The Ultimate Atari 400 / 800 40th Anniversary Exhibit with Curt Vendel of AtariMuseum.com VCF East

[@TheGuruMeditation]

We received very tragic news that Curt Vendel has passed away. We are deeply saddened by this. Curt was a staple of the Atari community and his work and passion went way beyond Atari and into the entire retro community. This is a terrible loss for all of us and especially Curt's family. I just saw that his family has a Go Fund Me so I will include their message and link below. RIP Curt. You will be very missed. *Posted by Curt Vendel’s Family* If anyone knew Curt his 2 loves were his family and Atari. He was always the first one to help out. Curt has supported the Atari Community and now his family is asking you for your support.Because of Curt’s previous heart condition the family is left without life insurance. If you can please consider helping his family now with any donation you can spare. No amount is too small and would be tremendously appreciated. And if you can’t donate now, could you please share on your page for others to consider donating. Thank you❤️ LINK: www.gofundme.com/f/24lkoij26o?+share-sheet&

[@gregferguson7737]

Aw man

[@marceloafgomes5767]

How sad to hear (or read, actually) about this. I will definitely support at least one of his two loves, his family, with some monetary contribution. About the second love of his life, I wonder if someone will be able to keep his impressive collection intact, or if it will eventually get spread over lots of possible buyers, which would be very sad. I, unfortunately, couldn't possibly afford it. But I could definitely help with my knowledge, since the Atari 400 was my first computer, and I've been nerdy since those early days. Certainly not like Curt, but I like to think of myself as someone who knows a lot about 8-bit Atari products. And if his family needs consultancy on identifying items, I'd be happy to help keeping Curt's legacy alive.

[@marienbad2]

RIP Curt. Listening to him talk in this video was amazing, his love and enthusiasm was infectious, and his knowledge amazing. Belated condolences to his family and friends.

[@ElliottAS]

Curt was a good friend of mine and knew atari better than anyone today. He will be terribly missed.

[@sigmiami]

sorry to hear this - will definitely help out

[@GrrregDavies]

Rest in peace Curt. Your contributions to the Atari community were invaluable! Condolences to your family and friends!

[@gunnaringvarsson2144]

I could listen to Curt talk about Atari all day long...

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Me too!

[@coffeedrops_Franck]

I rarely pay so much attention and go full screen watching youtube videos but man this was one very captivating experience.

[@ambrosined1981]

I still have my original Atari 800 and it still works. Really enjoyed seeing all this hardware. Thanks.

[@HeliTube]

I do too, and it works great!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Awesome guys! I still have my original 800 as well and it works too. They are really well built machines.

[@royramirez8626]

Awesome machines!! Did my thesis on an Atari 800 in 1983.

[@atariandre5014]

OMG I just learned that Curt has passed away ........ We never personally met but he was such a value for the Atari community.....and from these videos and our occasional messages between us, I could only feel that he was a fantastic guy..... may he rest in peace.....

[@RetroDawn]

Thanks Curt and GM! I've always wanted to see his museum exhibit. I've never even heard of the 800D nor the Colette. And never seen the ERIC nor one of the pre-production 800's. Awesome stuff!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks Jerri! He did an amazing job with this exhibit

[@MOHAMADGHOUL81]

Thank you Mr. Curt for your presentation and great knowledge of ATARI systems, we were happy with getting additional information about optional hardware. Moreover, I would like to give my special thanks to Messrs. Bill and Anthony for sharing this highly appreciated connection with AtariMuseum.com on their KZbin channel. Sincerely yours MOHAMAD

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks for the kind words and support as always Mohamad! We appreciate your friendship very much!

[@lowellaaroncourt]

Thanks Mohamad for your post in our Atari 8-bit (Computer) Enthusiasts MeWe group.

[@StefanJohansson80]

The 800 looks like a really nice machine. Great video

[@TheGuruMeditation]

It is a great one. Thank you Stefan!

[@arcaderehab]

Thanks for doing this. My first computer was an original brown boxed Atari 800, great machine for the time.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

You are welcome. Thanks for watching. My first was an 800 as well!

[@ace942]

Thanks for the video. My first computer was an Atari 800XL so it was interesting to find out about the earlier models.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Our pleasure, thanks for watching Jose!

[@andycraig7734]

I really appreciate how you guys are capturing video of important folks in the scene. None of us live forever but great thoughts/ideas can live on in video. This one captures Curt's enthusiasm. I know he is missed already.

[@sigmiami]

the Atari 800 was my first computer and my introduction to programming at 11 years old... today as a software and systems engineer I still have an Atari 800xl

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks for sharing your story. The 800 was my first computer as well. I am lucky to still have mine

[@quantass]

Wow, i never knew Atari put so much effort into their products back then. I always figured they shoveled out whatever until something stuck but from Curt's collection to me it appears Atari went the extra mile. Sure Atari was all over the place but i do see ingenuity and effort. It was a very good idea to do this video AND smart of Anthony to relate it back to Amiga at times. Excellent work!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thank you Quantass! Appreciate it very much. It was nervous about posting an Atari video, but the 800 was my first computer and I consider the A1000 to be a descendant of it. And Anthony did do a great job relating it to the Amiga. You can really see the connection between the two machines with all the custom chips and Jay Miner & Joe Decuir.

