Build Your Own Atari Weather Terminal

If you have an old Atari 800XL and you are quite the homebrewer, then you might want to bring it to the 21st century and build your own Atari weather terminal. Move over, weather girl!

While the Atari Home Computer Series (introduced in 1979) may be dinosaurs to the young people of today, enthusiasts know well that they are still alive and kicking. And you can kick butt, raise your geek cred, and most important of all, make yourself happy by turning an Atari computer into a functional modern(ish) weather terminal.

Take the cue from Benj Edwards, who recently showed off his work with pride.

Thanks to a FujiNet adapter, my Atari 800XL can now display the current weather and 7-day forecast pulled from the Internet pic.twitter.com/lFTiMB2aVy

— Benj Edwards (@benjedwards) October 22, 2020

He credits the Atari OpenWeather client (Weather.xex), software created by Polish programmer Wojciech Bociański. Obviously a die-hard Atari user, the programmer created it to initially test the hardware’s network capabilities. With its success, he plans on adding new features in the future for every Atari fan to use.

The software gets data (based on your location) from popular weather site OpenWeather, and it does a brilliant job of displaying the information. Retro in all its glory.

Additionally, Edwards credits FujiNet, which serves as the network adapter for an Atari computer.

Want all the details so you can create your own? Read Edwards’ article.