot holds the CX801 (CX801-P for PAL machines) 10K ROM module, and
the other three slots hold combinations of CX852 8K or CX853 16K RAM modules.
Only the 400 and 800 8-bit Atari models have four controller (joystick) ports.
Jason Harmon writes: (12 Feb 2004)
"..the early ones had plastic cases on the ROM and RAM modules, and had two
thumb tabs to remove the cover to access the modules. Later model 800s had
48K standard, and to improve cooling Atari installed them without the cases
but put a small plastic strip across the tops of the cards to hold them in
position. These machines also lost the thumb tabs and have regular screws to
secure the cover over the memory slots."
The 800 was produced in both NTSC (North America) and PAL (Europe) versions.
Early 800 units contain the CTIA chip; later units, including all European/PAL
units, contain the GTIA chip, which is also present in all later 8-bit Ataris.
The 800 was made in the USA.
Production of the 800 ended in May 1983.
------------------------------
Subject: 1.4) What is the Atari 1200XL?
Introduced as a big brother to the 400/800 in 1982 and shipped in 1983, the
1200XL now uses Atari's slightly customized 6502C microprocessor, SALLY, and
includes a full 64K RAM. The 1200XL was the first 8-bit Atari with just 2
controller ports. In addition, the 1200XL includes 4 programmable Function
keys and a Help key, 4 LEDs, built-in diagnostic and graphics demonstration
programs, and probably the favorite keyboard of any 8-bit Atari computer.
Clicks previously output through the built-in speaker are now heard from the
television or monitor's speaker. The revised 16K Operating System offers many
new features, including an alternate International Character Set.
The 1200XL was the biggest single step forward in development of the 8-bit
Atari platform, but the corresponding software compatability problems hurt its
popularity.
The 1200XL lacks the separate chroma video signal on the Monitor port, and the
machine also lacks the +5 Volts power on pin 10 of the SIO port.
The 1200XL was produced in an NTSC (North America) version only. There is no
PAL (Europe) version of the 1200XL.
The 1200XL was discontinued in June 1983.
According to 1200XL serial number analysis by Karl Heller (2007), about
105,000 1200XL units were produced in total:
o From Mid March to late May USA production was about 78500 units in not so
sequential order.
o From early April to late June Taiwan produced about 26000 units in
perfect sequential order.
AtariAge thread: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=107234
Scott Stilphen mentioned this 1200XL easter egg on 10 Feb 2006:
On 1200XLs, if you select 'all tests', when it gets to the keyboard test
it'll type out the programmer's name.
------------------------------
Subject: 1.5) What is the Atari 600XL?
Released in 1983 as a replacement for the 400, the 600XL is the low-end
version of the 800XL. The 600XL/800XL include most of the features of the
1200XL minus the Function keys and the demo program. But both the 800XL and
600XL have the Atari BASIC language built-in. In addition, these two systems
offer the Parallel Bus Interface (PBI), providing fast parallel access to the
heart of the computer. The 600XL has 16K RAM.
The 600XL can be expanded from 16K to 64K with the Atari 1064 Memory Module.
Normally boots with Atari BASIC (Revision B) enabled; Hold down [Option] on
startup to boot without BASIC.
The 600XL was produced in both NTSC (North America) and PAL (Europe) versions:
o NTSC (North America), produced fall 1983 to summer 1984 by Atari, Inc.
- No composite Monitor port
o PAL (Europe) version, produced fall 1983 to summer 1984 by Atari, Inc.
- Includes Monitor port, but this lacks the separate chroma video signal
Rare variations of the 600XL:
o Some late-model 600XLs were sold with 64K RAM. These may have only
appeared in Canada. The box had a round gold foil sticker reading: "64k
Memory -- Now with a full 64k of memory built-in."
5 different types of 600XL/800XL keyboards were nicely documented by Beetle
here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=105170
The 600XL was made in Hong Kong and Japan.
Production of the 600XL was discontinued by July 1984.
------------------------------
Subject: 1.6) What is the Atari 800XL?
Released in 1983 as a replacement for the 800 and 1200XL, the 800XL is the
high-end version of the 600XL. The 600XL/800XL include most of the features
of the 1200XL minus the Function keys and the demo program. But both the
800XL and 600XL have the Atari BASIC language built-in. In addition, these
two systems offer the Parallel Bus Interface (PBI), providing fast parallel
access to the heart of the computer. The 800XL contains 64K RAM.
The 800XL was produced in both NTSC (North America) and PAL (Europe) versions:
o NTSC (North America), produced fall 1983 to summer 1984 by Atari, Inc.
- Monitor port lacks the separate chroma video signal
- Normally boots with Atari BASIC (Revision B) enabled;
Hold down [Option] on startup to boot without BASIC.
o PAL (Europe) version, produced fall 1983 to summer 1984 by Atari, Inc.
- Monitor port lacks the separate chroma video signal
- Normally boots with Atari BASIC (Revision B) enabled;
Hold down [Option] on startup to boot without BASIC.
o PAL (Europe) version, produced fall 1984 by Atari Corp.
- "800XLF" motherboard with FREDDIE memory management chip
- Monitor port does include the separate chroma video signal
- Normally boots with Atari BASIC (Revision C) enabled;
Hold down [Option] on startup to boot without BASIC.
o SECAM (France) version, produced fall 1984 by Atari Corp.
- "SECAM ROSE" motherboard (based on "800XLF" design, including FREDDIE)
- FGTIA (SECAM GTIA)
- Unique monitor port instead of standard Monitor port
- Normally boots with Atari BASIC (Revision C) enabled;
Hold down [Option] on startup to boot without BASIC.
Rare variations of the 800XL:
o Some late-distribution 800XLs were sold with 128K RAM.
5 different types of 600XL/800XL keyboards were nicely documented by Beetle
here: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=105170
The 800XL was made in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Production of the 800XL was discontinued by 1985.
------------------------------
Subject: 1.7) What is the Atari 65XE?
Introduced in 1985 in markets including North America and the UK as a
direct replacement for the 800XL, the 65XE is a low-end version of the 130XE.
All 65XE machines include 64K RAM, and the FREDDIE memory management chip.
The 65XE does not include the PBI port as on the 600XL/800XL, but later-
production 65XE machines include the Enhanced Cartridge Interface (ECI) as is
present on all 130XE units.
Normally boots with Atari BASIC (Revision C) enabled; Hold down [Option] on
startup to boot without BASIC.
The 65XE was produced in both NTSC (North America) and PAL (Europe) versions:
o NTSC (North America) without ECI port (common early production)
o PAL (Europe) version without ECI port (uncommon early production)
o NTSC (North America) with ECI port (uncommon/rare late production)
- NTSC 130XE motherboard
o PAL (Europe) version with ECI port (common late production)
- PAL 130XE motherboard
- identical to 800XE
- reports of some 65XE machines previously labeled as 800XE machines
and vice versa.
Rare variations of the 65XE:
o Arabic, http://www.savetz.com/vintagecomputers/arabic65xe/
The 65XE was made in Taiwan (early production) and China (late production).
------------------------------
Subject: 1.8) What is the Atari 130XE?
Released in 1985, the 130XE is the high-end version of the 65XE/800XE. The
130XE offers 128K RAM, plus the FREDDIE memory management chip, supporting the
unique (but rarely used) ability for the 6502 and the ANTIC to independently
access RAM banks. In addition, the 130XE replaces the PBI port of the 600XL/
800XL with the Enhanced Cartridge Interface (ECI), continuing the powerful
feature of a fast parallel port.
Normally boots with Atari BASIC (Revision C) enabled; Hold down [Option] on
startup to boot without BASIC.
The 130XE was produced in NTSC (North America), PAL (Europe), and SECAM
(France) versions.
The 130XE was made in Taiwan (early production) and China (late production).
------------------------------
Subject: 1.9) What is the Atari 800XE?
Introduced in 1985 in markets including Germany and Eastern Europe as a
direct replacement for the 800XL, the 800XE is a low-end version of the 130XE.
All 800XE machines include 64K RAM, and the FREDDIE memory management chip.
The 800XE does not include the PBI port as on the 600XL/800XL, but does
include the Enhanced Cartridge Interface (ECI) as is present on all 130XE
units.
Normally boots with Atari BASIC (Revision C) enabled; Hold down [Option] on
startup to boot without BASIC.
The 800XE was produced in a PAL (Europe) version only:
- PAL 130XE motherboard
- identical to common PAL version of 65XE
- reports of some 800XE machines previously labeled as 65XE machines
and vice versa.
Jindrich Kubec writes, "The problematic Chinese 800XEs with GTIA problems were
manufactured in 1992."
The 800XE was made in Taiwan (early production) and China (late production).
The 800XE was last manufactured in 1992.
------------------------------
Subject: 1.10) What is the Atari XE?
In a change of marketing strategy, Atari introduced the new XE video game
system in 1987. The XE system is a true 8-bit Atari computer system. It
offers the convenience of a detachable keyboard and built-in Missile Command
game, while offering 64K RAM and full compatibility with the XL/XE computers.
FREDDIE memory management chip included.
The full XE Video Game System package included Keyboard, Light Gun, joystick,
and the Flight Simulator II and Bug Hunt cartridges.
http://www.mr-atari.com/afbeeldingen/systems/xegamesystem.jpg
Also sold separately:
o XE System Console with joystick
http://www.mr-atari.com/afbeeldingen/hardwarediv/xesystem1.jpg
o XE System Keyboard with Flight Simulator II cartridge
http://www.mr-atari.com/afbeeldingen/hardwarediv/xesystem3toetsenbord.jpg
o XE System Light Gun XG-1 with Bug Hunt cartridge
http://www.mr-atari.com/afbeeldingen/hardwarediv/xesystemgun2.jpg
Keyboard connected/no cartridge:
boots to Atari BASIC
Keyboard connected/no cartridge/[Select] held down at startup:
boots to Missile Command
No keyboard connected/no cartridge:
boots to Missile Command
No keyboard connected/no cartridge/[Select] held down at startup:
boots from disk drive
No keyboard connected/no cartridge/[Select]+[Start] held down at startup:
boots from tape drive
[Option] held down at startup = BASIC on
[Option] not pressed at startup = BASIC off
(opposite from all other XL/XE machines)
Andreas Koch writes:
Tip: The confused XEGS Atarian should use the XEGS manager by Mat*Rat
(Mathew Ratcliff). This assumes one knows at least how to boot a disk
with the XEGS...
James Bradford offers:
There is only 1 32K ROM in the XEGS, it has the OS, BASIC (Rev C) and
Missile Command on it.
The XE game system Console was produced in NTSC (North America), PAL (Europe),
and SECAM (France) versions.
The XE System Console was made in Taiwan.
------------------------------
Subject: 1.11) What are the SALLY, ANTIC, CTIA/GTIA, POKEY, and FREDDIE chips?
Some of the following text is taken from De Re Atari (Atari#APX-90008), a book
published by Atari through the Atari Program Exchange (APX) and copyright 1982
by Chris Crawford, et al. See http://www.atariarchives.org/dere/ where the
full text of De Re Atari is now available online.
The internal layout of the Atari 8-bit computer is very different from other
systems. It of course has a microprocessor (a 6502), random-access memory
(RAM), read-only memory (ROM), and a peripheral interface adapter (PIA; a
6520). However, it also has three special-purpose large-scale integration
(LSI) chips known as ANTIC, CTIA or GTIA, and POKEY. These chips were
designed by Atari engineers primarily to take much of the burden of
housekeeping off of the 6502, thereby freeing the 6502 to concentrate on
computations. While they were at it, they designed a great deal of power into
these chips. Each of these chips is almost as big (in terms of silicon area)
as a 6502, so the three of them together provide a tremendous amount of power.
Mastering the Atari 8-bit computers is primarily a matter of mastering these
three chips.
6502/SALLY Central Processing Unit (CPU) -- SALLY,XL/XE:CO14806
==========
While the 400/800 models contain a generic 6502B CPU (a faster version of the
original 6502A microprocessor), all of the XL/XE models contain Atari's
customized 6502C chip, known as SALLY.
On the Atari, there are two microprocessors, ANTIC and the 6502. To allow
them to coexist, ANTIC must shut off the 6502, a process called DMA. The
6502B supports DMA, but in Atari's implementation, it required 4 chips. The
6502C has an extra line called HALT. It is controlled by ANTIC which uses it
whenever it needs the data/address bus. The HALT line is on pin 35 of the
Atari 6502C and must be pulled high for the chip to work.