[@Jimbaloidatron]

There was also plenty of careful thought put into the software side of things too; the ROM, BASIC, DOS etc, sure it had it's faults but think of doing any kind of graphics and sound in Commodore BASIC, or getting a disk directory with a C64.

[@Jimbaloidatron]

@@TheGuruMeditation This was entirely appropriate, I feel it is the true lineage also. As a big fan of programming on my 8 bit Atari, I still remember vividly when articles about the ST started to appear in the magazines I subscribed to and how I was unimpressed with what I saw. Then I read about the Amiga, and the upgrade path was clear...

[@tiannaumann]

My first computer ever was an Atari 400, then an 800XL with 1050 hard disk + a 3rd party 300 baud modem. So many good memories. I should have went straight to an Amiga 500 after that since it inherited Jay's amazing design. (But I was more brand loyal and went with an Atari 520STFM)

[@pishbot]

thanks for this incredible content. i could listen to curt talk atari all day, a very intelligent and well informed man. that atari 800 dev system is super cool!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks for all the positive vibes Pishbot! You are the best! And yes, Curt is a really interesting and cool guy

[@kpmac1]

Wow, I thought I knew a lot about the Atari computers. Curt's an encyclopedia. A lot of amazing stuff in this video. My first computer was a 400 that I upgraded the RAM on and replaced the chicklet keyboard with an aftermarket real keyboard. Then I got an 800. Fantastic and fun computers. I always bought 3rd party components though just because I was a poor junior high kid and they were cheaper. I had a non-Atari modem that plugged into the game port for it's I/O and it worked great. I had a non-Atari floppy drive and an Epson dot matrix printer. I used these things through the first couple of years of college. I really miss those computers. Good memories for sure.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Oh cool. I would love to see a 400 with a proper keyboard. I remember trying to type BASIC programs on it back in school. It was torture, but I loved the computer

[@lowellaaroncourt]

I just wanted to say, that it's wonderful to listen to the amazing history of Atari computers and peripherals. I owe a lot of my foundational computer knowledge to the Atari, and to a lesser extent, to the Apple II just before my family purchased an Atari 800 in 1983. Thanks again!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

This is an awesome comment. Thanks for sharing your story. We really appreciate feedback like this

[@Esico6]

Really nice classic posters on the wall.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Yeah, those are beautiful! I wish I got more shots of them.

[@jasonscott526]

RIP to Curt Vendel, 1966-2020, a true legend of passion and knowledge.

[@allan.n.7227]

So much love and effort was put into home computers back then... Great video

[@TheGuruMeditation]

That's the truth. Thanks for the kind words Allan!

[@twiddler71]

I collect old computers, have over a dozen old 8-bit and 16-bit systems and the Atari 800 is my favorite of them all. My first computer when I was a kid was the Atari 800XL when they first came out, but I really like the looks of the Atari 800. I currently own a complete Atari 800 system including the rare 830 modem. Watching this video really brings back some old memories.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

That's great to hear. The original 800 was my first and I love the style of that machine, but I do like the look of the XL series too. I prefer these over the later Atari 8-bits

[@10MARC]

Very nice display! The Atari was a fine 8 bit computer indeed... I still have my eye out to pick up an 800 or 800 XL.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks Doug! The 800's are awesome computers. You won't regret it!

[@boatofcar3273]

What a fantastic video! This is hands down my favorite Atari 8 bit video on KZbin.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Aw, thank you Boat! You are too kind!

[@boostermcblast2197]

Atari had such a professional and well designed product line in 1979. They really were the Apple of the late 70s!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

True, I wish things turned out as well for them as it did for Apple :-(

[@TheJeremyHolloway]

Look up the "Atari Adventure" store concept that Atari was going to roll out across the world had the Crash not happened which caused the collapse and dismantling of the original Atari in July 1984. The Apple Store basically riffs off of it but only being a quarter as cool since Atari would've had the console game systems and arcade cabinets in their stores as well... oh, and don't forget the AtariTel phone line which included a video phone that Mitsubishi later bought and released. Most of the features in the regular AtariTel phones didn't get implemented into AT&T's and ConAir's products until the mid-to-late 1990s yet Atari would've had them on the market in 1984 in a better timeline... :)

[@ThomasGrillo]

Thanks for the look back, at this amazing product. I was lucky to get the 400. Still have it. :)

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Awesome! The 400 is a really cool looking machine

[@andycraig7734]

Those are some really nicely restored pieces. Impressive! I'm usually satisfied with just getting old kit working again but this makes me want to make them beautiful as well. Also I love how you can still use and pick up the gear... not afraid to touch or being OCD.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Well said! Yes his exhibit is hands on. That makes it a lot of fun!

[@Pinman1973]

All these prototypes . . . Amazing job !

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Curt did an amazing job with the exhibit!

