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Computing becomes personal
Atari 800XL
An Atari 8-bit home computer.
MakerAtari
Era1980s
TypeHome computer
About this object
The 800XL belongs to Atari’s 8-bit computer family. Its keyboard enclosure and external connections show how a home computer was arranged around a television or monitor and separate storage.
Inspect the original photograph
Technical record
Atari 800XL
| Introduced | 1983 |
|---|---|
| Processor | MOS 6502C at 1.79 MHz |
| Memory | 64 KB RAM, 24 KB ROM |
| Display | ANTIC and GTIA; up to 320 × 192, 256 colours |
| Sound and I/O | POKEY, four channels, also keyboard scan and serial |
| Storage | Cartridge, cassette, or 1050 disk over SIO |
Architecture
ANTIC is a coprocessor with its own instruction set. Rather than being told what to draw scanline by scanline, it fetches and executes a display list held in memory, changing resolution or colour depth partway down the screen without the 6502 being involved. GTIA turns its output into colour and handles the player-missile sprites; POKEY does sound, the keyboard and serial at once. Three coprocessors around a modest 6502 is why the machine did things a faster processor alone could not.
Record & provenance
The 800XL belongs to Atari’s 8-bit computer family. Its keyboard enclosure and external connections show how a home computer was arranged around a television or monitor and separate storage.
Reference: ATX-OBJ-064-IMG-5130
Source: collection inventory, photographs, and notes accompanying Serious Machines (Amir Husain, 2024).