Lesson plan
Mapping the Atari
Mapping the Atari, written by Ian Chadwick and published by COMPUTE! Books in 1983, is an address-by-address explanation of the memory layout of the Atari 8-bit computers. The introduction is by Optimized Systems Software co-founder Bill Wilkinson. The book covers the 64K address space of the system's 6502 processor from low to high, including addresses used by the operating system or mapped to hardware registers, as well as how to use them. For example, location 756 (2F4) CHBAS contains the starting memory address that tells ANTIC where to find the character set. The author explains how to use this feature to build custom character sets. An updated version covering changes to the operating system and newer machines like the 130XE followed in 1985. Antic magazine serialized the book in 1989 and 1990.
Article summary
Mapping the Atari, written by Ian Chadwick and published by COMPUTE! Books in 1983, is an address-by-address explanation of the memory layout of the Atari 8-bit computers. The introduction is by Optimized Systems Software co-founder Bill Wilkinson. The book covers the 64K address space of the system's 6502 processor from low to high, including addresses used by the operating system or mapped to hardware registers, as well as how to use them. For example, location 756 (2F4) CHBAS contains the starting memory address that tells ANTIC where to find the character set. The author explains how to use this feature to build custom character sets. An updated version covering changes to the operating system and newer machines like the 130XE followed in 1985. Antic magazine serialized the book in 1989 and 1990.
Key claims
No claims recorded.
Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
No sources recorded.
Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.