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| - | [* black] By the thirteenth revision, the chips on the mother board had been moved around several times. |
|---|---|
| [* black] The largest chips are MOS Technology's 6507 CPU and 6532 ***R***am-***I/O***-***T***imer (RIOT) chips. By the current revision, the they were manufactured by Motorola and Synertec, respectively. | |
| + | [* black] Atari's custom chip, the ***T***elevision ***I***nterface ***A***dapter [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_Interface_Adapter|(TIA)] is the moneymaker of the 2600, as it allowed for multiple colors, increased graphic capabilities, and sound. |
| + | [* black] Because memory was so expensive during the 2600's design, the video processor has no external RAM. As a result the Atari can only generate one line of video at a time. |
| + | [* black] There are six components of video that the TIA can create: The playing field, Two sprites (8 pixel lines), a "ball" (single pixel), and two "missiles" (two pixel lines). Combinations of these elements allowed for the complex video witnessed in the 2600. |