(See introductory information on the Atari 800 Collection page...)
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What became Atari XL series was first proposed in 1982 as part of the Sweet 16 project. The Sweet 16, had it been constructed, would have been similar to the 1200XL. It would have featured the additions of a PBI port, a second SIO port, and stereo sound. (More to come on the Sweet 16 project in the future, complete with references).
The 1200XL was a early release of the Sweet 16 technology. Atari then forged ahead with the 1400XL and the 1450XLD. As explained below, these high-end computers were to feature internal modems, speech synthesizers and disc drives. The Freddie chip was developed for the 1400 series, although it was not used in a production computer again until the 130XE.
What was to really make the series great was the 1090 XL expansion unit. A plug-in card cage with easy upgrades for memory, serial-parallel ports, 80 column video cards, CP/M boards, HPIB/IEEE488, even seismic detector (and other far more exotic) cards were in the works. Many even reached the production stage. But with the sale of Atari all this came to a screeching halt. The massive crash in the videogame market plus incredible mismanagement from Warner had left Atari in a poor state. So much money was coming in and out that nobody could keep track of it. Work on new buildings was stopped. Atari was still "misplacing" entire warehouses full on inventory. Most development on these advanced computers was stopped in order to implement Jack Tramiel's idea of "carpet bombing with cheap computers" that had helped Commodore push so many superior machines out of the market.
The XL-series peripherals were released first, followed by the 1200XL. Some minor design "flaws" in the 1200XL, plus poor public relations from Atari eventually turned it into an "edsel". A complete catalog featuring the 1400XL, 1450XLD, 600XL and 800XL was released, but in the end only the 600XL and 800XL were released. A sad end to what could have been a bright chapter in Atari history.
The 1200XL was the first fruit of the Sweet 16 project. The Sweet 16 called for two computers; a 64K version with a full-stroke keyboard, and a 16K version with a less expensive keyboard. The 1200XL was a stripped down combination of both. With 64K RAM and (apparently) the cheaper 3/4 stroke keyboard, the 1200XL as released was more of a modified 800 than the true Sweet 16 project. The new compatibility problems of the XL OS combined with some slight design flaws--such as no +5V supply output on pin 10 of the SIO port--served to injure the reputation of the machine.
The 1200XL was the last Atari computer to be made in the USA, although the 14xx-series would probably had been USA-manufactured, had it gone to production.
Although externally nearly identical to the 1200XL, the the 1400XL was much closer to the original Sweet 16 specifications. The PBI bus was "back", and it had added features of an internal modem and speech synthesizer. Two models of the 1400XL appear to exist; one has its own 1400XL board, the other seems to have a 1450XLD board (the non-tong version) less its floppy board. The 1400XL was complete and worked well. Although the public was ready to purchase it, it was dropped just before release.
The 1450XLD is the Holy Grail for many Atari collectors. The same as a 1400XL but with 1 or 2 built-in 5.25 inch disc drives, the 1450XLD had long been demonstrated at trade shows as the ultimate Atari computer. In fact, several collectors have acquired a 1450XLD only to find it is a trade show mockup featuring a 1200XL and two 1050 drives.
There are two versions of the 1450XLD. The "standard" motherboard is the size of a 1200XL board with two internal connectors for floppy power and the control card. A floppy control card plugs into the main board and supplies the control signals to the two internal floppy drives. Not the normal Tandon mechanisms of the 1050, the internal drives utilize Epson "pushbutton" mechanisms.
The second version of the 1450XLD is the Tong-revision motherboard. An integrated board with full floppy support, I have been told (by people who should know) that the Tong revision was to be the production version. This is a bit surprising, with the large board size it would have been expensive, and a on-board prototyping area clearly marked the Tong boards as prototypes. Perhaps a "Final Tong" board would have revised this.The Sweet 16 documents state that the 16K version of the computer was to have a single power LED, the 64K version three: POWER, L1 and L2. L1 and L2 were to represent keyboard lock and DMA off, respectively.
When the 1200XL was released, it had all three of the LEDs. The 1450XLD had all three as well, but the 1400XL had the single LED of the 16K S-16. The LED mounting board and cable was identical...the only difference seems to be $0.50 worth of LEDs. Why would Atari mold two different mounting plates for the computers? The additional cost of two custom molds and stocking two sets of parts was certainly more than $0.50. If anyone can figure it out, please let me know.
The 600XL was the beginning of the "cheap Atari" computers, although it predated the Tramiel era. Essentially a 400 with a fancier keyboard, the 600XL had the PBI bus and the OS of the 800XL. Atari promised a 64K upgrade (see below), but never delivered...leaving the after-market upgrades to fill the market.
The 1064 was announced early on as an expansion for the 600XL. Designed for a simple plug-in installation, the product never appeared in stores, leaving the 1064 considered a rare item...the few prototypes that leaked out of Atari commanded a high price among the collectors. With Atari ignoring the need, plug-in upgrades from companies such as MPP soon appeared on the market, as well as several home-brew upgrades. In the early 1990s, the Atari warehouse at 360 Caribbean was opened and found to contain palates of 1064 upgrade modules. Once again, the incredible mismanagement of Atari cost the company both money and customers. The price of the "rare" 1064 modules dropped from hundreds to US$25.
During this period, Atari had a tendancy to shop around with various subcontractors and manufacturing plants. The 800XL's can be found built in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Ireland. Both the 600XL and 800XL suffered from still-cheaper keyboards, although some were far better than others, and a few even featured real keyswitches (not seen since the 800). The small XL computers began the downfall of Atari quality that marked the later 8-bit series.
The 1010 recorder corrected many of the mistakes made in the Hong Kong version 410 and served to return some of the former reliability to the tape medium. Two manufactures built the 1010 recorders; Sanyo and Chelco. Aside from minor variations in the machines (such as the LED), the machines are practically identical. The keys on the Sanyo version are in the following order: REC PLAY REW ADV PAUSE STOP/EJ.
See the Sanyo version, above. The keys on the Chelco version are ordered: REC PLAY REW ADV STOP/EJ PAUSE.
The 1050 disc drive holds the unique distinguishment of the first all-custom Atari peripherial to be designed completely outside of Atari. Engineered for Atari by mainframe manufacturer Tandem (not to be confused with disc-drive manufacturer Tandon), the 1050 eventually turned out to be an excellent product. Some early versions of the 1050 had problems with copy-protected software, this was fixed with a ROM replacement. Another error by Tandem in the 1050 design resulted in the first 1050s not passing all of the I/O lines down the daisy chain. This was repaired before release with a bit of hand-wiring on the board, but this wiring proved unreliable and was a later failure point as wires broke loose from board flexing at the I/O connectors.
The 1050 was built by two manufacturers, with two mechanisms. The Tandon mechanism-based drives were built in Singapore.
The World Storage Technology or WST 1050s were built in Hong Kong. Externally identical to the Tandon version, the WST mechanisms were quite different mecanically, and the boards feature a black heatsink and ground wire not present on the Tandon 1050.
The 1030 still lacked a ring detector, and users continued to wire their own.
Manufacturer: Sanyo
Manufacturer: I can't remember. Anyone recall?
Manufacturer: Sanyo (?)
Manufacturer: Seikosha
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