Atari Will Release a Mini Edition of Its 1979 Atari 400 (Which Had An 8-Bit MOS 6502 CPU) (extremetech.com) 64
An 1979 Atari 8-bit system re-released in a tiny form factor? Yep.
Retro Games Ltd. is releasing a "half-sized" version of its very first home computer, the Atari 400, "emulating the whole 8-bit Atari range, including the 400/800, XL and XE series, and the 5200 home console. ("In 1979 Atari brought the computer age home," remembers a video announcement, saying the new device represents "The iconic computer now reimagined.")
More info from ExtremeTech: For those of you unfamiliar with it, the Atari 400 and 800 were launched in 1979 as the company's first attempt at a home computer that just happened to double as an incredible game system. That's because, in addition to a faster variant of the excellent 8-bit MOS 6502 CPU found in the Apple II and Commodore PET, they also included Atari's dedicated ANTIC, GTIA, and POKEY coprocessors for graphics and sound, making the Atari 400 and 800 the first true gaming PCs...
If it's as good as the other Retro Games systems, the [new] 400Mini will count as another feather in the cap for Atari Interactive's resurgence following its excellent Atari50 compilation, reissued Atari 2600+ console, and acquisitions of key properties including Digital Eclipse, MobyGames, and AtariAge.
The 2024 version — launching in the U.K. March 28th — will boast high-definition HDMI output at 720p 50 or 60Hz, along with five USB ports. More details from Retro Games Ltd. Also included is THECXSTICK — a superb recreation of the classic Atari CX-40 joystick, with an additional seven seamlessly integrated function buttons. Play one of the included 25 classic Atari games, selected from a simple to use carousel, including all-time greats such as Berzerk, Missile Command, Lee, Millipede, Miner 2049er, M.U.L.E. and Star Raiders II, or play the games you own from USB stick. Plus save and resume your game at any time, or rewind by up to 30 seconds to help you finish those punishingly difficult classics!
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader elfstones for sharing the article.
Retro Games Ltd. is releasing a "half-sized" version of its very first home computer, the Atari 400, "emulating the whole 8-bit Atari range, including the 400/800, XL and XE series, and the 5200 home console. ("In 1979 Atari brought the computer age home," remembers a video announcement, saying the new device represents "The iconic computer now reimagined.")
More info from ExtremeTech: For those of you unfamiliar with it, the Atari 400 and 800 were launched in 1979 as the company's first attempt at a home computer that just happened to double as an incredible game system. That's because, in addition to a faster variant of the excellent 8-bit MOS 6502 CPU found in the Apple II and Commodore PET, they also included Atari's dedicated ANTIC, GTIA, and POKEY coprocessors for graphics and sound, making the Atari 400 and 800 the first true gaming PCs...
If it's as good as the other Retro Games systems, the [new] 400Mini will count as another feather in the cap for Atari Interactive's resurgence following its excellent Atari50 compilation, reissued Atari 2600+ console, and acquisitions of key properties including Digital Eclipse, MobyGames, and AtariAge.
The 2024 version — launching in the U.K. March 28th — will boast high-definition HDMI output at 720p 50 or 60Hz, along with five USB ports. More details from Retro Games Ltd. Also included is THECXSTICK — a superb recreation of the classic Atari CX-40 joystick, with an additional seven seamlessly integrated function buttons. Play one of the included 25 classic Atari games, selected from a simple to use carousel, including all-time greats such as Berzerk, Missile Command, Lee, Millipede, Miner 2049er, M.U.L.E. and Star Raiders II, or play the games you own from USB stick. Plus save and resume your game at any time, or rewind by up to 30 seconds to help you finish those punishingly difficult classics!
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader elfstones for sharing the article.
Tactile Keyboard Still Works? (Score:1)
Or those USB ports are for keyboard & mouse control and it just looks like it works?
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On this company's previous C64, Vic20 and A500 mini consoles, the mini keyboards were just for show, so I'd be very surprised if this one's would be a working mini-keyboard.
Those did have on-screen keyboards in software, and supported external USB keyboards also, so I would expect that this time as well though.
BTW. Some clever person did (re)build their TheC64 to have a working keyboard with microswitches, but the Atari 400 keyboard was a membrane keyboard and that is actually more difficult to DIY.
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Back in the old days I was deciding whether to go with the Atari 400 or the Commodore 64. Since I was a kid I was drawn to the Atari because of the game history. But when I saw that keyboard, I was like, nope, gonna get the Commodore and the rest is history.
