The Atari 800 : (as seen in Terry Stewart's computer collection)

[@RBLevin]

The Atari 800 was the bomb.

[@Brutus_Kennedy_Rutherford_III]

Glad to see you back, Terry. Just want to say thanks for taking the time to put these out, and looking forward to whatever else may come!

[@tezzaNZ]

Much appreciated!

[@plechaim]

Good to see you back

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks for the support.

[@AlanJEdmonds]

I thoroughly enjoyed watching this, Terry. It’s great to see a new video from you after all these years. Thanks for taking the time, it’s much appreciated.

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks for the support.

[@jbwrist]

I have an Atari 800 and enjoy using it. The graphics are surprisingly good.

[@tezzaNZ]

For its day, I agree.

[@davethetaswegian]

It really was the Amiga of its time with graphics and sound that were a leap beyond the established players. It's designer, Jay Miner, indeed went on to do the Amiga.

[@thereallemac]

Could not have said it better! Way ahead of its time!

[@Applecompuser]

it was state of the art. C64 came out a bit later, with a bit more memory, and bc it had a larger user base, there was more software. Atari's problem became circular. Also, apparently, Atari was losing lots of money at this time and was not very focused. But, I bought mine in 82 and took it to college. I still have fine memories of it. it feels a shame that it never lived up to its potential.

[@RealtyWebDesigners]

Yep.

[@RealtyWebDesigners]

@@Applecompuser Remember you had to have better than a 9 pin printer for professional use?

[@Applecompuser]

@davethetaswegian. The Amiga was really the Atari of its day. In fact, the Jay's chips that went into Amiga were almost placed into an Atari computer. In fact, I think Atari funded some of the development and even gave Jay a loan for the project. That said, the two companies should have combined. They had similar target audience.

[@michaelstoliker971]

Terry, yours was the first retro channel I found when I first got on KZbin 10 years ago. It's good to see you re-visiting and updating your videos. The Atari one was the first of the new updated videos I tripped across. I just got an 800 a month ago when I traded a C64 with a local collector and I finally have an 800 again after nearly 30 years. I'm surprised that you thought it was small as I always thought it was a bit of a beast after my Atari 400. I had many questions for you when I first watched your videos and I'm looking forward to watch the updated versions.

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks. I've finished remastering all the ones that are on the channel now, so feel free to browse through them at your leisure. There will be a few more to come though over the week and months. Yes, as I said in the video, I may have been used to those larger and heavier late 1970s machines of the day with full stroke keyboards. The Atari 800 was quite compact next to them.

[@lorensims4846]

It was one of the largest of the 8-bit Atari computer line, though the 1200XL was pretty big too.

[@wmtrader]

Terry is looking better than I expected. I was expecting a wrinkly old man with a droopy face and one eye looking down to the left.

[@tezzaNZ]

Give it time. I'm getting there lol

[@fragalot]

5:26 The special "Atari key" was a commonly used key. It's used to "invert" a character on screen from it's background color. This made characters on screen appear blue on white, instead of white on blue. All this did was enable the 8th bit in the ATASCII character set so that you could type ATASCII character between 128-255 on screen. This key was NOT removed in later versions of the Atari 8bits, they just changed the logo to a black and white box to indicate what it's purpose, and moved to the other side of the SHIFT key. What wasn't commonly used was the secondary right cartridge slot on the Atari 800, and that was omitted in all future generations.

[@tezzaNZ]

I see. I didn't realise it had been re-labelled rather than removed. Thanks for that point. As regards the right-hand slot being absent in future models, yes I mentioned that at 8:20.

[@tarstarkusz]

Atari's game releases were usually high quality affairs in terms of the art on the cartridge, the box and the manual. Even the 2600 games usually included glossy paper if slightly less elaborate than the manual shown in your collection. But keep in mind the 800 came with 16k of RAM (in 1979, more later) and was a $1000 USD. This was 4000 2023 Dollars (this is using the BLS (official keeper of us statistics) BS numbers. You can probably add at least 50% to that number, so more like $6000). Though Galaxian was not a launch title, it came out at a time when 800 cartridges were being sold at a large premium for a 4000 Dollar computer.

[@heraldb.1077]

A new video! Fantastic!

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks. One or two more to come in the next few weeks/months

[@JasonVectrex_187]

Got that 400/800 book with a 400 complete in box with like 40 games. I was impressed by the sound and graphics when I first played mine. I still actively collect for it.

[@tezzaNZ]

Cool. Do you have a favourite game for it?

[@JasonVectrex_187]

@tezzaNZ no I usually pop them all in and give them a serious shot at doing good. Usual missle command etc. Qbert looked really good on it

[@ironheart6704]

I had a 2600 when was a kid, I was so proud of my 64 + cartridges. Congrats on your pristine videos, Terry.

