Atari 800 XL Review

[@crookerplays5409]

This computer holds a special place in my heart. I started with a 600xl, and moved up to an 800xl in the late 80's before moving to a PC in 1991. I spent many hours this machine, and 1000's of dollars on accessories. Bought the cassette AND eventually the floppy drive. I was always the "Atari" guy when every one of my friends had commodores. I thought I had this computer in a box somewhere, but it seems to have gone missing, and I'm worried that it just disappeared somewhere through my journey into adulthood. Just an amazing machine.

[@nickolasgaspar9660]

The Atari 8bit line was the first line of Home Computers that had: -an SIO port, the first implementation of a universal port. The guy who designed that port was part of the team responsible for the development of the USB port. -SVIDEO output -Custom co-processors designed to unload work from the main CPU. -Auto boot mode for all types of mediums. (Cassette, floppy disk, cartridge). -Hardware sprites, scrolling and scaling. -Huge color palette (256) and Display list Interrupt allowing dozens of color to appear on the screen -4 sound channel with High Pass filter (can emulate SID sound waves on two channels at a time) Ohh....it also had a reset key.

[@keninvictoria]

Very nostalgic. I still have my Atari 800, 1020, 810, 850 and an 800 XL, as wellas spare ICs (GTIA, POKEY, ROMS, etc.). Nice to see there are others who have an interest.

[@wallacelang1374]

I still have my Atari 800XL computer today, which I am able to use for all my various needs. For the Atari 800XL makes a fine home video game console. The Atari 800XL is a good word processor with the AtariWriter. I have used various programming languages on my Atari 800XL (e.g. Assembly, BASIC, Logo, Pilot).

[@howardmorgan4196]

this brings back many memories - bought one of these for my kids, with a casette drive. I remember a shortage of games and the dreadfful slow program loading, only to have to restart it because of some loading error. I took it on and added a floppy drive and structured basic written by a guy called Ostrowski which I loved and learned a great deal from. I wrote a u value and heatloss program to help me design my central heating. This was a huge success and led to designing insulation as well for my old victorian house, but I think most people just used it as a games machine I'm still in the house, the heating still works , but where the Atari is I do'nt know, but I've still got some of the before and after printouts I produced Thanks for the memory

[@davidmacphee3549]

$600 for the cassette drive that worked like waiting for a bus in the rain for an hour. is it coming or not? Should have walked. Would have been eating supper by now.

[@daehawk9585]

Still have my original 83 one like new in all boxes with styro and all books. Have the 800xl and 1050 and 1010 drives. Never had a printer though. I was 14 when I got it for Christmas. Used to have some cassette games and even F15 Strike Eagle on double sided disk from Kmart lol. I could swear it was Atari version on one side and Apple the other.

[@gravis2000]

Ahh yes Microprose

[@delatroy]

Cool review. I have so many good childhood memories with this system

[@dude8869]

Great video. I had the 600XL from the same year. It started me down a path that removed me from my early manufacturing production floor trappings to a varied but very well paying IT career. No college required when you started out this early.

[@ShamrockParticle]

Those were the days! And still are, the XL was extremely well built (many XEs have RAM problems) . I'd still check the power supply for stable and appropriate voltage.

[@gravis2000]

The fact you could daisy chain the devices together was amazing for the day.

[@charlesjohnson-cj1or]

Had an 800XL in '83and an 300 baud acoustic modem. Did some programming with it in Atari Basic. I am a cyclist, the program I wrote would allow me to enter the chainring tooth count and the freewheel tooth count and would then calculate Gear Inches I would be in when switching from gear to gear. This enabled you to select the correct Chainring and freewheel tooth count to eliminate duplicate gearing. Somewhere in all my moving over the last 65 years I lost track of the 800XL Those were the 'good old days' of computing, all new.

[@davidmacphee3549]

O.S.S Basic XL was perfect. Atari Basic was so flawed. Enter a line of code with 255 characters the system crashes. My god, I worked on this game for 2 days!

[@danoblue]

Ah what memories. I had an Atari 800 XL in the mid-80s and did a lot with it. There were a lot of piated programs around, mostly from smart young nerds, and it was not too complicated to get almost any type of program--even C and Pascal programming. I cranked my Atari up to 256K memory with SpartaDos and XLEnt Word processor, and used the 1050 disk drive (noisy thing) and an Atari printer. I finally had to sell it for parts as 8-bit computers were no longer sold. Interesting era then--somewhat more human in some ways.

[@dinofmj]

This computer was my first computer way back in the early 80s. I had the main computer, and the cassette . . . one thing I really regret not having was the disk drive . . . the cassette was very very limited. I was able to make simple basic programs. But without a disk drive, I could not do word processing . . . Then in a few years, I had the Commodore 64. But I still like Atari 800 XL.