I'm now glad they used that keyboard because the Commodore was a much better platform in the end.
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You made the right decision. I had a 400 before moving to commodore, and the keyboard was garbage.
Re:Tactile Keyboard Still Works? (Score:4, Interesting)
You made the right decision. I had a 400 before moving to commodore, and the keyboard was garbage.
I learned to program on the Atari 400 and its chicklet keyboard. I was fresh out of school and had no idea what I was going to do with my life. On a whim one afternoon I bought the 400 and brought it home. I didn't know anything about computers. I started reading the manual and trying things out with the built-in BASIC. I was entranced. After a while I looked at the clock and it was 3 a.m. Right then and there I knew what I'd do for the rest of my life. I picked up a book on 6502 assembly and never looked back.
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+1, Interesting.
Re:Tactile Keyboard Still Works? (Score:4, Informative)
I learned to program on the Atari 400 and its chicklet keyboard.
No, that was a membrane keyboard. The ZX Spectrum had a chiclet keyboard. You know you got it bad when anything from the ZX would be an upgrade.
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I learned to program on the Atari 400 and its chicklet keyboard.
No, that was a membrane keyboard. The ZX Spectrum had a chiclet keyboard. You know you got it bad when anything from the ZX would be an upgrade.
You're right. I intended to write membrane, but apparently my brain had other ideas. On the bright side, one day I spilled an entire class of iced tea on it and I was able to clean it off and keep on going.
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I like a challenge. This may be more doable than you think since mebrane keyboards were usually a circuit board with the squiggles for a resistive pad to push down on and circuitry to read the change in resistance. You might even make something that capacitively senses the finger presses. Hmm. Like a capacitive Touchscreen system.
Darn it, now I need to buy one.
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I know the Merlin handheld and the Traxx programmable tank thingie had those kinds of tactile keypads on them. Maybe find an unused box of them somewhere on ebay for sale.
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I had a 400 as a kid, and one of my first successful reverse-engineering projects was rewiring an old surplus microswitch terminal keyboard to connect to the 400's keyboard port. Good times.
Who buys this stuff? (Score:3)
If you want an 80s computer then there are plenty going on eBay and other sites. If you just want to run the software then there are emulators aplenty.
So why would you buy a mini "replica" (more like an ARM chip running one of the emulators I mentioned) with a probably fake keyboard for similar money to an original?
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Exactly. Same thing I told a friend that asked me some while ago whether I wanted to invest into this. By now, you can even emulate this stuff pretty well in a web-browser.
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This is a commercial product offering convenience and nostalgia. Finding an original unit and having to protentially replace a lot of caps is not on most people's radar. This is a good option for the casual retro gamer.
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Agreed, I have an Atari 130XE (successor) sitting in the garage, but I would consider this because it hooks up to a modern TV; adding HDMI and bundling a USB controller is considerable!
Contrast this to buying a Raspberry Pi 4b or 5, adding https://retropie.org.uk/docs/A... [retropie.org.uk], but not having to deal with configuration, piracy, and home IT; then this seems reasonable purchase!
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All your other points are good, but you're still (likely) dealing with the piracy part. This unit only has a handful of games on it.
So, unless you have a working Atari with a 1050 drive and an SIO2USB cable to make your own ATR images from your own purchased 5.25" floppies (and something that can do cartridge dumps) ... you're downloading those files to put on the USB the same as anyone else running an emulator on a Pi.
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"This unit only has a handful of games on it."
It has "M.U.L.E." on it. And what appears to be a possible 4 player possibility. That alone makes it worth it for me. I haven't seen a full list of games on it, but if it includes ARCHON, then it's heaven -- wit a fuji logo.
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That's the thing, though, there isn't really such a thing as a "casual retro gamer".
Back in the 1980s, the only kids who actually had computers and were into computer games were the nerds. Yes, some "normal" kids would maybe have computers, but they never really had any relevant attachment to that thing. It was just yet another thing to play with, not THE thing to tinker and toy with. The majority of what would be "casual gamers" of the time probably has more nostalgia towards their TV shows and Lego stuff
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Well, I'm probably an edge case in that scenario. I grew up fully immersed in this stuff in a big way, especially when I switched to Commodore, but I have other hobbies as well now in addition to work and I don't have the time or the space to look back to my computing days of yor to that level of depth. But I do have a little money and space to buy one of these gadgets. We bought a mini-2600 that we have plugged into the TV in the living room and it's fun once in a while.