[@HeliTube]

I still have my Atari 800. It still works great and looks amazing because I got the original cover for it. Full 48K. I have hundreds of games for it and my original Hayes 300 modem. Great video!!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Awesome! Great to hear. Thanks for the kind words. I still have my original 800 too. It is one of my prized possessions.

[@Esico6]

Before my Amiga 500 I had a 600XL and later with a 64K extension pack. That 600XL was so gorgeous I was in love.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Nice! That is a sweet machine. I love the design of all the XL's

[@gamedoutgamer]

Yes the two tone plastic, transparent window and the aluminum function keys were unique and beautiful. They are a simple and very functional form. The mechanical keyboard variants (keyboard lottery in that box!) were more attractive than the others, imo.

[@bjbell52]

I wanted to get an Amiga when it first came out but couldn't afford it. I had an Atari 400 then 800 then an XE, so I knew the Amiga must be a good machine since the chipset was designed by the same person who did all those machines I owned. I needed a computer for college and ended up buying an Atari ST. I was a very good computer and I got 3 years of college use out of it until I took a compiler design course and the professor mandated using IBM PC's or clones.

[@cosanostra101]

What a gem! Atari 800 fans from Brazil. Thank you for this material.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks for watching Marcelo!

[@chandrab]

I just found out Curt passed away yesterday (8/30/2020) and it's such a loss to the community. Curt was such a great guy, super helpful to everyone - and obviously so enthusiastic about Atari. RIP Curt, you will be gone but not forgotten.

[@davidwalz3317]

I didn't know how the cool the expansion section on the 800s looked, very interesting. Very friendly, I like!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Excellent! It does look cool and I love the casing of the actual expansion boards.

[@gamedoutgamer]

Learned some things here, thank you! Would really enjoy a longer interview with Kurt. It's key to remember that this was absolutely a pioneering product line, and it still did well! It's easy to focus on some mistakes Atari made, but they made a lot more good decisions. The 800 with built-in serial and bus connector - I had no idea this ever existed. Would be great to have its ability ported into tf_hh's Super Color CPU Card that he currently sells for the 400/800's.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

We woudl love to do some more with Kurt. He is a cool guy, a wealth of knowledge, and lives near us

[@adamv242]

Rest In Peace, Curt. This video really shows your passion, the depth of your knowledge for this hobby. You are missed. The loss to the Atari community cannot be overstated. Sincere condolences to Mr. Vendel's friends and family.

[@itsGeorgeAgain]

I really really enjoy the intro of this channel's videos.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thank you! This is especially great to hear because I considered cutting the intro shorter, but I figured there may be some new people watching because it is about Atari so I left the intro in tact. Now I am really glad I did!

[@ScottWozniak]

Rest in peace, Curt. You were unquestionably a fount of knowledge for Atari 8-bit fans like myself. Terrible news. Much love to your family. 💔

[@battmann7089]

Enjoyable video, makes me want an 8bit Atari all the more!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thank you! Go 4 it, you will love the Atari 8-bits

[@RandyWaage]

My first computer was an Atari 600XL. I do remember the Atari 400 & 800 too. Nice to hear so much about these computers on their 40th Anniversary. The Atari 8 bit line were awesome computers.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

I agree, they are great machines. Thanks for watching!

[@kneehighspy]

excellent video as usual bill and anthony! thanks for supporting the community with all your work!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

You are welcome Kneehigh. Thanks for all the support!

[@billkendrick1]

HAM radio operators back in the day apparently LOVED the 800 because of the low RF emissions.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Wow, I didn't realize this, but it makes total sense after hearing what Curt said

[@andycraig7734]

I am LOLing as I read this right after my other comment. Funny how multiple people thought of ham radio as they watched.

[@NipkowDisk]

Indeed. The RF shielding was outstanding in the 800 (still have one) as it was die-cast aluminum. IIRC the FCC loosened the RF emissions requirements right around the time the 800 was designed/built and apparently it would have cost too much to re-tool for a lower-cost shielding option, so the "iron pants" 800 remained in production.

[@MattMcIrvin]

@@NipkowDisk We saw that a few years later in the XL series--not nearly as much solid metal in there!

[@TheJeremyHolloway]

@@NipkowDisk That's because Texas Instruments had their home Congressman strong-arm the FCC into changing the rules. The future Speaker of the House, if I recall correctly...

[@JetScreamer_YT]

I didn't know Curt was so dreamy...

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Curt is looking good!

[@winstonsmith478]

Development directed by the late, great Jay Miner, later designing for the Amiga. Great to see this video so more people can appreciate what beautiful, well designed machines these were.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thank you Winston! Yes, we hope people learn from this video and understand that some of the same people behind the Atari 800 are the same people behind the Amiga 1000. Jay Miner, Joe Decuir!

[@NerdOutWithMe]

Awesome video! I was asking about that display when I was there, so this is perfect.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Excellent Tig! Hope you enjoyed!

[@ThemildmanneredgamerBlogspot]

Good video, Curt had such a love for Atari systems and it shines in this interview. Would have liked to have met him.

