Atari 8-bit family

The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800.[2] As the first home computer architecture with coprocessors, it has graphics and sound more advanced than most of its contemporaries. Video games were a major appeal, and first-person space combat simulator Star Raiders is considered the platform’s killer app. The “Atari 8-bit family” label was not contemporaneous. Atari, Inc., used the term “Atari 800 [or 400] home computer system”, often combining the model names into “Atari 400/800” or “Atari home computers”.[3][4]

The Atari 800 was packaged as a high-end model, and the 400 was more affordable. The 400 has a pressure-sensitive, spillproof membrane keyboard and initially shipped with 8 KB of RAM. The 800 has a conventional keyboard, a second (rarely used) cartridge slot, and allows easy RAM upgrades to 48K. Both use identical technology: the MOS Technology 6502 CPU at 1.79 MHz (1.77 MHz for PAL versions) and the same custom coprocessor chips. The plug-and-play peripherals use the Atari SIO serial bus, and one of the SIO developers eventually went on to co-patent USB (Universal Serial Bus).[5] The core architecture of the Atari 8-bit family was reused in the 1982 Atari 5200 game console, but games for the two systems are incompatible.