NotesIt turns out that E.T. isn't a bad game after all. With a few simple changes we were able to dramatically improve an already good game by eliminating the most common complaints. With a few additional changes, we were able to clear up any confusion for players who care about the score, and were confused by the differences between what the manual claims and what actually happens in-game. Next time someone tells you that "E.T. for the Atari 2600 is the worst game ever made" you can tell them that this is not the case. It's been fixed, and you know how.Unfurl
NotesHighlight:I've seen a number of folks with questions lately about bringing up 6100 monitors. On that topic, I have a set of notes that I'd been compiling and adding to over time, with info I've learned (sometimes the hard way) from repairing many 6100 monitors and boardsets.
How to bring up a 6100 color vector monitor (A PDF guide)
Hi all,
I've seen a number of folks with questions lately about bringing up 6100 monitors. On that topic, I have a set of notes that I'd been compiling and adding to over time, with info I've learned (sometimes the hard way) from...Unfurl
NotesSend a tweet with a short program to @Atari8BitBot and your program will run on an emulated Atari 8-bit computer. The bot will tweet you back with a video your program’s output!FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesSomething I’ve wanted to do for several years is to create a cross-platform 5.25” floppy, one that could be used on two different incompatible computer systems.Unfurl
NotesMaking retro Atari 65XE as USB-keyboard for a modern computer. And it will leave the opportunity to use this Atari in the native mode. Arduino Leonardo is used for connect the Atari's keyboard to an USB. With an UNIX this keyboard will works without any restrictions.Unfurl
NotesWhile watching this Back To The Future (1985) Retrospective (exact timestamp) today I noticed what appears to be an XE with an Indus disk drive being used by Bob Gale, co writer for the movie.Unfurl
NotesHeres how you can make your own top quality S-Video video board for almost any Atari 8 bit. It uses few parts and would take minutes to install.Unfurl
NotesSIO2Arduino is an Atari 8-bit (800/XL/XE) device emulator that runs on the Arduino platform. It currently emulates a single Atari 1050 disk drive (D1:) but there are plans to extend it to support multiple drives as well as other devices. Unfurl
Notes The SIO stands for the "Serial Input/Output". It is a data transfer protocol used by the Atari 8-bit machines to communicate with a printer, disk drive, modem etc. via the SIO connector. These transfers are controlled by the POKEY chip. Unfurl
NotesThe board fits like an edge connector in between the two rows of pins in the Atari SIO port and is modeled after the Atari8Warez “Poor Mans SIO Cable”. The side labeled “SIO23V3” is the top/up side.Unfurl
NotesMuch of this document is either inadequate due to my (still) limited understanding of the workings of Tempest. Additional information is always welcome.
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NotesCosmosEx is a device for Atari ST computers which replaces multiple peripherals in single box. Your Atari peripheral cosmos is now expanding!Unfurl
Notes'Atari 800 - Best Game Pack' is an All-In-One game pack includes the best Atari 8-bit games, screenshots, adverts, covers, manuals, the spreadsheet of high scores club and easy-to-use front-endUnfurl
Notes"Atari Party" is free event celebrating decades of video game and computing history of Atari. They've been held annually since 2009, typically in Davis, California. This year, Atari Party once again migrates to Sunnyvale, California (long-time home to Atari, Inc. and Atari Corp.), where it's being hosted by the Sunnyvale Public Library.Unfurl
NotesThe original Atari featured a wealth of games with box art that was quite a bit more imaginative than the “grizzled man holding a gun” template that’s so popular today. The concept of playing a video game in your house, on your television, was still in its infancy in the late 1970s, and Atari needed a way to market its games. One solution was to commission intricately detailed covers that sold the idea of a game much better than any simple screenshot could. “The game-playing experience wasn’t 100 percent of the experience,” says Tim Lapetino, an artist and designer currently working on a book about the history of Atari cover art. “Part of what made the world complete was the artwork that conjured up this other place. I wasn’t sitting in my living room anymore; I was on this desolate planet or in space. And it was mostly because of that art.”FeedUnfurl
NotesStellar Track was a conversion of a college mainframe Star Trek game released by Sears in 1981. It is a suitably primitive game where you have to run scans to locate enemies and starbases on a 6 x 6 galactic map. You run scans to find the enemies then must warp to their quadrant to confront them with either phasers or photon torpedoes. You use the joystick to determine the numerals of where you intend you to travel to. Unfurl