Another issue is 'been there, d
Re:Who buys this stuff? (Score:4, Informative)
Guess you haven’t seen ebay prices for this stuff. What device are you going to connect the RF modulator to? You’ll have to find an old CRT tv and hope it also works. Then track down cartridges
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Cartridges aren't a problem.
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My memory is that it's an NTSC composite RCA connector into the RF modulator, like most other devices at the time, so you can go into an NTSC -> HDMI converter box. BUt you still have to buy that box in addition.
I do have one NTSC broadcast monitor left but I'm planning on getting rid of it as soon as I finished converting some old VHS tapes. It's nice to watch them back on a real 15KHZ interlaced screen though.
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>My memory is that it's an NTSC composite RCA connector into the RF modulator,
Yes, that.
In fact, the 400/800 was designed with a 50 pin bus.
But then with the new FCC rules, it couldn't control its emissions, and ended up inside of a thick metal pot, and used that screwball serial stuff instead. The bus connector made it to the production units--inside the pot!
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Most Atari computers had a monitor jack that provided the equivalent signals of composite video and S-video (chroma and luminance), as well as audio. Most TVs still have composite inputs, so it's a matter of getting the right cables, and you'll get a better picture than you did back when it was modulated on channel 3.
There are several hardware hacks to get VGA, DVI, or HDMI out. Those typically involve either replacing the graphics chip with an FPGA or inserting a tiny card between the motherboard and sai
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Yeah, I still have an atari800xl and used the composite video out without any problem on a modern tv. Was kind of fun trying to CLOAD a tape I had from 1986 with some of my old code on it
No clue how I used the keyboard to get anything done. I think that's why a lot of more-old-school-than-me people still hunt and peck-- it was just too hard to get the finger strength to work the keys back then.
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I took typing in high school, and we learned on IBM Selectrics. Sure, they weren't mechanical typewriters, but they took more muscle than any computer keyboard. That was after several years of owning an Atari 800 doing two-finger coding. (I wanted to learn to type since I encountered an Apple II in sixth grade, but it wasn't offered in school until 10th grade. I got the last year they offered "typing" as it was "keyboarding" the next year with the only immediate difference being you would get credit for
Re: Who buys this stuff? (Score:2)
Plenty of fairly recent flat screen TVs still have an analogue tuner built in.
Re:Who buys this stuff? (Score:4, Insightful)
You're posting on slashdot, where many (most?) of us LIKE to tinker, but that's not necessarily what everyone wants.
So, what's involved for the casual gamer who wants to relive their childhood games.
Let's say (unlike those of us that held onto their precious 8-bits) you need to ebay some real hardware: Most of the time, these systems were connected via RF. That's going to look pretty bad on modern TVs. Luckily, there's a "monitor" port on the back of that 800XL you just bought. Only, 5-pin DIN isn't something standard. So, you find that you can custom solder a cable that connects the Atari "monitor" port to S-Video. Except, the XL series (unlike the older 800) failed to connect the chroma to the pin, only the luma. So, you need to solder a bodge-wire on the motherboard to reconnect the missing chroma. Oh, and lift one of the resistors (if there) but then that messes with composite out, so you may want to wire it on a switch so you can toggle if need be. Not only that, but a lot of modern TVs no longer support SVideo input. So, now you're buying some sort of convertor/upscaler to sit between your device and the TV.
Or, maybe you go the route of the clever people who made the Sophia 2 mod. It plugs in where the GTIA chip plugged in so as to intercept the digital signal to the GTIA and sends it out over DVI ... except good luck finding one. You can join the "preorder" list ... for twice the cost of this unit which already just does HDMI. This also requires opening up the case ... here's hoping the old (very yellowed) plastic doesn't break when removing and reassembling. Fingers crossed.
And let's just hope you didn't buy one of the units with the dreaded "ingot" power supply. The one that is known to fail in its old age ... and its failure mode isn't just to stop supplying power, it's to fail by sending an over-voltage to the unit which can potentially destroy it. Lucky for you, the newer Ataris ran on 5V DC. So, you can easily make a new power supply, if you source the 7-pin DIN and solder wires from a USB phone charger (5V 2A is good.) So, fire up the Hakko again. (This also assumes you don't need to replace any 40 year old electrolytic capacitors and all of the RAM chips are still good.)
