ANTIC Episode 101 - “The Pronunciation Episode”
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast…We discuss the antics of the company that calls itself Atari and their purchase of AtariAge and bring you all the other Atari 8-bit news we could find, while mispronouncing names all over the place…
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
-
MULE Online with Thom, Wade, Robin - https://puzzud.itch.io/mule-online
-
Muffinterm:
-
VCFMW - http://www.vcfmw.org
-
SCAT - http://www.scatarians.org/
News
-
Atari buys AtariAge:
-
Interview with the new Atari CEO Wade Rosen on Mirror Gaming - https://youtu.be/l0Y2B9ljCv8?si=dV--bYuAFW7dqAyg
-
Infocom's Z-Machine ATR generator - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/354888-infocoms-z-machine-atr-generator/
-
FujiNet guide at SouthernAMIS - https://www.southernamis.com/_files/ugd/2800fc_3d4e4623a1f44862b46ccf643b9d65f0.pdf
-
Preorder open of FujiNet Professional for Atari 8-Bit computers - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=374
-
ATRFS: Mount ATR files as local directories under Linux or Mac - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/354735-atrfs-mount-atr-files-as-local-directories-under-linux-or-mac/
-
RM 800XL update - https://revive-machines.com/index-en.html
-
Silly Venture - https://sillyventure.eu
-
Firefighter - https://tuxpaint.org/ftp/atari/games/firefighter/alpha/ and https://github.com/billkendrick/firefighter
-
Popeye VBXE - https://www.indieretronews.com/2023/07/popeye-vbxe-another-arcade-port-but.html
-
New 576NUC+ Daughter Board in the Works - https://ataribits.weebly.com/blog/new-576nuc-daughter-board-in-the-works
-
Article on SillyVenture that just wrapped up - https://retrohclab.eu/the-silly-venture-2023-summer-edition-event-report-english/
-
ABBUC made a special English edition of its magazine to celebrate the Silly Venture 2023 Summer Edition - https://abbuc.de/2023/08/abbuc-magazine-special-edition-for-sillyventure-sommer-2023/
-
Pigwa collection - http://ftp.pigwa.net/
-
Damien Guard’s "ZX Origins" font collection over on Facebook - https://damieng.com/typography/zx-origins/
-
Atari 8-bit fonts - https://github.com/a8bit/EightBit-Atari-Fonts
-
A Look Back at the Greatness of the Atari 800 and Its Games By Jamie Lendino - https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/celebrating-the-atari-800-and-its-games
-
Backbit Pro Cartridge - https://store.backbit.io/product/backbit-pro/
-
New podcast “The 8 Bit Files” with Atari 8-bit content and hosts John and Dave - https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-8-bit-files/episodes/007---Atari-8-bit-Computers-e26e53q
-
ATASCII Compo 3rd Edition 2023 - https://logiker.com/ATASCII
Upcoming Shows
-
World of Retrocomputing - September 16-17 - Kitchener, Ontario, Canada - https://www.worldofretrocomputing.com/2023-worc-expo
-
The Interim Computer Festival - Oct. 7-8 - Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/
-
Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/
-
Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html
-
Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
YouTube Videos
-
Hopman - Retro PC - https://youtu.be/mXCCs9zYe5s
-
Atari 800 Joystick Trigger Repair - Artifact Electronics - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PH0hbfOve0
-
Building a better Atari 400 and Atari 800 diagnostic cartridge - AnotherMaker - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdpx5usBi0E
-
Warranty Return 800XL - Client Video - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wRnngBTwSs
-
Building Eastern Front 1941 with the help of FujiNet - Thom Cherryhomes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Syzcwl1Tg
-
A pretty rare Atari computer shows up in the basement - Adrian’s Digital Basement - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIlxjd82ig0
-
The Complete Asteroids on Atari Home Systems Five Part Series - Steve and Jeff Fulton - https://intotheverticalblank.com/2023/08/01/the-complete-asteroids-on-atari-home-systems-series-the-latest-top-our-top-15-countdown/
New at Archive.org
-
Wing War Prototype - https://archive.org/details/wing-war-prototype/
-
Atari User Magazine May 1991 - https://archive.org/details/atari-user-1991-05
-
Three Generations of Animation Machines Joe Decuir - https://archive.org/details/VCFW2023_Three_Generations_of_Animation_Machines_Joe_Decuir
-
Early Atari History and Stories - Al Alcorn - https://archive.org/details/VCFW2023_Early_Atari_History_and_Stories_Al_Alcorn
