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ContactDan Boris
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The Atari 5200 Super System was the successor to Atari's enormously successful 2600. The 5200 is a slightly stripped down Atari 8-bit computer. Some very good games were written for the 5200 or ported from the computers, but unfortunately the system never really caught on. On this page you will find various technical information on the 5200 including programming information, source code, utilities, and schematics.
Links
Technical Files
Patents
Source Code
Development Software
Emulator
Schematics
Links
Atari Gaming Headquarters
Atari Historical Society
Atari Age
Track Ball Technical Information
A page of tech info on the 5200 trackball including schematics.
Technical Files
Note: There is not much technical information specifically for the 5200, but since the 5200 is based on the same hardware as the Atari 8-bit computer, a lot of the information on these systems is applicable to the 5200.
For information on the 6502 microprocessor go to by 6502 Processor page.
Atari 5200 FAQ: This FAQ contains a wealth of information about the 5200 including some technical information that I wrote.
Analog Magazine 5200 article: This is an article from Analog magazine that describes the differences between the Atari computers and the 5200.
Atari System Reference Manual: This is the system reference manual for the Atari computers. There is a lot of hardware related information in it that is pertinent to the 5200.
The Atari Reference Library: This section of the Atari Historical Society web page includes original Atari datasheets on the Antic, Pokey, and GTIA chips.
De-Re Atari: Back in the day, De-Re Atari was the one book no respectable Atari 8-bit programmer would be without. It contains tons of excellent information on programming the Atari 8-bit hardware.
Atari Graphics & Arcade Game Design: Another good book about Atari 8-bit programming.
Patents
US3728480: TELEVISION GAMING AND TRAINING APPARATUS
USRE028507: Television gaming apparatus
USRE028598: TELEVISION GAMING APPARATUS AND METHOD
US4112422: Method and apparatus for generating moving objects on a video display screen
US4152671: Oscillator-modulator apparatus and method therefor
US4214360: Method of making a radio frequency oscillator-modulator with ground metallization
US4296476: Data processing system with programmable graphics generator
US4314236: Apparatus for producing a plurality of audio sound effects
US4045789: Animated video image display system and method
Source Code
5200 Hello World: This is the source code for a basic Atari 5200 "Hello World" program. It is a good starting point for Atari 5200 programming.
5200 PM Graphics: This is a simple demonstration of how to do Player/Missile graphics. Now also demonstrates sprite re-use.
5200 BIOS ROM: This is an almost complete disassembly of the 5200 BIOS
Development Software
DASM.ZIP: This is a new 6502 cross assembler for MSDOS. It supports pretty much any feature you could want in an assembler including macros, and the ability to produce raw-binary files. Thanks to Bob Colbert for porting this assembler from the Amiga.
Emulator
VSS V0.80 (Virtual Super System)
VSS is an Atari 5200 Super System emulator for MSDOS. The current version runs about 90% of the ROM images I have almost flawlessly, and at a reasonable speed. To use the emulator you will need a copy of the 5200's 2K BIOS ROM, and 5200 ROM cart images. Due to copyright reasons, I cannot provide these. PLEASE DO NOT E-mail me looking for ROM images. All message looking for ROM images will be promptly deleted. I will do my best to answer all other e-mails.
5200 ROM images can be found at: Holmes' Atari 8bit Games Page or Atariage.com
All 5200 ROMS are playable with the following exceptions:
Not playable: Mr Do's Castle, Decathalon, Pole Position, Bounty Bob Strikes Back, River Raid, Real Sports Soccer
Playable with the correct ROM images: Micro-gammon, Miniature Gold, Looney Toons Hotel
What's new in V0.80:
- Support for Bounty Bob Strikes Back not currently functioning.
- Replaced CPU core with Neil Bradley's M6502 core
- Cleaned up hardware startup and shut down to prevent memory leaks.
- Using SEAL audio library instead of Allegro's for better sound card support
- Upgraded to Allegro 3.9.36
- Added alternate 16K cart loading mode for Tempest, Super Pac-man, Track and Field and Millipede
- Added support for 8K carts
- Speed limiter now on by default. Use -nolimit to turn it off
- Now uses VGA ModeX exclusively. Removed -modex and -top options.
- Keys can now be re-configured in config file
- Fixed colors in MODE 15. (Miniature Golf, Micro-gammon)
- Now two versions, a normal version, and a special debug version for
use by software developers
Click here to download version 0.80 of Virtual Super System.
Click here to download the debug version of VSS .80NOTE: VSS only works with 5200 binary images that are either 16384 or 32768 bytes long. VSS DOES NOT work with .ATR ,.DCM, or .XFD files which are Atari 8-bit computer disk images.
I would like to thank, Therion23, Keita, Markus Gietzen, Stumble, Lepper, and everyone else on #emulate and #rgvc for there assistance and support.
Schematics
The following are schematics that I have traced out by hand. I cannot guarantee that these schematics are accurate, or that they are the same for all versions of a piece of equipment.
(Special thanks to Kenneth Simmons for improving upon my original schematics)
Last modified 9/22/2000