[@tezzaNZ]

Many thanks,

[@gaxiola1701]

Yes! First new video is the Atari 800, my family's first computer!

[@donny121able]

I remember peeking and poking back when i was around 9 years old. My introduction to programming was quite overwhelming with the Atari basic. Nevertheless, it was a fantastic 8 bit machine. It took many years to appreciate how much it actually cost my dad at the time, given that he was on a regular wage. Thanks for helping me go down memory lane...

[@tezzaNZ]

You're welcome. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@captainsemicolon]

Great to see new content! Loved re-watching the upscales, and so glad you are back making new videos! Welcome back

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks. There will be a few more to come next year.

[@alexandermirdzveli3200]

WOW! A new system in the collection! We're in for a treat!

[@tezzaNZ]

Haha. Well, I've only got one more I haven't covered yet. But thanks for the support.

[@erickorth3751]

excellent sir! It makes me so happy that you are thinking of more videos. Thank you so much for taking the time remastering your older videos as well. It’s great that you not just a collector but truly enjoy and cherish your machines!

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks for that. Yes, I feel better not having those old low-res versions around now. They were ok at the time, but quality expectations have risen with the times.

[@orinokonx01]

This made my day, seeing a new video from your classic computer collection! Thank you Terry!

[@tezzaNZ]

Cheers!

[@banjobear1666]

Its great to see a new video from you Terry. Watching your original videos started me off on my own retro journey. Thanks !

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks good to hear. Thanks!

[@AmbersKnight]

Great to see you back. I always found your videos informative and enjoyable to watch and remained subscribed in the hope that if you got a new machine to add to your collection we would get another video. Very happy to see you back again.

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks for hanging in there with me.

[@tarstarkusz]

Great video Terry. Best of luck and I hope you do decide to make those videos. You have a very good review style.

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks for that.

[@theden0minat0r]

It’s so great to see you again. Thank you so much for all the hard work on your channel.

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks for the support!

[@klf6992]

So happy to see you making new material. Thanks so much!

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks for the support

[@paulcordingley3434]

Great to see you again Terry! I always enjoyed your videos - I’ll watch whatever you put out ❤

[@tezzaNZ]

Thank you.

[@lmull3]

So excited for the new content!

[@tezzaNZ]

You're welcome

[@tarstarkusz]

The 800, which is a model of what is commonly called "the Atari 8 bit line" has a pretty active modern scene. Not quite as active as the 2600 or the C64, but still a fairly active scene with pretty regular releases of new games and software for the 8 bit line. The really nice part is the software that gets released tends to be very high quality. No rushed ports. No cash grabs figuring out how to combine ninja and BMX into one game. At least for the larger games. A couple of years ago a new version of Pac Man came out which is extremely close to the arcade, almost 100% arcade accurate. It uses the same algorithm so that your old pac man patterns even work. Prince of Persia was recently released for the 8 bit line.

[@tezzaNZ]

Yea, I've seen some releases for various old 8-bits models of all sorts from the demo scene. It's amazing how much the technology can be pushed by modern programmers.

[@RealtyWebDesigners]

Modeled after the IBM Selectric Typewriter everyone at the time learned on; it was total similar.

[@jameswainwright7602]

Nice to see you back Terry.

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks. Thanks for the support

[@gertsy2000]

Great to see you back Tezza!. I always drooled over the 800. But I could never afford such a machine as a kid.

[@jonastoljander2236]

Yay, your're back! :) I appreciated the remastered old videos and I'm looking forward to some new ones :)

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks!

[@jamesmelody]

Great to see more videos Tezza! Like "Ice Cold in Alex" this was "worth waiting for"

[@tezzaNZ]

Thank you.

[@OldAussieAds]

Excellent video as always Terry. More than anyone else, you make me feel the most like I have the computer in question in front of me. There are some computers in your collection that I've never actually seen. But you take the time to show the ports, the underside stickers, the manuals (where possible)... everything. In my opinion, the Atari 800 was the best home computer at the time for games. But with each year that passed and new model released (the XLs and XEs) that lead quickly diminished. Games that were coming out years later were still written to be compatible with the Atari 800 and therefore weren't taking advantage of the extra memory of the later machines. This resulted in many of the big developers abandoning it in favour of the Commodore 64 (and some other 8-bit machines in certain countries). So yes it was ahead of it's time, which made the A800 a great machine, but it quickly fell to the wayside.

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks for those positive comments.

