This article covers the range of peripherals available for Atari's

Atari

Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...

 8-bit home computer range

Atari 8-bit family

The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips...

 (including the 400/800, XL and XE series machines).

All of Atari's external peripherals used the proprietary SIO port, which allowed them to be daisy chain

Daisy chain (electrical engineering)

In electrical and electronic engineering a daisy chain is a wiring scheme in which multiple devices are wired together in sequence or in a ring...

ed together into a single string; a method also used in Commodore's home computers from the VIC-20

Commodore VIC-20

The VIC-20 is an 8-bit home computer which was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PET...

 onwards. These "intelligent" peripherals were more expensive than the standard IBM PC devices, which did not need the added SIO electronics.

List of peripherals

Both the names and styling of Atari's 8-bit peripherals generally matched the current computer range at the time they were released. Thus, they can be divided into one of three groups- those corresponding to the 400/800 era (4xx/8xx), the XL era (10xx) and the XE era (beginning with 'X') respectively. (The XL-era naming reflected Atari's original intention to launch an "Atari 1000" line.) Nevertheless, it should be emphasised that these are superficial issues; the majority of peripherals listed here will work with any 8-bit Atari computer.

In addition to those listed below, Atari failed to release a huge selection of machines and peripherals that were otherwise completed. (See the externally linked FAQ below for details.)

400/800 era (1979-1982)

• 410 tape drive, 600 bit/s on cassettes
  • There exist several variants of the 410; in particular, later models sold under the "410" name were both internally and externally noticeably distinct from the early ones.
• 810 5¼" floppy disk
  Floppy disk
  A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
  
  , single-density single-sided, 90 KB
• 815 dual 5¼" floppy disks, double-density single-sided, 180 KB (only small numbers produced)
• 820 printer, 40-column dot matrix
  Dot matrix
  A dot matrix is a 2-dimensional array of LED used to represent characters, symbols and images.Typically the dot matrix is used in older computer printers and many digital display devices. In printers, the dots are usually the darkened areas of the paper...
  
   on adding machine paper
• 822 printer, 40-column thermal on slightly wider paper
• 825 printer, 80-column dot matrix (Centronics 737)
• 830 300-baud modem
  Modem
  A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
  
  , using an acoustic coupler
  Acoustic coupler
  In telecommunications, the term acoustic coupler has the following meanings:# An interface device for coupling electrical signals by acoustical means—usually into and out of a telephone instrument....
  
  , used RS-232 so required an 850 (relabelled Novation CAT
  Novation CAT
  Novation was an early modem manufacturer whose CAT series were popular in the early home computer market in the late 1970s and early 1980s, notably on the Apple II...
  
  )
• 835 300-baud modem, direct connect, basic Hayes compatible with SIO interface
• 850 expansion system, included four RS-232
  RS-232
  In telecommunications, RS-232 is the traditional name for a series of standards for serial binary single-ended data and control signals connecting between a DTE and a DCE . It is commonly used in computer serial ports...
  
   ports and one Centronics
  Centronics
  Centronics Data Computer Corporation was a pioneering American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the parallel interface that bears its name.-The beginning:Centronics began as a division of Wang Laboratories...
  
   parallel port
  Parallel port
  A parallel port is a type of interface found on computers for connecting various peripherals. In computing, a parallel port is a parallel communication physical interface. It is also known as a printer port or Centronics port...
  
  
• CX-85 Numerical Keypad, external keypad that plugs into the joystick ports.

The 410 tape drive used stereo with the data recorded on one track and the other track fed through the sound, as was demonstrated by the language courses. The tape could also be programmatically stopped and started, while 'played'.

XL era (1982-1985)

• 1010 tape drive, a smaller replacement for the 410
• 1020 color printer
  Atari 1020
  The Atari 1020 was a four-colour computer plotter sold by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 8-bit home computer family.The 1020 was based around a plotter mechanism manufactured by ALPS. The same mechanism formed the basis of several other low-cost plotters produced around the same time, including the...
  
  , 40-column plotter
  Plotter
  A plotter is a computer printing device for printing vector graphics. In the past, plotters were widely used in applications such as computer-aided design, though they have generally been replaced with wide-format conventional printers...
  
   with 4 pens
• 1025 printer, 80-column dot matrix (Okidata ML-80)
• 1027 printer, 80-column letter quality that printed with a 5-wheels-on-a-drum system kept inked by a top-mounted roller (Mannesmann Tally Riteman LQ)
• 1029 printer, 80-column lower-quality 7-pin dot matrix sold in Europe (Seikosha mechanism)
• 1030 300 baud modem, direct connect
• 1050 5¼" floppy disk, "enhanced density" format single-sided, 130 KB
• 1055 3½" floppy drive (never released)
• 1064 memory module, 64 KB memory expansion for 600XL
• CX77 touch tablet

XE era (1985 onwards)

• XEP80 interface module for 80-column and parallel printer, based on NS
  National Semiconductor
  National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,...
  
  405, an 8048 based chip. Attached via a joystick port controlled at 15625 baud horizontal video timing.
• XC11 tape drive
• XC12 tape drive (small model like the 1010, sold worldwide). Similar models were released, mainly in Eastern Europe. These included:-
  • XCA12 (same case as XC12)
  • CA12 (same case as XC12)
  • XL12 tape drive (an XC12 with minor changes)
  • XC13 - "T2000 ready" version of XC12
• XF351 3½" floppy drive (never released)
• XF551 5¼" floppy disk, double-density double-sided, 360 KB
• XMM801 printer, 80-column dot matrix
• XDM121 printer, 80-column letter quality daisy wheel
• XM301 300 baud modem
• SX212 1200 baud modem (also included RS-232 for use on Atari ST computers)

External links

• Atari 8-Bit Computers: Frequently Asked Questions- includes information on unreleased peripherals.