The Atari 400 may be the most iconic of the original Atari 8bit design aesthetic and strong call-out to its 1970s origins and vibe. I recall playing with one as a young kid at a neighbors house and never understanding why the keys were all flat. But it played some great games. The 400 looks amazing but it does have at least two flaws: limited RAM and only RF out. Both can be solved today.
I picked up a very nice 400 at VCF-MW back in 2023. I stuck it on the shelf and planned to upgrade it. I did manage to go and order the 48k RAM card which is available from a variety of vendors and I did track down the one video upgrade available – but have been waiting on a list for a few years. Apparently I’m on that list till there is another run of them made.
I wanted to use the 400 at the upcoming Atari Party 2025 in Quakertown, PA. And I wanted to use it with a FujiNet of course! But 16k won’t cut it. I needed to install that RAM card. Which I did (it was very easy). If only it was just swapping the cards- the 400 has a RAM card you can just pull off the MB- but it’s not that simple since the 400 wasn’t designed to address that full 48k. It does require some soldering but it was the easiest soldering job I’ve ever done. Just 5 small bodge wires on the bottom of the 400’s motherboard. Nothing to snip or move. Just bodge up the points. It took 10 min. I put the 400 back together, forgot to put back in the speaker and got it ready for the Atari Party (which was the next day).
Then I hit snag two: RF only. Not video, RF- as in I was coming in on channel 3 or 4. And I needed a coax adapter. Luckily, I had the TV set already but was missing the adapter. After a quick chat Pete (the organizer of the Party) had one and grabbed it for me. The day of the Party I came in, setup the 400, grabbed the adapter from Pete, plugged in a FujiNet and flipped the switch. And the 400 works perfectly. And it looks amazing.
