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Wasn't the 7800 an 8 bit system?


dodge ramman

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Why is the computer line of games called the 8bit? Wasn't the 7800 an 8 bit system also? I have always thought on some games it looked as good as a 16 bit in some aspects!

Edited by dodge ramman
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1 hour ago, dodge ramman said:

Why is the computer line of games called the 8bit? Wasn't the 7800 an 8 bit system also? I have always thought on some games it looked as good as a 16 bit in some aspects!

 

Both systems are 8-bit but they belong to different generations.

 

For further information:

 

Atari 8-bit family (Atari 400 / 800 / XL / XE) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family

 

Second generation of video game consoles (Atari 2600, Atari 5200, ColecoVision) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_generation_of_video_game_consoles

 

Third generation of video game consoles (NES, Atari 7800, Master System) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_generation_of_video_game_consoles

 

Fourth generation of video game consoles (16-bit era) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_generation_of_video_game_consoles

 

Edited by Defender_2600
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38 minutes ago, Defender_2600 said:

 

Both systems are 8-bit but they belong to different generations.

 

For further information:

 

Atari 8-bit family (Atari 400 / 800 / XL / XE) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_8-bit_family

 

Second generation of video game consoles (Atari 5200) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_generation_of_video_game_consoles

 

Third generation of video game consoles (Atari 7800) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_generation_of_video_game_consoles

 

Fourth generation of video game consoles (16-bit era) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_generation_of_video_game_consoles

 

Generations totally slipped my mind! I knew that! Brain overload!lol

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40 minutes ago, Jinks said:

Do the math!  :

 

Oh wait wrong Atari system! 

 

It is 3x the power of a 2600 is what I thought by the number 7800 it must have 3x the graphics. That is what I thought when I was 10.

 

I was thinking the 2600 then the 5200 = 7800 But I like your thinking also!

 

26+52=78

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4 hours ago, dodge ramman said:

Why is the computer line of games called the 8bit? Wasn't the 7800 an 8 bit system also? I have always thought on some games it looked as good as a 16 bit in some aspects!

They're called "8-bit (computers)" to differentiate them from the later 16/32-bit computer line(s) of the Atari ST/TT/Falcon and because XL/XE series would leave out the "letter-less" original 400/800 machines. Atari originally called it the HCS (home computer system) or PCS (personal computer system), but the first never caught on and "personal computer" became a generic term with the advent of the IBM PC.

 

The number of bits of the main processor bears no direct relationship to graphics quality. Apple II and Atari 800 both have an 8-bit 6502 processor but the Atari can do far better graphics because of its ANTIC/GTIA dedicated graphics chips. Touting game consoles' CPU bits only became fashionable after the era of the 7800, and although it is about as useful as counting bits on miniature photo sensors Atari engaged heavily in it with the Jaguar, where the CPU was 32 bit but some of the graphics chips had 64.

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On 3/25/2020 at 8:43 PM, dodge ramman said:

Why is the computer line of games called the 8bit? Wasn't the 7800 an 8 bit system also? I have always thought on some games it looked as good as a 16 bit in some aspects!

The 1985 Intel 386 and 2000 Pentium 4 were both 32-bit.

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On 3/25/2020 at 9:43 PM, dodge ramman said:

Why is the computer line of games called the 8bit? Wasn't the 7800 an 8 bit system also? I have always thought on some games it looked as good as a 16 bit in some aspects!

Yes, but the reason the Atari 8-bit line is called the "8-bit" is what else would you call it?    With models like 400/800/XL/XE/XEGS  There's no naming consistency, so people just started calling it Atari 8-bit

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/25/2020 at 9:43 PM, dodge ramman said:

Why is the computer line of games called the 8bit? Wasn't the 7800 an 8 bit system also? I have always thought on some games it looked as good as a 16 bit in some aspects!