[@peterpayne2219]

Nice video. I grew up with the Atari 8 bit machines and loved them for years.

[@peterpayne2219]

My god, I am so glad I found this channel!!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thank you Peter! Hope you enjoy it

[@wallacelang1374]

I have an Atari 400 and an Atari 800XL, but what I really wanted was the original Atari 800 personal computer system. I have to thank Curt Vendel for his displaying and his discussing the Atari 400 / 800 computer system.

[@Rip-Van-Tinkle]

Thank you guys, great video as always and really interesting. It's amazing to learn more about these machines, and their connection with the Amiga through Jay Miner... the more you learn, the more you can see how all the pieces fall into place in the story. Also loving the Aceman! :-)

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks MadPete. I am glad you see the connection. Back then I went from Atari 800 to Amiga 500. I didn't know the same folks were behind both computers, but I knew a good thing when I saw it! Glad you are enjoying the AceMan. He is a very talented and very nice guy.

[@MrSEA-ok2ll]

My original Atari 8 bit was an Atari 600xl with data casette...later 800xl, and 130xe. These were my machines for several years before migrating to Amiga 500 in 1988....a cherished part of the Jay Miner legacy. The earliest Atari 400 and 800s were actually made in the US in the early days. These early machines were built like tanks.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Wow nice collection of Atari's leading up to your Amiga. Yes, the original 800 is an absolute tank! I love that machine

[@jimsteele9261]

It was my understanding that Commodore had a lot to do with the relaxing of the FCC rules on RF emissions. It let them produce the cheap & nasty C64 and undercut the 800.... at least until the 800XL came out.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

@@jimsteele9261 Interesting. I didn't know that

[@TheJeremyHolloway]

@@jimsteele9261 Nope. It was all TI. Their home Congressman became the Speaker of the House. When the FCC went after TI, they made a call and poof, the FCC policy changed.

[@theretrogeek2281]

What an awesome interview just wow!

[@jimsteele9261]

I was a big Atari 8-bit guy back in the day. I had a 400, 800, and an 800XL, bumped up to 256k. It was interesting to see some of the unreleased products and prototypes. Looking at the schematics for the 800 and the Apple ][, I noticed that the Atari had an address decode on on of the memory slots that matched the address of the Apple][ slot. I always wondered if Atari planned an I/O expansion that used Apple cards.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Hummm, that is a great question Jim. I don't know. Glad you enjoyed seeing the unreleased stuff. Thanks so much for watching and commenting!

[@akakakakakak3084]

Atari 800 was designed and targeted to home users without computer knowledge. That's why its construction is so secure and safe to avoid any damage due to mistakenly open the cover and no direct contact with the main board. The hardware expansion of Atari was very limited that might use proprietary hardware made by Atari. On the contrary, Apple II was designed for engineers and people liked to experiment hardware. Apple II was the first open system at that time and had a lot of hardware supported by many vendors.

[@jimsteele9261]

@@akakakakakak3084 I had a 3rd party ram card in my 800. The XL line was not closed hardware. The 6502 processor bus was available at a slot in the back, with a standard connector. The 3rd party ATR8000 used this connection to support serial I/O, printers, and generic drives. There were also many 3rd party peripherals using the proprietary Atari serial I/O bus. The "secure" construction of the 400/800 was simply to comply with FCC regulations at the time. Regulations that Commodore for one lobbied to get changed to allow RF sieves like the c64 to be sold.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

@@akakakakakak3084 Makes sense

[@akakakakakak3084]

@@jimsteele9261 You are right, but comparing to Apple II, the variety of hardware for Atari 800 was very limited, i.e. there was no 80 column display card, z80 card, etc. That's why Apple II could match Atari 800 even though its basic technical specs were inferior.

[@HoldandModify]

I learned things about Atari computers. Cool vid!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Awesome Kevin, glad to hear!

[@kins749]

Great video, and Curt is a great guy

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Agreed, thanks!

[@marklechman2225]

Very cool. The 400 and 800 were the first home computers I ever saw in person. They were being sold at a Sears or some such place. We were there to buy clothes and whatnot but I spent the entire time fiddling with the Ataris. And they weren’t even plugged in! Years later I finally got one of each. They are fantastic game machines and I highly recommend picking up either.

[@craiggilchrist4223]

Had a 400 back in the day and an 800XL, Still have my 800XL and a 65XE. I remember European Countries And Capitals had Music and Audio speech as it loaded. Amazing.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Oh wow! I never heard that feature on any of my Atari tapes. It is so cool. The 800 was my first computer and I still have it as well as an 800XL. They are great machines

[@twiddler71]

I used to have this game called Clipper on Tape. It was an amazing game. It had voice over and sounds of the ocean as you sailed around cape horn. I could never find it again.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

@@twiddler71 Oh wow, that sounds like an amazing game. Would love to see that

[@twiddler71]

@@TheGuruMeditation This is the game, but it doesn't have the tape image - www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-clipper_1089.html

[@InterCity134]

Nice to see some of that more esoteric stuff. Too bad no 830 acoustic modem was shown, or the 815 double bay drive.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Yeah, I wish we had more time to go through everything. Unfortunately the show was over for the day and we were getting kicked out of the room.

