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

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Tag: Coding

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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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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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 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 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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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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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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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

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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

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Use Strings to Store Assembly Language Code in Memory for Execution from BASIC (10-15 mins)

January 4, 2020 moorejh Programming

Task: Use Strings to Store Assembly Language Code in Memory for Execution from BASIC Needed: A BASIC cartridge or Altirra emulator Time: 10-15 minutes Introduction I previously demonstrated how to POKE assembly language code into page 6 of memory for execution by BASIC using the

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Call Assembly Language Code from Your BASIC Program (10-15 mins)

January 1, 2020 moorejh Programming

Task: Call Assembly Language Code from Your BASIC Program Needed: A BASIC cartridge or Altirra emulator Time: 10-15 minutes Introduction In my previous post on writing, compiling, saving, debugging, and running assembly language programs with the MAC/65 assembler, I referred the reader to Chapter 5

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Compile and Run an Assembly Language Program for the Atari Computer (15-30 mins)

January 1, 2020 moorejh Programming

Task: Compile and Run an Assembly Language Program for the Atari Computer Needed: MAC/65 cartridge or Altirra emulator Time: 15-30 minutes Introduction I dabbled in assembly as a kid but never became a pro. I taught myself 6502 assembly later in life and became good

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Explore AtariWiki (15-30 mins)

December 26, 2019 moorejh Programming, Web Resources

Task: Explore AtariWiki Needed: Web browser Time: 15-30 minutes Introduction One of the best web resources for Atari 8-bit computers and programming is AtariWiki. The following description is taken from their manifesto: “The AtariWiki is a collection of Information about the Atari 8-Bit computer line

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Add Missiles to Player-Missile Graphics in BASIC (30-60 mins)

November 23, 2019 moorejh Programming, Software

Task: Add Missiles to Player-Missile Graphics in BASIC Needed: BASIC Time: 30-60 minutes Introduction I have previously demonstrated how to implement player-missile graphics (PMG) in BASIC, and how to combine a player with a background or playfield using redefined character sets. The latter post includes

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Combining Redefined Characters Sets and Player-Missile Graphics in BASIC (30-60 mins)

November 10, 2019 moorejh Games, Graphics, Programming, Software

Task: Combining Redefined Characters Sets and Player-Missile Graphics in BASIC Needed: BASIC Time: 30-60 minutes Introduction It takes time to learn the ins and outs of Atari graphics. This is especially true if you aspire to make a game. I have previously demonstrated how to

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Explore KSquiggle’s Atari 8-bit Programming Shrine (15-30 mins)

April 28, 2019 moorejh Programming, Web Resources

Task: Explore KSquiggle’s Atari 8-bit Programming Shrine Needed: Web browser Time: 15-30 mins Introduction Bill Lange pointed me to this awesome Atari 8-bit programming resource developed and maintained by Kevin Chase (aka KSquiggle). I had seen this before but it was great to get it on

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