Skip to content

Atari Projects

Fun projects for your Atari 8-bit home computers and video game consoles

  • Welcome
  • Projects
  • About
  • Contact

Explore Homesoft’s Collection of Games for the Atari 8-Bit Computers (10-15 mins)

August 30, 2020 moorejh Games, Web Resources

Task: Explore Homesoft’s Collection of Games for the Atari 8-Bit Computers Needed: Web browser Time: 10-15 minutes Introduction The Internet Archive and Atari Mania are awesome source of Atari software and games. These are certainly good places to start if you are looking for something.

Read more

Explore Atari Software and Games on Atari Mania (10-15 mins)

August 30, 2020 moorejh Games, Software, Web Resources

Task: Explore Atari Software and Games on Atari Mania Needed: Web browser Time: 10-15 minutes Introduction It can be challenging to find comprehensive and safe sources of Atari software and games online. The Internet Archive is certainly one of my favorites. Another go-to source is

Read more

Explore BASIC Programming Languages for the Atari 8-Bit Computers (30-60 mins)

August 29, 2020 moorejh Programming

Task: Explore BASIC Programming Languages for the Atari 8-Bit Computers Needed: Web browser Time: 30-60 minutes Introduction Nearly all of us who grew up with Atari 8-bit home computers learned to program in BASIC. This was especially true in the early days given software was

Read more

Explore the Page 6 Public Domain Software Library for Atari 8-Bit Computers (10-15 mins)

August 22, 2020 moorejh Magazines, Software, Web Resources

Task: Explore the Page 6 Public Domain Software Library for Atari 8-Bit Computers Needed: Web browser Time: 10-15 minutes Introduction Page 6 was an Atari 8-bit computer magazine started by members of a Birmingham, England Atari users group. The story of how this magazine got

Read more

Make an Atari 8-bit Computer Cartridge (1-2 hours)

August 2, 2020 moorejh Hardware, Modifications, Programming

Task: Make an Atari 8-bit Computer Cartridge Needed: Cartridge parts, EPROM programmer, soldering station or iron Time: 1-2 hours Introduction As I have mentioned in previous posts, I had tons of fun making my own Atari 2600 game called Gene Medic. I sent the binary

Read more

Purchase a Soldering Station for Atari Electronics and Hardware Projects (10-15 mins)

August 2, 2020 moorejh Hardware, Modifications

Task: Purchase a Soldering Station for Atari Electronics and Hardware Projects Needed: Web browser Time: 10-15 mins Introduction I took a year of electronics in high school and did a lot of soldering. In fact, I used to fix tube televisions people from the community

Read more

Burn an Atari Binary File on an EPROM Chip (30-60 mins)

August 1, 2020 moorejh Hardware, Modifications, Programming, Software

Task: Burn an Atari Binary File on an EPROM Chip Needed: EPROM burner, EPROM Time: 30-60 mins Introduction Read Only Memory (ROM) integrated circuits (IC) or chips were routinely used in the Atari 8-bit computers and video game consoles. For example, the Atari 800XL included

Read more

Learn About Checksum Programs for Checking Type-In Programs (15-30 mins)

July 25, 2020 moorejh Games, Magazines, Programming

Task: Learn About Checksum Programs for Checking Type-In Programs Needed: Web browser, Altirra Time: 15-30 mins Introduction It was common in the early 1980s to get software by typing in program listings from magazines like Antic or Compute!. This was partly because new Atari home

Read more

Play Infocom’s Planetfall on an Atari 8-bit Computer (1-2 hours)

July 12, 2020 moorejh Games

Task: Play Infocom’s Planetfall on an Atari 8-bit Computer Needed: Planetfall Disk or ATR file Time: 1-2 hours Introduction Infocom was king of the text-based adventure games in the 1980s. I played Zork I with a friend and was instantaneously hooked. He had already played

Read more

Tips for Speeding up Atari BASIC Programs (15-30 mins)

July 1, 2020 moorejh Programming

Task: Tips for Speeding up Atari BASIC Programs Needed: BASIC Time: 15-30 mins Introduction Atari BASIC is notoriously slow which is why many game developers worked with assembly language to do anything serious. However, if you want to develop in BASIC there are a number

Read more

Calculate Digits of Pi in Atari BASIC (10-15 mins)

June 28, 2020 moorejh Programming

Task: Calculate Digits of Pi in Atari BASIC Needed: BASIC Time: 10-15 mins Introduction The number pi (~ 3.14159265359) is a constant defined as the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It has fascinated mathematicians for ages given the pattern of decimal values

Read more

Explore Chatbots on the Atari 8-bit Computer (15-30 mins)

June 27, 2020 moorejh Software

Task: Explore Chatbots on the Atari 8-bit Computer Needed: Altirra emulator or original hardware with disk drive Time: 15-30 mins Introduction Chatbots have grown in popularity as natural language processing (NLP) has improved. An example is the Woebot developed by psychologists to assist people who

