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

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Category: Programming

Try the PILOT Programming Language for the Atari 8-Bit Computers (15-60 mins)

November 26, 2021 moorejh Programming

Task: Try the PILOT Programming Language for the Atari 8-Bit Computers Needed: Web Browser, Emulator, and/or PILOT Cartridge Time: 15-60 mins Introduction I received the Atari Programming Inquiry, Learning, or Teaching (PILOT) programming language cartridge for Christmas in 1983 or 1984 and absolutely loved it.

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Purchase a New 4-in-1 OSS Programming Language Cartridge for Your Atari 8-Bit Computer (5-10 mins)

November 21, 2021 moorejh Programming, Software

Task: Purchase a New 4-in-1 OSS Programming Language Cartridge for Your Atari 8-Bit Computer Needed: Web Browser Time: 5-10 mins Introduction Optimized Systems Software (OSS) made the best programming languages for the Atari 8-bit computers in the early 1980s. Some of their products included BASIC

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Explore the 8-Bit and More YouTube Channel (30-60 mins)

October 24, 2021 moorejh Hardware, Modifications, Programming, Software, Video, Web Resources

Task: Explore the 8-Bit and More YouTube Channel Needed: Web Browser Time: 30-60 mins Introduction I love watching YouTube videos when I am learning a new Atari 8-bit programming trick or hardware mod. There are so many awesome YouTube channels out there for the Atari.

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Learn to Pass Parameters to Procedures in FastBasic (15-30 mins)

July 25, 2021 moorejh Programming

Task: Learn to Pass Parameters to Procedures in FastBasic Needed: Web Browser, Altirra Emulator Time: 15-30 mins Introduction I have previously posted and introduction to a modern BASIC for Atari 8-bit computers called FastBasic. One of the nice features of FastBasic is the ability to

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Watch Peter Dell’s Programming the Atari XL/XE YouTube Videos (2-3 hours)

June 26, 2021 moorejh Programming, Web Resources

Task: Watch Peter Dell’s Programming the Atari XL/XE YouTube Videos Needed: Web Browser Time: 2-3 hours Introduction Programming is one of my favorite things to do with an Atari 8-bit computer. I have previously posted some of my own tutorials and some resources for learning

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Purchase or Download the Atari 8-Bit Programming Reference Book “Mapping the Atari” (5-10 mins)

June 20, 2021 moorejh Books, Programming

Task: Purchase or Download the Atari 8-Bit Programming Reference Book “Mapping the Atari” Needed: Web Browser Time: 5-10 mins Introduction Any serious programming on the Atari 8-bit computers requires interacting with various memory locations on the Atari. Some of these memory locations are free for

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Read the Book “The Creative Atari” (30-60 mins)

May 31, 2021 moorejh Books, Programming

Task: Read the Book “The Creative Atari” Needed: Web browser Time: 30-60 mins Introduction As I have previously posted, Creative Computing magazine was published from 1974 until 1985 and covered all of the major computing platforms including Atari. They had a number of great articles

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Explore Demoscene Demos (15-30 mins)

May 2, 2021 moorejh Demos, Programming, Software

Task: Explore Demoscene Demos Needed: Altirra  Time: 15-30 mins Introduction The demoscene is notorious for pushing the limits of 8-bit computer hardware. Fortunately, there are a number of demos from this community for the Atari computers. I find these mesmerizing and inspiring. How do they

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Purchase and Assemble a SpartaDOS X Cartridge (15-30 mins)

April 25, 2021 moorejh Hardware, Programming, Software, Utilities

Task: Purchase and Assemble a SpartaDOS X Cartridge Needed: SpartaDOS X cartridge circuit board, battery, and cartridge shell Time: 15-30 mins Introduction I have previously posted about SpartaDOS and its modern successor SpartaDOS X (SDX). This is an incredibly powerful and flexible DOS for interacting

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Learn to Implement Page Flipping in BASIC on Atari 8-Bit Computers (30-60 mins)

March 28, 2021 moorejh Graphics, Programming

Task: Learn to Implement Page Flipping in BASIC on Atari 8-Bit Computers Needed: Altirra emulator Time: 30-60 mins Introduction We previously covered moving data on and off the screen as part of coarse horizontal and vertical scrolling by changing the memory address of the screen