ANTIC -- 400/800,NTSC:CO12296 400/800,PAL:CO14887
===== XL/XE,NTSC:CO21697 XL/XE,PAL:CO21698
ANTIC ("Alpha-Numeric Television Interface Circuit") is a microprocessor
dedicated to the television display. It is a true microprocessor; it has an
instruction set, a program (called the display list), and data. The display
list and the display data are written into RAM by the 6502. ANTIC retrieves
this information from RAM using direct memory access (DMA). It processes the
higher level instructions in the display list and translates these
instructions into a real-time stream of simple instructions to GTIA.
CTIA/GTIA -- CTIA,NTSC:CO12295 GTIA,PAL:CO14889
========= GTIA,NTSC:CO14805 FGTIA,SECAM:CO20120
CTIA ("Color Television Interface Adapter") / GTIA ("Graphics Television
Interface Adapter") is a television interface chip. ANTIC directly controls
most of GTIA's operations, but the 6502 can be programmed to intercede and
control some of GTIA's functions. GTIA converts the digital commands from
ANTIC (or the 6502) into the signal that goes to the television. GTIA also
adds some factors of its own, such as color values, player-missile graphics,
and collision detection.
Alternate acronym expansions (who can say which are official?)
CTIA:
"Color Television Interface Adapter"
"Colleen Television Interface Adapter"
GTIA:
"Graphics Television Interface Adapter"
"George's Television Interface Adapter" (George McLeod, chip designer)
"General Television Interface Adapter"
Early North American 400/800 models shipped with CTIA. Later 400/800
models, all European 400/800's, and all later 8-bit Ataris included GTIA.
Jerry Jessop adds:
"The very first proto systems did have the GTIA, but it had some
problems and was not released in the consumer version until 1981. The
GTIA was completed before the CTIA."
In BASIC, type POKE 623,64 [RETURN] and if the screen blackens, you have the
GTIA chip. If it stays blue, you have the old CTIA chip.
Clay Halliwell provides this tidbit:
A bit of trivia: CTIA 400/800s artifact in blue/green, GTIA 400/800s
artifact in green/blue, and all XL/XEs artifact in red/blue.
Atari designed a version of GTIA called FGTIA for SECAM video output (France).
This was utilized in SECAM versions of the 800XL, 130XE, and XE game system.
Prior to fall 1984, Atari sold PAL systems in France. In French-marketed
machines with the PAL GTIA, "the Lum outputs are run into an onboard encoder
to produce a "pseudo" color depending on the Luminance output, composite
only." (Jerry Jessop) The result is a reduced number of available colors.
POKEY -- CO12294
=====
POKEY (name derived from POtentiometer and KEYboard) is a digital input/output
(I/O) chip. It handles such disparate tasks as the serial I/O bus, audio
generation, keyboard scan, and random number generation. It also digitizes
the resistive paddle inputs and controls maskable interrupt (IRQ) requests
from peripherals.
All four of these LSI chips (6502/SALLY, ANTIC, CTIA/GTIA, POKEY) function
simultaneously. Careful separation of their functions in the design phase has
minimized conflicts between the chips. The only hardware level conflict
between any two chips in the system occurs when ANTIC needs to use the address
and data buses to fetch its display information. To do this, it halts the
6502 and takes control of the buses."
FREDDIE -- CO61922, CO61991
=======
The 65XE/130XE/800XE/XEGS contain a small additional LSI called FREDDIE, a RAM
address multiplexer. According to James Bradford, "FREDDIE is a type of
memory controller. It takes the address and clock from the CPU and
multiplexes it with the appropriate timings and signals to use DYNAMIC memory.
FREDDIE also buffers the system clock crystal and divides it down then feeds
that to GTIA. The XEGS has a FREDDIE but it doesn't have the extended RAM.
Even if it did, you would still need the chip that does the REAL bank
switching. It is a small 16-pin chip (Atari/Best Electronics catalog number
CO25953: rev9/page 42). It gets RAS from FREDDIE, the bank select bits from
PIA, A14, A15 and the 6502 halt signal to control which bank of 8 chips RAS
goes to. A14 and A15 then go to FREDDIE for the address range of the extra
memory bank (or normal address range with no bank switching). The ANTIC/6502
select bits in combination with the 6502 halt line, control the switching of
the PIA bank number bits to A14/A15 and which bank of memory RAS goes to. Why
people say FREDDIE does the bank switching is beyond me. An 800XL can look
like a 130XE with that 16-pin chip installed (That's right NO FREDDIE) and an
extra 8 RAM chips."
And more recently James Bradford has written:
FREDDIE is just a memory decoder and timer. It replaces several chips in the
800XL. The small chip near FREDDIE does all the bank selection. CO25953. One
line from FREDDIE, Ras (or is it cas?) goes to this chip, Halt and the bank
/processor select lines go into this same chip and ras (cas?) comes out. A pin
for each bank. If I remember correctly, refresh also goes into this small
chip. It would be quite easy to make an 800XL work just like a 130XE with this
chip since Ras (Cas?) is required by ALL dynamic RAM.
======
Technical data sheets and schematics for the ANTIC, GTIA, and POKEY chips were
available on Curt Vendel's web site, thanks to permission from Hasbro's Atari
Interactive Division's release of this data.
A site that mirrored the high-res images as PDFs: http://www.retromicro.com/
Keith Howell has converted the hi-res TIFFs into clean HTML:
http://www.howell1964.freeserve.co.uk/Atari/800XL/Atari_800XL.htm
------------------------------
Subject: 1.12) What is the internal layout of the 8-bit Atari?
ASCII art by Thomas Havemeister.
->
+---------------------------------------+
| +------------+ |
| | CPU (6502) | +-------+
| +------------+ <- | I/O- |
| | +----------|release|
| +-+ | +-------+
| +---------+<- |p| | |
| | MMU |-----| | | <-+---------+-|----------+----------+
*-| memory- | |r| *---| PIA | | (trigger)|Controller|====\
| |managment|-----|-+--------| (6520) | |+---------| Ports |====/
| +---------+<- |o| -> | +---------+-|-+ <--> +----------+
| | | | ||| | |
| +-----+ |c| | <-+---------+ ||| |(lightpen)
| | RAM |<-A/D | | *---| ANTIC | ||| | |
*---|8-128|-------|e|----|---|(2nd CPU)|---------------+ |
| |Kbyte|->D | | -> | +---------+ ||| +---------------
| +-----+ |s| | || ||| |
| | | | <-+---------+-|||--------+(screen)
| +-------+ |s| *---| GTIA |-|+| | |
| | Atari |<-A | |----|---| /CTIA | | | | +----------+ +-----------+
| | BASIC |------|o| -> | +---------+ | | | | summary |===| modulator |
*--|8 Kbyte|->D | | | | | | |connection|===| ^^^^^^^^^ |
| | ROM | |r| | <-+---------+ | | | +----------+ +-----------+
| +-------+ | | +---| POKEY |-|-|-+ |(sound) |
| | |--------| |-|-|--------+ |
| +-------+ |b| -> +---------+ | +----------+ |
| |AtariOS|<-A | | | | | |
*--|10/16Kb|------|u| +--|----------+ | tv/monitor
| | ROM |->D | +----------------- | | | **********
| +-------+ |s| | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| +-+ +-+ | | |
| | | | | |
+--------------*---|------------*---| | | |
| | | | | | |
+-----------+ +-----------+ +------------+
|ParallelBus| | Cartridge | | Serial |
|Interface/ | | Slot | |Input/Output|
| Enhanced | | ROM | | (SIO) |
| Cartridge | +-----------+ +------------+
| Interface | | |
+-----------+ | |
| | |
- memory expansion -cartridge with - disk drive
- Z80 card programs - printer
- 80 char card (games , dos ) - modem
NOTES
* RAM: 400/800: 8K, 16K or 48K standard
600XL:16K standard
1200XL/800XL/65XE/800XE/XEGS: 64K standard
130XE:128K standard
* ROM: 400/800:10K OS, 1200XL:16K OS, all others:16K OS + 8K Atari BASIC
* CPU: 400/800:6502B, all others:6502C/SALLY
* 800 includes two Cartridge Slots, all others include one
* early release 400/800 have CTIA instead of GTIA
* 400/800 have 4 Controller Ports, all others have 2
* PBI is on 600XL/800XL only
* ECI is on 130XE/800XE/later 65XE only
* Some late XE's use a 68B21 for PIA; PIA is 6520/6520A on all others
------------------------------
Subject: 1.13) Who designed the Atari 8-bit computers?
Credit for providing some of this information for the FAQ goes to:
Doug Neubauer (by way of James Finnegan), Jerry Jessop, Scott Emmons,
http://www.digitpress.com/
Atari 400/800 hardware engineers:
Steven T. Mayer - early system design, overall plan
Joseph C. Decuir - ANTIC logic desgin, early system design, overall plan
Jay G. Miner - System architect (became manager of development of both
VLSI custom chips and OS software), overall plan
Douglas G. Neubauer - POKEY logic design (also wrote: Star Raiders)
George McLeod - CTIA/GTIA logic design
Ronald E. Milner - early system design
Francois Michel - ANTIC design
Mark Shieu - POKEY chip design
Steve Stone - POKEY layout design
Steve Smith - Technician for ANTIC and GTIA
Delwin Pearson - Technician for POKEY
Kevin McKinsey - 400/800 case design
Atari 400/800 Operating System (Revision A) software engineers:
David Crane - OS design, programming
Larry Kaplan - OS design, programming
(also wrote: Video Easel, Super Breakout)
Alan Miller - OS design, programming (also wrote: Basketball)
Harry Stewart - consultant, OS design
Gary Palmer - worked on the I/O portion
Ian Shepard - disk drive functions
Atari 400/800 Operating System Revision B fixes:
Michael P. Mahar/R. Scott Scheiman
Atari 1200XL hardware engineers:
Gregg Squires - head of engineering. Reported to Steve Mayer at
WCI Labs in New York.
Regan Cheng - XL case design. Reported to Roy Nishi, industrial
design group, Sunnyvale.
Atari 1200XL Operating System (Revisions 10, 11):
H. Stewart/Lane Winner/R. Scott Scheiman/Y. M. Chen/M. W. Colburn
Atari 600XL/800XL hardware engineers:
Gregg Squires - head of engineering. Reported to Steve Mayer at
WCI Labs in New York.
Regan Cheng - XL case design. Reported to Roy Nishi, industrial
design group, Sunnyvale.
Atari 600XL/800XL Operating System (Revisions 1, 2):
(Revision 2 also commonly found in earlier XE computers)
R. S. Scheiman/Richard K. Nordin/Y. M. Chen
Atari XE systems hardware designer/engineer:
Jose A. Valdes - at Atari from October 1979 - August 1989
Ira Velinsky - designer of the XE game system
Atari XE Operating System (Revisions 3, 4):
unknown to date - ??????????
------------------------------
Subject: 1.14) What issues surround NTSC vs PAL versions of the 8-bit Atari?
Contributors to this section:
Wayne Booth, Graham Thornton, Brent Buescher Jr., Thomas Richter, Jindroush,
Sc0rpi0. Thanks especially to Piotr Fusik for his extensive help with this
section.
Some quick definitions first:
NTSC: "National Television Standards Committee"
TV signal standard used in North America, Central America, a number of South
American countries, and some Asian countries, including Japan.
o 525 lines per frame
o 60 half-frames per second (interlaced) = 60 Hz
o Complete frame refreshed 30 times per second
PAL: "Phase Alternation by Line"
TV signal standard used in the United Kingdom, most of the rest of Europe,
several South American countries, some Middle East and Asian countries,
several African countries, Australia, New Zealand, and other Pacific island
countries.
o 625 lines per frame
o 50 half-frames per second (interlaced) = 50 Hz
o Complete frame refreshed 25 times per second.
SECAM: "Sequentiel couleur avec memoire"
TV signal standard still used in France, the former USSR, and some African
countries. Until the 1980's SECAM was the standard in eastern Europe,
including East Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.
o 625 lines per frame
o 50 half-frames per second (interlaced) = 50 Hz
o Complete frame refreshed 25 times per second.
In some ways the specifications of the hardware in the 8-bit Atari computer
are closely linked to the specifications of the television signal standard
used in the market where the machine is designed to be used. Thus there were
generally two versions of each 8-bit Atari computer model produced: one for
NTSC markets, containing NTSC versions of the ANTIC and GTIA chips, and one
for PAL markets, containing PAL versions of the ANTIC and GTIA chips.
Atari Corp. also designed SECAM-specific versions of some of the 8-bit Atari
computers, including the 800XL, 130XE, and XE game system. Regarding
the following discussion, SECAM machines would behave the same as PAL
machines.
Piotr Fusik writes (3/06):
In Poland we had PAL Ataris, which was a problem at the times
of SECAM. You could connect a PAL Atari to a SECAM TV, but there was
no color and (IIRC) no sound. The solution was to buy an inexpensive
converter mounted inside the TV, so the TV supported PAL in addition
to SECAM. This was quite popular, because the VCRs were PAL, too.