[@wumpusthehunted2628]

Isn't there a double floppy on the stage? Or just two on top of each other? The phone is sitting out there, waiting for the modem. Don't forget about 3rd party memory. A (Ramcram 32k single slot ran) made a 400 a lot more powerful and might even justify a floppy drive (410 cassette took 30 minutes to load 32k).

[@MattMcIrvin]

I had the early model 410 cassette drive! (I remember it being horribly unreliable, but maybe I just bought garbage tapes.) You hardly ever see that around--it seems to have been less common than the later one. But he's got it there. I bought my first 400 during the period when they weren't packing in the BASIC cartridge, and I remember being terribly disappointed when I brought it home and only got ATARI COMPUTER - MEMO PAD. Had to go back to the store and get that BASIC cartridge real quick.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Ha! Oh yeah, I remember the memo pad. I think the Atari 8-bits were notorious for having poor tape i/o

[@MattMcIrvin]

@@TheGuruMeditation It was such a step up when I got the 1050 disk drive.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

@@MattMcIrvin Oh yes, that's a massive step up!

[@MattMcIrvin]

@@TheGuruMeditation I remember when I first bought the computer, the computer store (a mom-and-pop place in Maryland) threw in a cassette that had a bunch of little freeware BASIC programs they'd probably gotten through a user group. None of them were very impressive--probably the best ones were a crude golf game and an Othello game with a pushover AI. But early on, they were pretty much the only pre-written software I had aside from the BASIC interpreter itself, and I spent hours loading them off that cassette and fiddling around with them.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

@@MattMcIrvin oh wow neat. Those are cool memories. Star Raiders and Pac-man were my first games and they were on cartridge. Great games to this day. I also loved learning BASIC in some Atari books

[@lifeschool]

Saw this last week but forgot to comment. Really insightful interview. The shielding reminded me of the stuff we got wrapped around the insides of A500's, and is often the first thing to be lost or thrown away when the inevitable open and repair happens. The memory slots reminded me of the front loaded memory slot on the A1000. Its interesting to see they were male cards plugged in to female slots, while on the A500 the trapdoor was a male and the cards were female. I guess a plain shelf edge connector was cheaper, so CBM went with that. Funny also to see the beige cases. There is a good reason why Commodore chose beige, and I dont think it was to keep the family line to the Atari systems. They chose it because, according to what I heard from staff, of all the colours they could have chosen, beige was the cheapest. :)

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks for the kind words Lifeschool! Very interesting about beige being cheapest. I just assumed it was because it blended in with all the faux-wood paneling in people's homes

[@KolliRail]

very informative and interesting

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thank you!

[@akakakakakak3084]

I had my Atari 800 in 1982, It costed about 5,000 Hong Kong dollars with a tape recorder and a cassette of space invaders in 16K RAM only. It was about 3 months of an ordinary clerk salary at that time. I loved my Atari 800 and I later upgraded it to 48K and a floppy drive 810. One more thing, the keyboard of Atari 800 was excellent, the feel and comfort was very superior.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

It was very expensive here in NY as well. I am so lucky my dad bought one for me. He had to go out of his way to afford one too. It was, and still is, and awesome machine

[@HeliTube]

@@TheGuruMeditation My dad got me one too. I still have it and it looks and works amazing. We were lucky for sure!

[@DerMartexus]

That was very very interesting! Thanks for that! :)

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks so much DerMartexus!

[@andycraig7734]

That clear bag of cables looked like it had PL259 and BNC connectors. Along with all the RF shielding, you'd think some ham radio folks were involved in the design.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Yes, possibly Andy

[@TheJeremyHolloway]

Atari Inc had HAM radio enthusiasts amongst their staff...

[@wiredtvcraze]

That was very informative, thanks. I'm a fan of the APX (Atari Program Exchange) Catalogues. I've managed to collect just about all of them except for a few of the early ones, like the 1st one. Still enjoy reading those from time to time.

[@rapscallion3506]

Got the whole suite of Atari 800 goods from Sears back in the day. CPU, serial port, tape recorder, phone modem, printer, disk drives. I owed my paycheck to the Sears credit department for quite a while.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

I can Imagine. It was very expensive stuff. I love it though

[@joeventura1]

I knew Curt personally since the 1980s he was a great guy, everything Atari we did back in the day was with Curt.

[@neocairo7487]

The thing I noticed is, when Atari today became a French company and Amiga(sadly whats left of it) to Hyperion a Belgium company, both companies went further downhill.. I wish the last original staff of Amiga buys out Hyperion and Nolan Bushnell buys back Atari. Now that would be interesting and to be back in America too.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

That would be pretty cool for sure!

[@TheJeremyHolloway]

Put the IP of both into the same company. Flash some cash to AT&T to get the IP from Atari Games/Tengen as well since it resides in the WB Games division these days...

