As such, the system was designed using off-the-shelf parts including a cost reduced 6502 Microprocessor known as the 6507 (which had several address lines "bonded out" to reduce size and cost) running at 1.49MHz, 128 bytes of RAM, and all I/O was pretty much handled by the Television Interface Adapter Chip, or TIA, designed by Jerry Milner. The system would allow the user to change out "game programs" and the controller to suit the needs of what was being played. The intial design aimed at recreating arcade games, so programmers only had a handful of objects hard-wired into the Atari to program: a playfield, 2 player spites, 2 missiles, a ball, and scoreboard items. Very rudimentary, and also hard to program. Games came in sizes of 2K, 4K, 8K, 16K, and 32K each, growing over the course of the machines' very long life on the market.

The 2600 was not a blazing success until about 1978 or 1979 when a port of Space Invaders under license from Namco was created and caused people to buy up the console en-masse. At that point Atari was owned by Warner Bros. In 1978 the they started to manufacture the consoles at TRW electronics in Taiwan. Atari also made rebranded units for Sears, including re-branded games as well, some having alternate titles to their Atari counterparts - ie OUter Space vs. Video Space, Tank Plus instead of Combat, but there were a couple exclusives such as the Steeplechase horse-betting game.

PICTURE(s)	MODEL + SPECS	DESCRIPTION/COMMENTS
	CX-2600 "Heavy Sixer" - Rel 12/1977 -Made in Sunnyvale, CA -1.79MHz MOS 6507 -128 Bytes RAM -2 PCB Design -RF Only -9VDC PSU -STELLA -TIA -2x 9pin -Some don't have channel A/B or 2/3 switch -All Switches on Front -Custom Molding in the back -1/2" Thick ABS Plastic Bottom Shell -Sears Telegames Version (bottom) has "Burled" walnut Woodgrain and a silver control panel with different wording	The "Heavy Sixer" was built in Sunnyvale California, at the Atari home consumer electronics division plant, beteween late 1977 and early-mid 1978. There are some reports of some early Heavy Sixers from TRW in Taiwan but I have yet to actually see or hear of one outside one or two websites in the last 30 years. The bottom chassis is made of very thick ABS plastic, about 1/2" thick in some spots - very noticeable because the back and front of the console is heavily stylized and looks very nice compared to later versions. There's also a peculiar feature on these early 2600's where playing with one controller connected on a 2-player game like Combat or Air-Sea Battle causes the other player to fire their weapon continuously - possibly an early "1-player" option without adding additional programming? There's a Sears Telegames variant of this console with altered cosmetics: it has a more "burled walnut" style woodgrain, white/silver paint where the printing for the controls is (which is in black, instead of red/yellow/orange), and the painted ring around the controls on the console is chrome instead of orange/yellow. Both are the same machine internally. This was typically sold with a pair of PAddles, 2 CX-01 joysticks (which are different from the CX-40s everyone's familiar with - these had little "discs" on top of the sticks that said "atari" on them), and the 01 Combat cartridge.
	CX-2600A "Light Sixer" - Rel 1978 -Made in Taiwan -1.79MHz MOS 6507 -128 Bytes RAM -2 PCB Design -RF Only -9VDC PSU -STELLA -TIA -2x 9pin -All Switches on Front - Thinner bottom Shell - No Stylizing around controller/power ports in back -Sears Telegames Version (bottom) has "Burled" walnut Woodgrain and a silver control panel with different wording	The "Light Sixer" was a redesign of the "Heavy Sixer" to fit into a less as expensive, ABS Plastic, thinner chassis. It houses similar electronics, albeit some of the eliminated features such as the internal game ROM socket and others have been removed from the motherboard, and the controller-board uses regular Film capacitors rather than the old ceramic dipped ones of the original heavy sixer. Also, the ribbon cable attachment between the motherboard and controller board was placed with a regular pin-through-hole cable going into a SIP pin header on the controller board side. The same color scheme was applied for the Sears version as well - which is the version I currently have. These came with 2 paddles, 2 CX-40 joysticks, and CX-2601 Combat in text label.