Now then, what might happen if you run a software program designed with an
NTSC Atari on a PAL Atari, or a program designed with a PAL Atari on an NTSC
Atari? There are a number of possibilities:
1) The program may run faster or slower than intended.
All hardware timing is slightly different between NTSC and PAL machines, so
most programs run slightly faster on NTSC, slightly slower on PAL. This can
be significant in applications that are computation- or timing-sensitive, such
as music players, or in any programs designed to simulate real time.
2) The program may exhibit some sort of "screen flickering" effect, or the
system may completely hang.
The NTSC versions of the ANTIC chip generate a video signal with a screen
refresh rate of about 60Hz, whereas the PAL versions of the ANTIC chip
generate a video signal with a screen refresh rate of about 50Hz. The slower
refresh frequency of PAL machines translates into more available computation
time per screen frame. Computation-intensive software written for PAL
machines that assumes more available time per screen frame than is available
on NTSC machines will not run correctly on NTSC machines.
3) The colors displayed by the program are not what was intended.
The following two paragraphs are compiled from postings by Thomas Richter:
While NTSC machines contain a single system clock crystal oscillator, in
PAL machines a second oscillator that runs at 5/4 of the main system clock
frequency is present to generate the color frequencies needed to drive
GTIA.
This factor of 5/4 is the reason why you don't get the popular "artifacted
colors"/"pseudo-colors" (or, at least, not very good ones) in the ANTIC-F
(Graphics 8) mode when displayed with a PAL Atari.
As a result, programs that are written with assumptions about color
artifacting effects, which vary depending upon the color CRT display device
used, will also vary in appearance depending upon whether the machine is NTSC
or PAL.
Also, the actual palettes of colors that can be generated by the computer
look somewhat different depending upon whether the machine is NTSC or PAL.
4) The program may explicitly refuse to run on incorrect hardware.
Software (some demos) may be designed to determine whether the Atari is NTSC
or PAL, and refuse to run if the hardware present does not match what is
expected.
Typically, NTSC/PAL is determined by checking the "PAL" memory register
provided by the OS, which is based on the version of GTIA that is present:
Memory location 53268 ($D014, "PAL") indicates whether the system contains
an NTSC or a PAL GTIA. In Atari BASIC, PEEK(53268) returns 15 if an NTSC
GTIA is present, or 1 if a PAL GTIA is present.
Alternatively, software may determine NTSC/PAL by determining how many
scanlines are being generated by ANTIC. The NTSC ANTIC generates 262
scanlines, while the PAL ANTIC generates 312 scanlines. This technique is
utilized by the "Numen" demo by Taquart, which refuses to run on an NTSC
ANTIC.
5) The program may not load correctly at all.
This would mostly likely result from copy protection techniques based upon
precise hardware timing associated with disk drives, cassette recorders, or
components of the computer itself, where the timing was not anticipated to
vary depending upon NTSC vs. PAL hardware.
According to Jindroush (2/26/02), two examples of programs that run on NTSC
machines but not PAL machines as a result of timing-based copy protection
techniques (probably based on vblank timing) are Transylvania and The Quest
by Penguin Software.
6) The program may run fine on both NTSC and PAL machines.
Either the differences are too slight to matter, or the software may be
sophisticated enough to detect NTSC vs PAL hardware, as described above, and
act accordingly.
An examples of a program that alters its behavior depending upon detection of
NTSC versus PAL is Ghostbusters by Activision (checks for NTSC/PAL GTIA).
Bottom line:
============
Software written for NTSC machines (North America) will (almost) always work
on PAL machines (Europe), but software designed on PAL machines won't
necessarily work on NTSC machines.
Replacing the NTSC ANTIC chip in an NTSC Atari with a PAL ANTIC changes the
screen refresh rate to 50Hz, allowing most of the PAL-only European software
to run on a North American NTSC Atari. However, make sure your display device
can support a 50Hz PAL signal first! North American Atari users can also
obtain and use real European PAL Atari machines, with the same caveat
concerning the display device.
------------------------------
Subject: 1.15) What are the pinouts for the various ports on the Atari?
Contributors to this section: Steve Wallance (CX22 trackball meanings),
Jer Sobola (SECAM monitor port)
Controller Port (4 on 400/800, 2 on all others):
1 5
o o o o o
o o o o
6 9 CX22 trackball meanings:
1. (Joystick) Forward Input X Direction
2. (Joystick) Back Input X Motion
3. (Joystick) Left Input Y Direction
4. (Joystick) Right Input Y Motion
5. B Potentiometer Input
6. Trigger Input/Light Pen Input (400 supports the Light Pen in port 4 only)
7. +5V
8. Ground
9. A Potentiometer Input
Serial I/O (SIO) Port (all machines):
2 12
o o o o o o
o o o o o o o
1 13
1. Clock Input 8. Motor Control
2. Clock Output 9. ~Proceed
3. Data Input 10. +5V/Ready (not on 1200XL)
4. Ground 11. Audio Input
5. Data Output 12. +12V (400/800 only. 1400XL/1450XLD?)
6. Ground 13. ~Interrupt
7. ~Command
Monitor Port (all but 400, NTSC 600XL, XE game system, SECAM):
3 o o 1
o o
5 o 4
2
1. Composite Luminance (Composite Video on PAL 600XL)
2. Ground
3. Audio Output
4. Composite Video
5. Composite Chroma (not on 800XL(except "800XLF"),1200XL;Ground on PAL 600XL)
Monitor Port (SECAM 800XL, SECAM 130XE(?)):
5 V 1 1. +12V DC 5mA max
o o 2. Audio 1 output
o 3 3. Audio 2 output (amplitude is about 6 times Audio 1)
o o 4. Video output
4 o 2 5. GND
6 6. +5V 100mA max
Power (all but 400,800,1200XL,1400XL,1450XLD):
7 6 1. +5V
o o 2. Shield
3 o o 1 3. Ground
o o 4. +5V
5 o 4 5. Ground
2 6. +5V
7. Ground
Cartridge Slot (present on all machines; Left Cartridge Slot on 800):
A B C D E F H J K L M N P R S
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
1 15
1. ~S4 Chip Select--$8000 to $9FFF A. RD4 ROM present--$8000 to $9FFF
2. A3 CPU Address bus line B. GND Ground
3. A2 CPU Address bus line C. A4 CPU Address bus line
4. A1 CPU Address bus line D. A5 CPU Address bus line
5. A0 CPU Address bus line E. A6 CPU Address bus line
6. D4 CPU Data bus line F. A7 CPU Address bus line
7. D5 CPU Data bus line H. A8 CPU Address bus line
8. D2 CPU Data bus line J. A9 CPU Address bus line
9. D1 CPU Data bus line K. A12 CPU Address bus line
10. D0 CPU Data bus line L. D3 CPU Data bus line
11. D6 CPU Data bus line M. D7 CPU Data bus line
12. ~S5 Chip Select--$A000 to $BFFF N. A11 CPU Address bus line
13. +5V P. A10 CPU Address bus line
14. RD5 ROM present--$A000 to $BFFF R. R/~W CPU read/write
15. ~CCTL Cartridge control select S. B02,Phi2 CPU Phase 2 clock
Right Cartridge Slot (800 only):
A B C D E F H J K L M N P R S
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
1 15
1. R/~W CPU read/write late A. B02,Phi2 CPU Phase 2 clock
2. A3 CPU Address bus line B. GND Ground
3. A2 CPU Address bus line C. A4 CPU Address bus line
4. A1 CPU Address bus line D. A5 CPU Address bus line
5. A0 CPU Address bus line E. A6 CPU Address bus line
6. D4 CPU Data bus line F. A7 CPU Address bus line
7. D5 CPU Data bus line H. A8 CPU Address bus line
8. D2 CPU Data bus line J. A9 CPU Address bus line
9. D1 CPU Data bus line K. A12 CPU Address bus line
10. D0 CPU Data bus line L. D3 CPU Data bus line
11. D6 CPU Data bus line M. D7 CPU Data bus line
12. ~S4 Chip Select--$8000 to $9FFF N. A11 CPU Address bus line
13. +5V P. A10 CPU Address bus line
14. RD4 ROM present--$8000 to $9FFF R. R/~W Read/write
15. ~CCTL Cartridge control select S. B02,Phi2 CPU Phase 2 clock
Parallel Bus Interface (PBI) (600XL and 800XL only):
1 49
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
2 50
1. GND Ground 2. ~EXTSEL External Select
3. A0 CPU Address bus line 4. A1 CPU Address bus line
5. A2 CPU Address bus line 6. A3 CPU Address bus line
7. A4 CPU Address bus line 8. A5 CPU Address bus line
9. A6 CPU Address bus line 10. GND Ground
11. A7 CPU Address bus line 12. A8 CPU Address bus line
13. A9 CPU Address bus line 14. A10 CPU Address bus line
15. A11 CPU Address bus line 16. A12 CPU Address bus line
17. A13 CPU Address bus line 18. A14 CPU Address bus line
19. GND Ground 20. A15 CPU Address bus line
21. D0 CPU Data bus line 22. D1 CPU Data bus line
23. D2 CPU Data bus line 24. D3 CPU Data bus line
25. D4 CPU Data bus line 26. D5 CPU Data bus line
27. D6 CPU Data bus line 28. D7 CPU Data bus line
29. GND Ground 30. GND Ground
31. B02,Phi2 CPU Phase 2 clock 32. GND Ground
33. NC Reserved 34. ~RST Reset output
35. ~IRQ Interrupt request 36. ~RDY Ready input
37. NC Reserved 38. ~EXTENB CPU External decoder Enable
39. NC Reserved 40. ~REF Refresh cycle
41. ~CAS Column Address Strobe 42. GND Ground
43. ~MPD Math Pack (FP) Disable 44. ~RAS Row Address Strobe
45. GND Ground 46. LR/~W Latched read/write
47. 800XL: NC. 600XL: +5V 48. 800XL: NC. 600XL: +5V
49. Audio input 50. GND Ground
Enhanced Cartridge Interface (ECI) (130XE, 800XE, and later 65XE only):
A B C D E F H
o o o o o o o
o o o o o o o
1 7
A. Reserved 1. ~EXTSEL External Select
B. ~IRQ Interrupt request 2. ~RST Reset output
C. ~HALT Halt CPU 3. ~D1XX Chip select at area $D1xx
D. A13 CPU Address bus line 4. ~MPD Math Pack (FP) Disable
E. A14 CPU Address bus line 5. Audio input
F. A15 CPU Address bus line 6. ~REF Refresh cycle
H. GND Ground 7. +5V
Keyboard Port (XE Game System only):
1 8
o o o o o o o o
o o o o o o o
9 15
1. KR2 Keyboard Response 8. K2 Keyboard Scan
2. K3 Keyboard Scan 9. Ground
3. K4 Keyboard Scan 10. Not Connected
4. K5 Keyboard Scan 11. Ground
5. KR1 Keybaord Response 12. Not Connected
6. K0 Keyboard Scan 13. Trigger 2
7. K1 Keyboard Scan 14. 5 VDC
15. 5 VDC
------------------------------
Subject: 2.1) What video display devices and speakers can I use with my Atari?
Contributors to channel output variations list:
Jon Levy, Rene de Bie, Sysop Fox-1
The Atari 8-bit computers produce a single video signal and monophonic audio.
The 400/800 models also produce some sounds (primarily the keylick and system
buzzer sounds) by way of an internal speaker.
Most 8-bit Atari computers put out their video and audio signals in two
places:
1) Television cable (400/800) or jack (XL/XE)
This provides a Radio-Frequency (RF) signal carrying both audio and video.
Atari computers were manufactured in two versions: NTSC versions for markets
where televisions support the NTSC signal standard (North America and
elsewhere), and PAL versions for markets where televisions support the PAL
signal standard (Europe and elsewhere).
Any standard television with an analog tuner (NTSC or PAL, matching the
version of the computer) and support for an external antenna should be able to
display the Atari's RF signal. If the television has a speaker then it should
support the Atari's sound output as well.
The RF signal is either available on one VHF channel, or on one of two VHF
channels selectable by a switch on the computer. The channels supported
depends on the market that the version of the Atari was desgined for:
North American computers: VHF channels 2-3 switch-selectable;
channels 3-4 switch-selectable also reported
European computers: VHF channel 4, no switch;
channels 3-4 switch-selectable also reported
UK computers: VHF channel 36, no switch;
channels 38-39 switch-selectable also reported
Australian computers: VHF channel 1, no switch;
400/800: channels 1-2 switch-selectable
Accessories needed (typical setup):
a) RF Cable / TV Video Cable, a proprietary cable for Atari XL/XE computers
The input end is a phono plug that plugs into the Switch Box/
Television jack on the computer. The output end is a phono plug that
plugs into the TV Switch Box.
