Subject: Atari 8-Bit Computers: Frequently Asked
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Subject: Atari 8-Bit Computers: Frequently Asked Questions Posted by Michael Current on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 05:29:16 GMT View Forum Message <> Reply to Message From Newsgroup: comp.sys.atari.8bit Archive-name: atari-8-bit/faq Posting-Frequency: 60 days Last-modified: January 15, 2012 Welcome to the comp.sys.atari.8bit newsgroup! Atari 8-Bit Computers Frequently Asked Questions List ___________ _______________ | ///////// | _____________ | ||||||||||| | |___________| | | | ||_______|| | |______/////| |____[---]____| | / _________ \ | |LLLLLLLLLLL| |LLLLLLLLLLL || | LLLLLLLLLLL L | |LLLLLLLLLLL| |LLLLLLLLLLL || | LLLLLLLLLLL L | |__[_____]__| |__[_____]____| |___[_____]_____| 130XE 800XL 800 ___________ __---------__ | ///////// | | / _____ \ | |___________| _____________ | / |_____| \ | |______/////| |____[---]____| | ___________ | |LLLLLLLLLLL| |LLLLLLLLLLL || | ========== =| |LLLLLLLLLLL| |LLLLLLLLLLL || | ========== =| |__[_____]__| |__[_____]____| |___[_____]___| 65XE 600XL 400 ___________ _____________ | ///////// | ___________ | | |___________| |/// / | | | |______/////| |// / | /\___________ |=============| |LLLLLLLLLLL| |/O\ |\/ |LLLLLLLLLLL| | LLLLLLLLLLL | |LLLLLLLLLLL| |-----------| |LLLLLLLLLLL| | LLLLLLLLLLL | |__[_____]__| |____O_O_O_O| |__[_____]__| |___[_____]___| 800XE XE 1200XL Additions/suggestions/comments/corrections are needed! Please send to: Michael Current, [email protected] Copyright (c) 1992-2012 by Michael D. Current, and others where noted. Feel free to reproduce this file, in whole or in part, so long as the content of that portion reproduced is not modified, and so long as credit is given to this FAQ list or its Maintainer, or the author of that section reproduced Page 1 of 214 ---- Generated from Megalextoria when given. This document is in a constant state of development and comes with no guarantees. If you see any problems, I need to hear from you! The latest version of this document is posted to the following Usenet newsgroups every 60 days: comp.sys.atari.8bit, comp.answers, news.answers Known mirrors of the latest version of this document: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq http://faqs.cs.uu.nl/na-dir/atari-8-bit/faq.html You may also request my latest working version at: [email protected] ************************************************************ ********** * For other 8-bit Atari related FAQs please see the "Welcome FAQ": * * ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/atari-8-bit/welcome * * http://faqs.cs.uu.nl/na-dir/atari-8-bit/welcome.html * ************************************************************ ********** UPDATES SINCE PREVIOUS POSTING: 2012.01.15 6.7 Atari#: CO60479 UL Listed: 51B9 & new 60479-bottom.jpg 2012.01.15 9.2 added IPF 2012.01.10 7.6.2 Micro-SpartaDOS 4.6 2012.01.10 7.6.1 SpartaDOS X Version 4.45 (4 Nov. 2011) 2012.01.10 3.12 significant section upgrade 2011.12.05 6.8 8.5 11.1 CX70 and CX4124 released 2011.12.04 early software releases, including from 1980 ROM Cartridge Catalog thanks to Laurent Delsarte ------------------------------ Subject: 0.1) Table of contents 0.1) Table of contents The Computers 1.1) What is an Atari 8-bit computer? 1.2) What is the Atari 400? 1.3) What is the Atari 800? 1.4) What is the Atari 1200XL? 1.5) What is the Atari 600XL? 1.6) What is the Atari 800XL? 1.7) What is the Atari 65XE? 1.8) What is the Atari 130XE? 1.9) What is the Atari 800XE? 1.10) What is the Atari XE video game system? Page 2 of 214 ---- Generated from Megalextoria 1.10.5) What were the Atari 1400XL, 1450XLD, 65XEM, and 65XEP? 1.11) What are SALLY, ANTIC, CTIA/GTIA/FGTIA, POKEY, and FREDDIE? 1.12) Why do the ANTIC Modes start with "Mode 2", what about 0 or 1? 1.13) What is the internal layout of the 8-bit Atari? 1.14) Who designed the Atari 8-bit computers? 1.15) What issues surround NTSC vs. PAL vs. SECAM computer versions? 1.16) What are the pinouts for the various ports on the Atari? Video Display and Sound Speakers 2.1) What video display devices and speakers can I use with my Atari? 2.2) What is artifacting? 2.3) What is HDTV display lag? Mass Storage 3.1) What are the Atari 410, 1010, XC11, and XC12 Program Recorders? 3.2) What other cassette recorders can I use with my Atari? 3.3) How do I run a program from cassette? 3.4.1) What is the Atari 810 Disk Drive? 3.4.2) What was the Atari 815 Dual Disk Drive? 3.4.3) What is the Atari 1050 Disk Drive? 3.4.4) What is the Atari XF551 Disk Drive? 3.5) What other floppy disk drives can I use with my Atari? 3.5.5) What is the Percom configuration block? 3.6) What kinds of 5.25" floppy disks can I use with my Atari drives? 3.7) What can I do to extend the life of my floppy disks? 3.8) What hard drives were designed for my Atari? 