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Learn to Implement Horizontal Scrolling in BASIC on Atari 8-Bit Computers (30-60 mins)

March 27, 2021 moorejh Graphics, Programming

Task: Learn to Implement Horizontal Scrolling in BASIC on Atari 8-Bit Computers Needed: Web browser Time: 30-60 mins Introduction Scrolling games like Defender, Caverns of Mars, and Eastern Front are tons of fun and I always wondered how the cool scrolling effects were programmed. This

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Learn about Vertical Blank Interrupts in BASIC for Atari 8-Bit Computers (30-60 mins)

March 19, 2021 moorejh Programming

Task: Learn about Vertical Blank Interrupts in BASIC for Atari 8-Bit Computers Needed: Altirra emulator Time: 30-60 mins Introduction One of the frustrating aspects of programming in BASIC on Atari 8-bit computers is its speed. This particularly true for moving players through memory as part

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Learn to Implement Vertical Scrolling in BASIC on Atari 8-Bit Computers (30-60 mins)

February 28, 2021 moorejh Programming

Task: Learn to Implement Vertical Scrolling in BASIC on Atari 8-Bit Computers Needed: Turbo BASIC XL Time: 30-60 mins Introduction I never learned how to program scrolling playfields in BASIC back in the day, but have decided to take the plunge. Over the last few

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Try Programming in FastBasic on an Atari 8-Bit Computer (15-30 mins)

February 13, 2021 moorejh Programming

Task: Try Programming in FastBasic on an Atari 8-Bit Computer Needed: Altirra emulator Time: 15-30 mins Introduction I have previously posted about the diversity of different BASIC programming languages for the Atari 8-bit computers. Among these is FastBasic which is a modern BASIC for the

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Explore Error Codes for Atari 8-Bit Computers (10-15 mins)

January 9, 2021 moorejh Programming, Web Resources

Task: Explore Atari Error Codes Needed: Web browser Time: 10-15 mins Introduction If you have spent any time programming for the Atari 8-bit computers then you have experienced error codes generated from typos or bad code. There is a nice page on the Atari Wiki

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Explore Bugs in Atari BASIC (15-30 mins)

December 13, 2020 moorejh Programming

Task: Explore Bugs in Atari BASIC Needed: Revision A of Atari BASIC Time: 15-30 mins Introduction The first version of Atari BASIC (revision A) for the Atari 400 and 800 computers had a number of bugs which could be quite annoying for serious programmers. I

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Display a Digital Photo on an Atari 2600 (10-15 mins)

December 6, 2020 moorejh Graphics, Programming, Software, Utilities, Web Resources

Task: Display a Digital Photo on an Atari 2600 Needed: Web browser Time: 10-15 mins Introduction I am always amazed at the modern software tools people have created to expand the capabilities of the Atari 8-bit computers and consoles. I recently posted about the coding

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Explore the 8-Bit Workshop Web Page (10-15 mins)

December 6, 2020 moorejh Books, Media, Programming, Software, Utilities, Web Resources

Task: Explore the 8-Bit Workshop Web Page Needed: Web browser Time: 10-15 mins Introduction This is a must browse web page with some amazing resources for those interested in programming and game development for the Atari 8-bit consoles including the 2600, 5200, and 7800. Other

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Read Assembly Language from Floppy Disk for Execution in BASIC (15-30 mins)

December 5, 2020 moorejh Programming

Task: Read Assembly Language from Floppy Disk for Execution in BASIC Needed: Altirra emulator or Atari 8-bit computer, BASIC Time: 15-30 mins Introduction I have previously written posts about calling assembly language commands from BASIC. The general idea is to convert assembly language mnemonics (e.g.

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Try the Atari 8-Bit Twitter Bot (5-10 mins)

September 20, 2020 moorejh Media, Programming

Task: Try the Atari 8-Bit Twitter Bot Needed: Web browser and a twitter account Time: 5-10 mins Introduction I have previously posted about the thriving Atari community on twitter. A fun new twitter bot has appeared in the last few weeks called the @atari8bitbot. This

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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

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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

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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

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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

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