Docs / The reference shelf
31 PDFs: original manuals, source listings, programming books, and quick-reference cards. Browse by subject and open a document from its first-page preview.
Each thumbnail shows the PDF’s first page. Page counts refer to the files, including covers and front matter. File sizes help you choose before opening a larger scan.
7 documents
Memory maps, custom chips, ROM listings, and disk-system internals.
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Atari’s combined technical reference for the 400 and 800, bringing together the operating-system user manual, OS source material, and hardware documentation. A foundation for understanding the original eight-bit machines.
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A scanned assembly-language listing of Atari’s Revision A operating system. Use it to trace ROM routines and see how the original OS implements its services.
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Atari’s supplement to the operating-system technical reference, documenting the XL family. Read alongside the 400/800 notes when comparing the original machines with the later XL systems.
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Avery Lee’s detailed reference to Atari eight-bit hardware behavior, including the CPU, custom chips, timing, and firmware. Useful for low-level programming and understanding emulation.
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An Atari technical guide to the machine’s graphics, display lists, player/missile graphics, sound, and system software. It explains how the custom hardware fits together through programming examples.
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Ian Chadwick’s annotated memory map of Atari eight-bit computers. Look up RAM variables, hardware registers, and ROM entry points when interpreting PEEKs, POKEs, or assembly listings.
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A guide to the workings of Atari DOS, including disk organization and the software that manages files. Useful background for disk utilities and programs that work closely with the file system.
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The Atari BASIC interpreter, Altirra BASIC, and a desk reference.
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Compiled by Bill Wilkinson with OSS, this book explains Atari BASIC from the inside through its source code and commentary. It is about the interpreter’s implementation as well as the language it runs.
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Avery Lee’s manual for the Altirra BASIC interpreter. Covers language syntax, commands, functions, and compatibility details for running Atari BASIC-style programs.
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A two-page reference sheet collecting Atari BASIC keywords and tokens, error messages, color values, and programming tables. A compact companion to longer Atari manuals.
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Learning machine language, looking up instructions, and studying working code.
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Richard Mansfield introduces machine language to BASIC programmers, with examples and supporting material for several 6502 computers, including Atari. A starting point before tackling larger assembly-language listings.
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Mansfield’s follow-up examines the LADS assembler and the routines that make it work, including expression handling, input/output, and symbol management. It develops the ideas introduced in his beginners’ book.
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Lance A. Leventhal’s broad introduction to 6502 instructions, addressing modes, and assembly-programming techniques. The processor concepts apply to Atari, while machine-specific input/output requires Atari references.
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The second edition of Leventhal’s 6502 programming reference, supplied as a separate scan. Covers the processor and programming methods; keep it distinct from the other edition in this collection.
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Leventhal and Winthrop Saville present reusable routines for arithmetic, strings, arrays, bit manipulation, input/output, and interrupts. Adapt the general 6502 techniques to Atari memory and device conventions.
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Bob Bright’s compact guide to 6502 assembly language. A portable reference for instruction syntax and processor programming when a full textbook would be cumbersome.
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A two-page processor reference card with instruction and addressing information. Handy beside a source listing when checking an opcode or how an instruction accesses memory.
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Scanned source-code compilation printouts for Atari’s Star Raiders. This is implementation material for studying a real game, rather than a player’s manual or a ready-to-build source archive.
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The Atari C/65 manual alongside general C learning and reference books.
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The OSS and LightSpeed Software manual for C/65 on Atari and Apple computers. Explains its C subset, compiler workflow, assembly output, and runtime conventions; use this for the historical C/65 dialect.
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Kernighan and Ritchie’s C textbook and language reference in an OCR edition. The small file is convenient for text searches; compare with the scan if recognition errors make a passage unclear. General C, not an Atari-specific dialect.
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The scanned-page copy of Kernighan and Ritchie’s second edition. Covers C fundamentals, pointers, functions, structures, and the standard library. This is a separate file from the OCR version above.
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Clovis L. Tondo and Scott E. Gimpel’s solutions to the exercises in the second edition of The C Programming Language. A companion for checking approaches after attempting the textbook’s problems.
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A two-page quick reference to C language constructs and library information. Useful for a syntax reminder; the limited C/65 dialect does not implement everything found in general C references.
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P. J. Plauger explains the standard C library and its implementation, including input/output, strings, memory, mathematics, and other library facilities. A general programming reference rather than an Atari runtime manual.
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Display modes, colors, character graphics, and animation.
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A collection of Atari graphics articles and program listings covering display modes, color, and practical drawing techniques. Combines explanations with experiments that can be typed into an eight-bit Atari.
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More Atari graphics tutorials, including mode-0 graphics, GTIA, color-register control, and character graphics. A follow-up collection for exploring techniques beyond the first volume.
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Mixed collections of tutorials, utilities, games, and programming ideas.
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Early Atari articles introduce BASIC, input/output, memory use, machine language, and practical programs. A broad collection for learning what the 400 and 800 can do.
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A further collection of Atari programming articles and listings, including joystick techniques and applications. Useful for browsing small projects and reusable ideas across several subjects.
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A collection spanning programming hints, keyboard and timer techniques, sound, applications, and educational programs. Includes projects and ideas for the Atari eight-bit family, with XL compatibility highlighted on the cover.
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General references for understanding stored data and graphics files.
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James D. Murray and William vanRyper’s reference to graphics-file structures, compression, and format conversion. Useful for image utilities and exchanging data between systems; it covers many platforms beyond Atari.
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Günter Born’s broad reference to file structures used by applications and computer systems. Useful when investigating an unfamiliar file or designing an import/export tool; it is not limited to Atari formats.
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