	CX-2600B "Woody 4-Switch" - Rel 1980 -Made in Taiwan -1.79MHz MOS 6507 -128 Bytes RAM -2 PCB Design -RF Only -9VDC PSU -STELLA -TIA -2x 9pin Power/Color/reset/Select Sw. on Front - Difficulty A/B, Channel 2/3, cart ports, and power jack located on upper back - Single PCB Design -Same bottom and top shell as the Light Sixer Early "Woodies" have a adhesive blanking plate where the six switch controller ports and power jack would be -Sears Telegames Version (bottom) has "Burled" walnut Woodgrain and a silver control panel with different wording	These were a cost-reduced design, introduced in late 1980, probably intended to speed up production by reducing assembly steps. Now the motherboard was made in one piece roughly about 13"x6" in size. Metal shielding is put over the spot where the TIA, Stella, and 6507 CPU are located with the tabs twisted or bent to lock the shielding into place. As such, the controller ports, left and right difficulty switches, channel 3/4 switch, and Difficulty A and B switches were relocated on the back of the hump where the front switches are located - with the smaller motherboard located diagonally inside the case. Another noticeable difference is the lack of "air vents" or "speaker vents" in the top ridged front - probably to prevent spill damage. There was a Sears Telegames version of this one was well. These too came with a pair of paddles, 2 joysticks, and Combat.
	CX-2800 "Atari 2800" "Sears TeleGames Video Arcade II" - Rel 1982 -Made in Taiwan -1.79MHz MOS 6507 -128 Bytes RAM -2 PCB Design -RF Only -9VDC PSU -STELLA -TIA -2x 9pin Unique Design Atari version only in Japan Sears Version last version of Sears Telegames Video Arcade, and only version of this console released in America	This was a Japanese only release that did appear in the United States under different branding as the Sears TeleGames Video Arcade II. Basically, Atari tried to compete against the Nintendo FAmicom (what later would become the NES in the United States), Sega SG-1000, and others at the time, and so they released it as the 2800 in a sleeker looking case to appeal to the Japanese market. It did not sell very well and was outshined brightly by the Nintendo Famicom. The Sears version did not sell too well either. I'm not familiar with the internals either because of this. These werre the fist silver-box 2600, and came with 2 joysticks and some other pack in IIRC.
	CX-2600B "Vader" - Rel 1986 -Made in Taiwan -1.79MHz MOS 6507 -128 Bytes RAM -2 PCB Design -RF Only -9VDC PSU -STELLA -TIA -2x 9pin Sliders for Power/Color sw Membranes for Select/Reset RF Cable is now discreet rather than hard-wired inside the system Dimensions similar to VHS Tape -No Sears Version	These were a cosmetic upgrade to the above. Basically, instead of Faux Woodgrain, designed to match the late 1970's TV look, the 2600 was revanped for the 80's with a bare black plastic front, and a new logo printed on the front in silver saying "Atari 2600" on the opposite side of where the "Atari" was located on the original units. This was the first model marketed as a 2600, and did not have a Sears TeleGames Variant. These sold in a silver box, 2 joysticks, no paddles, and a copy of Pac-Man.
	CX2600JR "Short Rainbow"> - Rel 1986 -Made in Taiwan -1.79MHz MOS 6507 -128 Bytes RAM -2 PCB Design -RF Only -9VDC PSU -STELLA -TIA -2x 9pin Sliders for Power/Color sw Membranes for Select/Reset RF Cable is now discreet rather than hard-wired inside the system Dimensions similar to VHS Tape -No Sears Version	The Short Rainbow came out in 1986 and is the older version of the Junior. All 2600 Jr's are otherwise identical, being almost the same size (slightly bigger than) a VHS tape. The cartridge slot is in the middle, flanked by sliders for power and B&W/Color on the left, and 2 membrane push-buttons on t he right for Select and Reset. The Difficulty A/B switches, controller ports, power port, and RF Switch cable connector are in the back of the unit (it does not have a "hard wired" (but not really hard wired) cable like the old ones). The "short rainbow" comes from the fact the aluminum metal strip running across the front of the console hosts a small, gradiated, rainbow-strip with the ATari 2600 branding above it. However, there is an interesting INTERNAL difference, as some 2600 JR's don't use separate chips, but rather, have the entire system integrated into a SINGLE CHIP. This "single chip" 2600 Jr variant is uncommon or rare. Ben Heck experimented and even built a portable around this chip at one point. These came with Combat still, with 2 joysticks, or just the console with one joystick IIRc.
	CX2600JR "Long Rainbow" - Rel 1986 -Made in Taiwan -Rare Later versions consildated all of the below into one chip -1.79MHz MOS 6507 -128 Bytes RAM -2 PCB Design -RF Only -9VDC PSU -STELLA -TIA -2x 9pin Sliders for Power/Color sw Membranes for Select/Reset RF Cable is now discreet rather than hard-wired inside the system Dimensions similar to VHS Tape -No Sears Version	The Long Rainbow version came out a little after the "Short Rainbow" variant and is called such because the rainbow stripe is now printed along the entire length (almost) of the aluminium trim strip across tthe top of the console. There's also a "black" version made in Ireland or Scotland in the late 80's. Electronically, these Atari's are same as either version above, and they were the last variant to be sold before Atari closed their doors in 1990, and all assets eventually went to Hasbro after that.

