{"id":632,"date":"2010-02-22T15:39:51","date_gmt":"2010-02-22T20:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/?p=632"},"modified":"2010-02-23T19:16:48","modified_gmt":"2010-02-24T00:16:48","slug":"retro-scan-of-the-week-the-atari-1200xl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/archives\/632\/retro-scan-of-the-week-the-atari-1200xl","title":{"rendered":"<span id=\"retro_color\">[ Retro Scan of the Week ]<\/span> The Atari 1200XL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"\/wp-content\/images\/retroscan\/atari_1200_large.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/wp-content\/images\/retroscan\/atari_1200_small.jpg\" alt=\"Atari 1200XL Ad - 1983\" class=\"centered\"\/><\/a><span class=\"freecaption\"><em>Atari&#8217;s best 8-bit keyboard?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Atari 1200XL (1982) is something of a cult favorite among Atari 8-bit computer fans due to its keyboard, which probably has the nicest feel of the entire 8-bit line.  1980s critics, while appreciating the unit&#8217;s keyboard, simultaneously derided the 1200XL for minor incompatibilities with existing software created for the earlier <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/archives\/604\" target=\"_blank\">Atari 400\/800<\/a> computers.  I personally don&#8217;t like its recessed cartridge slot, but if you have an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.atarimax.com\/flashcart\/documentation\/\" target=\"_blank\">AtariMax MaxFlash multi-cart<\/a>, you don&#8217;t need to change cartridges very often.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past decade, I&#8217;ve often used my Atari 1200XL as an ideal machine for Atari text adventure games.  Whenever I encounter software incompatibilities, I just break out the Atari 800XL or 130XE.  Each Atari model has a flavor of its own, and it&#8217;s a pleasure to use most of them &#8212; if you choose the right machine for the right task (hint: don&#8217;t try to write a term paper on an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/139100\/the_10_worst_pc_keyboards_of_all_time.html\" target=\"_blank\">Atari 400&#8217;s membrane keyboard<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><center><em><small>[ From Interface Age, May 1983, p.14-15 ]<\/small><\/em><\/center><\/p>\n<p><strong>Discussion Topic of the Week:<\/strong> What&#8217;s your favorite model in the Atari 8-bit computer series?  To recap, you&#8217;ve got the Atari 400, 800, 1200XL, 600XL, 800XL, 65XE, 130XE, and XEGS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Atari&#8217;s best 8-bit keyboard? The Atari 1200XL (1982) is something of a cult favorite among Atari 8-bit computer fans due to its keyboard, which probably has the nicest feel of the entire 8-bit line. 1980s critics, while appreciating the unit&#8217;s keyboard, simultaneously derided the 1200XL for minor incompatibilities with existing software created for the earlier [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,27,26,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computer-info-and-history","category-regular_features","category-retro-scan-of-the-week","category-computers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vintagecomputing.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}