CCC : Atari machines

From: Gil Parrish <107765.1161_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Thu Aug 7 08:45:19 1997

Message text written by INTERNET:classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu
>OK, here is the complete listing from the CCC of the machines made by
Atari. <

"Machines" really isn't the operative word; for instance, the list does not
include the Atari Pong, 5200 and 7800 game consoles. I assume what you are
trying to put together is a list of Atari "computers". That in turn takes
some philosophical interpretation as to what constitutes a "computer". The
2600 game console is on the list; I assume it's there because Atari made a
BASIC cartridge and a so-called "keyboard" controller for the unit, so it
was technically possible to do some quasi-BASIC programming on it, not
unlike a real computer. Of course, it only had something like 50 bytes of
RAM available (not 50K bytes; just 50 bytes). The number of keys on the
cheesy "keyboard" controllers were so few that each key had to do triple
duty depending on what "color mode" it was in at the time. (If that didn't
turn people off on BASIC programming, I don't know what would.) t had no
way to attach a printer, and it could not save to or load from tape (or any
other storage medium), so any programs developed could not be preserved.
So, is that a "computer" or not?

Then, Atari produced at least some "real" add-on keyboard units for the
2600. I believe they were originally called "The Graduate", but made it to
market in 1982 as "My First Computer". They had 8K, expandable to 32K, and
apparently saved/loaded from standard cassette units. So does the 2600
become a "real" computer at that point, and/or should "My First Computer"
be listed instead or separately? (For that matter, the XE Game System,
which is on the list, only becomes a "computer" when the
separately-marketed keyboard is added to it; otherwise, it is strictly a
cartridge game machine too.)

Gil Parrish
107765.1161_at_compuserve.com
Received on Thu Aug 07 1997 - 08:45:19 BST

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