Where do I begin!?!? Well, back in the dark ages of TV Technology in the late 1970's, there was no Internet (well, there was the ARPANET - but that was all DND dorks and scientists and nobody "mainstream" using it), there was no "Streaming", there was no "YouTube/Hulu/Netflix", there was no HDMI, there was no A/V, there was no 4K UHD TV with apps and internet access either of course.

Your average "family" television of the time, was singular, lived in the livingroom, cost about $2000 in today's money adjusted for inflation, was likely (but not necessarily) color (more on that in a moment), recieved channels over the airwaves from a transmission tower via a pair of "rabbit ears" or long metal antenna that stuck up from behind the set like a FNaF Bonnie Endoskeleton. These Rabbit ears attached to the back of the TV set via a pair of little robot-hand looking things called "spade terminals". If your family had more money, say your dad worked for NASA or Atari, you might have been lucky enough to have a small, 5"-13" "Utility TV" in your bedroom - which also recieved TV channels via a pair of rabbit ears over the airwaves - but most likely, not in color. On one or both sets, you would have changed the channels by turning a knob.

The Atari attached to the TV via a little metal switchbox called a "RF Switch" - which connected to the back of the TV with said robot-hand spade terminals - right where the Antenna went - and then the Antenna would attach to the switchbox via 2 screw terminals on the bottom of the RF Switch. On the bottom or back corner of the Atari console, there was a switch marked "Channel" - it could say A/B or 2/3 - but they both allowed switching the Atari to Channel 2 or Channel 3 - whichever had the least interference (usually the channel with the weakest over-the-air station).

So when you wanted to play Atari, you had to walk up to the TV, change the channel to match the selection on the console (channel 2 or 3), reach around the back of the TV, flip the switch on the little switchbox from "TV" to "GAME/COMPUTER" (verbiage may vary), go back to the Atari (usually on your coffee table - hence the insanely long cables they came with for RF and power), read the cartridge for the required controller(s), attach said controllers, then put in a game cartridge, and flip the switch - and then - you would see the game on screen.

Then, as the 1980's went along, digital tuners and remotes became a thing - now you could see the channel on a digital readout or an on-screen-display. Seems like nothing now, but back then, this was like witchcraft! Also, people started recieving channels over a more reliable, less-interference-laden method called "Cable". Cable meant you called some local company to drive over in a company van, connect your home to a switchbox in a little blue fencepost down the street, then wire up a splitter in the attic/crawlspace to send coaxial cables - same as "Cable Internet" cables today - to each room of the house you wanted TV in. 9/10 this was done just by drilling a hole in the floor and feeding the cable in through the floor back then! Andn as this got more popular, TV's started to get rid of the spade terminals on the back of their sets, in favor of the 75ohm Coaxial jack. But now everyone had color, and color in the bedroom utility TV was more common now as well.