NotesRetro gaming enthusiasts take note: this joystick is what you need to play any Atari game on the original console. It plugs right into the original console hardware and removes the need to choose the joystick, paddle, or keypad controller separately. You just leave this puppy hooked up and move your hands to the set of controls used on each game.FeedEmbedUnfurl
NotesIt turns out that E.T. isn't a bad game after all. With a few simple changes we were able to dramatically improve an already good game by eliminating the most common complaints. With a few additional changes, we were able to clear up any confusion for players who care about the score, and were confused by the differences between what the manual claims and what actually happens in-game. Next time someone tells you that "E.T. for the Atari 2600 is the worst game ever made" you can tell them that this is not the case. It's been fixed, and you know how.Unfurl
NotesI played an awful lot of Asteroid on my Atari 2600 this weekend. This inspired me to make a little wallpaper for my desktop to remind me how much I enjoy the game. So here it is, my Atari 2600 Box Art Wallpaper.Unfurl
NotesThese early generation wireless joysticks were a far cry from the wireless pads we’ve come to enjoy (and expect) today. For starters, each joystick contained a 9-volt battery, an on/off switch, and a non-retractable 6″ antenna poking out the front of each one. I guess after the batteries died, you could still sword fight with them.FeedUnfurl
NotesWhen frying chicken for your family it is important to never stop to play video games for an hour and leave your chicken floating in a pool of oil the entire time. But if you must insist on this behavior, make sure you hare using Crisco oil. It somehow goes against all logic and will allow your oil soaked chicken to not be oily or greasy. Unfurl
Notes"These alternate-universe, time-warped re-imaginings of our Mac apps make for great collectables. They’re incredibly detailed and perfectly crafted. And we think you like them, even though we realize the intersection in the “Panic Fan” and “Atari 2600 Fan” venn diagram may be very, very small.
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Notes"I decided: why not ignore the fact that my first computer and my latest computer are 27 years apart? Why not stack them on top of each other, take some silly photos, and put up a chart comparing how many kilo-whatsits of X the Atari had to how many giga-whosits the Dell had.
So you have it... a brief comparison of the classic and short-lived Atari 1200XL to the modern and also short-lived Dell Inspiron 1525."Unfurl
NotesI had no idea these existed. I so totally would have had a full set of Starmaster patches. "To obtain any of the coveted Activision patches, a player would need to play a particular game, reach a pre-determined score, and mail a photograph prooving the accomplishment to Activision. Weeks later the Activision patch would arrive in your mailbox compliments of Activision, accompanied by a nice letter from the company congratulating you on your game-playing skills and welcoming you to the club."Unfurl
Notes"Remember the Dig Dug or Centipede or Robotron? They used to be favorites wheimagen Atari’s 7800 series was still around. Now since the era of those consoles is over and a different world of interactive reality gaming has taken over, Atari Museum, a site run by Atari enthusiast, has got hold of has unofficially source code of over 15 games for the coders and enthusiasts to admire the state-of-the-art (because this is what it was back then) of game development."Unfurl
Notes"; My intent in overhauling this classic disassembly is to finish it ; so that the purpose of every instruction, memory location, and ; table is made completely clear. "Unfurl
NotesRode past here every day I worked at Yahoo "I lived in Silicon Valley for 30 years, and I passed this intersection all the time. I finally stopped by this week, and got some pictures of the first building Atari occupied. This is the building where Pong was born. It has a small office in the front, with a workshop and roll-up door in the back. It's the office on the corner of the building. 2962 Scott Blvd in Santa Clara."Unfurl
Notes"The next time you use your shiny new Wacom tablet and Adobe Photoshop CS4, think back to a time before time–a time before blends, morphs, heal brushes, and 10-megapixel images. A time like 1984, which, for computer graphics, was darker than the Dark Ages. It was a time when you could buy an $89.95 Atari CX77 Touch Tablet for your Atari 8-bit home computer. Luckily, I bought mine for considerably less last year, although it was still in new, unopened condition. Safely sequestered in the official Vintage Computing and Gaming computer lab, I recently began the task of unpacking the antique peripheral and documenting the process. Here’s an account of the experience."FeedUnfurl