Read more

Tips for Troubleshooting a Defective Atari 8-bit Computer (15-30 mins)

June 27, 2020 moorejh Hardware, Troubleshooting

Task: Tips for Troubleshooting a Defective Atari 8-bit Computer Needed: web browser Time: 15-30 mins Introduction I have always been impressed with how reliable Atari 8-bit computers are. I have more than a dozen and they all work. What do you do if you get

Read more

Explore Atari Tweets (10-15 mins)

June 13, 2020 moorejh Media, Web Resources

Task: Explore Atari Tweets Needed: web browser Time: 10-15 mins Introduction I am very active on twitter and love to post Atari-related items from time to time. Twitter is a great way to get information and interact with a slice of the Atari community. I

Read more

Play Bowling on the Atari 2600 (10-15 mins)

June 7, 2020 moorejh 2600 VCS, Games

Task: Play Bowling on the Atari 2600 Needed: Bowling cartridge or Altirra emulator Time: 10-15 mins Introduction Everyone has played classics like Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Missile Command on the Atari 2600. But, have you played Bowling? If not, you are missing out on one

Read more

Explore the Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative (15-30 mins)

May 30, 2020 moorejh Software, Web Resources

Task: Explore the Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative Needed: A web browser  Time: 15-30 mins Introduction One of the great aspects of the Atari hobby is that there is tons of archived software online and freely available for download for use on an emulator or

Read more

Join the Atari 8-Bit Computers Facebook Page (5-10 mins)

May 23, 2020 moorejh Web Resources

Task: Join the Atari 8-Bit Computers Facebook Page Needed: A web browser or Facebook app Time: 5-10 mins Introduction If you use Facebook then you must join the Atari 8-Bit Computers Facebook page. This is a public group with a ton of activity including daily

Read more

Explore Atari XL BASIC Listings (15-30 mins)

May 17, 2020 moorejh Games, Software, Web Resources

Task: Explore Atari XL BASIC Listings Needed: A web browser Time: 15-30 mins Introduction I recall several friends remembering when they got their first Atari 8-bit computer. They brought it home, took it out of the box, and quickly discovered they had no software to

Read more

Explore Atari 8-bit Computer Hardware Manuals (15-30 mins)

May 10, 2020 moorejh Books

Task: Explore Atari 8-bit Computer Hardware Manuals Needed: A web browser Time: 15-30 mins Introduction I love reading the manuals that came with Atari 8-bit computer hardware. I think it is because it reminds me of opening a new Atari. I still have a number

Read more

Explore Atari-Related Posts on Hackaday (15-30 mins)

May 2, 2020 moorejh Media, Web Resources

Task: Explore Atari-Related Posts on Hackaday Needed: A web browser Time: 15-30 minutes Introduction Hackaday is a website that posts daily hardware and software hacks and projects. I was pleased to learn that they did a post about this Atari Projects resource. Their post, “Classic

Read more

Read the Book “Unofficial Atari: A Visual History” (15-30 mins)

April 18, 2020 moorejh Books, Games, History

Task: Read the Book “Unofficial Atari: A Visual History” Needed: The book Time: 15-30 minutes Introduction “Unofficial Atari: A Visual History” is ~400-page book written by Darren Doyle and published by Greyfox Books. Much of the book consists of two-page visual layouts of 162 third-party

Read more

Interact with Atari’s 6502 Processor in BASIC XL (10-15 mins)

March 14, 2020 moorejh Demos, Hardware, Programming, Software, Utilities

Task: Interact with Atari’s 6502 Processor in BASIC XL Needed: A BASIC XL cartridge or Altirra emulator Time: 10-15 minutes Introduction The 6502 processor developed by Chuck Peddle and his team at MOS Technology was the first inexpensive CPU available in the 1970s. This CPU

Read more

Play The Goonies on an Atari 8-bit Computer (30-60 mins)

February 8, 2020 moorejh Games

Task: Play The Goonies on an Atari 8-bit Computer Needed: The Goonies disk or ATR file Time: 30-60 minutes Introduction The Goonies is an American kids movie that was released in 1985 and written and produced by Steven Spielberg. I recall really enjoying the movie

Read more

Assemble a Minimal Atari 8-Bit Computer (30-60 mins)

January 16, 2020 moorejh Hardware

Task: Assemble a Minimal Atari 8-Bit Computer  Needed: Components listed below and about $200 to $225 for purchasing Time: 30-60 minutes Introduction I have a colleague at work who I have been helping set up his first ever Atari computer rig. I have been thinking

Read more

Posts navigation

«Previous Posts 1 2 3 4 … 7 Next Posts»
Copyright (c) 2021 Jason H. Moore, Ph.D.