So now, to attach the Atari to your TV, you had to get this thing that looked like a badly proportioned Barbie camera called a 75 ohm converter - screw the spades of the RF switch to that, and then attach that to your Tv. And if you had one COAX on your TV - which was the most common scenario - you had to get a SECOND converter that had spade terminals and a female coax connector to convert 75ohm Coax to RF - so when you were done - you could still receive cable without switching cables. If you were lucky to have rich family buy you an $800 (1984 money) Mitsubishi CS-1984R TV - or something similiar - with multiple "Antennas" - you could just use the 75 ohm converter on the "robot hands" on the RF Switch, and use the "Antenna A/B" on your remote to switch between Cable and Atari without having to reach behind the (now much bigger) TV to change the switch - so the switch could stay on TV.

Then the 1990's came, and people stopped playing Atari (except broke college students, and broke middle schoolers like myself - but more on that in a minute). So TV's stopped providing any antenna at all, they also stopped using spade terminals. The last TV I ever saw with spade terminals was a 1993 Magnavox 25" TV I had, and I did not realize it even had them until it was broken. So it became commonplace for TV's to - at the least, just have ONE Coaxial connection for cable, or at the most, S-Video, A/V, and Coaxial.

So when "Retro Gaming" was in it's infancy toward the mid 1990's as the internet was taking off and Gen X college students (and myself, a Xennial 7th grader) were looking for "cheap entertainment" - we took to the thrift shops, and bought up Atari 2600s, because $15 would get you a light Sixer or 4-switch Vader or Woody, 12-20 Games, eight different controllers, and all the "hookups" - sometimes even two of everything. Seriously - what a time to be alive! Who, with any money sense, would want to waste $250 (about $500 in today's money) on a video game console with games at $45 a pop!?!? When I could literally amass an entire game collection from my birth year for less than EITHER item alone. Seriously, nobody talks about the roots of retrogaming - or what it was really like. It's guys like me, Bill Logudice, LGR, or Bithead1000 to keep this esoteric info alive!

But by about 1997 or so, Radio Shack and/or Archer Electronics caught on, and figured out that these old consoles were increasing in use, so they updated the humble old "COmputer/Game/TV" RF Switch from the early eighties, now to have Coaxial 75 ohm support built in - if you want the genuine experience with the switch, I suggest getting one of these. Apparently,. China still makes them for some reason. Why it took them nearly half a decade to make an updated RF for these consoles beats me, but in my mind, I'd like to think they were paying attention ot the early internet.

However, the best method to attach an Atari to anything 2010's or older with an actual Coaxial connection on the back - is to purchase one of these little doodads - the 75 ohm to RCA converter connection. They cost like $2, and do the same thing as the RF Switch. All the RF switch really did, was provided resistance against the Atari when in the "TV" posision to allow the channel to come through, and resistance against the Antenna when you wanted to play video games. That's all an RF Switch really did.

But in July 2007, "Analog TV" - ie the old school rabbit ears, Over-The-Air stations - were shut off, and switched over to DIGITAL OTA. Hence why the RF Switches are not discussed much anymore - because OTA Analog is no longer a thing. This actually - for us ATari fans - is a REAL Blessing when using actual hardware, because the #1 reason you had so much interference in the 1970's-2000's with an Atari 2600 on an analog Television, was because of the damn channel trying to tune in over your game of Space Invaders! Now there's NO interference. This is why I have not A/V modded my 2600 - what's the point!?!? Unless you don't have a TV with a Coaxial cable.

For some of us - like myself - you might be lucky enough to have a device with an RF Passthrough that will allow you to send it out via A/V - one of the primary devices to use for this kind of conversion - is a VCR. Basically, you get an old VCR with Coax, set it to analog channel 2 or 3, hit the Tv/VCR button on it (or switch if it's really old and worth mad $$$ it seems), and then viola, now you can play on your 4K UHD TV. And sometimes, the extra filtering allows the more desirable "Artifacts" of the ATARI over RF to still exist, on a modern 4K TV. You can also use LaserDisc, BetaMax, old Cable Boxes, or even some Digital OTA Tuners might work for this.

