The Atari 800XL, together with the 600XL, were successors of the Atari 400/800 series and the unsuccessful Atari 1200 XL in a more compact case. They could use almost the same software, just so long as the program was written correctly, because of some slight differences between OS versions.
The 800XL had 64 KB of RAM, two joystick ports and kept all the custom chips (Pokey, GTIA, Antic) of the previous models. It also featured the new Parallel Bus Interface (PBI) providing high speed access to the system bus. The new version of the graphic Antic chip offered 16 graphics modes instead of 12 for the 800.
An enhanced version, called 800XLF, appeared in summer 1984. It was equipped with the new "Freddie" chip which allowed faster memory management, especially for graphics display. This version was released in Europe with SECAM
video interface.
Alongside the Commodore 64 and the Apple II, the 600 and 800XL were among the most popular home computers.
They would be replaced in 1985 with the XE series when Atari launched the ST.
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Martin Scott Goldberg says :
Regarding the comment "and can use the same software just so long as the program was written correctly", a translator disk was provided with the 1050 disk drive (the drive released with the XL series) that allowed the 600/800xl to run all older software. What it basicly did was load the original 400/800 OS over the XL one in memory.
Please consider donating your old computer / videogame system to Old-Computers.com or one of our partners from anywhere in the world (Europe, America, Asia, etc.).
I had Atari 800XL with memory extended to 320kB (original 64 + additional 256). I did the "upgrade" by myself by some manual I found in computer magazine (sorry, cannot remember the magazine name). New memory chips was mounted over originals. It worked, but not natively - special programing for memory bank switching was required. As an external accessories I had: - "Alfigraf" - a plotter like printer created mainly from Meccano https://www.atarimax.com/jindroush.atari.org/data/hardpics/alfi.jpg http://blog.3b2.sk/igi/post/Plotter-ALFI-Alfigraf.aspx (in czech language, sorry) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v$cLFLjMeJW64 - BT100 printer - an one-dot printer https://www.atarimax.com/jindroush.atari.org/aczhwbt.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload$9$v$0cwn8_0KPTo
and cassette palyer with Turbo2000 system https://www.atarimax.com/jindroush.atari.org/aturbo.html
Friday 2nd October 2020
Petr Hajek (Czech Republic)
does anyone have a picture of the jumper installation for the Rambo 256 installed in an Atari 1200XL
Wednesday 21st June 2017
Joe Jones
Does anyone have a picture of the US doubler chips for the Atari 1050 disk drive?
Wednesday 21st June 2017
Joe Jones (USA)
NAME
600 / 800 XL
MANUFACTURER
Atari
TYPE
Home Computer
ORIGIN
U.S.A.
YEAR
1982
END OF PRODUCTION
January 85
BUILT IN LANGUAGE
Atari Basic
KEYBOARD
Mechanical keyboard
CPU
MOS 6502C
SPEED
1.79 (NTSC) / 1.77 (PAL) MHz
CO-PROCESSOR
GTIA (video), POKEY (sound, I/O), ANTIC (video)
RAM
16 KB (600 XL up to 64 KB) / 64 KB (800 XL, expandable to 128 KB)
ROM
24 KB
TEXT MODES
five text modes, max: 40 x 24, min: 20 x 12
GRAPHIC MODES
16 graphic modes, maximum : 320 x 192
COLORS
256 (16 colors with 16 intensities)
SOUND
4 voices, 3.5 octaves
I/O PORTS
Composite video output, cartridge slot, peripheral port (SIO), parallel bus, 2 joystick plugs
(december 84)
