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Calling All 400s!


ClausB

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Updated list:

 

Atari 400 serial numbers & owners & dates WW/YY:

NTSC:

---------------------------

9 45 3375 ClausB 45/80?

9 48 5663 (WW061/18) adam242 48/80?

AV 173873 10/1 (AV 492934 402) jacobus 10/81

AV 030962 331 5863 orpheuswaking 33/81

381 6793 owinnimo 38/81

391 8230 owinnimo 39/81

421 1193 (AV040418) csimar 42/81

431 6737 421 Bryan 42/81 or 43/81

481 1259 jacobus 48/81

481 1512 (144 AV032245) MrFish 48/81

AV 024184 022 Sean39 02/82

AV 243692 042 bar897 04/82

013962 082 (152 AV070285) Nature Boy 08/82

019334 112 jacobus 11/82

AV 210552 142 (AV083743) Mirage 14/82

AV 302855 282 hunmanik 28/82

AV 361209 292 (AV 194896 7-12) Chilly Willy 29/82

AV 321493 302 tep392 30/82

AV 163775 91120 392 (AV 511363) edward1024 39/82

489543 412 (AV168668 10/8) jacobus 41/82

AV 461?73 422 Stephen 42/82

AV 485595 472 orpheuswaking 47/82

AV 468285 492 kool kitty89 49/82

AV 455505 492 ClausB 49/82

AV 519454 512 Bryan 51/82

AV 359757 522 owinnimo 52/82

AV 490453 532 rdea6 53/82

AV 434887 023 orpheuswaking 02/83

AV 459975 023 Spurge 02/83

AV 428709 033 low.blow 03/83

AV 01799 043 83A jacobus 04/83

AV 464601 053 ClausB 05/83

AV 02966 063 83A jacobus 06/83

AV 356901 073 Kyle22 07/83

AV 399609 113 Bryan 11/83

AV 425492 113 ClausB 11/83

AV 418392 123 orpheuswaking 12/83

AV 399234 143 orpheuswaking 14/83

AV 368167 153 (AV397463) BillC 15/83

AV 245356 163 nama 16/83

AV 278113 163 OracleJedi 16/83

AV 429553 173 Dragon375 17/83

AV 430383 173 doctorclu 17/83

AV 430832 173 slx 17/83

AV 429921 183 iratasan 18/83

AV 23807 193 DrVenkman 19/83

AV 27055 193 HatNJ 19/83

AV 420359 203 owinnimo 20/83

AV 523584 doctorclu ??/??

AV 302124 Bryan ??/??

AV 316722 (AV 160238 9122) Ditto ??/??

AV 330172 potatohead ??/??

AV 421708 swlovinist ??/??

AV 479540 jsmith73 ??/??

several owinnimo ??/??

025372 thegamezmaster ??/??

AV 336216 (AV 134788 8/27) DrVenkman ??/??

PAL:

---------------------------

051 004998 (351) Rybags

172 BY 102534 (050 005417) 431 mimo

051 006809 032 skr

BY 116316 032 mimo

BZ 105407 Sleepy

BZ 110353 (082) sup8pdct

BY 118067 362 (BY 111548 830) Fox-1 / mnx

BY 00329 053 ProWizard

051 006880 261 OBO

BY 105245 151 (050 008743) OBO

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Picked up another one from craigslist tonight...16K, GTIA. Very clean and all 'keys' work! ;-)

I'm a little unsure of its lineage, though.. the label on the bottom of the case says AV395629 113.

But then there's another sticker on the RF shielding that reads AV371278.

 

attachicon.gifKIMG0129.JPGattachicon.gifKIMG0130.JPG

 

That's pretty common - one of my 400's has the same kind of thing. Also, one of my 400's and one of my 800's also have a second, hand-written serial number sticker on the bottom of the case. The hand-written serial number sticker on my 400 matches the sticker inside the cart slot.

 

I haven't seen a good explanation for these hand-written sticker, or why some units have them but others don't. I suspect it has to do with "correcting" or recalibrating production runs with the pre-printed labels on the bottom of the cases. Perhaps the main case labels were applied to the case bottoms before assembly was complete or perhaps production glitches caused them to get out of sequence and secondary stickers were applied to correct them. Or maybe secondary stickers were used to units that initially failed testing and were sent back for re-work before packaging.

I've long thought it would be interesting to see if any former Atari production engineers or managers were around who could shed light on this kind of thing.

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  • 9 months later...

A new thread shows an 800 from 1980 without handwritten label. And I have an 800 with handwritten label and case stamping of 949. Also mimo's PAL unit early in this thread looks like 050, perhaps modified later to PAL.

 

So I'm becoming convinced that the first two 400s on our list are indeed from 1979. My original objection was that mine has a later OS ROM. However, I did have an Atari dealer install an Axlon 32K RAM in 1981, and he might have updated the ROM then.

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/241765-need-help-on-dating-th-age-of-a-very-low-serial-800-computer/

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So I'm becoming convinced that the first two 400s on our list are indeed from 1979. My original objection was that mine has a later OS ROM. However, I did have an Atari dealer install an Axlon 32K RAM in 1981, and he might have updated the ROM then.

