1984 7800s

[atari70s]

Ok im starting to take a list of who has what 7800s let me know what you people have thanks you oculd email me at Braves4515@aol.com and i will make a list and post it on my site

[Lemmi]

I have 2 - 1984 - 7800's and 2 others from the later period

 

My first one was brand new off the shelves sadly i dont have the box anymore i payed $89 for the new one and $10 for the other 3 i own total and out of 4 systems i only have 2 power supplies

[atari70s]

i guess you coudl send those also any 7800s ill add it to my list. i can use any 7800s let me who has what

[Curt Vendel]

I've got 8 1984 7800's, one of which is a Clear Plastic Prototype. I got my first 7800 back in 84' when a friend who worked at Distributors International in Brklyn, NY at the time brought it over to my house as he was a manager working on the Atari account and was informed that Atari was no longer using its original Warner Comm. Atari distributor network so he brought me the original 1984 7800 with 3 carts and an original Atari 2600 system which would later be repackaged and called the Atari 2600jr.

 

 

The 7800 has always been my favorite system of all of the consoles.

[Viso]

I have 2 - 1984 - 7800's and 2 others from the later period

 

My first one was brand new off the shelves sadly i dont have the box anymore  i payed $89 for the new one and $10 for the other 3 i own total and out of 4 systems i only have 2 power supplies

If you're adventurous enough, I doubt it would be difficult to modify a couple of the 7800's to take a more conventional cylindrical shaped plug for power. The only real problem would be finding a 9V AC-DC adapter. The 7805 voltage regulator in the 7800 will take 15v, but I wouldn't be surprised if that makes it overheat in this case.

____________________________________

 

Curt, do you have a production 7800 with a date code of 2484 or earlier?

[Curt Vendel]

I will let you in after July 4th, I'm carpeting the basement this month, so everything had to be moved and packed up yet again....

 

However I know I have one of the earliest Atari 7800's.... its a single sided Atari 7800 motherboard which is labeled Atari 3600 which was the original # designation of the "MARIA" project.....

 

 

 

 

Curt

[atari70s]

Hmm did that ever come in a Atari 7800 case? probably not if it says 3600 on it. Curt for you i dont think ill be encluding it with the 7800s like the 2484 and 2584s. i think on the page ill make a special section to list all the 3600's as prototypes. list yours then the 7800s. since its technically a 3600 , hmm did have a serial number in a 7800 or is it the board only like on the site?

[Curt Vendel]

Its just a motherboard, not a full system, in fact the motherboard will not fit into the 7800 case without a little work on the case since the ports are just a tiny bit off and the power supply connector is different from the production version.

 

Here is a link to it:

 

http://www.atari-history.com/videogames/atari3600.html

 

 

Curt

[Viso]

Curt, atari70s is trying to track down the earlist production 7800 units, and atari70s hopes to figure out a way to identify the ordering of the units as they were produced by the serial number. Like identifying one as the fith unit made, for example. But then, they may well have been produced in parallel.

 

Why figure this out? Well, it sure isn't much of a challenge to figure out the age and ordering of the prototypes anymore.

[atari70s]

I think its quite possible to find out the Pattern for the 7800 1984 models. Curt i could ue your help for this there is 5000 total i am aware of. Curt is this right. THey were made from July84-Sept84. then haulted. if this is correct i can proceed.

 

Crossbow: i have a problem with what you Belive as the first 7800s done in July. the 25th week of 1984 is from June 17th -June 23rd. July didnt start till the 27th week. Could you list me your Serial Number ( i know itprobably wont go with it but id be interested in it anyway.)

 

 

CURT: what do you know about the 7800s you have from 84 ( including the Clear unit). if i can start getting people to send me in the Serial Number of the 1984 atari 7800s and the date on the board i might be able to look them over and start some type of theory i can test.

 

VISO : you say your system is dated 2484 on the board and teh SN is 72R4BR AT8460662. The 72R4BR is standard so and since the one im getting is AT8402971. 57,691 lower of a number. if my board reads a 2484 or lower i could conclude that lower numbers indicate earlier units ( so i can see that they didnt jump too random. )

 

im thinking 1 of 2 things.

