Atari 800XL
The Atari 800XL was an enhanced version of the 800, with 64k RAM
in a more compact case. It included an enhanced BASIC, a single cartridge
port, two joystick ports and a general purpose I/O port. It could use the
same peripherals and program cartridges as the earlier Atari 8bit systems,
including disk drives, printers, and modems. The 800XL also had a
parallel I/O port on the rear, also referred to as the PBI, as well as used
a revised version of the XL-OS. The 1050 disk drive was styled to complement
the XL series, with it's two tone case and chrome strip. Actor Alan Alda was
the spokesperson in the advertisements for the Atari 8-bit line, and asked
the question "Have you played Atari today?". The 800XL was released in 1983.
Atari dropped all remaining support for the 8-bit computer line on January 1,
1992. Atari was bought out by disk drive manufacturer JTS Corp. on July 30,
1996, and production of it's computers stopped. The Falcon was sold to C-Labs
of Germany who enhanced it and continued it's production. On February 23,
1998 JTS sold it's Atari division to Hasbro Inc. for $5 million, forming
Atari Interactive Inc. Atari Games, the coin-op division which remained
seperate from Atari Corp. and was later known as Time-Warner Interactive,
became a subsidiary of Midway Games Inc.
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