The 400/800 models have no Switch Box/Television jack. Instead, there is
a cable that comes out of the back of the computer. This cable carries
the RF signal. The output end is a phono plug that plugs into the TV
Switch Box.
b) TV Switch Box
This includes a phono jack for RF signal input from the Atari, input
connector(s) for your TV/cable/satellite attenna, and 75- and/or 300-ohm
VHF output connector(s) for connection to the VHF input on the
television.
While display quality of the RF video signal may be adequate, the quality of
the video signals provided at the Atari's Monitor port are noticeably
superior.
2) Monitor port
A proprietary 5-pin DIN Monitor port, which along with the audio signal
actually provides two video signals:
a) Composite video
b) Y/C Video, also known as S-Video:
separate composite luminance (Y) and chrominance (C) signals
The separate chroma/luma video signal is noticeably superior to both the RF
television output and the composite video output.
Monitor port exceptions among Atari computer models:
-the 400, North American 600XL, and XE game system lack the Monitor port.
-the XE game system includes a phono jack providing the composite video
signal, and also a phono jack providing the audio signal.
-The 600XL, 800XL(most) and 1200XL lack the separate chrominance/luminance
signals at the Monitor port. (But the signals exist internally, and it is a
popular hardware modification to make them available at the Monitor port as
they are on the 400/800/XE models.)
Any video display monitor that supports composite video input (this generally
includes modern televisions) should be able to display the Atari's composite
video signal. Monitors with built-in speakers for audio support, and monitors
with support for separate chroma/luma video inputs, are preferred for use with
the Atari.
Commodore produced many monitors with separate chrominance and luminance
inputs, making them popular with Atari users. Lonnie McClure provides this
list of suitable Commodore monitors:
1701, 1702, 1802, CM-141, 1080, 2002, 1902, 1902A*, 1084**, 1084S**
* The 1902A used a DIN connector for chroma/luma, which makes cabling a
bit more of a problem. The composite and audio connectors are standard
phono jacks, however.
** The 1084 and 1084S had more than one version. Some used the a DIN
connector for chroma/luma connections, like the 1902A, while some used
standard phono jacks.
The 1902 and 1902A are very different in appearance. The original 1902
shares the same slightly rounded front case design as the 1080 and 2002,
while the 1902A is has a rather square case design, and was manufactured
by Magnavox (as were some of the 1084 and 1084S versions).
The pinout for the Atari Monitor port is in the pinouts section of this FAQ
list.
The typical Atari monitor cable includes the male 5-pin DIN connector on one
end, and two phono plugs on the other end. One of the phono plugs will carry
the monophonic sound signal, and the other will carry the composite video
signal. Atari's own CX89 Color Monitor Cable is of this type.
You may find an Atari monitor cable where the video signal carried on the
second phono plug is not the composite video signal, but is rather the
composite luminance signal. These cables are for use with monochrome
composite video monitors (usually green or amber). Atari's own CX82 Black
and White Monitor Cable is of this type.
The ideal Atari monitor cable includes 4 phono plugs at the output end,
carrying the sound signal, the composite video signal, the composite
luminance signal, and the composite chrominance signal. Only the best
composite monitors include separate chrominance and luminance inputs. When
the separate chrominance and luminance connectors are used, the composite
video connector is not used.
There is no real standard for colors for the different monitor cable
connectors. It is safe to identify them by trial and error.
The separate composite chrominance and luminance signals that the Atari puts
out comprise what the world has since come to call Y/C video or S-video.
S-video connectors are normally Mini4. It is possible to build a cable, or
purchase several adapters, that can allow you to utilize the separate Y/C
signals generated by the Atari with a television (or other display device)
that provides a standard S-video Mini4 input jack. This is the ultimate
display option for the 8-bit Atari. Clarence Dyson has a nice page about
such a project at http://www.wolfpup.net/atarimods/svideo.html .
A "video scaler" or "up-converter" is an adapter that will accept an input
video signal such as RF, composite video, or s-video, and output a conversion
of the signal as a standard VGA video signal. With such a device, the 8-bit
Atari can be used with a standard PC VGA monitor. Examples:
- AV Toolbox manufactures several suitable adapters, listed at:
http://www.avtoolbox.com/upconpage.shtml
- Ambery markets their "Ultra Video to VGA Converter", see:
http://www.ambery.com/vitoxgacoscs.html
and other suitable, more expensive Video to VGA/RGBHV Converter Scalers:
http://www.ambery.com/vitovgcosc.html
- Earlier popular devices included:
- Cheese Video Box from AV Toolbox
- JAM!! from AIMS Lab.
Some people report good results viewing the Atari computer's video signal
through a PC using a TV/video capture card. Wikipedia's article about such
devices: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_capture_card
SCART - an acronym for Syndicat des Constructeurs d'Appareils Radiorecepteurs
et Televiseurs - is a 21-pin universal connecting cable/socket system used for
audio/video components in Europe. The cables transmit RGB, composite video,
S-Video, mono and stereo sound. SCART, which is also known as PERITEL, EURO
AV BUS and EUROCONECTOR, is common throughout Europe, particularly in France,
England, Germany, Switzerland, and Scandinavia. SCART is also very popular in
the Russian Audio Video market. It is possible to interface the Atari's
composite video signal, along with the audio signal. DGS sells such a cable,
see: http://www.dgs.clara.net/
Keith Howell has a nice page on some of these topics:
http://www.howell1964.freeserve.co.uk/Atari/800XL/Atari_800XL_Video.htm
Two current sources for Atari monitor connectivity products:
More Than Games produces "A8 A/V BOB", an audio/video breakout box featuring
phono jacks for composite video, chroma, luminance, and mono audio; it also
features an s-video jack providing chroma and luminance.
http://www.a8maestro.com/sites/mtgcat/proda8/advert-e1.htm
Vintage Computer Cables produces Atari monitor cables designed for use with
televisions, plus an Atari S-Video cable.
http://www.vintagecomputercables.com/
------------------------------
Subject: 2.2) What is artifacting?
The following is from De Re Atari, Appendix D: "Television Artifacts":
The ANTIC modes with which this can be accomplished are 2, 3, and 15.
ANTIC mode 2 corresponds to BASIC mode 0, ANTIC mode 15 is BASIC mode 8,
and ANTIC mode 3 has no corresponding BASIC mode. Each of these modes has
a pixel resolution of one half color clock by one scan line. They are
generally considered to have one color and two luminances. With the use of
artifacts, pixels of four different colors can be displayed on the screen
in each of these modes.
The term TV artifacts refers to a spot or "pixel" on the screen that
displays a different color than the one assigned to it.
A simple example of artifacts using the ATARI Computer is shown by entering
the following lines:
GRAPHICS 8
COLOR 1
POKE 710,0
PLOT 60,60
PLOT 63,60
These statements will plot two points on a black background; however each
pixel will have a different color.
To understand the cause of these differing colors one must first understand
that all the display information for the television display is contained in
a modulated television signal.
For the rest of the De Re Atari article:
http://www.atariarchives.org/dere/chaptD.php
Software can be designed to take advantage of artifacting to simulate more
colors than are available from the computer in a given graphics mode. The
downside would be that, depending on the video display deviced used, the
actual colors seen are fairly unpredictable, or there may be no artifacting
effect at all.
A classic example of a game that utilizes color artifacting on the Atari is
the Br0derbund game, Choplifter.
More information about artifacting on the Atari 8-bit computers:
"Atari Artifacting" by Judson Pewther. Compute! #38, July 1983, p. 221:
http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue38/096_1_ATARI_ARTIFACTING.php
or from Compute!'s Second Book of Atari Graphics:
http://www.atariarchives.org/c2bag/page193.php
"GRAPHICS 8 In Four Colors Using Artifacts" by David Diamond. Compute!'s First
Book of Atari Graphics:
http://www.atariarchives.org/c1bag/page203.php
------------------------------
Subject: 3.1) What are the Atari 410, 1010, XC11, and XC12 Program Recorders?
The Atari Program Recorders provide storage and retrieval of programs
and data on cassette tape. In addition to the digital track that stores
computer data, a second audio track is provided to play music or voice
as the program runs.
Data transmission rate: 600 bits per second.
Data storate capacity: 100,000 bytes per 60-minute cassette.
Track configuration: 4 track, 2 channel (digital data and audio track)
410 Program Recorder
- early Japan version had a carrying handle
- most versions made in Hong Kong
- 410a--Taiwan version
- built-in SIO cable - must end SIO daisy chain
- power - plugs directly into wall (most versions)
- "410 P" version (rare). Karl Heller writes:
"It came in the white 410 box with an Atari yellow/orange paper slip
stating which power supply to use with it."
See also: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=39615
1010 Program Recorder
- Chelco version has Stop/Eject, then Pause buttons
- Sanyo version has Pause, then Stop/Eject buttons
- two SIO ports
XC11 Program Recorder
- has a built-in SIO cable and one SIO port
XC12 Program Recorder
- built-in SIO cable - must end SIO daisy chain
Upgrades for the Atari Program Recorders
========================================
Andreas Koch writes: (2004.05.24)
- turbo 6000: a turbo tape enhancement built in the former GDR (german
democratic republic); it worked with 6000 Baud and required special
loading/saving programs that were available as disk-files and also as
cartridges;
Information on the Turbo 6000 Baud Interface and the Chaos Loader:
http://www-user.tu-chemnitz.de/~sgl/atari/turb6000/turb6000.htm
- turbo 2000: a turbo tape enhancement built in Poland or the former
Czechoslovakia; it worked with different speeds (ranging from 600 Baud
to approx. 9600 Baud?) depending on the program itself and the transfer
program; also required a special loading/saving program, available as
disk-files and cartridges;
For more information on the Turbo 2000 (T2000) and SuperTurbo modifications
to Atari program recorders, with speeds up 9600 baud, see
http://jindroush.atari.org
- rambit turbo tape: a turbo tape enhancement built in the UK by Richard
Gore and sold by Microdiscount (Derek Fern); it worked with 9600 Baud
and came with some special software on disk; Microdiscount also sold
many of its own commercial programs (Zeppelin games, etc.) on Rambit
turbo tape...
------------------------------
Subject: 3.2) What other cassette recorders can I use with my Atari?
Firstly Atari themselves put out several more obscure models beyond the
410/1010/XC11/XC12, generally only known in eastern Europe:
XCA12 Program Recorder -in same case as XC12...Poland
CA12 Program Recorder -in same case as XC12...Poland
image: http://romualdl.multimania.com/images/atari/ca12.jpg
XL12 Program Recorder -XC12 w/slight changed design. Czech/Slovak/Poland
XC13 Program Recorder -XC12 which was "T2000 ready". Czech/Slovak/Poland
Unlike other microcomputer systems of the time period, only Atari-specific
cassette tape recorders could be used with Atari 8-bit computers. Several
such peripherals were produced:
Compu-Mate 3-5148A, by General Electric (GE, G.E.)
- Includes external interface module, a power cord/adapter, and SIO cable.
- No second SIO port - must be at end of SIO chain.
- Battery operated or use a power supply
- switch on the bottom, Atari or "All other computers".
- partial source: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=128505
Phonemark PM-4401A Data Recorder
- near clone of XC12
- power - plugs directly into wall, (240v, 50Hz) and has a captive power lead
in addition to the SIO lead.
- source of info:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image%3aPhonemark-Atari-Data-Recorder.jpg
Datamark XG12
- absolute clone of XC12
- info source: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=128505
------------------------------
Subject: 3.3) How do I run a program from cassette?
To run an Atari BASIC program from cassette:
1. Place the cassette in the recorder.
2. Press REWIND of FORWARD, if necessary, to bring the tape to the position
where the program is located.
3. Boot the computer to the Atari BASIC READY prompt.
4. There are several possibilities for the next step, depending on how the
program was saved, and whether you want to run the program or just load
it into RAM. Enter one of the following four commands:
a. CLOAD loads programs saved with CSAVE
b. LOAD "C:" loads programs saved with SAVE "C:"
c. ENTER "C:" loads programs saved with LIST "C:"
d. RUN "C:" loads&runs programs saved with SAVE "C:"
] Relative efficiency of the three cassette tape recording techniques:
] CSAVE/CLOAD - most efficient - fastest saves/loads - tokenized files
] SAVE "C:"/LOAD "C:" - middle efficiency - middle speed - tokenized files
] LIST "C:"/ENTER "C:" - least efficient - slowest - straight ATASCII
5. The computer will "beep" as a signal for you to press PLAY on the recorder.
6. Press the RETURN key on the computer keyboard, and the program will load
into the computer.
7. Press STOP on the recorder when loading has finished.
8. Unless you entered RUN "C:" above, now enter the command: RUN
To run an Atari BASIC or machine language program from cassette upon
startup:
1. Place the cassette in the recorder
2. Press REWIND of FORWARD, if necessary, to bring the tape to the position
where the program is located.