 

1.) atari started the numbering process at AT 8400000. and 2.) Atari started the Numbering process at AT8000000.

 

so, so far i have the following known

 

 

SERIAL NUMBER Board Date

1.) AT8402971 ????

2.) AT8460662 2484

 

 

 

 

 

please let me knwo who else got one.

 

any other info curt, crossbow i need let me know

 

also please email me at Braves4515@aol.com any early 7800s you have

[atari70s]

I think its quite possible to find out the Pattern for the 7800 1984 models. Curt i could ue your help for this there is 5000 total i am aware of. Curt is this right. THey were made from July84-Sept84. then haulted. if this is correct i can proceed.

 

Crossbow: i have a problem with what you Belive as the first 7800s done in July. the 25th week of 1984 is from June 17th -June 23rd. July didnt start till the 27th week. Could you list me your Serial Number ( i know itprobably wont go with it but id be interested in it anyway.)

 

 

CURT: what do you know about the 7800s you have from 84 ( including the Clear unit). if i can start getting people to send me in the Serial Number of the 1984 atari 7800s and the date on the board i might be able to look them over and start some type of theory i can test.

 

VISO : you say your system is dated 2484 on the board and teh SN is 72R4BR AT8460662. The 72R4BR is standard so and since the one im getting is AT8402971. 57,691 lower of a number. if my board reads a 2484 or lower i could conclude that lower numbers indicate earlier units ( so i can see that they didnt jump too random. )

 

im thinking 1 of 2 things.

 

1.) atari started the numbering process at AT 8400000. and 2.) Atari started the Numbering process at AT8000000.

 

also the run dates im thinking is possible is from June 10th (24th week) till either Sept 1(35th week) or sept 29 or 30th(39th or 40th week)

 

so, so far i have the following known

 

 

SERIAL NUMBER Board Date

1.) AT8402971 ????

2.) AT8460662 2484

 

 

 

 

 

please let me knwo who else got one.

 

any other info curt, crossbow i need let me know

 

also please email me at Braves4515@aol.com any early 7800s you have

[Curt Vendel]

The important thing to look for on the original 5,000 that were made and this is directly from Brad Saville, the 7800 Production Line manager: they were built in the El Paso facility and their serial #'s should start as follows:

 

 

EP(space)serial#

 

 

Now, for an interesting tidbit... upon returning from El Paso, Brad had a meeting with the Tramiels (basically the Tramiels were conducting quick mini-interviews to decide who they would keep or let go) Brad went into the meeting prepared to give a quick overview of Atari's flagship console product and how well it would help the company. Well, a few moments into his presentation, the 7800 was pushed off of the desk onto the floor and Brad was told to take his "garbage" and leave, Atari was a computer company now and was not making video games... 3 days later Brad was fired.

 

Move forward 6 months later. Brad is contacted by someone at Atari (he didn't remember the persons name) and was asked about his involvement as the Production Manager on the Atari 7800 project and if he knew where the Die Molds were to make new Atari 7800 cases.... well, he stated "for 40-50 hours paid work, he might be able to remember where they were" The infuriated Atari employeed told him that their lawyers would be in contact with him, and hung up the phone.... Brad never heard from Atari again.

 

So, Atari used up all of the existing parts warehoused to make more 7800 Prosystems, then started making them with new manufactured parts and new cases that they had made from doing mold castings of the original 7800 cases... I will call Brad up sometime soon and ask him if he remembers just how many parts were made/ordered to make what quantity of 7800's total in 84' when he was running the production project just to get an idea of how many 7800's were made out of the original 84' parts order.

 

 

Curt

[+-^CrossBow^-]

You know Curt,

 

The more I learn about the Tramiels..the more I want to blow up their Foćkïñg houses...

 

Seriously, they sound like total asses. It was Jack who pushed that 7800 off the table wasn't it?!

 

Sorry this remark is off topic but I got pissed when reading the above statement. The 7800 remains as my favorite Atari console of the pre NES era and so I get a little too serious sometimes about it all the more picking on the little console that could. ERRRRRR!!!!