Another way would be to get a RF to-some-other-modern-technology converter, but these are kind of ridiculously expensive (I might start developing my own 3 channel version for vintage game consoles someday - ie Channel 2-3-4).

Now, let's talk about those artifacts. See, the Atari 2600 is one of the oldest game systems anyone would still be willing to play for any extended period beyond 10 minutes. As such, it was built to a price point, even the ridiculously overpriced 1977 Sunnyvale version, and RF lends itself to some artifacts that a lot of pro-Emulation pundints, and hacker/modder types (oddly not me though), would say "Get an A/V mod! Trust Me, It'll look better". Thing is, for me, the Atari 2600 is not just about the games itself - it's the VISUAL QUALITY - ie the "Vibe" it gives off in it's original presentation - diagonal interference patterns, weird background hums, and cool artifacts! Look kids, if you don't want to deal with fuzzy, weird, graphics, diagonal intereference patterns, strange graphical anomalies, then maybe the Atari 2600 is not for you in it's stock format. But for old guys like me, ones who've spent nights playing a shoebox full of catridges for hours on end with some good classic Metal/New Wave/Post-Punk/Hard Rock albums going on the stereo for a soundtrack - then maybe Emulation is more your bag.

So the #1 artifact I LOVE about oldschool ATari on an RF Switch - is the "3D Effect". Somehow, the translation over RF is messed up somewhat, and what this does is causes "ghosting" - ie, all elements on screen, especially on a background other than black (which may have been one reason Atari made so many games with a black background besides "it's in Outer Space"). Adventure, Combat, Miniature Golf, Golf, Skiiing, Pitfall - these all have that element of "3D-ness" to it because of how the graphics stick out, and it's what makes the primitive early games look great despite being so "blocky". It's something that you kind of have to learn to appreciate if you can't appreciate it, when playing Atari on actual hardware. But I take a pacifist stance on this - not a gatekeeping one - do what you want, I'm just telling you why us old dudes appreciate a classic 2600 on RF. The blocky yet monochromatic graphics mixed with the 3D effect makes things feel futuristic - even today.

Now, let's talk one last caveat, and the #1 reason most guys like me end up buying Cathode Ray Tube TVs. DSP! Digital Signal Processing. Most modern LCD TV's use it, even when it's "turned off" via game mode. Some are better than others. I own three 4K UHD Smart TVs - an old Samsung with Tizen OS, and 2 Roku TVS - a TCL, and a Sharp. Out of the three, the best TV overall is that Sharp I bought at Best Buy in 2019 for $325. The Samsung is GREAT too for 2600 games, but the O/S royally pisses me off! The TCL, it's meh, nothing special, and it lacks Coaxial, so playing Atari on this thing with real hardware is a PITA to get hooked up without some kind of Coaxial-to-AV Passthrough via something like a VCR. DSP is a problem, because the extra time it takes, milliseconds or shorter usually, to process the signal going to the LCD panel - causes a delay that might not be noticeable (and often HDMI is synced up to this delay) - unless you are CONTROLLING the images on screen, the very activity we are talking about here, and then it becomes VERY noticeable. NOthingm more irritating than playing like crap at a high speed Arcade game on a 4K UHD TV because it takes an extra 16ms to move the player sprite from when you close the contacts inside the joystick controller.

And part of that DSP is upscaling. The two best sets for retrogaming in my house, are the Sharp and the Samsung. The Samsung does a great job of replicating what things looked like on a low-res, CRT TV with a smaller screen. The Sharp though, as I found out, does it one better - it actually provides the bloody RASTER LINES that so many of us CRT Fanatics like myself crave! And with no latency. Seriously, some of the best UHD 4K TV gaming sessions I've had on the 2600 were in 2023 on that TeleGames in my livingroom over RF. Both the Sharp and Samsung can for sure pick up old Analog stations as well.