3. Turn on the computer while holding down the START key.
But if your computer has Atari BASIC built-in and you're running a machine
language program, hold down both the START key and the OPTION key.
4. The computer will "beep" as a signal for you to press PLAY on the recorder.
5. Let go of the START/OPTION button(s).
6. Press the RETURN key on the computer keyboard, and the program will load
into the computer.
7. Press STOP on the recorder when loading is complete and the program is
running.
------------------------------
Subject: 3.4) What are the Atari 810, 815, 1050, and XF551 Disk Drives?
Section includes contributions by Andreas Koch, TXG, KMK
The Atari Disk Drives provide storage and retrieval of programs
and data on 5.25" floppy disks.
==> Atari 810 --- a 5.25" floppy disk drive
The least common denominator for the Atari. One mode of operation:
1) Single-Sided, Single-Density--
FM 40 tracks x 18 sectors/track x 128 byte/sector = 90K capacity
19.2Kbps transfer rate. 288RPM.
The 810 includes a 6507 microprocessor.
Shipped with DOS I (very early) or DOS 2.0S
earlier MPI version- push button door opening for disk access
later Tandon version- lift door, like a garage door disk access
two SIO ports
Production of the 810 ended in May 1983.
accessories from Atari:
CX8100 Atari 810 Blank Diskettes (5 per box)
CX8111 Atari 810 Formatted Diskettes II (5 per box)
CX8202 Atari 810/815 Blank Diskettes (5/box, certified for double density)
Third-party upgrades for the 810:
810 Archiver -- copy many copy-protected programs
810 Fast Chip by Binary 10%-40% faster
810 Turbo (810T) by Neanderthal Computer Things (NCT) -- double-density,
track buffering, speed comparable to Happy 810 Warp Speed
Happy 810 -- Happy Backup, Warp Speed 52Kbps, 18 sector buffer
==> Atari 815 Dual Disk Drive --- dual 5.25" floppy disk drives in one unit
Were produced (all hand-built), but are very rare. One mode of operation.
Per drive:
1) Single-Sided, Double-Density--
MFM 40 tracks x 18 sectors/track x 256 bytes/sector = 180K capacity
19.2Kbps transfer rate. 288RPM.
The 815 includes a 6507 microprocessor.
Shipped with DOS 2.0D
MPI mechanism version- push button door opening for disk access
Tandon mechanism version- lift door, like a garage door disk access
The 815 was designed by Paul Mancuso and Levon Mitchell. (Atari History Museum)
accessories from Atari:
CX8202 Atari 810/815 Blank Diskettes (5 per box, certified for double density)
Stephen Knox writes (12/28/02):
I believe the story on the 815s was Atari didn't want to release them due to
severe QA problems with the drive but they had so many preorders they had to
release something. I think they filled the preorders and then cancelled the
model - Most of them got returned due to problems.
==> Atari 1050 --- a 5.25" floppy disk drive
Same as the 810, plus Dual-Density capability. Two modes of operation:
1) Single-Sided, Single-Density, 90K, 810 compatible
2) Single-Sided, Dual-Density, otherwise known as "Enhanced Density" because
it is not true double-density--
MFM 40 tracks x 26 sectors/track x 128 bytes/sector = 130K capacity
19.2Kbps transfer rate. 288RPM
The 1050 includes a 6507 microprocessor.
Shipped with DOS 2.0S, DOS 3, or DOS 2.5
DIP switches: Black & white left: Drive 1
Black right, white left: Drive 2
Black left, white right: Drive 3
Black & white right: Drive 4
Third-party upgrades for the 1050 (all add a true SSDD 180K capability):
1050 Duplicator SS SD/ED/DD "read 18 sectors in the time normally for 1"
(Duplicating Technologies (DT))
sources(Jim Patchell)http://www.oldcrows.net/~patchell/atari/duplicator.html
Happy Warp Speed and compatible:
-------------------------------
Happy 1050 SS SD/ED/DD Warp Speed 52Kbps, 36 sector buffer,
(Happy Computers) Happy Backup. also read/write 180K 5.25" MS-DOS floppies
CheerUp Upgrade SS SD/ED/DD Warp Speed 52Kbps (Happy clone)
(by Happy; an upgrade for 1050 Duplicator)
Hyper Drive (Chaos! Computers)
SS SD/ED/DD Warp Speed 52Kbps (Happy clone)
Speedy 1050 SS SD/ED/DD Warp Speed 57Kbps (Happy clone), 8kb buffer,
(Compy-Shop, now ABBUC) DOS, copier, track & density displays, beep speaker
Mini-Speedy same as Speedy 1050, but without displays & speaker
Super Speedy 1050 SS SD/ED/DD Warp Speed 96Kbps (Happy clone),192K or
(Compy-Shop) 256K RAM
Speedy info:
http://mega-hz.no-ip.com/ATARI/ATARI%208Bit/Hardware/Speedy1050/speedy.htm
UltraSpeed and compatible:
-------------------------
US Doubler (ICD) SS SD/ED/DD UltraSpeed (US) 54Kbps, sector skewing
Super Archiver (CSS) SS SD/ED/DD UltraSpeed 54Kbps (US Doubler clone)
Super Archiver II(CSS)SS SD/ED/DD UltraSpeed 54Kbps (US Doubler clone)
SuperMax 1050 SS SD/ED/DD UltraSpeed 52Kbps (US Doubler clone)
1050 Turbo and compatible:
-------------------------
1050 Turbo SS SD/ED/DD Turbo speed 68.2Kbps
(Bernhard Engl, 1986) Backup software (name?). option: printer interface
Top Drive 1050 SS SD/ED/DD Turbo speed 68.2Kbps (1050 Turbo clone)
TOMS Turbo upgrade for 1050, LDW/Indus, and CA-2001:
adds 1050 Turbo speed (68.2 Kbps) and IBM densities
Add support for multiple above enhancements:
--------------------------------------------
I.S. Plate SS SD/ED/DD Ultra/Warp (USD/Happy clone)
(Innovated Software)
Lazer 1050 SS SD/ED/DD Warp Speed and UltraSpeed 54Kbps
(USD/Happy clone)
TOMS Multi upgrade for 1050, LDW/Indus, and CA-2001:
adds 1050 Turbo (68.2 Kbps) and UltraSpeed (54 Kbps),
and supports IBM densities
Rich Mier professes:
You've been plugging and unplugging the SIO cable with the 1050 power pack
plugged in, right? That's a no-no. Most of the time it's Okay, but about 1
in 10, 20 times, it will blow out 'U-1'. It's a CA/LM 3086 I.C. at the right,
rear of the main board. A 14 pin DIL chip. Actually it is an array of 5
transistors.
Unplug the power pack from the 1050, then unplug the SIO cable. Power can be
ON on the CPU. The problem has to do with the secondary winding of the Power
Pack. Remember, the problem only occurs 1 out of 10 - 20 times that you do
it, not all the time.
It doesn't really matter if the 1050 Transformer has power on or off, it
'Might' happen if plugged into the 1050. It is really bad on 810's.
One thing, if the system has been turned off for, oh say, 5 - 10 minutes it
won't matter. By then all the capacitors should be bled(sc?) to 0 volts.
==> Atari XF551 --- a 5.25" floppy disk drive. Four modes of operation:
1) Single-Sided, Single-Density, 90K, 810 compatible
2) Single-Sided, Enhanced-Density, 130K, 1050 compatible
3) Single-Sided, Double-Density, 180K, Percom & other 3rd parties compatible
4) Double-Sided, Double-Density--
MFM 80 tracks x 18 sectors/track x 256 bytes/sector = 360K capacity
Writes "backwards" to the second side of the disk, when compared to a two-
sided "flippy" disk with SSDD 180K format on each side
High speed 38400 bps burst mode usable only with SpartaDOS X, SuperDOS 5.1,
TurboDOS, DOS XE, and patched SpartaDOS 3.2.
Rotaton rate: 300RPM. Since all other Atari-specific drives run at 288RPM,
this results in rare compatibility issues. Specifically, these commercial
disks do not load in, and can be damaged by, the XF551:
- Flight Simulator II (subLOGIC)
- Blue Max (Synapse)
- Bank Street Writer (Broderbund). Conflicting reports about this one.
8040 cpu + external ROM or 8050 cpu with internal ROM
Shipped with DOS 2.5 or DOS XE.
DIP switches: Both dips down: Drive 1
Left down, right up: Drive 2
Left up, Right down: Drive 3
Left and Right up: Drive 4
Chinon-built XF551-cannot read/write/format backside if no timing hole
Mitsumi-built XF551--can read/write backside if no timing hole, if formatted
The key engineer/designer of the XF551 was Jose Valdes at Atari
Third-party upgrades for the XF551:
CSS XF Single Drive Upgrade--3.5", 720K floppy drive replacement
also read 720K 3.5" MS-DOS disks
see http://www.nleaudio.com/css/products/XFsingdrup.htm
CSS XF Dual Drive Upgrade--add 3.5" drive w/o losing the 5.25" drive
also read 720K 3.5" MS-DOS disks
see http://www.nleaudio.com/css/products/XFdualdrup.htm
CSS XF551 Enhancer--overcomes sensor for index hole, create flippy disks
see http://www.nleaudio.com/css/products/XF551enh.htm
CSS XF Update--replace drive OS, adds UltraSpeed
see http://www.nleaudio.com/css/products/XFupdate.htm
Hyper-XF--available for 5.25" or 3.5" floppy versions; uses sector skewing
aka and UltraSpeed (but no track buffer!); can use disk partitions
HyperXF (2 on 5.25", 4 partitions on 3.5") with mixed Densities (S/E/D)
or standard 360kbytes (5.25") / 720kbytes (3.5"); can
theoretically read/write ST/PC 720k disks (software is missing!)
OS created by Stefan Dorndorf/Germany;
photo: <http://ftp.atari.art.pl/stuff/collections
nir_dary_cds/Pictures2/035%20Hyper%20XF.jpg>
XF-Speedy--replaces the 8040 CPU with a 65C02 + ROM + Memory
------------------------------
Subject: 3.5) What other floppy disk drives can I use with my Atari?
Major contributors to this section: Glenn M. Saunders, Tomasz M. Tatar,
James Bradford, Konrad M. Kokoszkiewicz, Don Schoengarth, Andreas
Koch, TXG/MNX
SD=Single-Density, 90K/disk side
ED=Enhanced-Density, 130K/disk side
DD=Double-Density, 180K/disk side
SS=Single-Sided
DS=Double-Sided (one of 3 possible data-mappings, see below for details)
Printer port=has a standard DB25 parallel printer port,+ maybe a print buffer
Master=includes drive controller, can add additional,non-Atari-specific drives
Top transfer rate is 19.2Kbps unless stated otherwise.
Floppy disk drives designed for the 8-bit Atari computers:
Atari 810 SS SD
Atari 1050 SS SD/ED
Atari XF551 DS SD/ED/DD, 38.4Kbps burst mode
Access Unlimited ATAR88-1
SS SD master
Access Unlimited ATAR40-1
SS SD/DD master
Amdek AMDC I SS SD/DD uses flippy Amdisk III 3" disk/carts,
printerport, master
Amdek AMDC II SS SD/DD dual drives, printer port, master
AS SN-360 DS SD/ED/DD
Astra 1001 SS SD/DD, printer port
Astra 1620 SS SD/DD dual drives
Astra 2001 SS SD/DD dual drives
Astra Big-D DS SD/DD dual drives
Astra The "One" DS SD/DD, printer port
B&C 810 SS SD, optional Happy Warp Speed 52Kbps
Concorde C-221M SS SD/DD master
Concorde C-222M DS SD/DD master
CSS Floppy Board, for the Black Box, master, support PC 720K and 1.44MB 3.5"
drives, support PC 1.2MB and 360kB 5.25" drives,
also read/write 5.25" and 3.5" MS-DOS disks
see: http://www.nleaudio.com/css/products/floppy.htm
Flop Roznov pod Radhostem VD 40 F
SS SS/ED/DD, XF551 compatible, printer port
see: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=99716
High-Density Disk Interface (HDI) by Erhard Puetz. a PCB, master
connect up to 4 standard PC high-density drives
Indus GT SS SD/ED/DD, Synchromesh mode usable with SpartaDOS X
and DOS XL only.
