Turning an Atari 2600 into a computer…
I just came across this interesting bit of computing history.
Back in 1982, there was a peripheral that turned an Atari 2600 into an (incredibly simple, ZX-81 level) home computer, including a keyboard, BASIC, and cadette support.
But the addon is/was incredibly rare, and there’s very little information about it online.
So it’s interesting to see there’s now a video up on YouTube profiling this device (known as a Spectravideo CompuMate) and how it works…
#tech #technology #atari #Atari2600 #retro #retrocomputing #retrogaming @technology @videogames @retrogaming
@Wintermute_BBS @Stege @technology @videogames @retrogaming Atari 400 was US$550 at launch, the 2600 was US$189.95 at launch.
Hypothetically, had they managed to get a price point at somewhere close to US$200-$250 for a version with a chiclet keyboard, tape connector and BASIC, that would have opened up an even lower lower-end market than the 400.
It very much would have been aiming for that ZX-81 end of the market.
@ajsadauskas @Stege @technology @videogames @retrogaming which would have been much more then the $159 for a CoCo 2 or Timex 2000 in the same year.
Please don’t misunderstand me: I don’t say that you are wrong or that I disagree with you - but if Atari really thought this was a good idea at the time, they could as well have saved the resources and burn the money right away …