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Which Atari 8-bit computer to buy? What do I need to run software? Where to find software? What emulators are available? I try to answer to those questions objectively and in a manner suitable for newbies or veterans returning to Atari after many years. Many other answers are in Atari 8-bit computers FAQs. Index 1. Which computer to buy? 2. What do I need to run software? 3. Where to find software? 4. Best homebrews? 5. Emulators? 6. Basic programming? 7. Graphics capabilities 1. Which computer to buy? Historically speaking, Atari 800 is the best one (a milestone, compare it with contemporary 1979 computers!), but if you want a computer compatible with all software, you should take an Atari 800XL or a 130XE (65XE and XEGS are OK too). Their only limitation compared to Atari 800 is that they have two joystick ports instead of four. Cart port: if you use cartridges, 800XL cart's port position is more comfortable. Keyboard: important only if you plan to enter a lot of text; many people prefer 800XL keyboards but 5 variants exists (avoid the last variant, Mitsumi). Memory: 800XL has 64KB, 130XE has 128KB, usuful for few games. Memory can be upgraded with internal or external expansions. Video ouput: 800XL has RF and composite, 130XE has s-video too. If you have a socketed Atari, with solderless Sophia 2 board you get RGB and DVI output. Quality: 800XL has a better building quality. Some XL's have all ICs socketed, therefore they are easier to repair and upgrade. Basic: Important only if you want to program with Atari Basic. Most 800XL have Basic rev. B, 130XE have bug free Basic rev. C. You can replace 800XL Basic rev. B chip with a rev. C. Anyway, if you like Basic programming, nowadays people don't use Atari Basic but Turbo-Basic XL (fast, compatible and compilable), Altirra Basic or the brand-new FastBasic so built-in Atari Basic's revision isn't important. 2. What do I need to run software? CARTRIDGES: you don't need anything apart an Atari 800XL/130XE. 5¼ FLOPPY DISKS: you need a disk drive (Atari 1050 or XF551). To load machine language programs, remember to turn on computer with option key pressed. TAPES: you need a program recorder (Atari 410, 1010, XC11 or XC12). To load machine language programs, remember to turn on computer with start and option keys pressed, then press play on program recorder and finally press return key. Nowadays all above software has been dumped and these are file format extensions: ATR: files that are reproductions of floppy disks. ATX: files that are reproductions of protected floppy discs. XEX/COM: files that are reproductions of single executables. CAR/ROM/BIN: files that are reproductions of cartridges. CAS: files that are reproductions of tapes. The frequent asked question is: "Which is the best multicart to run my games?". Atari computers are not consoles, so games were (and are) released not only in cartridge format but in disk format too. Moreover, some games need more than 64KB to run. I made a comparison table (last updated 23.07.2023) covering various loading devices: A8 loading devices.pdf There are three other comparison tables: https://avgcart.tmp.sk/ https://www.wudsn.com/index.php/productions-atari800/tools/thecart https://atari8.co.uk/firmware/side3/ Those comparison tables are not easy to understand for newbies, so I'll try to explain. SIO LOADING DEVICES are slower devices that emulate disk drives; they connect to SIO port and load programs like real disk drives. Considered the fact that all software is available in XEX and ATR formats, these devices load almost all software. Some games and many demos require a memory expansion though. MULTICARTS are faster devices that emulate cartridges; they are plugged into the cartridge port and load CAR and XEX. There are some games and many applications available in ATR format only (for example Alternate Reality, Seven Cities of Gold, The Dark Crystal) which multicarts can't run. But there are two multicarts with ATR compatibility (one of them with CAS compatibility too). Multicarts have the advantage of loading some games in CAR format that otherwise need memory expansion to run. Conclusions With a cheap SIO2PC-USB (with $6 you can make a SIO2PC-USB or you can link PC and Atari with a breakout board for the FTDI FT232RL USB to serial IC) you can run most of the software from a nearby PC, where you can keep all your files, for Atari and emulators. With FujiNet you can run most of the software from a microSD card or wirelessly from your PC or Internet. With two multicarts you can quickly select and load all the software: AVGCart (if connected to SIO port with the optional cable) and Side3 (if U1MB internal memory expansion is installed). At the moment AVGCART with SIO cable is the only all-in-one solderless solutions. Compared to other multicarts, as-is it's the only multicart with full ATR compatibility. Compared to SIO devices it lets you load CAR and files search/selection is faster. This cart expand RAM too if connected to Atari with PBI or ECI cable. The new SUBCART emulates Double Pokey and COVOX. 