page_title: Atari 8-bit family
section_title: XE series
hierarchical_section_title: Atari 8-bit family / Follow-up systems / XE series
caption_attribution_description: The Atari 130XE, an 8-bit home computer released by Atari Corporation in the mid-'80s.
context_page_description: The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800 and manufactured until 1992. All of the machines in the family are technically similar and differ primarily in packaging. They are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU running at 1.79 MHz, and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips. This architecture enabled graphics and sound more advanced than contemporary machines, and gaming on the platform was a major draw. First-person space combat simulator Star Raiders is considered the platform's killer app. The systems launched with plug and play peripherals using the Atari SIO serial bus, an early analog of USB.
  The Atari 400 was initially almost half the cost of the Atari 800. Instead of the 800's full-sized keyboard, the 400 has a pressure-sensitive panel. The 800 has a second cartridge slot and a larger case allowing RAM upgrades to 48K. Both models were replaced by the XL series in 1983, then–after the company was sold and reestablished as Atari Corporation–the XE models in 1985.
context_section_description: Tramiel, originally from Poland, retained strong links with Eastern Europe. When these countries began to remove themselves from the Warsaw Pact, capped by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, he was able to use these relationships to open new business opportunities for the company. To address the need for a very low cost machine suitable for sales into these regions, where the economies were still post-communist and the exchange rates very high, Atari introduced the last machines in the 8-bit series to hit very low price points.
  These were the 65XE and 130XE (XE stood for XL-Compatible Eight Bit). They were announced in 1985, at the same time as the initial models in the Atari ST series, and visually resembled the Atari ST. Originally intended to be called the 900XLF, the 65XE had 64 KB of RAM and was functionally equivalent to the 800XL minus the PBI connection. The 130XE had 128 KB of memory, accessible through bank-selection, and the Enhanced Cartridge Interface (ECI), which was electronically almost compatible with the Parallel Bus Interface (PBI), but physically smaller, since it was located next to the standard 400/800-compatible Cartridge Interface and provided only those signals that did not exist in the latter; ECI peripherals were expected to plug into both the standard Cartridge Interface and the ECI port. Later revisions of the 65XE contained the ECI port as well. The 130XE was aimed to appeal at the mass market.
  The 65XE was marketed as 800XE in Germany and Czechoslovakia, in order to ride on the popularity of the original 800XL in those markets. Being available on market from 1987, all 800XE units contained the ECI port.
  The XE line suffered from severe reliability issues. The quality of the circuit boards was poor, with thin, easily damaged wire traces, and most machines were equipped from the factory with Micron Technologies 64kx1 RAM chips, which had a high failure rate. It was a common practice to install at least one RAM chip from a better-quality brand such as NEC so the computers would pass factory Q/C inspection.
caption: Atari 130XE
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