Classic Computers: The Atari 8 bit series

Pin-outs for the Atari 8 bit computers

This information was taken straight from section 13.4 of the Atari 8 bit Frequently Asked Questions with the exception of the 825 printer information included at the end.


Serial I/O (SIO) Port (all machines):
         2           12
          o o o o o o
         o o o o o o o
        1             13
1. Clock Input             8. Motor Control
2. Clock Output            9. Proceed
3. Data Input             10. +5V/Ready
4. Ground                 11. Audio Input
5. Data Output            12. +12V (400,800 only. 1400XL/1450XLD?)
6. Ground                 13. Interrupt
7. Command

Cartridge Slot ("Left" slot on all machines; "Right" slot on 800 only):
A  B  C  D  E  F  H  J  K  L  M  N  P  R  S
1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15
 1. ~S4(Left) R/~W late(Right) A. RD4(Left) B02(Right)
 2. A3                         B. GND
 3. A2                         C. A4
 4. A1                         D. A5
 5. A0                         E. A6
 6. D4                         F. A7
 7. D5                         H. A8
 8. D2                         J. A9
 9. D1                         K. A12
10. D0                         L. D3
11. D6                         M. D7
12. ~S5(Left) ~S4(Right)       N. A11
13. +5V                        P. A10
14. RD5(Left) RD4(Right)       R. R/~W
15. ~CCTL                      S. B02

Enhanced Cartridge Interface (ECI) (130XE, 800XE and European 65XE only):
A  B  C  D  E  F  H
1  2  3  4  5  6  7
A. Reserved   1. ~EXSEL
B. ~IRQ       2. ~RST
C. ~HALT      3. ~D1XX
D. A13        4. ~MPD
E. A14        5. Audio
F. A15        6. ~REF
H. GND        7. +5V

Monitor Jack (all but 400, N. American 600XL, XE Game System, SECAM systems):
3       1
 5     4
    2
1. Composite Luminance
2. Ground
3. Audio Output
4. Composite Video
5. Composite Chroma (not on 800XL,1200XL; grounded on 600XL)

Monitor Jack, SECAM systems:
Jer Sobola, mailto:jsobola@ramserwis.com.pl provided this pinout:
                  V

           5             1
                  3
           4             2
                  
                  6
1 +12V DC 5mA max 
2 Audio 1 output
3 Audio 2 output
4 Video output
5 GND
6 +5V 100mA max
Amplitude Audio 2 is about 6 times closer than Audio 1

Power Adapter Plug (all but 400,800,1200XL,1400XL,1450XLD):
  7   6
3       1
 5     4
    2
1. +5V
2. Shield
3. Ground
4. +5V
5. Ground
6. +5V
7. Ground

Controller Port (4 on 400/800, 2 on all others):
1   2   3   4   5
  6   7   8   9
                                     CX22 trackball meanings from Steve
Wallace:
1. (Joystick) Forward Input               X Direction
2. (Joystick) Back Input                  X Motion
3. (Joystick) Left Input                  Y Direction
4. (Joystick) Right Input                 Y Motion
5. B Potentiometer Input
6. Trigger Input / Light Pen Input. Port 4 only on 400
7. +5V
8. Ground
9. A Potentiometer Input

Parallel Bus Interface (PBI) (600XL and 800XL only):
 1  3  5  7  9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49
 2  4  6  8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50
  1. GND ground                2. External select
  3. A0 Address output         4. A1
  5. A2                        6. A3
  7. A4                        8. A5
  9. A6                       10. GND
 11. A7                       12. A8
 13. A9                       14. A10
 15. A11                      16. A12
 17. A13                      18. A14
 19. GND                      20. A15
 21. D0 Data (bidirectional)  22. D1
 23. D2                       24. D3
 25. D4                       26. D5
 27. D6                       28. D7
 29. GND                      30. GND
 31. Phase 2 clock output     32. GND
 33. NC Reserved              34. Reset output
 35. (IRQ) Interrupt request  36. Ready input
 37. NC                       38. External decoder output
 39. NC                       40. Refresh output
 41. Column address output    42. GND
 43. Math pack disable input  44. Row addr strobe
 45. GND                      46. Latch read/write out
 47. NC (+5V on 600XL only)   48. NC (+5V on 600XL only, used to power 1064)
 49. Audio input              50. GND

R1: Serial port DB9P (850 Interface Module):
5   4   3   2   1                      ____________________________
  9   8   7   6                       / DB25P
1. DTR - Data Terminal Ready    (out) +  20
2. CRX - Signal (carrier) Detect (in) +  8
3. XMT - Transmitted Data       (out) +  2
4. RCV - Received Data           (in) +  3
5. GND - Signal Ground                +  7
6. DSR - Data Set Ready          (in) +  6
7. RTS - Request to Send        (out) +  4
8. CTS - Clear to Send           (in) +  5
No connection to shield               + Frame - to the shield wire

R2: Serial port (850 Interface Module):
5   4   3   2   1
  9   8   7   6
1. DTR
3. Send Data
4. Receive Data
5. Signal Ground
6. DSR

R3: Serial port (850 Interface Module):
5   4   3   2   1
  9   8   7   6
1. DTR
3. Send Data
4. Receive
5. Signal Ground
7. RTS
8. -8 Volts

R4: Serial port (850 Interface Module):
5   4   3   2   1
  9   8   7   6
1. Send Data +
3. Send Data -
7. Receive Data +
9. Receive Data - (20 mA)

P: Parallel port (850 Interface Module) DB15P:
      8  7  6  5  4  3  2  1  ____________________________
       15 14 13 12 11 10  9  / 36 pin Centronics (male)
1. Data Strobe               +   1
2. D0                        +   2
3. D1                        +   3
4. D2                        +   4
5. D3                        +   5
6. D4                        +   6
7. D5                        +   7
8. D6                        +   8
9. Data Pull up (+5v)        +
10. -                        +
11. Ground                   +  16
12. Fault                    +  32
13. Busy                     +  11
14. -                        +
15. D7                       +   9
No connection to shield      + Frame - to the shield wire

P: Parallel port (XEP80 Interface Module):
    13  12  11  10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1
      25  24  23  22  21  20  19  18  17  16  15  14
    1. Strobe
  2-9. Parallel Data
   10. Not Used
   11. Busy
12-17. Not Used
18-25. Ground


825 printer connection:

The Atari 825 printer has a 40 pin edge connector on back for a data cable
connection.  This connector serves the same function as the more common 
centronics connector, Atari just chose to use a different connector.  I
found it easiest to make an adaptor to convert the 40 pin edge connector
to a 36 pin centronics connector.  Note that because there are 4 extra
pins on the printer, pins 37, 38, 39, and 40 will be unused.  Using ribbon
cable and crimp-on connectors, align pin one on the 40 pin connector with
pin one on the centronics connector.  Note that this does not make a 1:1
connection on all pins.  The centronics connector orders the pins 1, 19,
2, 20, 3, 21, etc. while the edge connector has the pins in order from 1
to 40.  Using ribbon cable connectors and aligning pin one to pin one
automaticly gives the correct pin ordering, allowing for a simply made
adaptor.  With this adaptor the 850 printer cable mentioned above may be
used to connect the 825 printer.

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