Notes"This is the home page of the Macintosh OS X Port of David Firth's Fantastic Atari 800 Emulator. I have ported the SDL version of the Atrari800 emulator to Mac OS X, and added a full native Cocoa interface, including Preferences, Menus, File Associations, Help and more."Unfurl
Notes"The SDrive is a device that connects to Atari XL/XE's serial (SIO) port and simulates an Atari floppy disk drive with full read/write access to programs and data stored on a SecureDigital flash card (SD)."Unfurl
Notes"The Atari 2700 (also referred to as the Atari Remote Control VCS) was an unreleased console by Atari. Intended for release in 1981, its main standout features were wireless controllers that featured a combination of a joystick and paddle. The fire button was touch-sensitive, as were the buttons on the console. The Reset and Select buttons were relocated to the controllers themselves. The 2700 also featured a storage bin at the top of the console to store the controllers. Focus groups used to test the system noted that the controllers were comfortable, sleek, responsive, and very easy to use."FeedUnfurl
Notes"It’s pretty awesome seeing ultra rare and collectable stuff show up for sale, and this one is a true gem. Earlier today, an Atari 2700 prototype sold on eBay for over $5,000. It sounds crazy that someone would bid that much, but the winning bidder is definitely going to be in possession of something they don’t have to worry about finding over at their buddy’s house any time soon. The seller apparently was a game developer from Atari and was given the 2700 as a gift from Leonard Tramiel himself. "Unfurl
Notes"This four-year period -- from 1977 to 1981 -- contains some of the most exciting developments the company ever saw in its history: the rise of the 2600, the development of some of the company's most enduringly popular games (Centipede, Asteroids) and the development and release of its first home computing platforms."Unfurl
Notes"When Bushnell finally decided on the name for his pioneering video game company, he called it “Atari”. In Go terms this is like saying “watch the hell out, I’m just about to win the game”."Unfurl
Notes"The 65XE was essentially a straight replacement for the Atari 800XL, adding not much more than a new version of BASIC, and updating the looks to match its big brother, the 130XE."Unfurl
Notes"The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured by Atari Inc. starting in 1979, and later Atari Corporation starting in 1984."FeedUnfurl
Notes"Mail Order Monsters was widely regarded as important for its cooperative play aspect and the ability to enhance and customize monsters."FeedUnfurl
Notes"atariarchives.org makes books, information, and software for Atari and other classic computers available on the Web. Everything here is available with permission of the copyright holders."Unfurl
Notes"Featuring what appears to be a Sears Atari 2600 clone and a 13-inch CRT with a custom fake-ice RIVIERA logo, there's no wonder Kevin, the owner, says this whip is his "absolute pride and joy.""Unfurl
Fixing E.T. for the Atari 2600
How to bring up a 6100 color vector monitor (A PDF guide)
Insentricity :: A Multi-Format Cross-Platform Floppy for 5.25" Floppy Day ::
The Things We Did on the Atari ST - Guido Henkel: Guido Henkel
Atari 65XE as USB keyboard
Back To The Future written on Atari 8bit!? - Atari 8-Bit Computers - AtariAge Forums
Make your own S-Video for your 8-bit card easily and quickly - Atari 8-Bit Computers - AtariAge Forums
Whizzo Software - SIO2Arduino
SIO
OSH Park ~ Atari SIO23v3
SIO2PI -> Raspberry Pi as a floppy - Atari 8-Bit Computers - AtariAge Forums
Tempest: Detailed theory of operation
Jookie's home page » CosmosEx
Atari Party 2014, June 14th in Sunnyvale
How Atari box art turned 8-bit games into virtual wonderlands | The Verge
Stellar Track (Game)
Atari Combo Controller has what you need for any cartridge
Internet Archive Atari Donation - a set on Flickr
Atari 2600 Wireless Joysticks | The Retroist
Activision patches
Atari 1200XL vs. Dell Inspiron 1525
Good Deal Games - Classic Videogame Games ARTICLE - Activision Patches ( Atari, Colecovision, Intellivision )
Atari’s 1984 Touch Tablet: A Retro-Unboxing | Technologizer
Atari 8Bit and Mac - Atari800MacX
ATARI SDrive
Atari 2700 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Atari 65XE
Atari 8-bit family - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David Ahl's BASIC Computer Adventures
Mail Order Monsters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AtariArchives.org - archiving vintage computer books, information, and software
The Second Book Of Machine Language - Appendix C