The Atari 400 (as seen in Terry Stewart's computer collection) 

I got my Atari 400 Christmas 1981. I learned so much on that machine. Great machine for a 12 year old. I learned BASIC and really appreciated the GTIA chip after I transitioned to a C-64 in 1986. I also began learning assembly language. I spent many a late night on the weekends listening to the BBC on my grandfathers Zenith shortwave machine while hacking with my '400. I remember first learning about the battle of Goose Green in the Falklands while wrestling with a BASIC program I was writing. Great times. By the way the armor plating was capable of taking a direct hit from a Soviet T-55 tank. Later versions were to be rated to survive an RPG-7 round when Atari offered an explosive reactive armor upgrade to that case. Rumors circulated that the 400 and 800 were impervious to any nuclear EMP strikes at the time. My poor mom, and what I put her through in that era. The Atari 400 will always be 'the 80's' for me. It was a great machine for Cold War adolescents with overactive imaginations. On the serious side, that machine really helped set a experience base for when I transitioned to the 32 bit machines of the time with VAX, and 680X0 unix machines. The kids who come into my astronomy lab lack a hard edge in their computer skills and show a real fear in working with the machine at the command line level. Kids today think in terms of cartoons instead of bits, bytes, registers, and memory to read and be written to. It's a real problem. I would not say as a kid I came out of the era as even a basic computer scientist, but I was ready to soak it all in on the first pass. I honestly think we should keep cartoon OS's out of the grip of children and channel them, or a lot of them, thru these old 8 bit machines.

Love classic computers.

4:30 That port is not a disk or tape drive port, it is a general use port somewhat akin to a modern USB port, though I think the comparison is a bit stretched, though a lot of people use it.. Part of the reason the 400 was so much more expensive than the TRS80 model 1 is that is has RF out and was being built to a much higher standard than the class C eventually became known as for RF shielding. I believe the 400 and 800 original machines had a cast aluminum case in order to comply with what they thought would be very high emissions standards. Another is it has 4 times the RAM at 16k In the 70s, RAM was still pretty expensive.. Plus it has dedicated audio, video and IO chips. There's a video on youtube of the guy who designed the chip set for the Atari 8-bt line (of which, the 400 is a member) of computers. He says the reason the 8bit line maxes out at 40 characters is the upcoming class-c FCC regulation. The sad part is the regulation that was eventually decided on wouldn't have prevented a higher resolution character display mode. Another missed opportunity of the 8 bit line was the use of the 2600's joystick port. Already in 1979 there were multi button games in the arcade. The 2600's 1 button joystick is understandable in that it was designed in 1976. But the 8-bit line was designed in late 1978 early 79. Even though it launched with only 1 button, the 4 ports should have allowed a controller with up to 6 buttons by simply attaching to 2 ports which would still allow 2 players. Unfortunately, nobody ever released a 6 button joystick. Also, the port can technically support 2 buttons. But only Gorf for the 2600 ever supported it. Gorf shipped with slip-over joystick providing a 2nd button with a cord that had both the female and male connectors. So you plugged the joystick into the slip-over and then plugged the slip over into the 2600.

History lesson thankyou😊

man... very difficult to understand your accent!!😊

Atari acquired the rights to distribute Space Invaders, but apparently allowed the programmer to "improve" on it with his own ideas. Supposedly, he wanted to adapt it to better use the horizontal orientation of the TV screen compared to the vertical orientation of the arcade version. If you want a more faithful (but unlicensed) version of Space Invaders for the 8-bit Atari, Roklan's Deluxe Invaders is great. It's plays just like the real thing. Oh, and the 400 was also my first Atari computer. I was 26 when I bought it in 1982. I considered an Apple II, but they were four or five times the price. What sold me was Star Raiders.

Thank you for sharing. Should try to find Star Raiders for your collection, too. 😊

Brilliant video. So much information shared.

Got the 400 mini, its been out a few months, it is a cool item.

I wanted an Atari 800 back in the day, but we couldn't afford that... Couldn't even afford the 400 back then. I did try to get my family to get me a kit US ZX81, but as I didn't even own a soldering iron, my parents wouldn't go for that either. Once the Vic-20 price dropped, they did get me that. Which I did love and it got me started with computers and I'm getting close to retiring from IT now... That said, I finally got my Atari 400 a few years ago. Love that machine... (I did upgrade it to 48k and have a Fujinet with it...) Note: I was going to composite mod it to use it on more modern displays, but the picture over RF still looks really good on my old TV, so I haven't done that. ;-)

Hi Terry ! Back in the days, the Aari 400 was an overpriced, underpowered odd looking machine. Today, I consider it as the most beautiful object you can have at home. And it runs awesome games !

This was my first real computer, loved it and wish I had one now. I spent hours and hours typing in programs from magazines on that membrane keyboard and saving to cassette.

The memo pad might be a reminiscence of TV Typewriters. In the seventies, just watching letters you type appear on the screen was a sound source of delight and amusement.

Awesome video! 👏

Came here after watching the trailer for the Atari 400 mini.