But what if you go emulation, instead. No hardware tinkering needed. Sure, Altirra is great, but you want to play on TV (as these were intended) so you look at routes with the Pi. You need to source a Pi, load retropie and emulation station, then you're messing with configs to get a controller setup. You can build a 9-pin joystick to USB adapter to get the original feel (more soldering.) But, because the Atari assumed you're always running on Atari hardware, it's taking for granted you have the Select, Start, Reset, and Help buttons available. You might be able to map them to whatever controller you're using (but a gamepad just isn't the same), or you need to have an actual keyboard hanging to the side of the unit you wanted to have discreetly connected in your living room.
Or, you pay $99 dollars for this.
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I was wondering that myself, who is the target audience for that?
I can see it with consoles. Consoles were essentially toys that you could only use the way that their maker wanted you to use them, so a lot more kids had fond memories of them. They were also much easier to use. Plug the cart in, turn it on, play. Getting a computer to do that was a bit more of a hassle. Ok, most of the time, IIRC with Atari it was "put the cassette in, press play on the tape recorder, hold the START key on the computer and t
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I will not buy this one it but I see myself in the audience. I like retro computers and retro gaming but I don't feel comfortable with using the actual old models which I think should be preserved in museums. Emulators are not interesting, they don't feel right on my gaming computer (this is subjective of course). I like the idea that I can have the same feeling I might have had with the original, but I'm not wearing up a museum artefact and I enjoy a few modern improvements like USB controllers.
LIke i like
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Same reason people buy figurines and action figures.
They look cool on the shelf.
Re: Who buys this stuff? (Score:2)
Because itâ(TM)s cute and replaceable.
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People buy them as collectibles. It gets plugged into the living room TV, played with for a few hours, then disconnected and thrown into a closet when the significant other asks "Why is that thing you never use still sitting on the entertainment center?"
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Prices for retro stuff have shot through the roof - likely no thanks to the likes of Wata Games and Heritage Auctions pretending the retro game market is the new hot investment opportunity.
Take s
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the originals, as much fun as they are for us geeks, is too much hassle for a lot of people. the target audience being people who grew up with these things, now having families and work etc. most of them don't really want to tinker with those machines in their free time. these mini's give those people exactly what they want, an easy and quick way to get their nostalgia fix. it's even less work than a raspy with a retro-gaming-distro on it.
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Yeah, but now they're really crisply-defined blocks.
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It'll be interesting to see if they have done anything to deal with colors produced by artifacting. Some games used the high-res monochrome graphics mode, but got extra colors ("orange/blue" on NTSC units) caused by the color bleed. If you load these games (Ultima, Lode Runner) in an emulator that doesn't also try to emulate the color artifacting, they just look awful.
Compare these playthroughs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com] (didn't simulate the color artifacting, looks terrible)
https://www.youtube.com/w [youtube.com]
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Heh, I forgot that some people tried to take advantage of color bleed. Probably the only time when the low definition color side band glommed on to B&W for NTSC actually had an advantage.
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My First Computer (Score:2)
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You still have them?!?! Wow. The oldest thing I have related to computing is image files of my Amiga drives from the early 90s after I switched to Windows. I recently got them working in Emulation again.
Did you have to replace any capacitors or are they still chugging along?
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I had one of these. (Score:3)
My first computer with a keyboard was an Atari 400. Previous to that it was an Atari 2600, though I had experience with a C= Vic20 not owned by us.
The Atari 400's membrane keyboard was terrible. It was a cheaped down version of the Atari 800. But at the time I did not make big use of it, as a young kid I mostly wanted to play Star Raiders and their other cartridge games. I only fiddled with BASIC a little bit. It wasn't until the next series of machines that I became a serious enthusiast.
I got the first in what would be a series of C=64s (two of them died eventually so I had three total over the years - they weren't super reliable) and a C=128.
After that it was Amigas until the early 90s, I actually used them for work (video production and animation) until PCs took over, and continued to use Lightwave 3D on Windows NT which had been ported by then. Was building my own machines at that point like everyone else, gleefully awaiting the latest fry's ad for components.
Lightwave led to a career in computer animation which I quit in 2001 and moved on to other things.
It was a great time and a terrible time to be a personal computing enthusiast. On the one hand the transaction was simple - you owned everything you bought, no one was trying 'monetize' you seven different ways at every turn. On the other hand, hardware capability was limited and could be finicky, operating systems glitchy and wait times for anything (loading, rendering, booting, de-fragging your hard drive...) sometimes very long.