[@peternielsen8362]

Great video. I had an Atari 800 with 48k back in '83. It costs $500. The basic cartridge costs $50. And the 1050 floppy drive was a other $500. I bought the machine bc of seeing Ultima II. And since it was a home computer, I learned to program, while also being able to play games. The 800 was great and I used it for many years.

[@TheArtOfCharlieConstantinou]

I really like the 8mm footage. Just out of curiosity, what do you shoot your 4k film with?

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thank you Ian! We love the Super 8 as well. Want to do more of that. The 4K is shot with a Canon C300 MKii. Thanks for watching!

[@TheArtOfCharlieConstantinou]

@@TheGuruMeditation Thank you for the reply. You make some absolutely stellar content. The C300 is a great cinema camera. Would love to see a future episode shot entirely on 16mm! Keep up the good work!

[@Balleatomique]

Ian Sinty It might come one day, yep !

[@TheGuruMeditation]

@@TheArtOfCharlieConstantinou Aw, thank you for the very kind words. This is much appreciated. Wow it would be cool to shoot on 16mm. I have a Bolex. It doesn't have a crystal sync motor, but it would be fun to shoot some stuff with it for sure!

[@archieil]

I would love to have Atari 800 or 400 with full equipment. I have 800XL, 130XE, some 65XE but these 800 line is so great looking. With all these extension cards. Bad I do not live in the US.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

They are great machines. Hope you can get your hands on an 800 some day!

[@thedrummerboycr]

The Atari 800 and overall Atari products had high build quality. Its nice, the people could see where came the Amiga computers. Nothing to do with Commodore 64. The Amiga DNA came from Atari 8Bit computers. Any Atari 8Bit computer, could be called "The 8Bit Amiga". Any Commodore Amiga, the only thing have from Commodore its the badge and cases. Me too, i was those people know about this Amiga history came from Atari 8bit, just few years ago. I was any marketing victim. The same the Atari ST guy, whos think the Atari ST its a Atari 8Bit evolution. And not there nothing to do with Atari 8Bit. They're came more close from Commodore 64. But thats, its another history!.

[@TheJeremyHolloway]

That's a very narrow view and interpretation of the ST. There were plenty of ex-Atari Inc employees working on the ST project. One of the main reasons why Atari Corp's version of the GEM GUI for the ST is better than DRI's own version for x86 is arguably because of Landon Dyer. Dyer programmed the Atari 8-bit version of Donkey Kong. Dave Staugas (sic) wrote the ST's NEOchrome paint program. And those are just the better known staffers. So it's more accurate to say both the Amiga and Atari ST have original "Atari Inc" DNA in them albeit the ST being more of a hybrid of ex-Atari Inc and ex-Commodore staff. As the ST line progressed, it certainly seemed to become more "Atari-ized" and more worthy of the moniker with the STe and especially the Falcon030...

[@rbrtck]

Atari's "DNA" originally came from Cyan Engineering, so what's your point? 😄 And the Atari ST, as originally designed, has nothing to do with the C64. Why do you think it does? The C64, like the Atari 8-bit and unlike the ST (until much later), has hardware assistance for its graphics. And the C64 has a custom sound chip it is well known for, unlike the generic one in the ST that is similar to the ones found in many other computers of the time. The C64's designers all left Commodore shortly after its release, and they did not go to Atari.

[@Heddy1957]

I have two 800's, two 810 floppy drives,a modem, a printer and more sitting around still. Has anyone heard of the 810 floppy drive "Happy drive mod" used for performance and copying floppy discs?

[@wumpusthehunted2628]

Yes. I also remember "the chip" which was similar, and was capable of copying virtually any disk out there (DRM has a long history of failure, but they eventually made floppies that "the chip" couldn't copy). No idea how the happy drive optimized the floppy

[@metronome8471]

Discovered the Atari 800 and Curt just today . scroll into the comments. Never had I gave respect so fast to only learn I was late.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

It is so sad. He was such a good guy and he was WAY too young. RIP Curt :-( Miss you bud

[@argonwheatbelly637]

I wonder if the program Matt and I wrote, GREDITOR, is still out there.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

You never know!

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

I'm a Commodore man through and through, but I will say this: Atari products, at least back in the 8 bit days when Jay Miner was there, were very well made, physically. This also made them expensive to manufacture, though.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

True, the 800 stuff was crazy expensive, but built like a tank.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

@@TheGuruMeditation The keyboard also had a much better feel (and "clickety clack" sound!) than the C64 did. My best friend back in school had an Atari 800 back when I had my C64 and we used to simultaneously admire and revile each other's systems. How that's possible is hard to explain, though!

[@TheJeremyHolloway]

Jay left in 1979 right after the 400/800 were released. Atari maintained its quality control up until July 1984 when Warner broke the company up and sold it off into pieces...

[@LeicaCat]

There's something about the design of the 800 that I always thought was almost sexy. Even to this day, I still think it looks modern. Atari did a really good job with the design and aesthetic of that computer.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

I agree, it is a beauty!