[@davestelljes6454]

Nice video, Brian. I recently pulled my Atari 800XL and STs out of the attic and have started to test them out. Today I started up the 800XL and everything works! 'Been offline since around 1986 when I purchased my first 520ST. I have quite a few 5.25" floppies and I hope to get them transferred to modern media. Some of the disks that I've tested so far are either on Atari DOS 2.5 or several versions of SpartaDOS by ICD. Anyway- time to roll up my sleeves and get back into the game! Ironically, I did play games once in a while back in the day, but enjoyed "collecting" them for sure, and also had fun writing programs... utilities mainly. We also had our own Atari user's group that brought many of us in our area together. I ran a BBS for around 4 years called WESTAR BBS and had a blast doing that as well.

[@petrok1rp254]

My Atari 800XL is still in use and makes many experiments, measurements and other tasks except just games... :)

[@CyBeRTRoNFLuX]

great info. you realy go in detail on this system. i just picked one up at a swap meet and this was very helpfull.

[@davidmacphee3549]

Not really, there are much better. Sorry.

[@digitalvalor8275]

The Atari 800 XL with 1010 drive was my first PC, and the first game on it was River Raid. Great memories!!

[@J-Ball]

Excellent run-down! Such a great system for its time!

[@PlasmaBurns]

Still have the Atari800xl and the 1050 floppy drive in a box in the closet, beside a box of 2 intellivision consoles and 40 games or so. I wonder if they still work,

[@christoohunders5316]

Young generations have no idea how much computing cost back in the eighties, my dad had to wait and save for a few years before he could afford an Apple II ! And in France, the second hand market was barely available through ads in specialized mags, and it was generally no bargain, people sold their machines way more than 50% their original cost. The Atari XL computers and peripherals were sexy and sleek, but damn they were expensive compared to the competition. Another thing young generations would find impossible to understand is the absolute non compatibility among all the 8bit platforms, games had to be ported from one machine to the next by software companies making it impossible to play favorites games on some machines.

[@Truthseeker1515]

First computer my parents purchased for me in Feb 1986, I was 12. We had a tape drive in the UK. Most of my school friends did. At the time, I did not even know the computer could use cartridges! I tried learning BASIC but kept on copying programmes. I wished I had made more efforts....just kept playing games...Super Zaxxon, The Goonies, Drop Zone, Zorro....Still have the computer at home. And some of the games. By the way, the TV was called a monitor in the UK...

[@markwiygul6356]

I had the Atari 130XE with 128K, 1050 Disk Drive and the 1027 letter quality printer (with an "Elite" font print head). Later I got the XM301 300 baud modem and Atari's new 8pin "XMM801" Dot Matrix Printer. The XE-Term modem software was very fun to use. As was the Atari Writer Plus word processor, which had a "spell check" disk, and it could use the 130XE's extra memory. The XE came out at about the same time as the ST did, during the Tramiel Atari era.

[@naytch2003]

My very first computer..still have one today

[@joejoejoejoejoejoej]

I thought you had to put cartridge in whilst machine was off !!! Or am I thinking of the Atari TV console???! I miss using my Atari 800XL ❤️😢

[@josephaether377]

man those Japanese game devs were the most creative people. all that music that i took for granted when i was young, such as the track at the startup of the video, was original and genius. .

[@BekBrace]

Great stuff Brian 👍 Atari 800XL has the first spot in my heart for computer , I had a gray cassette not sure if it is 1050 though ; and it certainly brings back my childhood memories and my first basic programs that I was writing on this machine

[@Veins1]

I used to have Pacman and Choplifter. I wish I could see these games once more

[@1luarluar1]

very interesting, I did not know about this line of consoles...thank you for uploading!

[@bierundkippen720]

Not a console - a computer.

[@davidoflight1313]

Ah, the Atari 800XL - Wrote simple real-time 6502 assembly programs and used Antic-IC vertical blank interrupts; such a joy!

[@KennethGundersen]

Am I remembering wrong if I recall there was real music on some games when loading the game with the casette player?

[@Urban_Flux]

on the other track of the tape? i think so! :O)

[@TimLocke]

It's too bad we can't see the screen.

[@MichaelRBrown-lh6kn]

The parallel bus on the back of the XLs was NOT a parallel port for printers. I don't think any device made use of it.

[@rudolfrieder186]

There are some devices. Atari 1064 Memory Module, ICD Multi I/O Board, CSS Black Box, SupraDrive, Turbo Freezer XL and some more

[@paullambert8701]

@@rudolfrieder186 The 1064 memory module only connected to the 600 XL, not the 800 XL.

[@SHUPIRATE1991]

Great demo of the system.

[@davidmacphee3549]

Not really, there are much better. Sorry.

[@joejoejoejoejoejoej]

800XL !!! My old mistress !!!! Was a keyboard ahead of its time.. more attractive than C64 and BBC models!!!!

[@Mr_ToR]

Nice video and SD/480p resolution is ok too but why 16x9 though?

[@barese420]

Another awesome video my friend great big thumbs up have a great weekend 🍁🍁🍁🎃🎃🎃👍😀👍👍👍💕

[@jessewarford76]

i thought the 1200xl was the third version, behind the 400 and 800. i believe the 600xl was next with the 800xl being 5th in line. but i liked the review! i had my 800xl for many years, and my wife bought me a brand new 130xe 5 years ago, and my brand new 800xl was delivered today, but i can't play with it till this weekend. good luck with your channel!

