In 1979, Atari published the Atari 400 and 800, revolutionary domestic computers which included personalized graphics and chips, four joystick ports and the possibility of executing the most advanced Home video games of their time. These machines, which sold $ 549 and $ 999, respectively, represented a skip in personal user -friendly computer, with their modular design and their series bus which Prescribed USB. Now, 46 years later, an amateur reduced the system of the system to a size that would have seemed to be a science fiction in the 1970s.
Polish engineer Piotr “Osa” Ostapowicz recently revealed “Atarino”, which can be the smallest recreation of the Atari computer in the world in the world, according to the retro computer website Atariteca. The entire system – processor, graphic chips, sound equipment and memory controllers – is part of a module measuring only 2 × 1.5 centimeters (about 0.79 × 0.59 inches), which is roughly the size of a postage stamp.
The creation of Ostapowicz re -implements classical architecture Atari XL / XE using modern Fpga (Array Gate Gate-programmable in the field) Technology. Unlike software emulators that simulate the old hardware (and modern leisure activities that execute them, such as the Atari 400 console) on a complete computer system of another architecture, Atarino faithfully reproduces the original Atari components at the logical level, which allows it to execute vintage software while maintaining compatibility with original devices.
“The current project is not strictly an Atari clone but basically, well, I form a machine compatible with the 8-bit Atari computer itself, but it was created on the basis of the frame that I created some time ago”, Ostapowicz said Atari Online PL in a YouTube interview in January 2024.
An assortment of some of the Atari 8 -bit computer systems published in the 1970s and 80s.
Credit: Atari
The project, which started more than a decade ago and was demonstrated publicly in December 2023, includes a 6502c processor, Anticipating And Gtia Graphic chips, Jail Soundy chest and memory controllers on a single FPGA chip in UP5K network. Despite its small size, the system can operate at clock speeds up to 31 MHz, faster than the 1.79 MHz of the original equipment.
Smaller, faster and positioned for future projects
While Atarino maintains wide compatibility with classic Atari software, Ostapowicz says it has improved the original design in several ways. For example, the 6502 processor core follows the specifications of the physical chip but adds new instructions. The memory system uses independent channels rather than the “original”cycle flight“Approach (where the graphic chip temporarily stops the CPU to access memory), improving performance.