72Kbps under SpartaDOS X, 37Kbps under DOS XL. Z-80 cpu
option: RAM-Charger 64K RAM + software, for CP/M support
Karin Maxi PBI/ECI device, master, WD1772 + 2KB driver ROM
DS formats use PC-standard 'head-first' mapping
L.E. Systems LEDS5-01
SS SD/DD master, 134.4Kbps, 800 only
CP/M expansion: 4MHz Z80, 64K RAM
L.E. Systems LEFDC-04
SS SD Four drives, copies a disk in 22 secs, 800 only
L.E. Systems LEFDC-08
SS SD Eight drives, copies a disk in 22 secs, 800 only
LDW Super 2000 SS SD/DD, 19.2Kbps or 67Kbps. Indus GT clone
"Logical Design Works"
image: http://romualdl.multimania.com/images/atari/super2000.jpg
LDW/California Access CA-2001
SS SD/DD, 19.2Kbps or 38.4Kbps
Indus GT/LDW Super 2000 clone
image: http://romualdl.multimania.com/images/atari/ca2001.jpg
LDW/California Access CA-2002
DS SD/ED/DD,19.2Kbps,70Kbps w/SpartaDOS
Micro MainFrame MF-1681
SS SD/DD, printer port, 4K to 54K printer buffer,
hard disk firmware included, master, Z-80 CPU w/ 16K to
64K RAM for CP/M, TRSDOS, MaxiDOS A, and OASIS.
see: http://www.qnet.com/~dons/mmf.html
Micro MainFrame MF-1682
dual drives version of MF-1681
Percom RFD40-S1 SS SD/DD, master
Percom RFD40-S2 SS SD/DD dual drives, master
Percom RFD44-S1 DS SD/DD, master
Percom RFD44-S2 DS SD/DD dual drives, master
(80-track RFDs hinted at
http://www.atarimagazines.com/v1n2/newproducts.html)
Percom AT88 SS SD, master
Percom AT88-S1 PD SS SD/DD, printer port, master
Percom AT88-S2 PD SS SD/DD dual drives, printer port, master
Rana 1000 SS SD/ED/DD, stand alone disk formatting
RCP 810 SS SD
San Jose Computer Special Edition 810
SS SD, optional Happy Warp Speed 52Kbps
Spider SS SS/ED/DD,XF551 compat,printer port,only 70 protos made
see: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=99716
SWP ATR8000 4MHz Z80, 16K RAM, RS-232, master, printer port
or 4MHz Z80, 64K RAM, RS-232, master, printer port, CP/M 2.2
options: 128K or 256K CO-POWER-88 with MS-DOS; CP/M-86
TOMS 720 DS SD/ED/DD/ID/QD/ST
printer port, MYDOS 4.5 on ROM, 68.2Kbps
Intel 8085 microprocessor
SS/SD - 40 tracks, 18 sectors, 128 bytes/sector = 90 kB
SS/ED - 40 tracks, 26 sectors, 128 bytes/sector = 130 kB
SS/DD - 40 tracks, 18 sectors, 256 bytes/sector = 180 kB
SS/ID - IBM S-9 - 40 tr, 9 sc, 512 bytes/sector = 180 kB
DS/DD - 40 tracks, 18 sectors, 256 bytes/sector = 360 kB
DS/QD - 80 tracks, 18 sectors, 256 bytes/sector = 720 kB
DS/ID - IBM D-9 - 40 tr, 9 sc, 512 bytes/sector = 360 kB
DS/ST - Atari ST - 80 tr, 9 s, 512 bytes/sector = 720 kB
1050 Turbo speed and UltraSpeed
Optional RS-232 port
TOMS 710 features same as TOMS 720, plus:
- also has TOMS Navigator (like Norton Commander) on ROM
TOMS 360 features same as TOMS 720, except:
- no support for 720K formats
Trak AT-1 SS SD/DD master.upgrade: printer port+4K/16K buffer
Trak AT-D1 SS SD master, printer port, 4K print buffer.upgrade:16K
Trak AT-D2 SS SD/DD master, printer port, 4K printbuffer.upgrade:16K
Trak AT-D4 DS SD/DD, printer port, print buffer
Trak Champ SS SD master
Trak Champ2 SS SD/DD master
Trak AT-S1 SS SD/DD slave
Viatronic Brno VD 40 SS SS/ED/DD, XF551 compatible, printer port
XFD601 (Jacek Zuk) DS SD/ED/DD 70kbps,Top Drive,Synchromesh,UltraSpeed,
XF551 compat.
http://atariki.krap.pl/index.php/XFD601
XFD602 (Jacek Zuk) DS SD/ED/DD dual drives,70kbps,Top Drive,Synchromesh,
UltraSpeed,XF551 compat
XF clones with indus GT speed, but have a FAST and TURBO
mode. The Fast mode is the same a INDUS GT and turbo is
also INDUS GT only works with SpartaDOS X. There is a
jumper for Fast/Turbo.
see: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=113924
or: http://atariki.krap.pl/index.php/XFD602
While any standard "slave" drive will work with "master" drives listed above,
the following are slave drives marketed specifically to Atari users:
Access Unlimited ATAR88-A1 SS SD slave
Access Unlimited ATAR40-A1 SS SD/DD slave
Concorde C-221S SS SD/DD slave
Concorde C-222S DS SD/DD slave
Percom RFD40-A1 SS SD/DD slave
Percom AT88-A1 SS SD/DD slave
RCP 100 DS SD/DD, slave
RCP 200 DS SD/DD dual drives, slave
The following information is taken from the documentation for HiassofT's
WriteAtr program, http://www.horus.com/~hias/atari/
Double-Sided drives for the Atari may use one of three different drive-
mapping possibilities.
* Most double-sided Atari disk drives:
First fill tracks 0-39 (or 0-79) on the first side, then switch
over to side 2 and again fill tracks 0-39 (0-79 for 3.5" disks).
* The XF551 first fills track 0 on the first side. Then it
fills track 1, then track 2, ... up to track 39 (on a 5.25" disk)
or 79 (on a 3.5" disk). Then it switches to side 2 and fills
the disk in reverse order (starting at track 39/79, then 38/78,
... til it has reached the end of the disk at track 0).
* The third possibility is the standard in the PC world, but on the Atari
it's possibly unique to drives connected via the Karin Maxi interface.
If your Atari disk drive uses this mapping, it first fills
track 0 on side 1, then track 0 on side 2, then seeks to track 1,
again first fills track 1 / side 1, then track 1 / side 2,
and so on, until it finishes with track 39 (79) / side 2.
The drive switches the heads (sides) first before switching
the track.
------------------------------
Subject: 3.6) What kinds of 5.25" floppy disks can I use with my Atari drives?
Russ Gilbert writes:
If you're talking standard computer store, you can't use those 5 1/4" disks.
I mean you can't use high density disks. They must be double density to use
with the 1050. Almost all double density 5 1/4" disks have a hub ring, high
density disks don't have the hub ring.
RHamiIton5 elaborates: (5/12/01)
The Atari 8 drives do not have write heads and circuity which can handle the
type of oxide coating used on the high density floppy media; they cannot write
reliably to them. The hub ring has just become a sort of marker to distinguish
the high density from the standard double density diskettes.
Way back in your apple days of '79-'82, most disks were hubless and only the
really premium brands offered hubs to prevent slippage and out of round
problems; you could even buy little kits for adding you own hub rings.
When the home computer swell really hit around '83 and price wars began, hub
rings became common on good disks and eventually became standard down to
include most generic bargain diskettes.
The introduction of high density 5.25's required a different coercivity (=
magnetizability) to get more bits in a smaller space and suitable electronics
to do it. These disks were produced hubless; was it a differentiating label or
just unnecessary because of stronger mylar construction? Anyone?
------------------------------
Subject: 3.7) What can I do to extend the life of my floppy disks?
Lee Hart writes (January 2004):
Personally, I have several hundred floppy disks for my Atari 800, Kaypro
4, Heathkit H89, and IMSAI 8080 computers that are 10-20 years old. What
I can say in general:
- Most disks stored in plastic boxes or ziplock baggies survived.
- Most disks stored in cardboard boxes or just their sleeves
did NOT survive.
- Some brands lasted better than others, but I haven't collated the
information so as to make any kind of definitive statements.
- If a disk cannot be read, CLEAN THE DISK DRIVE HEAD before attempting
to read another disk! Otherwise, crap from the bad disk will remain
on the head, and will scar and destroy any SUBSEQUENT disk you put
in the drive! (the voice of painful experience).
- For lack of a better plan, for each of my surviving disks I am:
a. reformatting another blank disk
b. copying the data from an old disk onto the blank disk
Then I have a more recently-produced backup disk in case the
original disk later fails.
------------------------------
Subject: 3.8) What hard drives were designed for my Atari?
Atari never produced hard drives for the 8-bit Atari, but the following
were produced and marketed to Atari users by third parties.
==> Corvus hard drive (5MB, 10MB, or 20MB)
(some Corvus info from an eBay auction by Ben Corr, 7/03)
Attaches via joystick ports 3 & 4 on the Atari 800 only.
-- Corvus Integrator Board - alows access to the Corvus Disc without the
Corvus software, so that any DOS that uses standard SIO calls will work.
-- Corvus Multiplexer - used to network up to 8 Ataris to one Corvus Drive
-- Corvus Mirror card - back up the drive's contents onto video tape
==> SupraDrive Atari Hard Disk, by Supra, later K-Products. 10MB or 20MB.
includes external Hard Disk Interface
Some limitations on drive type and size and total number of drives in sys.
Attaches via PBI, or ECI with adapter.
See: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v5n6/Supradrivefor8Bit.html
==> BTL Hard Disk System
BTL 2001 Connector for 600XL/800XL PBI
BTL 2002 Connector for 130XE/800XE/65XE ECI
BTL 2004 SASI Hard Disk Adapter
See: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v5n12/BTLHardDisk.html
Most hard drives are connected to the Atari via a SCSI or IDE interface.
Such interfaces are covered in other sections of this FAQ List.
------------------------------
Subject: 3.9) How can my Atari utilize my PC's or Mac's storage drives?
==> SIO2PC, by Nick Kennedy
From the SIO2PC home page:
SIO2PC is a hardware & software package interfacing the 8-bit Atari to PC
compatible computers.
The original idea was to have the PC emulate Atari disk drives so Atari
programs could be stored on the PC's hard (or floppy) drives. It turned out
to be quite successful. About 95% of my work was in the software, but a
hardware device to convert logic levels was also necessary. This device is
now commonly referred to as an SIO2PC cable.
Features:
- Emulates 1 to 4 Atari disk drives
- Store your Atari files on PC hard or floppy drives
- Boot from the PC, real drive not needed to start-up
- No software or drivers required for the Atari;
no conflicts: use your favorite DOS
- Twice as fast as an Atari 810 drive and more reliable
- Co-exists with real drives in the Atari daisy chain
- Compatible down to the hardware level: use sector copiers, etc.
- Print-Thru captures Atari print-out and routes to PC's printer
- Convert Atari files to PC files and vice versa
http://www.cox-internet.com/wa5bdu/sio2pc.htm
Another source for various SIO2PC cable design plans is Clarence Dyson's page
at http://www.wolfpup.net/atarimods/
Another (Czech language): http://raster.infos.cz/atari/hw/sio2pc.htm
==> Atari810, by Dan Vernon
A disk drive emulator in the tradition of SIO2PC, for the Windows NT/2000/XP
platform.
http://retrobits.net/
==> Atari Peripheral Emulator (APE), by Steven Tucker
David A. Paterson writes:
"Steven J. Tucker took SIO2PC one better and wrote new software.
The Atari Peripheral Emulator (APE for short):
- lets your PC act as high-speed drives.
- It lets you print to your PC printer.
- And it lets you use your PC modem on the 8-bit."
http://www.atarimax.com/
==> SIO2Linux, by Preston Crow
Pavel Machek made an initial attempt at communicating with the Atari through
an SIO2PC cable using Linux's serial port drivers. He came up with a simple
floppy emulator, femul.c. I rewrote that to add a bunch of features:
* No kernel modules.
Unlike the AtariSIO project, this is just a simple user-space program that
uses a serial port device.
* Create new dynamically sized images
Each image starts as a 3-sector image file, but grows to accomodate the
highest-numbered sector written.
