The year was
1978. Atari was at the top of the video gamming world with its 2600
VCS game console. Atari management looked around and saw a
new and potentially lucrative market just beginning to take shape. This
market was the Home Computer Market. They saw a market with relatively
few major competitors and Atari was in a great position to market a
computer of their own. They, after all, were a trusted household name,
everyone owned an Atari or knew someone who did!
So December of 1978 Atari
introduced the 400 and 800 series computers. The actual
computers were not delivered until late 1979 due to production problems.
The 400 was a scaled down
version of the Atari 800. Introduced as an entry level computer
based on the same MOSTEK 6502A processor running at 1.70 MHz with
16K of user RAM built in. It had a membrane style keyboard (not very
touch type friendly) with 62 touch sensitive keys and 4 special keys to
the right of the keyboard.
It stood out amongst the
other computer offerings of the day with its graphics and sound
capabilities. It was capable of producing 128 colors on the screen using
the CTIA video processor and up to 256 colors with the upgraded GTIA
video processor chip used on later versions of the computer. The 400 was
first amongst the early computers to be able to display 4 programmable
screen objects simultaneously called 'Player-missiles' (also
known as 'Sprites' on Commodore computers). This was at a
time when the most computers produced only monochrome displays or very
primitive 8 color screens. The graphics were handled by a custom chip
called the "ANTIC" (CTIA/GTIA). This chip was
designed to work as a sort of co-processor to take the work load away
from the main processor to display graphics and color on the screen.
The team that developed the
custom chips inside the 400 and 800 was headed by Jay
Miner who later, after leaving Atari, headed the teams who developed
the custom chips that surrounded the Motorola MC68000 processor
that powered arguably the most advanced computer of its time, The Amiga
1000!
The sound was supplied by another
custom chip called "POKEY" and produced 4 voices for
the most realistic sound production of any computer on the market at the
time. Input/output was handled by a serial port on the right side of the
machine. You could daisy chain a tape player, a 5 1/4 inch disk drive, a
modem, or a printer through special d-type jacks. The Atari 400
could also accommodate up to 4 joysticks through ports on the front of
the machine. The joysticks were of the standard type used on the 2600
VCS .
The computer was originally released
standard with 16K of RAM, but unlike it's bigger brother it could
not easily expand its RAM
to 48K by plugging 16K RAM
modules into the slots because it only had one slot. But inventive
entrepreneurs soon found ways around this limitation and third party
venders were soon selling expansion cards to replace the basic 16k card
inside the 400 with larger ones.
The Atari 400 was one of the few
computers of its day not to use a BASIC written by Microsoft,
instead it used a version written in house, this made converting
programs written in BASIC
for other machines a bit difficult. For
some strange reason the BASIC was not included in the ROM
but it had to be loaded by installing a cartridge into one of the two
slots under the lift up trap door on top front of the machine. It had to
be inserted into the slot the same way you would a video game. By the
way, cartridges from the 2600 VCS do not fit in these slots. The 400
had a built in RF modulator so no special hook-ups or costly monitors
were necessary, it hooked directly to any TV.
The Atari 400 in this exhibit is one
of three working models in the museum. It was acquired through an Ebay
auction and added to the museum on June 8, 2000. It is complete in
its original boxes and has all of its original documentation and
accessories. Along with the purchase was an Atari 410 data
recorder also in its original box.
