Newbie question: 400 compat. with 2600?

[mhopeng]

I'm new to Atari, and I've been reading a lot, but I can't find a definitive answer to the question:

 

Can I play Atari 2600 game cartridges on an Atari 400?

 

If this is answered in a FAQ somewhere, please post the link, its probably got a lot of other stuff I should know Thanks for helping a newbie out,

[Osbo]

No, they are two different machines.

[dwhyte]

Has anyone ever tried adding a TIA chip to a 400/800/XL/XE motherboard before? I realize there would be timing issues, but it could be done couldn't it?

 

The only reason I'm asking is because in the last few months I've got into hardware with SX microcontrollers... Kinda makes me wish I was more a hardware guy than a software one...

 

I'd love to add a SID chip to a 1200XL...

[Ross PK]

All of the Atari 8-bit computers and the XE console are compatable with each other, not 100%, but near enough.

 

But they're not compatible with any of the other Atari consoles.

Edited March 26, 2008 by Ross PK

[peteym5]

The 2600 and 8 bits (400-130xe) both have the 6502 based processors, but the graphics and sound chips are totally different. The TIA is not the same as the Antic/GTIA/Pokey combo. Different Registers in different memory locations. The 5200 is close to the 8-bit, but since Atari mapped the chips in different memory locations, it made everything incompatible. The 7800 is backward compatible with the 2600, but not the 5200 or 8-bit systems for all the same reasons. The XE Game System is simply a 800XL(or 65XE) in a different case with detachable keyboard and Missile Command on a chip instead of the Self-Test mode.

[SeaGtGruff]

The 2600 and 8 bits (400-130xe) both have the 6502 based processors, but the graphics and sound chips are totally different. The TIA is not the same as the Antic/GTIA/Pokey combo. Different Registers in different memory locations. The 5200 is close to the 8-bit, but since Atari mapped the chips in different memory locations, it made everything incompatible. The 7800 is backward compatible with the 2600, but not the 5200 or 8-bit systems for all the same reasons. The XE Game System is simply a 800XL(or 65XE) in a different case with detachable keyboard and Missile Command on a chip instead of the Self-Test mode.

Also, the 2600 uses a 6507 CPU, and runs at a rate of 3 NTSC color cycles per CPU machine cycle (or 76 machine cycles per scan line); whereas the 400/800/XL/XE uses a 6502 CPU, and runs at a rate of 2 NTSC color cycles per CPU machine cycle (or 114 machine cycles per scan line). Additionally, the 6507 can potentially address only 8K of memory space-- even though the 2600 doesn't actually have 8K of memory space (because of all the mirroring that goes on within the first 4K)-- whereas the 6502 can address 64K of memory space.

 

Michael

[mhopeng]

ok, Thank you for your help!