* Mount your native file system as an Atari disk
It's read-only for now, and it doesn't support subdirectories, but each
file is mapped to a different starting sector, and as that sector is read,
it automatically maps in the rest of the file.
http://www.crowcastle.net/preston/atari/
==> Sio2OSX, by Mark Grebe
Sio2OSX is a peripheral emulator for the Atari 8-bit computers that allows
the Atari computer to use an OSX based Macintosh as a disk drive, a cassette
drive, and a printer. Sio2OSX peforms functions similar to APE or SIO2PC on
Windows based computers.
http://www.atarimac.com/sio2osx.php
==> Multi-platform Distributive Operating System Professional for Atari,
by Krishna Software (Krishnasoft)
MPDOS Professional for Atari Features:
o Joystick simulation (2-button and single button)
o Digitized Paddle simulation (just extreme values)
o Allows for using PC joystick or keyboard to simulate Atari joystick
o Works with Atari 5200 (using Digital Joystick Adapter)
o Keyboard simulation (supplied software driver is needed)
o Simulates up to 4 Atari disk drives (D1:, D2:, D3:, D4:)
o Simulates Atari cassette player (C:)
o Includes easy to use parallel port cable (plug and play)
o Hardware level simulation (no drivers required, except for keyboard)
o Supports PC video overlay window
o KDOS4-- a fast binary file uploader
o Multimedia CDROM included (runs on PC and Atari using distributive
programming)
o Built-in editor for creating Atari ASM and Atari BASIC source files
o 6502 Assembler (compile and upload directly to Atari)
o Sample source code
o DOS-based utilities including 6502 disassembler
o Simple GUI interface for simulating peripherals, compiling, and uploading
o On-line 100+ page manual with technical and general information
------------------------------
Subject: 3.10) How can I use SD/MMC cards with my Atari?
Secure Digital (SD) is a flash memory (non-volatile) memory card format used
in portable devices, including digital cameras, handheld computers, PDAs and
GPS units. SD cards are based on the older MultiMediaCard (MMC) format.
==> SIO2SD, by Jakub Kruszona-Zawadzki
http://sio2sd.gucio.pl/
SIO2SD is a device which makes it possible to load games/applications into
8-bit Atari computers via SIO interface from SD/MMC cards.
Device abilities:
- Works with SD/MMC (FAT12,FAT16 and FAT32 formats)
- Handles ATR (rw), XFD (ro) and COM/XEX (ro) file types
- 16x2 LCD display allows to "walk" catalog tree and choose files to load
- Handles SIO with turbo (speed 51200kb/s - hsindex 10)
- All densities with 128B and 256B sectors, including 16MB disks
- Handles drives d1 to d4 (special version d1 to d8 available)
==> SDrive, by C.P.U. (Radek Sterba (Raster) & Robert Petruzela (Bob!k))
http://raster.infos.cz/atari/hw/sdrive/sdrive.htm
The SDrive is a device that connects to Atari XL/XE's serial (SIO) port and
simulates an Atari floppy disk drive with full read/write access to programs
and data stored on a SecureDigital flash card (SD).
Main features:
- Supported flash cards: SecureDigital up to 2GB size, FAT16 filesystem
- Maximum number of drives: 4 (D1: to D4:) + 1 special boot drive
- Supported SIO transfer rates: 3.5 to 128kb/s (standard 19 and 69kb/s)
- Supported disk images: ATR, XFD, size up to 16MB, 128 or 256B sectors
- Supported executable files: COM, XEX, BIN.... (any filename extension).
- Device controlled by software running on Atari from the SD card, which can
be therefore easily updated/replaced
- Drives swappable on the fly by buttons
- Write protect/enable switch
- SDrive ID number selection switch - simultaneous use of up to 4 SDrives
- Low cost design - no LCD, a few LEDs, cheap DIL28 Atmega8 MCU, single sided
PCB
- Firmware and software sourcecode freely available
Special features:
- Buffered reads for speedup
- Delayed writes for speedup and greatly reduced flash write cycles
- Built-in bootloader requiring less than 256 bytes including sector buffer,
relocatable in the $0500-$05F7 to $BE00-$BEF7 range, with SKCTL
initialization before every block. Supports executable files of up to 8MB
size.
- Directory with filename simulated for active files in drives, data handled
through standard 128B sectors. Executable files can be run from most DOSes
or Q-MEG. Random data files with arbitrary suffix can be activated and
opened by a program through DOS or copied to disk images. (Note: 80KB file
size limit applies to standard DOSes, 8MB to Q-MEG and MyDOS)
------------------------------
Subject: 3.11) How can I use a USB flash drive with my Atari?
USB flash drives are NAND-type flash memory data storage devices integrated
with a USB (universal serial bus) interface. They are typically small,
lightweight, removable and rewritable.
==> SIO2USB, by ABBUC Regional Group Frankfurt / Main
The SIO2USB Interface is a peripheral device that can be attached to an ATARI
8-bit computer using the SIO-Bus. It emulates one or more ATARI Floppy-
Drive(s) and does not require any special drivers or Operating-Systems, it is
fully compatible with all ATARI DOS Systems and extensions. Because the
device is connected to the SIO-Bus, it is not necessary to open or modify the
ATARI. The device is powered by the SIO-Bus and does not need an external
Power Adapter. The data are stored on standard USB Mass Storage Devices (USB
FLASH Drives) as ATARI-Imagefiles (ATR or XFD) on a standard FAT filesystem.
SIO2USB features:
o Can boot an ATARI 8-bit Computer without physical Floppy Drive
o Emulation of up to 3 (virtual) Disk drives simultaneously
o Simple device, attached to SIO-Port, no modification of computer necessary
o Mixed operation of real Floppy and SIO2USB possible
o Fully compatible with all ATARI DOS and OS and all ATARI compatible
extensions
o Storage of ATARI-Imagefiles on standard USB FLASH Drives
o Configuration of the device by built-in keys and LC-Display or
configuration program on the ATARI
o Built-in Real Time Clock (RTC)
o Power supply for the device and USB FLASH Drive from SIO-Bus
o Updated SIO2USB Firmware can be applied from within the ATARI (no
additional device or computer required)
o Updates available via Internet (USB FLASH Drive) or direct from the ATARI
(real Disk Drive)
http://home.arcor.de/grasel/sio2usb_e.htm or
http://home.arcor.de/grasel/sio2usb_d.htm
------------------------------
Subject: 4.1) What are the Atari 820, 822, and 825 Printers?
The following printers were produced by Atari and styled to match the 400/800
computers.
Atari 820 Printer: ( = LRC 7000 / Eaton 7000 )
- 40-column impact printer
- 5x7 dot matrix
- 40 characters per line, upper & lower case alpha
- horizontal and vertical alphanumeric characters
- 6507 microprocessor, 6532 RAM I/O chip, 2K ROM
- 40 characters per second
- uses Standard Roll Paper/adding machine paper
Atari 822 Thermal Printer: ( = Trendcom 100 )
- 37 characters per second
- 10 characters per inch
- 40 characters per line, upper/lower case and point graphics
- 5x7 dot matrix
Atari 825 80-Column Printer ( = Centronics 737 )
- 3 character sets:
monospaced 7x8 dot matrix at 10 characters per inch
monospaced condensed at 16.7 cpi
proportionately spaced Nx9 dot matrix at avg of 14 cpi (N=6..18)
- all characters can be elongated (printer double width)
- characters per line: 80 at 10 cpi; 132 at 16.7 cpi
- speed: 50 cps at 10 cpi; 83 cps at 16.7 cpi; 79 cps avg. proportional
- print buffer: 1200 dot columns
- paper: roll, fanfold, or cut sheets
- requires Atari 850 Interface Module or equivalent
------------------------------
Subject: 4.2) What are the Atari 1020, 1025, 1027, and 1029 Printers?
The following printers were produced by Atari and styled to match the XL
series computers.
Atari 1020 Color Printer:
( = Commodore 1520 / Oric MCP40 / Tandy/Radio Shack CGP-115 /..; made by ALPS)
- 4-color graphics: (black, red, blue, green). optional 8-pen rainbow package
- alphanumberics and X,Y plotting capability
- 10 cps (40-column mode)
- 20, 40 and 80-column modes
- horizontal and vertical alphanumerics, English and International chr sets
- water soluble ink pen technology
- 4-pen barrel print head
- microprocessor
- paper: standard roll paper (40 column width)
- AtariGraphics cassette software included
Atari 1025 80-Column Printer: ( = Okidata ML80 )
- 40 cps (80-column 10 cpi mode)
- 5 cpi expanded (40 col), 10 cpi (80 col), 16.7 cpi condensed (132-col)
- 5x7 character dot matrix
- buffer: 132 chrs at 16.7 cpi, 80 chrs at 10 cpi
- paper: roll,fanfold,single sheets. optional:roll paper holder, tractor feed
- North American version has built-in power supply;
European version uses standard external 9V 27VA power supply
Atari 1027 Letter Quality Printer: ( = Mannesmann Tally Riteman LQ.)
- fully formed characters, prestige elite 12)
- 12 characters per inch (80 columns)
- 20 characters per second
- single sheets or roll paper
Atari 1029 Programmable Printer (by Seikosha)
- 7-pin dot matrix, same as Commodore MPS-801
- Released for Europe & Canada (not USA)
- Rich_N_Feymus says:
I think its a SEIKOSHA GP500, but not 100% sure. However, the
Commodore MPS-801 ribbons should be much easier to find.
- The Tandy DMP 110 is another model reported to be the same as the 1029.
------------------------------
Subject: 4.3) What are the Atari XMM801 and XDM121 Printers?
The following printers were produced by Atari and styled to match the XE
series computers.
Atari XMM801 Printer: ( = SHINWA CP80 )
- 80 columns, dot matrix
- friction feed or pin feed
- pica 10 cpi, double width pica 5 cpi, elite 12 cpi,double width elite 6 cpi,
condensed 16.5 cpi, double width condensed 8.25 cpi
- Ribbon: Commodore 1526 and the Mannesman-Tally Spirit 80
Atari XDM121 Letter-Quality Daisy Wheel Printer:
- 80 columns
- underlining, subscripts, superscripts
- friction feed paper
- Ribbon: Silver Reed CF130, Olivetti ET201,ET221,Nu-Kote NK136
------------------------------
Subject: 4.4) What other printers can I use with my Atari?
Some third-party printers were marketed for use with the Atari 8-bit
computers:
Alphacom 42 + Atari interface cartridge
- requires 850 Interface or equivalent
- thermal
- 4 1/2" width paper
- supports complete ATASCII character set
Axiom AT-100 / Seikosha AT-100 / Seikosha GP-100A Graphic Printer
- built-in Atari interface, cable and connector, 2nd SIO port for daisy-chain
- dot matrix
- early model 30-cps, later version 50 cps
- Graph-AX graphics software package
Axiom GP-550AT (by Seikosha)
- built-in Atari interface, cable and connector, 2nd SIO port
- dot matrix
- 86 cps draft, 43 cps NLQ
- Graph-AX graphics software package
Axiom GP-700AT (by Seikosha)
- built-in Atari interface, cable and connector, 2nd SIO port
- 4 hammer print heads, 4-color ribbon cartridge
- 25 colors
- 50 cps
- Graph-AX graphics software package
Epson HomeWriter 10
- plug-in cartridge interface for the Atari
- 80 column dot-matrix printer
- draft quality printing at 100 cps and near letter quality at 16 cps
General Electric GE 3-8100 / TXP 1000
- GE Printer Interface Module for Atari
- dot-matrix
- 50 cps draft, 25 cps NLQ
Okidata Okimate 10 Personal Color Printer
- available Plug 'n Print Interface for Atari
- a thermal printer.
- single-sheet or tractor-feed paper.
- 26 colors
- 240 words per minutes
Tesla BT-100 (Tesla Prelouc, Czech Republic)
- plugs into 2 joystick/controller ports
- Dot matrix, 1 pin (!)
- carbon paper instead of ribbon
- 480 dots per line
- 150 dots per sec (A4 paper in 10 minutes)
- Input power 5 W
- http://jindroush.atari8.info/aczhwbt.htm
- Can be installed in the SP 210-T Data Cassette Recorder
Merkur Alfi (Kovopodnik Broumov, Czech Republic)
- Plotter
- Standard, size A4 paper
- Pens - Any
- Lenght of step - 0.15 mm
- sold only as kit
- http://jindroush.atari8.info/aczhwal.htm
Alfigraf
- plotter
- http://jindroush.atari8.info/aczhwag.htm
Minigraf 0507 Aritma (Aritma Praha, Czech Republic)
- plotter
- Paper - Standard, size A4
- Pens KIN 0577; Centropen 1939; KOH-I-NOOR 4443; Staedtler 40T06-S;
Staedtler 32T03-S
- Speed - max. 80 mm/s
- Lenght of step (error) - 0.125 mm (+- 0.005 mm)
- Input power 30 W
- http://jindroush.atari8.info/aczhwmi.htm
Graficka Jednotka XY4140 / XY4150 (Laboratorni Pristroje Praha)
- Plotters
- Paper Standard, size A4 (297 x 210 mm)
- Printable space 260 x 185 mm (2600 x 1850 steps)
- Step 0.1 mm
- Speed 100 mm/sec
- http://jindroush.atari8.info/aczhwxy.htm
Beyond the above printer models, most any "industry-standard" line printer can
work well with the Atari. For many years, most printers marketed for home use
could be classified into one of two categories: parallel or serial interface.
Parallel line printers were much more commonly used than serial line printers,
with the Epson MX/FX/LX series defining the market.
