Atari 800Win
An Atari 8-bit/5200 Emulator

Atari800Win will allow you to emulate an Atari 8-bit computer system on your Win32 based PC.  It emulates all hardware aspects of the original Atari 8-bit (video, audio, and I/O devices), and can be configured to behave like any of several Atari models (the 800, 800XL, 130XE, 320 (modified 130) XE, or 5200 game console).  It features a familiar Windows user interface for  configurable options and takes full advantage of your hardware through DirectX.  Although the code it emulates is 8-bit, everything here is pure 32bit Windows (Atari800Win contains C++, C and asm code).

     
Screen captures of Atari 800Win running
Hardball, Food Fight, Pole Position, and Donkey Kong for the Atari 8-bit Computers
Click on images to enlarge

The original emulator code was written by David Firth, along with contributions by Ron Fries for the sound code.  The Win32 specific code and some extensions have been written by the author, Richard Lawrence.  Several additions have been made by other members of a loose team that is now working to improve the emulator. 

This product is FREE, but copyrighted (actually copylefted, in the GNU General Public License sense).  I do not want money for this emulator, I consider it  payment enough that many, like I do, will be able to enjoy their classic 8-bit stuff again without having to pay money for it.  If you feel motivated, you can drop me an e-mail just telling me you're getting a kick out of your 8-bit  again.  Also, I am always on the lookout for original Infocom games (as in the boxes with the stuff in them) and would appreciate donations of those, or of Atari 8-bit/ST software on CD-ROM.

The very first thing to do is obtain a set of Atari OS ROMs and a disk image to boot with.   The ROMs are not distributed with Atari800Win, and you may not put Atari800Win in an archive with them included and re-post it.  We all know the drill, right?  At a minimum you will need one machine ROM (either OS rev A, OS rev B, XL, XE, or 5200) to boot Atari800Win.  Probably you should have OS rev B (required for most picky games), XE (the later generation machine with more memory), and 5200.

     
Screen captures of Atari 800Win running
Qix, Zaxxon, Gorf, and Millipede for the Atari 5200 SuperSystem
Click on images to enlarge

You will also need a disk image, as mentioned previously. A sensible one to start with is Atari DOS.  The most prevalent Atari DOS versions are 2.0S, and 2.5. There are plenty of later versions from Atari, and also several versions from other manufacturers.   Take your pick, but keep in mind maximum compatibility is an Atari 800 OS rev B running 2.0S DOS for most games and the like.

After obtaining these, you can start. The default configuration will look for an Atari XL OS named atarixl.rom in the same directory as Atari800Win itself.  If you boot without this image present a dialog box will appear telling you it couldn't be loaded, then the emulator screen will appear. You can change the OS selection/name using the menu "Atari" and submenu "Hardware".

When you configure the OS settings to point to your files, and "OK" that dialog, Atari800Win will switch into a full-screen 800x600 256 color DirectDraw display.   This mode is ideal because it displays the full area of the Atari screen,   including overscan.  You may however select a different mode at lower resolution if you are willing to sacrifice some of the overscan area.  The actual display resolution of the Atari is 384x240, and for most PC resolutions this is doubled to 768x480.  You can also select to run Atari800Win in a window, which works fine if a little slow.  I do not recommend 768x480 in a window.  It will be very slow no matter how fast your machine is.  Talk to Bill Gates about it.  SOME DirectX machines may handle it. SOME AGP cards will do it with no problems (do not assume AGP=performance, it is not so).

From here you can configure your disk drives using the "Atari/Disk Drives" menu, change cartridges via the Atari/Cartridges menu, and select directories on your PC hard disk to act as Atari virtual "Hard Disks", accessed via the H1:, H2:, etc device names. 

Go to the Atari 800Win homepage

This emulator can be downloaded directly from it's homepage.

NOTE: In order to run this emulator, you must have the emulator itself, and a copy of the ROM's from the original system.  The emulator itself is Freeware.  The ROM's are copyrighted by the programmer or the manufacturer. You are only legally entitled to use ROM files if you own the actual game, or a PCB/ROM Cartridge from the game that you are emulating.

ROM's are not available on Back In Time,
but they can be found on the Internet.