Atari 400 and 800 color flyers from 1980 and their hardware add on items

[HDTV1080P]

The Atari 400 and Atari 800 came out in 1979 and then was discontinued in 1992 (4 million units were sold). I never owned an Atari 400, or Atari 800. My first videogame system was the ColecoVision in 1982 and my first computer was the Expansion Module #3 ADAM computer in 1983. The ADAM was a more powerful computer when compared to the original Atari 400 and 800. However since the ADAM was only on the market between 1983-1985, a maximum of 500,000 ADAM computers was sold. The Atari 400 and Atari 800 were much more popular computers.

 

Back around 1981 Atari mailed me this Personal Computer Systems folder. The folder contained full page color flyers from 1980 on the Atari 400 and 800 computers and their hardware add on items. I am making these available for anyone that has not seen them. I wish I would have kept these flyers in better condition; they are 37 years old and showing their age.

 

Cable modems were a technology of the early 21st Century (around 2002 I owned my first cable modem). In the late 1990’s DSL became popular in some areas. However in the 1980’s everyone used dial up modems to access BBS services and the early forms of what would become the Internet. The Coleco ADAM had a add on internal 300 baud modem that connected to the phone line directly (Later on up to 19,200 baud external modems were possible with the Coelco Adam). However the Atari 800 computer back in 1980 used an external 300 baud modem that required a physical landline telephone headset to sit on top of the modem. Its amazing how technology changes over the years. Back in the 1980’s no one had cell phones except a few millionaires in select areas of the USA. Analog and digital cell phones started becoming somewhat popular in the early to mid 1990’s. But for many Americans it was not until around 2000 before people started getting their first cell phone.

Atari Personal Computer Systems folder.pdf

Atari 400.pdf

Atari 410 Program Recorder.pdf

Atari 800.pdf

Atari 810 Disk Drive.pdf

Atari 815 Dual Disk Drive.pdf

Atari 820 40-Column Printer.pdf

Atari 822 Thermal Printer.pdf

Atari 825 80-Column Printer.pdf

Atari 830 Acoustic Modem.pdf

Atari 850 Interface Module.pdf

Atari Controllers.pdf

Atari 1981 Software Catalog.pdf

Edited August 23, 2017 by HDTV1080P

[Tinman]

Thanks for posting these!

[redman]

Very nice. Thanks a lot!

[Justin Payne]

I have several of this in very good condition. I got them from an auction. Then only one that is bad is, unfortunately, the 800, which was received ripped. I noticed your images might have had some issues with scanning. If people want me to get mine scanned, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Here is what I got in that auction.

[HDTV1080P]

I have several of this in very good condition. I got them from an auction. Then only one that is bad is, unfortunately, the 800, which was received ripped. I noticed your images might have had some issues with scanning. If people want me to get mine scanned, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Here is what I got in that auction.

It looks like you kept yours in excellent condition. Thanks for sharing.

[Level42]

500000 Adams, shouldn't that be 50000 ? I never saw one here in Europe.

 

A8's sold 4 million but that was world wide and in a period from 1979-1992 and I find it hard to believe the Adam sold that much in that short time period, also remembering that the machine actually had serious hardware issues.

[Justin Payne]

It looks like you kept yours in excellent condition. Thanks for sharing.

I wish I could say I did. Although I did collect brochures to gaze upon before I got my 800 back in the day, all of that material is long gone. I didn't have the vision to keep any of it as soon as I moved onto the ST. The stuff I have was picked up pretty recently and it was a pleasant surprise when I received it in the mail. I was actually interested in a few other items that came with it and really didn't notice the paperwork that came with it. My plan it to frame it and place it on a wall. If I can get good scans of it, I can hopefully make it available to others if they want to get some really nice prints made up from them. I know Kevin Savitz does a lot of scanning and he's only a state away from me so maybe next time I'm down there I'll drop by and have him make copies OR just snail mail them to him depending when I can get down there.

[HDTV1080P]

500000 Adams, shouldn't that be 50000 ? I never saw one here in Europe.

 

A8's sold 4 million but that was world wide and in a period from 1979-1992 and I find it hard to believe the Adam sold that much in that short time period, also remembering that the machine actually had serious hardware issues.

Coleco had the advantage in 1983 of using state of the art new technology that was 4 years newer then the 1979 Atari 400 and 800 (The ADAM machines were more powerful with better graphics).Coleco sold 2 million ColecoVision’s and 500,000 Adam’s maximum. However some estimate 300,000+ ADAM's according to some online sources (ColecoVision NTSC and PAL was worldwide however ADAM's were only NTSC and sold in North America only).