[@MattMcIrvin]

Though the 800 was the superior computer, I always preferred the look of the 400. The 800 was trying to look like serious-business office machinery, and to my eyes it came off a bit drab. The 400 looked like a science-fiction prop, with its wedge shape and multicolored membrane keyboard. As a keyboard it was terrible, but you could imagine that control panel running a futuristic spaceship, like it did in Star Raiders.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

@@MattMcIrvin I dreaded the 400 back then because typing in lines of BASIC code in my class was really difficult with that 400. We had 6 800's and 2 400's. Everyone would scramble for the 800's. But today I would love to have a 400 and I totally agree, it is a super cool looking machine and the keyboard does look sci-fi. Great computer!

[@lorensims4846]

Oh, I used to have most of that stuff (not the laser disk setup of course).

[@PremierAudio]

A lot of Atari's 800s were shipped with bare board ram carts, So you can only presume that the factory must have had a shortage of the plastic cart casings and decided to ship the systems with the casings missing.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Yeah, perhaps

[@rbrtck]

No, the plastic cases were only ever used in the first place for the reasons given in the video. Once Atari started shipping the 800 with a full 48K out of the box (and alternative ROM cartridges in that slot never became a thing), there was no reason to put them in the computers anymore, as users had no reasons to handle them, except of course for DRAM failure. Speaking of which, the plastic cases were fantastic at holding in heat, which caused premature DRAM failure at a rate that was way too high. This provided additional motivation to get rid of the cases altogether, and maybe even to go ahead and stuff the 800 with 48K DRAM standard from the factory. Additionally, the 800's case was slightly redesigned to have this section screwed shut instead of allowing for easier tool-free opening like earlier 800s.

[@jimsteele9261]

Here's another fun thing with the Ataris... you could "network" the serial I/O bus. That is, you could put a computer on either end and share the peripherals between them. Of course there was no resource control to keep you from doing something silly like opening the same disk file, or trying to print from both computers. :) I used to compile with the Action! cart.... but the program was too big for the computer with the cart in. So, I'd write the compiled code to a floppy and boot the other computer from it.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Holy cow, that is cool. I never knew you could do that or even though of the possibility of doing it!

[@Jimbaloidatron]

I wish I'd known that back in the day! If it ever occurred to try, I was likely too frightened to damage my Ataris.

[@buffalodebill1976]

R.I.P. Curt, such a fantastic guy..

[@videomaster8580]

I was an Atari guy. But also loved the Commodore. Now I know why, they are all family ;o)

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Awesome! I love it when people learn the history. They are family for sure

[@AtaruMor0boshi]

thumbs up up up up up

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thank you!

[@bonzobanana1]

I had a Atari 800XL pack here in the UK. It was £129.99 with a tape deck and some software and was fantastic value. It was so much more colourful than its competitors with a huge palette and lots of strobing and colour effects and the sound was pretty good too. Unfortunately the tape deck was both slow and unreliable loading due to its use of one track of the stereo head. It meant loading games was frustrating. Still a fantastic system especially if you had a disc drive. There were so many different 8 bit computers here in the UK, homegrown, European, Japanese, US and some from Hong Kong. There was so much competition that pricing seemed to be dropping weekly. Dixons here in the UK always seemed to have a model available heavily discounted. I'm pretty sure the Atari 800XL package I got for £130 was available a few months later for £80.

[@archieil]

My 1st one was 130XE with a tape recorder. I added turbo system to it and with a turbo I was able to store up to 1MB of soft on 1 tape. My friend had 800XK with a 1050 + happy turbo and it was worse in many aspects than my tape + Blizzard turbo. RAMDISC + turbo and the only problem were power shortcuts and unreliable soft bugging randomly.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks for this UK perspective. Much appreciated

[@VolJoe]

Nice video - I enjoyed coming back to it a few years later. Curt represented this incredibly well. As an early C64 owner, the Atari 800 was a great competitor at the time. Especially in 82 when the SID chip wasn’t fully understood. They had a better line top to bottom, but their price was too high for general consumers. The original 800 was great but it had more shielding than Ultron. And the boards were more complicated simply because they were built 3 years earlier under different regulations. The 800xl made them competitive on price, but they lost the momentum and never got it back. Disk drives were better, but more expensive. Game catalog was better for quite a few years before the C64 overtook it. And so on.

[@lowellaaroncourt]

A developer version of the Atari 800 was very interesting! Yes, it was a pity that Atari did not release this to the public.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Agreed!

[@TheJeremyHolloway]

I'm pretty certain Joe Decuir stated in the Atari Museum - or Atari 8-bit Computers - Facebook group that the Atari 800D had 1 or 2 MC6850 chips inside of it for the serial ports. It's definitely a shame it didn't make it to the production models. Of course, the same can be said for the Commodore 64/128 not having a 6551 - but the Plus/4 had one! - or two on-board either. Apple bundled them on their Super Serial Card for the Apple II for another $150+... Apple gotta Apple...

