The Atari 800 was an 8-bit home computer, much like a Commodore 64 or an Apple II. It has a loyal following, and the debate over platform superiority between the Atari 130XE and the Commodore 128 still rages on. Coincidentally, the Atari 800XL was my first computer.
 | Wacke 1.6. |
| the ROMs necessary to run Wacke. |
Wacke is the Weightless Atari Computer Keepsake Emulator. It seems to be very accurate with most Atari titles, and even supports full sounds and most GTIA effects. The graphics rendering is also very accurate, unlike Rainbow's washed-out palette. Unfortunately, Atari 5200 mode is not supported. The shareware version only allows for small video; registered users can choose full screen mode.
 | the Wacke home page. |
 | to Joseph and Mike Fenton, authors of Wacke. |
| Atari 800 1.07d3, for classic Mac OS. |
| Atari 800 1.07d3, for Mac OS X. |
| the Atari 800 2.0.3 source code. |
Atari 800 is a port of an excellent Atari 800-series emulator on the PC. There are two separate versions available for download: a Mac OS X Carbonized version, and a classic Mac OS version. This emulator is also open-source; the source code is available from its home page. This port is no longer being actively developed.
| the Atari 800 home page. |
| the Atari 800 SourceForge page. |
| to Derek Ledbetter, who ported Atari 800. |
| Atari800MacX version 3.6.0. Requires at least Mac OS X 10.2 (10.3 or better recommended). |
| the home page of Atari800MacX. |
| the Atari800MacX source code. |
| to Mark Grebe, who ported Atari800MacX to the Macintosh. (You will need to remove "pleasenospam." from the address before sending.) |
| Jum52 0.8.9. Requires Mac OS X 10.4. |
| Emulator Enhancer, which adds extra features to Jum52. |
Jum52/MacOS is an Atari 5200 emulator for MacOS. Jum52 has reasonable compatibility with Atari 5200 titles. At the present, collision detection is rather hit and miss (no pun intended), but otherwise the emulator is solid enough. It also includes full sound support. Jum52 is a Carbon application, and thus runs natively under MacOS X.
| the Jum52 home page. |
| to Richard Bannister, who ported Jum52 to the Macintosh. |
| Rainbow 1.5.6. Requires Mac OS X 10.4. |
| Rainbow 1.4 (for classic Mac OS). |
| Emulator Enhancer, which adds extra features to Rainbow. |
| Atari Virtual Disk Editor 1.3, needed to modify Rainbow disks. |
The Rainbow emulator can perform the duties of an Atari 400, 800, 800XL, 130XE or 5200. (The 5200 is a game machine based largely around the hardware of an 800XL.)
If you can, try to find the 5200 version of a game--usually, it's better than the 800 equivalent, even though the hardware was identical. The 5200 programmers just knew all the tricks of the hardware much more than the 800 programmers did.
| the Rainbow home page. |
| the homepage for the Mac OS X port of Rainbow. |
| some autotypers for Rainbow disks and cartridges. |
| a disk of games for Rainbow. |
 | the Atari 800 Frequently Asked Questions page. |
| AtariAge.com, an excellent source of Atari information and all known ROMs for the 2600, 5200, and 7800. |
| ROM Organizer, which can sort Atari 5200 ROMs. |
| the Atari 5200 Frequently Asked Questions page. |
| the MESS page. (MESS is a multi-console emulator which includes support for the Atari 800 and 5200.) |