3.9) How can my Atari utilize my other computer's storage drives? 3.10) How can I use SD/MMC cards with my Atari? 3.11) How can I use a USB flash drive with my Atari? 3.12) How can I use a CompactFlash (CF) card with my Atari? Printers 4.1) What are the Atari 820, 822, and 825 Printers? 4.2) What are the Atari 1020, 1025, 1027, and 1029 Printers? 4.3) What are the Atari XMM801 and XDM121 Printers? 4.4) What other printers can I use with my Atari? 4.5) How can my Atari utilize my other computer's printer? MODEMs and networking hardware 5.1) What are the Atari 830, 835, 1030, XM301, and SX212 Modems? 5.2) What other modems can I use with my Atari? 5.3) How can I my Atari utilize my PC's modem/network? 5.4) What networking hardware is there for the Atari? 5.5) How can I connect my Atari to a high-speed/Ethernet network? Hardware interfaces 6.1) What is the Atari 850 Interface Module? 6.2) What is the Atari XEP80 Interface Module? Page 3 of 214 ---- Generated from Megalextoria 6.3) How can I use a SCSI/SASI device with my Atari? 6.4) How can I use an IDE device with my Atari? 6.5) Can I attach an ISA card to my Atari? 6.6) How can I use a USB device with my Atari? More hardware 6.7) What are the power requirements for my Atari components? 6.8) What accessories/kits did Atari make for their 8-bit computers? 6.9) What preventative maintenance can I do on my Atari system? 6.10) What graphics tablets were produced for the Atari? 6.11) What light pens were produced for the Atari? 6.12) What light guns were produced for the Atari? 6.13) What paddles were produced for the Atari? 6.14) What voice/sound synthesis hardware was produced for the Atari? 6.15) What sound-digitizers/samplers were produced for the Atari? 6.16) What sound-enhancement upgrades were produced for the Atari? 6.17) What MIDI enhancements are there for the Atari? 6.18) What graphics enhancements are there for the Atari? 6.19) What types of memory upgrades are there for the Atari? Core software: OS, BASIC, DOS, Modem handlers 7.1) What versions of the Atari Operating System (OS) are there? 7.1.5) What other operating systems have been produced for the Atari? 7.2) What is the ATASCII character set? 7.2.1) How can my program detect keypresses directly? 7.2.5) How is the Input/Output subsystem of the Atari OS organized? 7.3) What is Attract mode? 7.4) What is Atari BASIC? 7.5) What is Atari DOS, and what versions did Atari release? 7.6.1) What are RealDOS, SpartaDOS X, and XDOS? 7.6.2) What are MyPicoDOS and Micro-SpartaDOS? 7.6.3) What other 3rd-party DOS versions were released for the Atari? 7.7) How do I modify Atari DOS to support more than two drives? 7.8) Are there Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) for the Atari? 7.9) What should I know about modem device handlers? Software 8.0.5) What should I know about filenames and filename extensions? 8.1) What programming languages are available for the Atari? 8.2) What cartridges were released for the Right Slot of the 800? 8.3) What games support 4 or more simultaneous players? 8.4) What programs run only on the 400 and 800 models, and why? 8.5) What programs use a light pen or a light gun? 8.6) What programs have a trackball mode or support a mouse? 8.7) What programs use paddle controllers? 8.8) What programs have a CX85 Numerical Keypad mode? 8.9) What programs use: Touch Tablet or KoalaPad/Animation Station? 8.10) What kinds of extra RAM and RAMdisks can be installed? Page 4 of 214 ---- Generated from Megalextoria 8.11) What programs support more than 64K RAM? 8.12) What programs require more than 64K RAM? 8.13) What voice/sound synthesis software is there for the Atari? 8.14) What programs support stereo and upgraded sound? 8.15) What games support online action via modem? 8.16) What programs support Atari computer networking? Working with Atari files: Compression, File formats, Copying 9.1) How can I work with .arc files on my 8-bit Atari? 9.2) What file formats for entire disks/tapes/cartridges are there? 9.3) How can I copy my copy-protected Atari software? Interoperating with "modern" computers 10.1) What programs can log in to other computers via modem? 10.2) What programs can I use to host a BBS on the Atari? 10.3) How can I read/write Atari disks on an MS-DOS PC? 10.4) How can I read/write MS-DOS PC disks on my Atari? 10.5) How do I transfer files using a null modem cable? 10.6) How can my PC utilize my Atari disk drive? 10.7) What about interoperating with the Apple Macintosh? 10.8) Are there 8-bit Atari tools for the Commodore Amiga? Timeline 11.1) What is the history of Atari's 8-bit computers platform? ------------------------------ Subject: 1.1) What is an Atari 8-bit computer? Based in Silicon Valley in the U.S.A., the company known as Atari produced a line of home computers from 1979 to 1992 often referred to collectively as the "Atari 8-bits," the "8-bit Ataris," the "400/800/XL/XE series," etc.