FREDDIE was the name for a 40-pin LSI found in Atari 8-bit computers. It is a RAM address multiplexer, used for DRAM access. Atari created this chip to replace several other chips to cut costs and to enhance CPU and ANTIC memory access. Atari built a series of 8-bit home computers based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU, starting in 1979. ... Jump to: navigation, search Random access memory (sometimes random-access memory), commonly known by its acronym RAM, is a type of computer storage (in practice only computer chips) whose contents can be accessed in any (i. ... The term multiplexer has uses in several fields of application: // Electronics In electronics, a multiplexer or mux is a device that combines several electrical signals into a single signal. ... DRAM is a type of random access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor. ... ANTIC (Alpha-Numeric Television Interface Circuit) was an early video system chip used in the Atari 8-bit family of microcomputers as well as some of Ataris video game consoles of the 1980s. ...
FREDDIE, combined with a C061618 MMU (XL/XE) and C025953 EMMU (130XE) allowed the CPU and ANTIC to access memory independently of each other.
Originally designed for the 1400XL and 1450XLD, it was eventually used in the XE series of Atari computers.
Found in the following machines:
800XLF (labeled '800XL', refers to European version)
Atari had originally intended to port Microsoft BASIC to the machine, as had most other vendors, intending to supply it on an 8k ROM cartridge.
A theory for why the number 65 was used for the first machine in the XE series is because Atari wanted their machine-numbers to correspond with the amount of RAM they came with, but as Commodore already used the numbers 64 and 128, Atari decided to add one to 64 and chose 65.
Atari's peripherals were named after the machines they were intended to be used with, so in general they have names like "410" and "1050".
Atari decided it was time to add some new bells and whistles to help make its computer standout from the compeition.
Atari had the right idea in seeing that tele-computing was definitely the way of the future, but was still playing the "We'll sell them a closed box and if they want more features next year they'll have to run out a buy a whole new one".
What Atari should have done was make the modem a slide in module which could have been removed and replaced with a 300-1200 modem or faster as time went by or simply added a built-in RS-232c port to allow users to plug in their own choice of modems such as the ever popular Hayes modems.
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