[@marklane5372]

I love your videos, so glad you are back. I was an avid 8 bit fan back in the day when I had my C64 so I love seeing some of the other micros, some that I know and some that are new to me. I hope you keep the videos coming as they are always interesting, especially with the backstories you supply to give some context to the particular machine.

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks. Yes, I think context is important because it can explain why certain features were or weren't included.

[@lorensims4846]

That second book is an excellent introduction and reference for the 400/800. It's the one I had. The 40-column text display was to avoid color artifacting on a television screen. Later, 80-column mods were available, either hardware or software, but the narrow text usually didn't look acceptable on anything except a computer monitor. The Commodore 1702 was the best monitor for the Atari computers.

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks for the comment.

[@carlcouture1023]

Nice to see you back! Good looking beard too! If you make any more new videos I look forward to seeing them.

[@tezzaNZ]

There may be one or two less frequent ones come down the pipe this year, who knows (-:

[@paul_grimsley]

Tezza, it’s been great to see the Remasters. I’m glad you didn’t simply add reverb, like Jimmy Page did! 😂. Good to see you back in glorious HD, I’d very much enjoy further videos. Thank you and all the best.

[@tezzaNZ]

Cheers. Thanks Paul.

[@fragalot]

The next iteration after the 400/800 was the 1200XL in December 1982. The rest of the XL series came out a year later due to the 1200XL being a flop.

[@andrewdriver3318]

Was looking forward to this!

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks!

[@ResidualSelfImage]

The most advanced Atari 800 video game was a 3d game called Star Raiders. Its Sprite graphic and Sound chip set was more advanced than the Apple II but less advanced than the Commodore 64/128. It was replaced by the Atari 1200XL.

[@donny121able]

We had this game on cartridge. I was too young to make the most of it, but my dad spent hours star raiding. I was more of a loan raider back then..

[@gswanson]

This was my first computer. I got one fairly late (mid-80s). My parents purchased it at a garage sale. I was 8 years old at the time and it was where I learned to program BASIC. One thing I always thought was cool was that (on my machine) the memory upgrades were giant cartridges that plugged in. But from the look of your image of the internals it seems like your computer has something different? I always thought it was cool how modular it was.

[@tezzaNZ]

Interesting. I wonder if that right hand slot was used to expand the memory at one stage?

[@gswanson]

@@tezzaNZ Look up the Atari CX853 Memory Module. It's like a double wide cartridge. Mine has 4 cartridges like that. Not sure if I remember anything actually using the other slot....

[@tezzaNZ]

@@gswanson Ok, I see, Thanks for that. Here is more info I found. (forums.atariage.com/topic/315727-atari-800-expansion-slots-question/). This is new information to me. I didn't realise RAM could be expanded with these removable cards. You must have still needed to pop off part of the top case. I don't think I've ever had to do this.

[@marklsimonson]

If you want to play a more faithful version of Space Invaders for the 8-bit Atari computers, check out Roklan's Deluxe Invaders. One of my favorite carts back in the day, and it's pretty easy to find in game collections, like the ones you were accessing with the Lotharek device.

[@tezzaNZ]

Interesting. Thank you.

[@lorensims4846]

"Big Brother" sounds wrong. The development names for these machines were "Colleen" and "Candy" for the 800 and 400 respectively. Apparently they were named after a couple of secretaries in the office. The "Atari" key was used by the OS to switch to and from inverted text. Basically it set the high bit in the ATASCII text code. In this way the keyboard could produce all 256 byte codes. The Atari Logo was changed to a simple half-black, half-white box on later models, and was referred to as the "inverse key." Having been originally designed to be a game machine, the system clock was timed to match the 60Hz NTSC video signal. The ANTIC chip ran a Display Loop that could change the display mode of every single scan line on the screen. Microsoft BASIC was available when the newer expanded cartridges became available. Originally they couldn't squeeze BASIC into the 8K cartridges so they had to get a custom BASIC called Shepherdson BASIC, which couldn't do string arrays, but strings could be up to 32K long, you could easily get the address of a string and then jump to a machine language that was loaded into the string. As strings were often relocated in memory, the ML program had to be fully relocatable (no direct jumps to an address, only a relative branch). Atari 8K BASIC also had many graphics commands that Commodore64 could only perform with POKEs. Also, having the BASIC in a cartridge allowed revisions (there was at least one) and other versions like Microsoft and BASICA+. "Star Raiders" was the original showoff demo game for these machines. I haven't seen this in any of these collectors' videos.

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks for the comments.

[@Applecompuser]

Would it be hard to one day convert all my disks to SD cards? How long per disk might it take?

[@Wombler151]

Great video! Thanks much.

[@tezzaNZ]

You are welcome!!

