Task: Read the Book “Once Upon Atari” by Howard Scott Warshaw Needed: The Book Time: 6-8 hours Introduction I have previously posted about the video “Once Upon Atari” which documents some of the history and culture of Atari in the early days. The video is
Read morePurchase the Book “Art of Atari” (5-10 mins)
Task: Purchase the Book “Art of Atari” Needed: Web Browser Time: 5-10 mins Introduction I loved looking at the box art of Atari 2600 games and imagining playing them. Atari did an amazing job with the artwork. As such, I was very excited when the
Read morePurchase or Download the Atari 8-Bit Programming Reference Book “Mapping the Atari” (5-10 mins)
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
Read moreRead the Book “The Creative Atari” (30-60 mins)
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
Read morePurchase the “Atari Projects” Book (5-10 mins)
Task: Purchase the Atari Projects Book Needed: Web browser Time: 5-10 mins Introduction I have really enjoyed completing and posting the projects on this web page. Earlier in the summer I decided to curate 50 of the approximately 80 posts and create a book focused
Read moreRead the Book “Atari Inc.: Business if Fun” (10-15 hours)
Task: Read the Book “Atari Inc.: Business if Fun” Needed: “Atari Inc.” book Time: 10-15 hours Introduction This book is a tour de force in Atari stories and history and is a must-have for any Atari enthusiast bookshelf. As Curt Vendel states in the Foreword,
Read moreRead the Book “Atari BASIC” (1-2 hours)
Task: Read the Book “Atari BASIC” Needed: Atari Basic by Albrecht et al. (1979) Time: 1-2 Hours Introduction My first two books were Your Atari Computer and Atari BASIC. They are still a great way to get familiar with the Atari 400 and 800 if
Read moreRead the Book “De Re Atari” (3-6 hours)
Task: Read the Book “De Re Atari” Needed: De Re Atari Time: 3-6 hours Introduction When the Atari 400 and 800 computers were released in 1979 they were a closed system. That is, only Atari personnel knew the details of the hardware that were necessary
Read moreRead the Book “Racing the Beam” by Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost (3-6 Hours)
Task: Read the Book “Racing the Beam” by Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost (3-6 Hours) Needed: The book Time: 3-6 hours Introduction I had an Atari Video Computer System (VCS) or 2600 before I owned an Atari 400 and then 800 computer. The 2600 was
Read moreRead the Book “Terrible Nerd” by Kevin Savetz (3-6 hours)
Task: Read the Book ‘Terrible Nerd’ by Kevin Savetz Needed: The book Time: 3-6 hours Introduction Many of us grew up with Atari home computers in the 1980s. I certainly did with my Atari 400 and then 800. Those were great times and many of
Read moreRead the Book “Breakout” by Jamie Lendino (3-6 hours)
Task: Read the Book “Breakout: How Atari 8-Bit Computers Defined a Generation” by Jamie Lendino Needed: The book Time: 3-6 hours Introduction Learning about Atari history and trivia on the web can be difficult since the information is fragmented across multiple different web pages and
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