[@blinkypa]

Yes, the 1200XL came out before the 600XL & 800XL. Then around 1985 the 65XE and 130XE came out, and the last was the XEGS for the 8 bit line. There were a few other models released in Europe, like an 800XE. Also just to correct in the video, the 1027 was a letter quality printer, most of them by now the print wheel has degraded from the rubber cracking. The 1025 was the dot matrix printer.

[@MichaelRBrown-lh6kn]

When we talk about the Atari 8-line, the 400 & 800 are grouped together as the first set of computers. Then the 1200XL, then the 600/800XL, then 65/130XE, and finally the XEGS

[@ianvallender7892]

I'd suggest picking up a modern solution like the Sdrive max loading files from an SD card.

[@petrok1rp254]

Even although I saw many of them expressing 48kB RAM squares in test my 800XL shows only 40kB RAM tested only. I also found some vids with similar behavior on YT. Any suggestion please?

[@davidmacphee3549]

40k available for your file. The extra 8K was for the operating system and Basic. No wait. It was reserved for graphics and sound. Well, a mix. You could only write to 40 K if you were really that good. Buying games for it was dumb. It is for learning to write your own games. You buy a new game, you are down $60. The passion was there. It was a drug.

[@petrok1rp254]

Thanks David. I got it. When I learnt how to start it without loading the Basic OS then it shows and testing complete 48kB available… all is ok. I love my 800XL still !

[@jerrypettersson259]

I think i held in option button on right side and it load the disc automatic

[@davidmacphee3549]

I wrote Atari games as a great hobby for 10 years. TheF*nk Cat kept pis*ing into them. Big Bucks back then!

[@crzymktrdrebel]

A great video man what would you recommend for Atari 800 computer, for gaming? Thank you

[@8ByteBrian]

I would recommend Pac-Man, Popeye, Centipede, Gyruss, Missile Command, & Defender. All great games on the 800 just for starters.

[@crzymktrdrebel]

@@8ByteBrian Thanks a lot. What model Atari 800 would recommend or would you recommend a different Atari 8 bit Computer for gaming only? Thanks again Mike..

[@keninvictoria]

Star Raiders and Missle Command. There were many real good floppy based games from 3rd party companies as well.

[@petrok1rp254]

My 800XL shows only 40kB RAM tested only. Any suggestion please?

[@naytch2003]

Look for a guy on KZbin called flashjazzcat..the guy knows a ton about ataris

[@davidmacphee3549]

​@@naytch2003 The extra 8K was for the operating system and Basic. No wait. It was reserved for graphics and sound. Well, a mix. You could only write to 40 K if you were really that good. Buying games for it was dumb. It is for learning to write your own games. You buy a new game, you are down $60. The passion was there.

[@naytch2003]

@@davidmacphee3549 ok

[@davidmacphee3549]

@@naytch2003 You want to know the most horrible part? You could make your kids crazy excited about playing your new game. My youngest at the time was about four. She liked my version of Pacman the Best but insisted I take out all the Ghosts, as she loved navigating around with the fantastic Atari Joystick and red button, but was horrified the ghosts were chasing her. "Daddy ... Oh" My kids were great for debugging my games. If it was going to crash it did so with honor. Providing me with the line number and error code. Sounds good, right? The trouble was there was no internet and hardly anyone to share your work with except the kids. My Wife was only interested in watching her shows and I was tying up the TV and getting all the attention. over time the discs seem obsolete along with all the gear as if it never even happened. We had a Sony Trinitron a little dream machine. Super sharp and steady, 14 inches of goodness.

[@naytch2003]

@@davidmacphee3549 Yes I remember the good old days of no Internet

[@michaelreyes6761]

Can I connect this console to a modern tv?

[@ShamrockParticle]

Use the monitor DIN cable and connect the composite leads to a Composite to HDMI adapter. Atari Video61 and Best Electronics will have the cables and adapters you'd want. www.best-electronics-ca.com/ www.atarisales.com/

[@SeñorDossierOficial]

Neptr loves Atari ♥

[@tualatindave3797]

Hehe.. good times. Used that Word processor to write my college papers and printed them with the Atari dot matrix printer. I thought I was da bomb.

[@swingstylez]

I always thought the disk drive was one-zero-one-zero I used to have the Star NX1000 printer. It was very robust. But I managed to go through two floppy drives :-/

[@mjp29]

The Atari Disk Operating System was far superior to the Commodore 64 !!!

[@soulguardian0760]

I have the same Pac-Man mirrored picture. I won in the sixth grade.

[@retrovideogamejunkie]

i just came here to watch how a keystone kappers needs 30 minutes to load from that cassette i record on my double deck

[@catherineveraiter8270]

Can't load a cartidge...why???

[@productions4452]

The system has to be close when you put the cartilage then open it and it will work

[@barrycooper8640]

This was my first computer. Do you remember the coding section in the com 64 mag?

[@paullambert8701]

You got a few of the details wrong on this, sadly. It would otherwise have been a very good video.

[@swk38]

Hammer them keys... Lol

[@mimimimek3488]

gg ihave one.

[@michaelschlabach836]

t.c.t ;)