Techlines Today

It’s been 30 years Atari

By Adam Myers ⋅ October 1, 2007 ⋅ Tags: anniversary, atari, video games

The monstrosity above is an early prototype of the Atari CX2600 Video Computer System that went into production in October 1977. The $199 system came bundled with Combat, two rubberized joysticks, a pair of paddle controllers and a handy dandy RF modulator to mangle your parents’ TV reception.

The prototype was built by Steve Mayer and Ron Milner in 1975, and it’s now part of the Computer History Museum’s permanent collection. They relied upon a DEC PDP-11 minicomputer to cross-compile the system’s software because there simply weren’t any suitable off-the-shelf microcomputers; the Apple II, Commodore PET and Radio Shack TRS-80 were still years away.

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