The Atari 8-bit line is a family of computers that are more or less compatible. They are referred to as the "8 bits" because they are a family, not because they are the systems that Atari created that are 8 bit.  "8 bit" is more of a name than a description. We could just as easily be calling them the "the Smiths"

 

The 7800 and 2600 are both also 8 bit machines in the same way that a Colecovision and Commodore 64 are 8 bit machines. They are all 8 bit because they are 8 bit machines and not because they are a "family"

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/1/2020 at 1:27 PM, zzip said:

Yes, but the reason the Atari 8-bit line is called the "8-bit" is what else would you call it?    With models like 400/800/XL/XE/XEGS  There's no naming consistency, so people just started calling it Atari 8-bit

 

The Atari 8-bit line of computers are called such to distinguish them from the Atari 16-bit line of computers. That's it; nothing more.

 

Edited by MrFish
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When we were kids, my friends thought the Atari 2600 was 4 bit.  We knew it as the generation prior to the NES (we'd never heard of the 5200, Coleco, or Intellivision), so it must be 1/2 the bits.  So much was made of "bits" at the time, that's how we related to each system.  We thought the bits determined the size of the pixels on the screen.  I wanted to see if my Atari was really "4 bits", so I hooked it up along with my NES and compared the size of the pixels (I think I used Pitfall Harry for this).  I remember showing one of my friends how the Atari had the same size pixels as the NES!  It must be "8 bit" too!  When I realized the 2600 pixels were basically the same size as the NES pixels, I started expecting much more from my Atari.  I thought the reason we didn't have games like Contra and Blaster Master was because the programmers were lazy.  They had such small pixels on some parts of the screen, so why not all of the screen?  I didn't understand the reasons for the limitations until years later when I learned how the 2600 draws graphics (playfield, sprites, etc.).

 

@dodge ramman yeah, you got a bit of crap for that question, but I say "thanks" for the quick trip down memory lane.

Edited by KevinMos3
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If the Atari 8 bit line included the 7800, then so would the 2600, 5200 Lynx, and so on. Like many others have said, the Atari 8-bit line is just a name for a series of computers Atari released, like the Apple 8-bit line or Commodore 8-bit line. 

On 3/26/2020 at 4:14 AM, The Usotsuki said:

I call those computers the "400 line", fwiw.

This is going on the "Funnies/dumbest thing I heard someone say today" thread. Only the 400 and 410 has the 4xx number. Might as well call it the "Grapefruit line".

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2 hours ago, KevinMos3 said:

When we were kids, my friends thought the Atari 2600 was 4 bit.  We knew it as the generation prior to the NES (we'd never heard of the 5200, Coleco, or Intellivision), so it must be 1/2 the bits.  So much was made of "bits" at the time, that's how we related to each system.  We thought the bits determined the size of the pixels on the screen.  I wanted to see if my Atari was really "4 bits", so I hooked it up along with my NES and compared the size of the pixels (I think I used Pitfall Harry for this).  I remember showing one of my friends how the Atari had the same size pixels as the NES!  It must be "8 bit" too!  When I realized the 2600 pixels were basically the same size as the NES pixels, I started expecting much more from my Atari.  I thought the reason we didn't have games like Contra and Blaster Master was because the programmers were lazy.  They had such small pixels on some parts of the screen, so why not all of the screen?  I didn't understand the reasons for the limitations until years later when I learned how the 2600 draws graphics (playfield, sprites, etc.).

 

@dodge ramman yeah, you got a bit of crap for that question, but I say "thanks" for the quick trip down memory lane.

A 7 bit would be 1/2 of an 8 bit and a 9 bit would be twice as better as an 8 bit:) That is, if bits really meant anything.  The poorly named TG-16 is an 8 bit machine but with a pretty good 16 bit graphics chip.  But the main CPU is 8 bit, a custom Z80 IIRC.

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12 hours ago, MrFish said:

 

The Atari 8-bit line of computers are called such to distinguish them from the Atari 16-bit line of computers. That's it; nothing more.

 

The 16-bit line was called ST, very simple.   "Atari 400/800/XL/XE" was a mouthful, and "8-bit" or "atari8"  was simple that's why it stuck.   Of course the ST line eventually morphed into ST/STe/TT/Falcon so it became a mouthful on its own.

 

 

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