3. Where to find software? You can buy/find software on the Internet or in the real word, the price depends on conditions (loose, boxed, sealed) and rarity, and/or you can download it here: Atarimania (many screenshots and manuals) Atari 8-bit Forever Fandal (unparalleled for demos) Atarionline (Gry/Games on the left column) Homesoft (games in XEX and ATR format when XEX isn't available, continually updated and cleaned - no intros, no unpacking delays, no glitches - click on download button on the right, extract zip file and you'll get all games inside A-Z folders) Pigwa Atari FP Archive Mr. Bacardi Vjetnam 8-bit Atari games archive Archive 4. Best homebrews? Dozens of games are released each year. @ZeroPage Homebrew since 2019 keeps track of all Atari 8-Bit/5200 games that have either been completed, updated or released. I would try Albert, Assembloids XE, Atari Blast!, Bosconian, Crownland, Dimo's Dungeon, Dimo's Quest New Year Edition, Final Assault, FloB, Gacek, His Dark Majesty, International Karate Enhanced Edition, Last Squadron, Laura, Manic Miner 2016, Pac-Man 2012, Pad, Pang, Prince of Persia, RGB, The Rescue Expedition, Ridiculous Reality, Scramble, Space Harrier, Space Taxi, Stunt Car Racer, Time Pilot, Total Eclipse, Yoomp!, to name just a few. Almost all games are released for free (sometimes beautiful collectors editions are available). You can download them in the "3. Where to find software?" websites. Thanks to MrFish, you can download an homebrew compilation here. 5. Emulators? PC Altirra (the best emulator for PC) Atari800 Atari++ Atari800WinPLus Mac Atari800MacX Android Colleen (official Atari800 port) XEmu65 Droid800 Atari800 Nintendo DS PokeyDS Nintendo DSi A8DS Nintendo Wii WiiXL Sony PSP Atari800PSP PSP Atari 6. Basic programming? If you want to start programming Atari computers, the easier and most known language is Turbo-Basic XL. Released by Frank Ostrowski in 1985, it's compatible with built-in Atari Basic but faster, compilable and with additional commands. Here you can find original language, updated 2023 version, and two manuals: Turbo-BasicXL.zip If you would like to develop on PC with that language, I recommend Turban. In 2017 a new Basic has been released, FastBasic. Almost compatible with Turbo-Basic XL, but faster. Mad Studio is a good integrated development environment (scroll to find latest version). If you want to make bitmap images using various peculiar Atari graphics modes, you can use Atari Graphics Studio. To design player-missile graphics (sprites), you can use SprEd (very easy to use, it supports overlap feature to create a third color when overlapping sprites). To create music you can use Raster Music Tracker, made by Radek Sterba (we miss you). To change character set you can use Atari FontMaker or Atari Font Creator. Folks in the 8-bit programming subforum gladly answer questions. 7. Graphic capabilities If you want to see A8 machines graphics capabilities, check out Images generated by Rastaconverter topic.

[edited: link to PDF added] Hot news: the book Atari 2600 Programming for Newbies - Revised Edition by Andrew Davie is now available on Lulu.com for only $4.69. Order your copy here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/andrew-davie/atari-2600-programming-for-newbies-revised-edition/paperback/product-23644281.html Basically this book is the printed version of the Atari 2600 programming tutorials by Andrew Davie that he originally posted on these forums between 2003 and 2004 (and one extra session posted in 2012). Editing and formatting was done by yours truly. Note that in 2011 someone already bundled these tutorials into a book and published it on Lulu.com, but IMO there are a lot of issues with that version (e.g. no page numbers, missing session no. 25, images cut off on the end of the page, outlining issues, code samples hard to read because of wrapping). That's why I decided to call my version the "Revised Edition" ? I formatted all code samples to make them readable in print-format, fixed a few spelling errors and also did some editing where the original text was clearly assuming the reader is reading the text online. Note that I'm not making a single dollar-cent on this; you only pay for the printing of the booklet. The consequence is that Andrew Davie is also not making any money from this, but knowing that in 2011 he was OK with the other published book on Lulu.com, I hope he's also OK with this new "Revised Edition". The binding and printing of this book is really nice. The pages are black & white, but the cover is full color (see attached images). I also added Andrew's avatar on the back of the book ? And Lulu.com regularly has these promotions where they offer free shipping, making this a real bargain! Here is a link to the PDF for your convenience: Atari_2600_Programming_for_Newbies_Revised_Edition.pdf You might also like these other 2600-related books on Lulu: Stella Programmer's Guide 6502 Instruction Set Guide Cheers, Dion

Hello everyone, Today I've released the first Work in Progress video for the AtariX IDE I've been working on. The video showcases some of the tools in the IDE, like the Playfield Editor and the Object Editor, also the HUD which allows you to pick a font and a color for the 6 Digit Score. Next thing I'm going to work on is the LOGIC part of the Object Editor, which will allow developers to add properties to the object (like collisions, input etc) without having to write a single line of code. The main goal of AtariX is to help newbies to get into Atari game development and also for advanced users to build some prototypes, so you can export the Assembly code and add more advanced stuff into your game. If you have any thoughs or ideas, please let me know.