My suggested settings for the screen with a 2600 on any of these UHD TVs is - 4:3 aspect ratio, 1:1 scaling, no Zoom, no Stretch, DSP Off, "Game Mode" on, dynamic contrast off (I have it on on the livingroom Tv and sometimes games are too dark for me to see during the daytime! Space Invaders being one of them), "Standard" colors and video settings, Low Power mode Off. With all this crap configured, you should have a really good 4K UHD Atari gaming experience - now kids - let's talk about the actual ACT of playing Atari, because it's certainly a far cry from today with a Nintendo Switch!

So you're connected, you have the TV/VCR/whatever on the right channel. Surely you just slap on a Joystick and just play the game, right!?!? Well, not quite...

Let's talk the actual playing process. Turn on Tv, maybe also the VCR/Cable Box/Alternate RF Source, tune to the right channel, set your RF Switch (if you have one) to "GAME/COMPUTER", read the label on the cartridge for the (hopefully) right controller information, plug in the required controller(s), plug in cartridge, turn on the Atari 2600, then use the select switch to select a game variation, and then use the reset switch to start the game.

First off - let's talk the controls on the Atari 2600.....and what they typically do, vs. what they do in some other games even....

So the next part, is choosing a controller. And the Atari 2600 had a LOT of controllers made for it. But We'll delve into the world of 3rd party controllers later on. Right now, there's distinctly 6 genres of Atari 2600 controllers: joysticks, paddles, keypads, driving, light guns, and trackballs.

But How do I PAUSE the game!?!? - well, very few off-brand consoles had a Pause feature, but the actual Atari products did not, unless it was programmed into the game. This is one reason the ability to PAUSE in NES games was a big deal, because prior to that, you HAD To be active the whole time. It was a very deliberate activity. It's also likely one reason Pause was invented. I'm sure a bunch of angry boomer parents - who probably thought their kids should be outside climbing trees and "learning about life" - wrote angrily in about how little Johnny and mom/dad got into an arguement/fight over cleaning his room because he can't pause his high scoring Asteroids campaign and wats to get the high score in it.

That's not to say there are not some games you can't just stop and return to. Adventure has some safe spots you can just sorta sit around and hang out if all the Dragons are Dead or where the Dragon's won't go if you don't lure them there. Pitfall II has no timer and infinite lives, so you're fine hanging out on that. There are a few others - I think the Breakout games, where you can just not release the ball, and come back sometime later and continue the game. Which goes into the next thing - SCREENSAVERS!

Now that you might have turned on (usually older) titles, you might have noticed the screen keeps randomly changing the color pallet around, sometimes to some really cool hues (like the RetroWavey Space Invaders Teal/Fuschia theme that happens immediatley after a Game Over). This was on purpose. Old Cathode Ray Tube TV's generated an image by shooting high voltage at phosphorous powder coating on the back inside of the glass - and if the electron gun kept shooting high voltage at the same spots over and over again at a high intensity, say white, or yellow, then those graphics would get "Burned" into the display, and the image of the screen would appear even when the TV/Monitor was turned off, or Dad's raiders game has Berzerk Dude omnipresent on every Yard Line!. THis could also happen - quite a bit more easily - with a projection TV, such as those ginnormous "Big Screen" TV's from the late 80's/early 90's that used a projector, which then would burn the image into the inside display layer of the picture. It seems some untimed games actually are a little "Pause Aware" (Breakout/Super Breakout) and can actually start this even if the game is in session. Later games (Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. Keystone Kapers) use demo-playthrough or just lack this feature altogether.

This is one of the few areas where the playing field is a tad more leveled. On the Atari side, you have obsolete video connections, on-console switches, multiple controllers, but all of it is relatively inexpensive, especially when compared to the NES which is bloody wallet-raping territory now. That said, there are still a lot of games that DO command a higher cost and myabe if you wanted to explore those, I would through emulation. Especially since a lot of these **rare** Atari games are generally not all that great. There are exceptions, like Pitfall II, which also is not that wallet-destroying TBH if you look hard enough, or Private Eye. But there are others like the Mystyque adult carts that are uh, pretty crappy, but good for a laugh with some friends on a friday night. The carts go for almost $1000 due to their rarity (little wonder, they were sold in blank leather cases from BEHIND the sales counter for obvious reasons), so it's better just to emulate those.