[atari70s]

If they made them as EP # then if there was x amount of the 84 atari 7800s under AT # before they went to the really high numbers taht were A1 #?

 

would the 84 EP's and the 84 AT(parts) would be considered in the 5000 perhaps or would they say tehres more than 5000?

[Curt Vendel]

Okay Crossbow.... we've had enough things blown up around lately by terrorists, if you want the Tramiels blown up, then get the terrorists to do it, maybe if they blow them up they'll actually get a medal instead of being hunted down and wiped out....

 

 

Now back to our regularly scheduled program already in progress...

 

 

Brad Saville said that the first 5,000 had rolled off the EP assembly line when he returned to Sunnyvale, the question I am going to ask him is how much materials were already on hand to build how many more so that we can find out the total # of 7800's that were built out using the original 84' order of parts & plastic. As soon as I get word back (if he remembers) I'll let everyone know.

 

 

 

Curt

[Atari 7800.com]

Another thing to take into consideration is the packaging issue. I have a good feeling that there were more original 7800 boxes produced than systems (or system parts) when the Tramiels aquired Atari from Warner Communications. I have seen 7800 units, with the newer (standard) rainbow print, no side port, and a 1987 Pole Position II cartridge, all packaged inside a 1984 system box.

 

This could mean one of two things. 1.) Warner had unused boxes laying around which carried over thru 1986 with the Tramiels. 2.) The "mint" system I purchased was just a newer 7800 package placed inside of an older box, lol.

 

Does anybody else know anything about this?

 

Justin

[Curt Vendel]

This is a good point and most likely correct insofar as the aluminum name plates are concerned...

 

The original proto name plates just said Atari 7800 (no PROsystem) then the production run had Atari 7800 Prosystem with the thin rainbow stripe across which seems to be more of the 84/86 systems, once that was exhausted, it looks like the final runs were done with the thick rainbow stripe across the console.

 

This also holds true on the 2600jr's which had the small 3" wide stripe in the center of the aluminum name plate.... those systems are more likely to have the 83' copyright on the motherboard, but the real key is removing the clear flex-circuit from the top plastic case for the buttons and checking the copyright on those.... most have the 86' Atari Corp copyright on the flex-circuit.... BUT.... if you can find one that has the 83 or 84 Atari Inc. Copyright on them, then you've found one of the original Atari 2600jr's built under Warner Comm. Atari :wink:

 

 

Curt

[atari70s]

it seeks to amaze me how many people you guys know what were involved in atari. now its like impossibel to be on talking terms with anyone who makes video games (playstation or xbox). i hope he remembers how many was made. still does anyone know what AT in the Serial number stands for?

[Nukey Shay]

Atari-Tramiel?

[atari70s]

id give my impression but i think ALEX and ALBERT would toss me out of this atari kingdom so here i sit keeping my mouth shut.

[Nukey Shay]

Nah...they haven't tossed anyone out yet.

 

Even the ones that deserve it.

[atari70s]

i thought they did it to Adrian M for a period of time.

 

any way back to the 7800's i wonder if 2484 is the eariest production 7800 made. ( not like 3600 wise) hey Curt do you think you can find out from your friend when the frist 1984 board were made ???

[Nukey Shay]

Nooo...I meant since the new boards went up.

BTW I was wrong, looks like hubie just got tossed.

(ahead of the spammers...the shame)

[atari70s]

oh

[atari70s]

Hey Crossbow 2 things to report maybe 3

 

 

1.) my system i got in the mail is a 2684 (more of a report more tahn anything interesting)

 

 

2.) i think the AT on some of the systems mean Atari Taiwan.

 

 

3.) I got a theory taht there CANT be a system Atari7800 prior to 2384. anything prior to it would be an atari 3600 that has been shown dated Dec 1983. Why do i think this. first i saw cross bows 2584 board. VISO says hes got a 2484. and all the components to theboard are dated 2384. the power pack also is dated 2384. till i get a EP S/N system i cant prove it any 7800 experts ready to weigh in on the idea??