 

The problem with the Adam computers is they shipped them with a unworking version of Smartwriter word processing rom’s. I got my first Expansion module #3 Adam computer when it first came out, and as soon as one turned on the ADAM, the Smartwriter word processor instantly booted like it is suppose too, however as soon as one went from electronic typewriter mode to word processing mode the entire computer system locked up and Smartwriter was completely unusable. I exchanged the Adam computer at least 3 times before they started releasing them with the correct working version of Smartwriter built in rom. Someone at Coleco should have gotten fired over this, since the bad buggy Smartwriter rom built in was the problem that caused the computer to have a bad reputation where many people did not want to purchase it. The Adam shipped with an automated super fast Digital Data Drives (high speed tape drive) and later on Coleco in 1984 came out with a Disk Drives. Some people did not know how to properly use the Digital Data Drives and to be honest Disk Drives are much more reliable. Coleco rushed the computer to market and should have waited a year and release the Adam with a Disk Drive instead of an automated tape drive. The ADAM most likely would have been more popular if the quality control was better on launch date.

 

Atari was a much bigger company that was well known for the Atari 2600 and Atari computers. Plus Atari had arcade classics like Pacman and Ms. Pacman that were exclusive to those systems (Atari back in 1983 had a Pacman cartridge made for the ColecoVision/ADAM but they decided not to release it since they knew many people would purchase ColecoVision's and ADAM's if that cartridge was released) .

Edited August 23, 2017 by HDTV1080P

[Justin Payne]

Yea, Atari was big but by the time Coleco was coming into its own with their popular head-2-head games, Cabbage Patch dolls, and, of course, the ColecoVision, which did have some impressive looking games. Their controller wasn't a great design but it was probably one of the better ones of that type.

Didn't the ADAM have a habit of erasing media placed in the system due to an EM pulse? Also, the printer provided power to the ADAM itself? That doesn't sound like a good design choice. Also, Daisy wheels looked nice but if I remember, they were slow and loud. Although Atari was on it's way out, they would have had to contend with Commodore in the computer market and I just don't think they would win on specs and Commodore had way more software backers. Still, I'd love to add one to my collection.

[+kheller2]

Coleco had the advantage in 1983 of using state of the art new technology that was 4 years newer then the 1979 Atari 400 and 800

 

Atari back in 1983 had a Pacman cartridge made for the ColecoVision/ADAM but they decided not to release it since they knew many people would purchase ColecoVision's and ADAM's if that cartridge was released .

 

 

Not that what you are saying may not be true, but do please provide source references for these types of statements.

[ApolloBoy]

Coleco had the advantage in 1983 of using state of the art new technology that was 4 years newer then the 1979 Atari 400 and 800 (The ADAM machines were more powerful with better graphics).

LOL the ColecoVision's tech was roughly the same age as the A8's. Heck the CV and Adam were really cobbled together from off-the-shelf parts whereas the A8 was mostly comprised of custom hardware.

[+slx]

Anybody then a teenager could be excused for having left some drool marks over such a set as most of the kit shown was not likely to ever make it into one's home....

 

Wish I had an 822 but they never even sold those in Europe or at least in Austria.

[+slx]

What's the Extended BASIC listed on the 800 sheet?

[HDTV1080P]

Yea, Atari was big but by the time Coleco was coming into its own with their popular head-2-head games, Cabbage Patch dolls, and, of course, the ColecoVision, which did have some impressive looking games. Their controller wasn't a great design but it was probably one of the better ones of that type.

Didn't the ADAM have a habit of erasing media placed in the system due to an EM pulse? Also, the printer provided power to the ADAM itself? That doesn't sound like a good design choice. Also, Daisy wheels looked nice but if I remember, they were slow and loud. Although Atari was on it's way out, they would have had to contend with Commodore in the computer market and I just don't think they would win on specs and Commodore had way more software backers. Still, I'd love to add one to my collection.

You have some good points. The Digital Data packs were not as reliable as floppy disks and yes the ADAM would generate a small EMP when turning the power off and on, that resulted in the Digital Data Packs being erased in that spot of the tape if it was left in the drive. Also the printer was letter quality but extremely noisy, and having the entire power supply for the computer inside the printer is a bad cost cutting design. For videogame graphics quality the ColecoVision/ADAM was King and the best of the best for ADAM games like Donkey Kong the Supergame and Donkey Kong Junior the Supergame. After Coleco stopped production on both the ColecoVision and ADAM computer in January 1985. Nintendo made a smart business decision and on October 18^th 1985 released a little bit more powerful videogame system when compared to the ColecoVision/ADAM (The NES had 52 colors with 64 sprites). Also in late 1985 there were new computers more powerful than the ADAM like the Commodore Amiga (The Commodore 128 released in 1985 also had 80 column color with more memory then the ADAM).

Edited August 29, 2017 by HDTV1080P

[ApolloBoy]

After Coleco stopped production on both the ColecoVision and ADAM computer in January 1985. Nintendo made a smart business decision and on October 18^th 1985 released a little bit more powerful videogame system when compared to the ColecoVision/ADAM (The NES had 52 colors with 64 sprites). Also in late 1985 there were new computers more powerful than the ADAM like the Commodore Amiga (The Commodore 128 released in 1985 also had 80 column color with more memory then the ADAM).