The 1970s
From console to home computer
Before the Atari 400 and 800, the company's engineers worked on the VCS console, later known as the Atari 2600. Their experience with gaming chips became the starting point for a new design. The team had to reconcile two goals: an entertainment device and a computer with a keyboard on which users could write their own programs.
Contributors included Jay Miner, Joe Decuir and Doug Neubauer. The new computer's chips would handle graphics, sound and communication with external devices. Decuir later recalled that the console-versus-computer dilemma led to two machines: the cheaper 400 and the more capable 800. Neubauer, who designed POKEY, also wrote Star Raiders, a game that demonstrated the new platform's capabilities.
1979–1980
The first computers: Atari 400 and 800
Atari introduced the 400/800 family in 1979. Alongside the computers, it offered a cassette recorder, disk drive, printer and software. Catalogues advertised entertainment as well as education, household budgeting and word processing. BASIC was one of the available cartridges, alongside applications and games.
The models shared an architecture but targeted different budgets. The Atari 400 had a flat membrane keyboard; the 800 offered a full-travel keyboard, memory modules accessible under a cover and two cartridge slots. External devices connected in a chain through SIO, so the system could be expanded without installing cards inside the computer.
1981–1983
Software written by users
Software availability mattered as much as hardware capabilities. Atari Program Exchange, or APX, launched in February 1981. Users could submit their own programs, and accepted titles entered the catalogue for sale on cassette or disk. Authors received royalties based on sales. It offered a way to reach users without setting up a publishing business.
APX published games, educational software and applications. Its titles included Chris Crawford's Eastern Front, Greg Christensen's Caverns of Mars and Fernando Herrera's My First Alphabet. In June 1983, Antic described a catalogue of over 170 titles. Some programs, such as Caverns of Mars, later joined Atari's main product range.
1982–1983
The XL series and price competition
Atari announced the 1200XL in December 1982. A new low-profile case, comfortable keyboard and 64 KB RAM were intended to refresh the range. But the 1200XL was expensive, while home computers were becoming cheaper. Press coverage naturally compared it with the Commodore 64.
The range changed again in 1983. Atari introduced the 600XL and 800XL, with BASIC in ROM and a shared design for computers and peripherals. The cheaper 600XL had 16 KB RAM; the 800XL had 64 KB. They were promoted alongside the 1010 recorder, 1050 drive and new printers. Instead of one expensive computer, Atari offered a range of configurations. The announced 600XL price was below $200.
1984
Warner sells part of Atari to Jack Tramiel
Owned by Warner Communications, Atari faced competition in computers and problems in its games division. In July 1984, its consumer business, including computers and consoles, passed to Commodore founder Jack Tramiel. Warner retained the arcade division. The acquired business then operated as Atari Corporation.
The change brought reorganisation and uncertainty about future products. In autumn 1984, John J. Anderson wrote in Creative Computing that continued 800XL sales seemed likely, but other plans were unclear. The new owner cut costs and prepared his own product range.
1985
XE alongside the new Atari ST
Atari introduced two computer families at the start of 1985. The new ST would compete in the 16/32-bit market. The XE series continued the 8-bit line, using familiar software and SIO devices. In an early Creative Computing report, a company representative explained the redesign of the 800XL as a way to reduce component count and manufacturing costs.
The 65XE offered 64 KB RAM and the 130XE 128 KB. The 130XE's additional memory was bank-switched, so older programs could not necessarily use it. Owners of earlier models could continue using their software and peripherals. DOS 2.5 was developed alongside the hardware, easing use of disk formats supported by older and newer drives.
The mid-1980s
Atari in Poland: Pewex, clubs and software exchange
In the July 1986 issue of Britain's Atari User, Tadeusz Menert described bringing a used 800XL from England the previous summer and looking for other owners in Kraków. He also recalled the first Atari deliveries to Pewex and how quickly they sold out. Computers were on shop shelves, but payment required hard currency, a serious barrier for many families.
Menert highlighted another problem: obtaining a computer did not guarantee access to software. Personal contacts and exchanges between users mattered. He described regular meetings in a Kraków café to discuss hardware and programming. The club helped new owners find programs and other users of the same computer.
1987–1988
XEGS: a computer sold as a console
In 1987, Atari gave the familiar platform another form: the XE Game System. A pale case with coloured buttons and a detachable keyboard distinguished the XEGS from other XE machines, but inside it remained a computer of the same family. Cartridge games were intended to reach customers in toy and entertainment shops.
Antic's March 1988 review compared the XEGS directly with the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System. Atari's advantage was the ability to add a keyboard and disk drive and use the existing software library. It was an attempt to find new customers for an architecture designed late in the previous decade, while newer consoles and computers were drawing the market's attention.
The late 1980s and early 1990s
The Polish Atari press
The Polish computer press records the life of Atari users. Alongside Bajtek's Klan Atari section, there was Moje Atari, followed by Tajemnice Atari in 1991. These magazines published listings, software guides, articles on custom chips and hardware modifications. For readers without English-language manuals, they also provided technical knowledge in Polish.
Moje Atari's 1990 issues covered subjects including Action! and Player/Missile graphics. Later issues discussed Turbo 2600, sound synthesis and 1050 drive modifications. Readers could find both software guides and projects to build themselves.
The early 1990s
Atari takes other directions
By the early 1990s, Atari was concentrating on other products. Its 1992 annual report named the Falcon030 and Lynx handheld console as principal products, with the Jaguar in development as a new entertainment system. The company cut costs and sold off stocks of older computers and consoles.
Polish magazines still catered to 8-bit Atari users, but Atari Corporation was investing in other platforms. Software and expansion development for the 400/800, XL and XE increasingly depended on users themselves.
From the 1990s onwards
Emulators and the platform's continuing life
David Firth wrote the Atari800 emulator in 1995 and released it under the GPL. Emulation allowed old software to run on other computers, while open source enabled continued development. Preserving programs, manual scans and disk images became important to collectors and to people studying how the original hardware worked.
Hardware development for original Atari computers continued too. FujiNet, for example, combines peripheral emulation with Wi-Fi access. A computer with an SIO port can use disk images stored on network servers.