[@LorenMJ]

600XL user. It had 16K! I had a tape drive, printer and a modem.

[@tarstarkusz]

19:50 The VIC was simply not in competition with the 800. It really cannot play the arcade games very well. In some ways it is actually less capable than an Atari 2600, which was significantly cheaper than a VIC. Just search youtube for videos of the 800 and VIC playing various arcade games. Outside of the Apple II, the 800 had no real competition until the C64 came out. Anyone who bought a VIC over an 800 was doing so on price. But they got a MUCH less capable machine. I would say the 400 was closer to the VIC and even the 400 is better than the VIC by a pretty wide margin. Though the 400 was still more expensive, it wasn't that bad at 499 vs the Vic's 299. You got a lot more for that extra 200 Dollars.

[@tezzaNZ]

Yes, certainly the Vic 20 could not compete feature for feature. However, you could play video games on it, it did have a full stroke keyboard and William Shatner told parents it was a real computer lol. So, a family curious about computers (and wanting something that looked like a real computer rather than a toy (e.g. Atari 400) ), I'm sure would have chosen the VIC 20 over the Atari 800 due to (as you pointed out) the big price difference. So I stand by my comment that it did cut into their market a little.

[@ResidualSelfImage]

The entry level Commodore Vic 20 competed with low cost personal computers and its users normally used tape drive storage like the Radio Shack TRS80 Model I. Due to its higher price tage, the Atari 800 was expecting its users to run it with a floppy drive not a tape drive.

[@tarstarkusz]

@@ResidualSelfImage There really weren't any "low cost" computers when the vic 20 came out. It was more or less the first. Apple II computers were several thousand Dollars. The Pet was well North of a 1000, with many models over 2000. The model 1while cheaper than the other 2 was still close to 1000. The Atari 800 was like 1000 bucks. Not true. The 8-bit line expected you to be using a combination of cartridges and tape, particularly in 1979 when it came out. Most of the early Atari 8 bit stuff was released on cartridge. That includes things like word processors. The point I was making is that the VIC is a very weak gaming system. The Intellivision and Colecovision both put it to shame and in some ways, so did the Atari 2600. The vic has a very low resolution. No sprites. No hardware scrolling. Lots of color limitations. An unexpanded VIC can really only run cartridge games. A significant portion of the 5k built in is used by the system. By the time the various parts of the system that needs the ram (like zero page and video and color and more), you're down to maybe 3.7k or so. You cannot even run a 4k game unless from a ROM.

[@Michael_A_MN]

This is the first computer I ever used. You have died of dysentery!

[@tezzaNZ]

Hahaha. I didn't realise you could get the Oregon Trail on these machines. (:

[@Michael_A_MN]

I remember playing this in the sixth grade on the Atari 800 in 1982. I did a search and a version of it was released in 1982 for the Atari by Softswap.@@tezzaNZ

[@datassetteuser356]

Great!

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks!

[@tarstarkusz]

The FCC ruling never happened. The 800 was released before the new FCC standard was finalized. They were anticipating much more stringent regulations than what actually were eventually put into law. This is why so many of the subsequent releases had much lighter shielding and plastic cases. I think, but I'm not totally sure that this is the reason so many subsequent computers had external power supplies. The power supplies were exempted from the rules. They put out a ton of interference, as do fluorescent lights and many other things. But in the US, AM was collapsing around this time. (AM is where most of the interference happens) FM stereo had been around 15 years at this point and FM receivers could be had under 50 Dollars and probably even less for cheaper handheld receivers. Am listenership was collapsing. As a 10 year old boy in 1979, I only listened to FM because it sounded better and didn't drift. As I understand it, NZ and Australia had AM as the primary radio well into the 1980s. So the rules were probably a lot more relevant in NZ and Australia. I lived in a major US city at the time, the 5th largest in the country(Philadelphia). By no later than 1985, music AM radio was more or less a memory. This is about the time they came up with AM stereo as a way of trying to revive it. (BTW... AM stereo sounds excellent. In some ways, is actually superior to FM stereo. It is a terrible shame it never really caught on).

[@fragalot]

8:43 Atari was overly paranoid about the FCC guidelines, and they read too much into RF interference. So the 400 and 800 were OVER BUILT which is why they look like tanks. Later iterations had light thin shielding. The older 6-switch Atari 2600 consoles also had some thick shielding too which came out before the 400/800s.

[@tezzaNZ]

Interesting. Thanks for the info.

[@astra6712]

Is the Atari 400 mini worth getting?

[@tezzaNZ]

It's not one I'm familiar with, sorry.

[@oscarcharliezulu]

You make a pretty good video mate!

[@tezzaNZ]

Thanks!