[@Bellthorian]

My first computer was the Atari 800. I remember I had bad memory, I had to keep a fan blowing air into the back of the computer to keep it cool enough. If I didn't it would crash and lock up.

[@gingertom64]

Wish I still had my Atari 800.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Ah darn. Yeah they are great computers

[@MatthewMcGravey]

RIP Curt

[@Octamed]

We didn't have many Atari computers in Australia back in the day, but as an adult learning about them and the effort they put in, even into the precise marketing, documentation and art, they've become my favorite 8 bit. Also they effectively invented USB! I kind of agree that the 400 should have been the 2600 replacement, but on the other hand it did introduce real computers to kids who might have been stuck with a set console. They really should have stopped selling the 2600 and pushed the 400 hard into the world market. It would have made the intellivision look like a toy. We had 2600 for AGES in Aus. I got mine in 82, years after the 400. I would have really benefited from having a 400 though as it was years before I got a real computer to start me on programming/making music etc. Love that guy's enthusiasm and knowledge. ps I thought the 8mm footage was original from back in the day and they'd perfectly recreated it for the expo, hah!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Thanks for the detailed comment Octamed, much appreciated. The Atari 8-bits are my favorite 8-bits as well. They have a spirit in them just like the Amiga does. Some of the modern demos on them are incredible. I need to expand my RAM so I can play some of them. That is hilarious about the 8mm footage! Glad you liked it!

[@musclesmouse]

I always imagined Curt as way older

[@TheGuruMeditation]

He is looking good! Not sure how old he is

[@RetroDawn]

I got my 400 with PILOT. And then I got BASIC later. I already knew a little BASIC (self-taught), but getting PILOT first caused me to learn another language, so while I was 10 I learned 2 completely different languages. And PILOT allowed me to easily create simple text adventures. That wouldn't necessarily have happened if BASIC was built-in, as I might have just stuck with what I was familiar with, or my parents might not have bothered buying another language.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Oh awesome. I remember PILOT but never learned it. I used LOGO in school and then BASIC

[@RetroDawn]

@@TheGuruMeditation LOGO is great! Even more so than for the turtle--it was based directly on LISP, which is one of the best languages ever, and still is highly relevant, even though it's the second high level language invented. PILOT is an interesting language. Different than anything else, and the Atari implementation and documentation was *very* likely the best of any platform. Of course, due to it's commonality, I ended up going back to BASIC, once I got Atari BASIC.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

@@RetroDawn Oh wow, LISP. That brings back memories. Again, I never used it but that rings a bell from my LOGO teacher. I really did enjoy LOGO and Atari BASIC. I have my 800 out and running again. I would like to dabble in some Atari BASIC for sure.

[@GShumway132]

I'd've had the 400 tucked away in my office for myself, and then kept a 2600 in the man cave for all of my guests.

[@resarfekim]

I ran the Atari Fortress BBS...

[@BokBarber]

The Atari 400/800 is my favorite early generation computer and games console. The sound and graphics are primitive by today's standards but extremely well suited to the games of the time. You could tell that the engineers put a ton of thought into where to make the most meaningful improvements over the 2600 hardware. With the right execution, these could've been so much more.

[@stefanobaron]

R.I.P Mr. Curt.

[@cidercecil]

So sad to hear of his passing...

[@RetroComputo]

Lamentable la temprana perdida de Curt Vendel...

[@NipkowDisk]

Loved my 800 back in the day. I had two 1050 FDDs with the Happy 1050 enhancement and a Star Micronics NX-10 dot matrix printer. It was slick. However, I do NOT miss having to clean the oxidation with an eraser every couple of weeks from the memory contacts... failing to gold-plate the socket contacts was a totally DUMB cost-saving measure in my opinion!!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

Interesting. I haven't had this problem with mine (knock on wood) but gold plating would have been great

[@NipkowDisk]

@@TheGuruMeditation It was a real hassle because the oxidation on the contact fingers would cause the 800 to crash at the most inopportune times, such as just before saving or printing a college research paper!

[@TheGuruMeditation]

@@NipkowDisk Oh man, that is always the way ha ha! Too bad they didn't call it a Guru Meditation...or Atari Meditation! LOL

[@grandetaco4416]

I would have loved to have the Atari 800 Developer version. Anything to by-pass that expensive 850 interface. I could not justify purchasing just an interface and nothing to plug into it with my limited budget. The 850 was almost the same price as the computer. My family did not understand my love for computing and did little to help me. I was constantly looking for hardware to get around buying the 850. The third party markets did provide, had Atari released that developer 800 instead of demanding the consumer buy 850 they would have done a lot better in terms of sales. My school having deep pockets had originally purchased the Atari and never purchased any of the 850s, in fact they later went commodore 64.

[@TheGuruMeditation]

I understand. The Atari 800 was expensive in general. I remember the floppy drive was almost as expensive as the computer. I love that machine though. And yeah the 850 interface. I hear you. It helps immensely to have your family on your side

[@adrianclarke4151]

I wish Atari 400 and 800 being reissue today's 21st century

[@rabidbigdog]

Good chance Curt works out I reckon.