 

Is there a timeline on when Atari switched over to OS-B? I know there is still some degree of confusion when the exact switchover from CTIA to GTIA occurred in the production lines. At least in regards to the latter, there are magazine articles talking about it to bracket the general timeframe. Are there similar press discussion of the switch between OS-A and -B?

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For what it's worth, I opened up my early 400 - the one with the 948 date code - tonight and found the following:

 

CTIA chip

post-19239-0-88419200-1440027634_thumb.jpg

 

Revision A OS ROMs

post-19239-0-54791300-1440027642_thumb.jpg

 

I've included the (date code? serial?) stickers in the pics, in case this helps...

 

Also, to update my original description, it has 16k RAM (not 48k, like I guessed) and something called "xtravideo 1". This is that odd monochrome composite mod. Just a small black box on a DIP header that replaces one of the chips. The shielded cable runs out the Faraday cage to a panel-mount RCA jack on the case. Never heard of this before.

post-19239-0-64379000-1440027653_thumb.jpg

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Atari 400 serial numbers & owners & dates WW/YY:



NTSC:


---------------------------


9 45 1941 MacRorie 45/79?


9 45 3375 ClausB 45/79?


9 48 5663 (WW061/18) adam242 48/79?


AV 173873 10/1 (AV 492934 402) jacobus 10/81


AV 030962 331 5863 orpheuswaking 33/81


381 6793 owinnimo 38/81


391 8230 owinnimo 39/81


421 1193 (AV040418) csimar 42/81


431 6737 421 Bryan 42/81 or 43/81


481 1259 jacobus 48/81


481 1512 (144 AV032245) MrFish 48/81


AV 024184 022 Sean39 02/82


AV 243692 042 bar897 04/82


013962 082 (152 AV070285) Nature Boy 08/82


019334 112 jacobus 11/82


AV 210552 142 (AV083743) Mirage 14/82


AV 302855 282 hunmanik 28/82


AV 361209 292 (AV 194896 7-12) Chilly Willy 29/82


AV 321493 302 tep392 30/82


AV 163775 91120 392 (AV 511363) edward1024 39/82


489543 412 (AV168668 10/8) jacobus 41/82


AV 461?73 422 Stephen 42/82


AV 485595 472 orpheuswaking 47/82


AV 468285 492 kool kitty89 49/82


AV 455505 492 ClausB 49/82


AV 519454 512 Bryan 51/82


AV 359757 522 owinnimo 52/82


AV 490453 532 rdea6 53/82


AV 434887 023 orpheuswaking 02/83


AV 459975 023 Spurge 02/83


AV 428709 033 low.blow 03/83


AV 01799 043 83A jacobus 04/83


AV 464601 053 ClausB 05/83


AV 02966 063 83A jacobus 06/83


AV 356901 073 Kyle22 07/83


AV 395629 113 adam242 11/83


AV 399609 113 Bryan 11/83


AV 425492 113 ClausB 11/83


AV 396339 123 ClausB 12/83


AV 418392 123 orpheuswaking 12/83


AV 399234 143 orpheuswaking 14/83


AV 368167 153 (AV397463) BillC 15/83


AV 245356 163 nama 16/83


AV 278113 163 OracleJedi 16/83


AV 429553 173 Dragon375 17/83


AV 430383 173 doctorclu 17/83


AV 430832 173 slx 17/83


AV 429921 183 iratasan 18/83


AV 23807 193 DrVenkman 19/83


AV 27055 193 HatNJ 19/83


AV 420359 203 owinnimo 20/83


AV 523584 doctorclu ??/??


AV 302124 Bryan ??/??


AV 316722 (AV 160238 9122) Ditto ??/??


AV 330172 potatohead ??/??


AV 421708 swlovinist ??/??


AV 479540 jsmith73 ??/??


several owinnimo ??/??


025372 thegamezmaster ??/??


AV 336216 (AV 134788 8/27) DrVenkman ??/??



PAL:


---------------------------


051 004998 (351) Rybags


172 BY 102534 (050 005417) 431 mimo


051 006809 032 skr


BY 116316 032 mimo


BZ 105407 Sleepy


BZ 110353 (082) sup8pdct


BY 118067 362 (BY 111548 830) Fox-1 / mnx


BY 00329 053 ProWizard


051 006880 261 OBO


BY 105245 151 (050 008743) OBO


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  • 8 months later...

Here's mine.... Currently waiting a new keyboard from Best! UK PAL. My RF out is awful... But I made an s-video out board and now it looks great. Also did a mixer board for cassette / computer audio.

post-45857-0-90330000-1463076059_thumb.jpeg

Edited by Dub
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi together!

 

If there is anyone out there, who has an Atari 400 with:

 

https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Rarity%2010

 

Atari OS Rev. B (PAL) for Atari 400/800 from 1981 ; PRINT PEEK (65528) <RETURN> => 34

 

or

 

OPERATING SYSTEM 255 for Atari 400/800 ; PRINT PEEK (65528) <RETURN> => 255

 

please let us know, we can make you an offer, you can't resist. :-)

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