ATRACT

ATRACT

LOCATION 77 ($4D)

PUBLISH. RUN. REVIEW. FORK.
CREATE FOR THE 8-BIT ATARI,
WITH OPEN TOOLS.

OPENING SOON AT ATRACT.ORG

READY
PEEK(77) = 0

A box of disks: what the name spells

Assemble

Build it with open tools, publish it with its source.

Trace

Run it in the browser on a free OS and BASIC. No ROM to look for.

Reverse

Study packs explain how a program does its tricks.

Annotate

Name a line, a label, a memory address.

Comment

Reviews that point at the exact line, and follow it into forks.

Tinker

Fork it, make it yours, offer it back as a suggestion.

Why location 77

On an 8-bit Atari, memory location 77 is called ATRACT. The operating system adds one to it every four seconds or so, and any key press puts it back to 0. When it passes 127, nobody has touched the machine for about nine minutes, so the OS starts shifting the screen's colours to save the TV from burn-in. That is attract mode, and this site is named after the byte that starts it. The TV above runs the same rule; RESET pokes it now.

It also spells what you do here: Assemble, Trace, Reverse, Annotate, Comment, Tinker.

Open tools

Open licences. A program comes with its source.

No ROMs, no games

No copyrighted ROMs or games. Everything here is something its author can share.

No sign-up, no tracking

You sign what you publish with a key that stays in your browser.

When it opens, the site can wear the machine

READY

The whole site as the Atari's text screen, with a prompt that takes commands.

65XE

The XE case from above: the ribbed vent, the console keys as the menu.

1050

Each program a floppy you put in the drive to run it.

LIST "D:BUILD.LOG"

  1. A NEW FACE FOR THIS PAGE: A COMPUTER MAGAZINE FROM THE EIGHTIES, WITH A PROGRAM YOU CAN TYPE IN, OR LET THE PAGE TYPE IT FOR YOU.
  2. THE SITE CAN LOOK LIKE THE REAL MACHINES: THE ATARI'S OWN SCREEN AND LETTERS, THE 65XE COMPUTER, OR THE 1050 DISK DRIVE, WHERE EACH PROGRAM IS A FLOPPY YOU SLIDE IN.
  3. COMMENT ON ANY PROGRAM, MAKE YOUR OWN COPY OF IT, AND OFFER YOUR CHANGES BACK TO ITS AUTHOR.
  4. TWO NAMES: ATRACT.ORG IN ENGLISH AND ATRACT.CL IN SPANISH.
  5. ANYONE CAN PUBLISH WHAT THEY MAKE, AND A PERSON LOOKS AT EVERY UPLOAD BEFORE IT APPEARS.
  6. PROGRAMS RUN RIGHT IN YOUR BROWSER, ON A FREE STAND-IN FOR THE ATARI'S OWN SYSTEM. NOTHING TO INSTALL.

ATOM FEED