The most common way to use an industry standard printer with the Atari has
been to attach it through the 15-pin 8-bit parallel port of the Atari 850
Interface Module or equivalent (such as the ICD P:R: Connection). One gotcha
here is that the 850's parallel port is DB15, where the PC world ended-up
standardizing on a DB25 configuration. So you need to find or build a cable,
such as the Atari CX86 Printer Cable, that provides the DB15 connector for the
Atari end, and Centronics-type parallel connector on the printer end, in order
to attach a standard parallel printer to the Atari through an Atari 850 or
equivalent. The pinouts necessary for building such a cable are available
in the Atari 850 Interface section of this FAQ list.
Many 3rd-party disk drives for the Atari (along with the Atari XEP80 Interface
Module) do include a DB25 parallel printer port, rendering the need for an
Atari-specific printer cable unnecessary.
The Atari 850 Interface Module and equivalents also provide standard DB9
serial RS-232-C ports, permitting use of standard serial line printers with
the Atari. But this is much less common than parallel, both in the Atari
world and in the industry at large.
Some folks have connected more modern inkjet and laser printers with parallel
connections to the 8-bit Atari with success. Graphics printouts from the
Atari may be less than ideal (look for a printer with an Epson MX/FX/LX
printer series emulation mode), but these types of printers should work fine
for plain text output if they can handle simple line print jobs.
Bob Woolley wrote on Sun, 14 Apr 2002:
I use HP LaserJet 4Ps on my Ataris. They are one of the last front panel
selectable cheap printers - from which you can select your default fonts,
etc. The newer laser printers can only set fonts and operating modes thru
the interface, not impossible, but not as easy as selecting on the panel.
This does allow you to print just about any point size of the internal
fonts in the printer on your Atari.
Either way, you really have to do a little work to get properly formatted
output from a word processor. I have managed to use the proportional font
setting with AtariWriter and printer driver creation utilities to get good
results.
Mathy van Nisselroy provides an AtariWriter printer driver for the HP LaserJet
here: http://www.mathyvannisselroy.nl/special%20stuff.htm
Carsten Strotmann wrote on 30 Dec 2006:
I'm very happy with the Kyocery Mita Laserprinters. They still support
Epson and IBM ESC Codes (as well as PCL and Postscript), have all Codes
documented in the handbooks (downloadable as PDF from the company
webpage). Also the printers are very reliable and have low life cycle
costs. Be sure to check the Emulation Features, as they also have some
Windows only GDI Printer.
I have the FS1200D (with duplex printing feature).
Modern printers designed for "modern" PCs now normally utilize USB connectors
rather than the older standard Centronics parallel connector.
------------------------------
Subject: 4.5) How can my Atari utilize my PC's printer?
==> SIO2PC, by Nick Kennedy
From the SIO2PC home page:
SIO2PC is a hardware & software package interfacing the 8-bit Atari to PC
compatible computers.
The original idea was to have the PC emulate Atari disk drives so Atari
programs could be stored on the PC's hard (or floppy) drives. It turned out
to be quite successful. About 95% of my work was in the software, but a
hardware device to convert logic levels was also necessary. This device is
now commonly referred to as an SIO2PC cable.
Features:
- Emulates 1 to 4 Atari disk drives
- Store your Atari files on PC hard or floppy drives
- Boot from the PC, real drive not needed to start-up
- No software or drivers required for the Atari;
no conflicts: use your favorite DOS
- Twice as fast as an Atari 810 drive and more reliable
- Co-exists with real drives in the Atari daisy chain
- Compatible down to the hardware level: use sector copiers, etc.
- Print-Thru captures Atari print-out and routes to PC's printer
- Convert Atari files to PC files and vice versa
http://www.cox-internet.com/wa5bdu/sio2pc.htm
Another source for various SIO2PC cable design plans is Clarence Dyson's page
at http://www.wolfpup.net/atarimods/
Another (Czech language): http://raster.infos.cz/atari/hw/sio2pc.htm
==> Atari Peripheral Emulator (APE), by Steven Tucker
David A. Paterson writes:
"Steven J. Tucker took SIO2PC one better and wrote new software.
The Atari Peripheral Emulator (APE for short):
- lets your PC act as high-speed drives.
- It lets you print to your PC printer.
- And it lets you use your PC modem on the 8-bit."
http://www.atarimax.com/
==> Sio2OSX, by Mark Grebe
Sio2OSX is a peripheral emulator for the Atari 8-bit computers that allows
the Atari computer to use an OSX based Macintosh as a disk drive, a cassette
drive, and a printer. Sio2OSX peforms functions similar to APE or SIO2PC on
Windows based computers.
http://www.atarimac.com/sio2osx.php
------------------------------
Subject: 5.1) What are the Atari 830, 835, 1030, XM301, and SX212 Modems?
A MODulator/DEModulator translates digital information from your computer into
acoustic tones that can be sent and received, from modem to modem, via
standard telephone lines.
Atari produced several modems for use with the 8-bit Atari computers:
Atari 830 Acoustic Modem: ( = Novation 'CAT' )
- a stand-alone, acoustically coupled, frequency shift keying (FSK) modem
- up to 300 bits per second
- Bell 103/113 modem compatible
- requires Atari 850 Interface Module or equivalent
Atari 835 Direct Connect Modem: (by Racal-Vadic?)
- 300 bps
- Bell 103/113 modem compatible
- pulse dialing
- 2 SIO ports
- packaged with the TeleLink II cartridge
Atari 1030 Direct Connect Modem: (by Racal-Vadic)
- 300 bps
- Bell 103/113 modem compatible
- built-in ModemLink software.
- 2 SIO ports
Atari XM301 Modem:
- 300 bps
- Bell 103/113 modem compatible
- with XE Term disk software (developed by Russ Wetmore for Atari)
- permanent SIO cable, must be at end of SIO chain
- draws its power from the computer via SIO
Atari SX212 Modem:
- SIO & DB25 RS-232 serial ports, must be at end of SIO chain
- 1200 baud
- Bell 103/113/212A modem compatible
- SX Express! disk software (developed by Keith Ledbetter for Atari) sold
separately, packaged with an SIO cable.
- Key engineer/desginer: Jose Valdes at Atari
------------------------------
Subject: 5.2) What other modems can I use with my Atari?
Some third-party modems were marketed for use with the Atari 8-bit
computers:
==> Microconnection, by The Microperipheral Corporation
300 bps, Bell 103 compatible, T-SMART software, pulse dialing (not touch tone)
Four versions:
buss-decoding version does not require 850 Interface or equivalent, includes
DB25 parallel printer interface, with or without autodial
Plain version requires 850 Interface or equivalent, with or without autodial
and autoanswer
==> MPP-1000C, by Microbits Peripheral Products
300 baud, joystick port 2, Smart Terminal cartridge
==> MPP-1000E, by Microbits Peripheral Products
300 baud, joystick port 2, Smart Term software
From: "Steven J Tucker" Sun, 13 Jan 2002 16:14:38 -0500
The 1000E..had this strange problem in that it could never hang up the phone
==> MPP-1200A, by Microbits Peripheral Products
Released? Vaporware?
1200 bps, joystick port 2
==> 300 AT, by Supra (same as MPP-1000E)
300 baud, joystick port 2, Smart Term software
==> 1200 AT, by Supra
1200 baud, Hayes compatible, connects to SIO via SupraVerter/R-Verter cable,
Smart Terminal software
==> Volksmodem, by Anchor Automation
300 baud, 'F' Cable permits connection to joystick port 2
==> Q-MODEM, by Quantum Microsystems
300 baud, two SIO connectors, QuanTerm disk or cartridge
Beyond the above modem models, most any "industry-standard" external serial
modem can work well with the Atari. These have been commonly sold for PCs for
many years. The Hayes Smartmodem more or less defined the market for these,
initially.
One common way to use an industry standard external serial modem with the
Atari is to connect it to the SIO port via an Advanced Interface Devices
(A.I.D., later Supra) R-Verter Serial Bus Modem Adapter cable, or
equivalent.
The other common way to use an industry standard external serial modem with
the Atari is to attach it through the 9-pin RS-232-C serial port of the Atari
850 Interface Module or equivalent (such as the ICD P:R: Connection). One
gotcha here is that the serial port on the 850 is DB9 female, where the PC
world ended up standardizing on a DB9 male connector for this purpose. But
gender converters are readily available.
For using modems at speeds of 2400 bps and up with the Atari, it will be
useful to have an understanding of data flow control. Here is a definition
of flow control from www.modems.com:
Often, one modem in a connection is capable of sending data much faster than
the other can receive. Flow control allows the receiving modem to tell the
other to pause while it catches up. Flow control exists as either software,
or XON/XOFF, flow control, or hardware (RTS/CTS) flow control. With software
flow control, when a modem needs to tell the other to pause, it sends a
certain character, usually Control-S. When it is ready to resume, it sends a
different character, such as Control-Q. Software flow control's only
advantage is that it can use a serial cable with only three wires. Since
software flow control regulates transmissions by sending certain characters,
line noise could generate the character commanding a pause, thus hanging the
transfer until the proper character (such as Control-Q) is sent. Also,
binary files must never be sent using software flow control, as binary files
can contain the control characters. Hardware, or RTS/CTS, flow control uses
wires in the modem cable or, in the case of internal modems, hardware in the
modem. This is faster and much more reliable than software flow control.
Some 2400 bps modems, and probably all modems with 9600 bps speed capabilities
and up, normally use V.42 standard error correction and V.42bis standard data
compression. But V.42 requires either software or hardware flow control, and
V.42bis requires hardware flow control (and V.42 error correction).
Hardware flow control is not available with the Atari 850 serial ports.
As a result, just before dialing out with your Atari telecom software, it's
usually desirable, if not necessary, to disable your modem's flow control.
The Hayes modem command to disable flow control looks like:
AT&K0
The top speed of the Atari 850 serial ports is 9600 bps.
Clay Halliwell offers a tip on utilizing 9600 bps through the 850 Interface:
On 11 Feb 1996, Marc G. Frank said:
> I'm having problems getting a modem attached to my Atari 850 to
> communicate at 9600 baud. When I set my communications program to 2400
> baud, everything works fine. However, when I set it to 9600 baud, the
> modem echoes my characters but doesn't act on them. That is, at 2400,
The problem with the 850 is that some of them (like mine) don't produce a
PERFECT 9600 baud signal. As a result modems can't train on it, and while
they will echo characters back, for some nitpicky reason they won't pick up
on the "AT" attention code.
The solution is to do all your dialing at 2400 baud, but set the S37
register to force the modem to try to connect at 9600. Then switch your
Atari to 9600 after connecting.
Through the use of an ICD MIO or a CSS Black Box, it is possible to utilize
modems at speeds up to 14.4 Kbps (V.32bis) at full speed with no loss of data.
The serial R: device handler for the Black Box supports hardware flow control
natively. Optional for the Black Box, but essential for the MIO, is the
HyperSpeed handler by Len Spencer.
Hyperspd.arc is available at http://www.lspenc13.us/Lenspencer/atari8.htm
Modern external modems designed for "modern" PCs now normally utilize a USB
connector rather than the older standard DB9 RS-232-C serial connector.
------------------------------
Subject: 5.3) How can my Atari utilize my PC's modem/network?
==> Atari Peripheral Emulator (APE), by Steven Tucker
David A. Paterson writes:
"Steven J. Tucker took SIO2PC one better and wrote new software.
The Atari Peripheral Emulator (APE for short):
- lets your PC act as high-speed drives.
- It lets you print to your PC printer.
- And it lets you use your PC modem on the 8-bit."
Greg Goodwin writes (2005):
Steven Tucker made this wonderful ability in the Windows version of Atari
Peripheral Emulator (APE, the program and cable that lets you make a PC an
Atari's bit...er..slave. :D) There is a great ability to tap into the PC's
Internet. Bring up the APE program on the PC, BobTerm on the Atari, and
BobTerm will notice the Internet out there. Now you can enter in a telnet
address and it will take you right to it. Nice and basically cheap setup, and
great way to take advantage of the Internet setup on your PC.
http://www.atarimax.com/
==> Sio2OSX, by Mark Grebe
Sio2OSX is a peripheral emulator for the Atari 8-bit computers that allows
the Atari computer to use an OSX based Macintosh as a disk drive, a cassette
drive, and a printer. Sio2OSX peforms functions similar to APE or SIO2PC on
Windows based computers.
http://www.atarimac.com/sio2osx.php
------------------------------
Subject: 5.4) What networking hardware is there for the Atari?
==> CSS Deluxe Quintopus
Share SIO devices between 2 computers. The Deluxe Quintopus consists of a box
with two switched SIO ports and 4 unswitched SIO ports.
http://www.n