But I have a lot of fun (and perhaps sometimes rose tinted) memories of the early days of personal computing. Would not want to go back to it now however! Although one of these little boxes would be handy for another round of Star Raiders...
Bummer, no real joystick ports (Score:4, Informative)
The Atari joystick ports were bi-directional which made them great for controlling things in the real world. The digital outputs could run relays directly and the paddle inputs could read analog values.
I used the digital output to control a relay to on and off hook the phone line for wardialing since we didn't have touchtone (DTMF) service at our house. The relay could pulse the line so fast it was quicker dialing most digits that a person could do it. It took trial and error to see just how short you could set the make and break times to.
And for those who would ask why I didn't just use the AT commands, they didn't exist yet and my modem was a very basic but still not cheap model which connected to the handset cord and not the phoneline directly. To connect directly to the phoneline required meeting certain standards.
P.S. it wasn't called wardialing at the time because the movie Wargames had not come out yet. And, I stopped once our state passed a computer trespass law. It was still good for dialing numbers for BBS.
+++ATH
Don't need... (Score:2)
Still have my original 800XL, with...get this: A FLOPPY DISK DRIVE!
WELCOME TO THE FUTURE!
Now if I can just get the TCP/IP stack for my Digi-Comp I finished before the carpal tunnel syndrome sets in...
"the excellent 8-bit MOS 6502 CPU" (Score:1)
...this turd of an early processor was wildly obsolete by the time people started putting it in computers. Its sole advantage was that it was unbelievably cheap. Most of your work had to be done using eight-bit CPU registers, and there were only three of those.
Apple's great success came from providing all the software and hardware data for their machines, so they were easy for everybody to work with. Everybody else was trying to keep their machines locked down, and wasn't handing out any useful information
Re:"the excellent 8-bit MOS 6502 CPU" (Score:4, Informative)
The 6502 was dated as you said, but the cheapness was the point. Chuck Peddle deserves a lot more credit than he gets for kickstarting widely available microcomputing in general through the price of this. Next up - the IBM PC. IBM has little to do with the success of the PC standard. That would be Compaq, who reverse engineered the original BIOS and made a clean-room compatible one. The idea of an open PC 'clone' was certainly not IBMs - Compaq brought those into existence. Microsoft saw the opportunity that created, and the rest is history. When IBM tried to assert authority with their Microchannel standard, they failed.
Also - the Mac as failure? Seriously? Apple's 'great success' came from putting their machines in schools. History is written by the winners - at the time, they were massively outcompeted and outsold by Commodore and just lied about being number 1 (see: Commodore: A Company On The Edge [amazon.co.uk] for more details.
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I second Brian Bagnall's commodore book. It's excellent.
It doesn't matter that the 6502 was dated - it was still a great processor and Commodore put it to excellent use making great computers that were able to compete primarily on price. Growing up in the mid-80s I was also never impressed with my friend's Apple IIe graphics capability and lack of native sound other than a few clicks. My C=64 ran circles around it in certain respects, and the Amiga's pre-emptive multitasking and dedicated graphics and
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Also agree with Apple and OS X. I had a Mac LC but left when the holy triumvirate of Windows 95/486 DX66/Doom made them good enough to go for. Didn't return until OS X Jaguar and the fantastic Powerbook G4. System 7 still having to manually assign amounts
Who Is This For? (Score:2)
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I refer you to the term 'nostalgic time travel'.
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People who had these as kids are roughly 45-55 years old right now. Not exactly one foot in the grave yet.
Because even though this is in the form factor of the Atari 400, it emulates the entire 8-bit computer line all the way through the XEGS which was released in 1987.
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The 400 had the best looking case of the Atari 8's (Score:2)
Had the 400 (Score:1)
Fond and frustrating memories (Score:1)
Not quite the 400, but I had an Atari 600XL as a kid. My first computer. Also the most frustrating and rage inducing experience of my young life. The thing kept crashing and freezing, resulting in yelling and frustrated keyboard bashing...
Eventually my dad took pity on me and we swapped that miserable thing for a Commodore 64 and the rest was history.
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Possible that it was a result of the faulty BASIC that came with the XL series. Revison A BASIC (from the 400/800) had a bug. In attempting to fix it for Rev B (XL series), they corrected it in one area but the fix introduced an issue in another. It could cause memory to get used up and lock the machine, and the 600XL already was memory constrained.
The fix was fairly simple: just order the Rev C BASIC cartridge from Atari (if you plugged a cart in, it would bypass the built in BASIC) OR there was also a sho