-
Early Commodore History - Leonard Tramiel - https://archive.org/details/VCFW2023_Early_Commodore_History_-_Leonard_Tramiel_and_Dave_McMurtrie
-
Computer Chronicles Revisited, Volume 6 (1987-1988) - https://archive.org/details/computer-chronicles-revisited-vol-06
New at Github
ANTIC Episode 100 (Or Episode 4 in Binary)
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… We celebrate our 100th (or is it the fourth, for you binary geeks out there?) episode by bringing you the latest news from across the Atari 8-bit computer landscape.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
-
The Atari newsletter at Internet Archive spreadsheet - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RkznDDlOL2O_K-RrbkajIuo6DvYof6Ajrn7j9NTcoDM/edit?usp=sharing
-
All Current Notes at Internet Archive - https://archive.org/details/currentnotesnewsletter?tab=collection&sort=-addeddate
-
MULE Online - http://muleonline.com
-
Discord thread on the Atari BASIC AI model, led by Jason Moore - https://discord.gg/WnEcxSvtS
News
-
AtariProjects, Jason Moore, back to publishing new material - https://atariprojects.org/
-
Ted Richards died (April) - https://archive.org/details/TedRichardsInterview
-
Dealers Demo paper:
-
Atari custom controllers - https://www.vikingvg.com/atari-controllers
-
UgBASIC:
-
You can find the source by clicking here - https://github.com/.../main/examples/contrib_asm_mos6502.bas
-
The IDE for Windows can be found here - https://spotlessmind1975.itch.io/ugbasic-ide
-
Official site - https://ugbasic.iwashere.eu/
-
Unijoysticle 2 800XL - gamepad for Atari 800XL:
-
On sale at Tindie - https://www.tindie.com/products/riq/unijoysticle-2-800xl-gamepad-for-atari-800xl/
-
At VCF West - https://twitter.com/ricardoquesada/status/1687706816044752896?s=20
-
Game Cartridge Holder for Atari 400 & 800 - Tray Holds Up To 6 Games 400/800 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/175582283812
-
WEAVE MASTER - The Textile Design Tool Atari 400/800/XL/XE Cartridge:
-
Atari FujiNet Updates:
-
High Score Enabled PAC-MAN - Thom Cherryhomes - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/352884-high-score-enabled-pac-man-playthrough/
-
game-dos folder added to DOS folder on atari-apps - Thom Cherryhomes - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/352878-game-dos-folder-added-to-dos-folder-on-atari-apps/
-
FujiNet Game Lobby - http://fujinet.online:8080/
-
A8PicoCart - electrotrains - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/351546-a8picocart-unocart-on-a-raspberry-pi-pico/
-
Sub(AVG)Cart - https://miscretro.com/product/subcart/
-
SVI-CAS (link is broken)
-
Poker Solitaire 2023 by Jerry White - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/352920-poker-solitaire-2023-by-jerry-white/
-
Decent XE mechanical keyboard for Atari XE computers - ScreamingAtTheRadio - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/352558-decent-xe-mechanical-keyboard-for-atari-xe-computers-how-to-order-one/
Upcoming Shows
-
Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 17-20 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2023-se
-
Fujiama 2023 - Aug. 30 - Sep. 3 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2023/
-
VCF Midwest - September 9-10 - Waterford Banquets and Conference Center, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/
-
The Interim Computer Festival - Sep. 30 - Oct. 1 - Seattle, WA - https://sdf.org/icf/
-
Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/
-
Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html
-
Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
YouTube Videos
-
SIDE3 troubles with upgraded Atari 1200XL (U1MB, Sophia 2, Spectre AV) - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUJbWSWC9EM
-
Atari XEGS with SAVO (Saturn Atari Video Output), TK-II, Ultimate 1MB, VBXE and PokeyMAX - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bFajyugXF0
-
Let's repair an Atari 800XL - Adrian’s Digital Basement - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjOLAOrSY9M&t=342s
-
Atari XL/XE -=Doom=- - Saberman RetroNews - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGfXhZJqHbY
-
Fixing the Atari 130XE: A Step-by-Step Repair Guide for Keyboard Issues - Steve’s Retro Gaming - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWrtAdvn5EY&t=2s
-
FujiNet, Atari 8-bit, and N: Fun: Making Game Disks - Thom Cherryhomes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S56KufpXlDQ&t=630s
New at Archive.org
-
Facebook group for Cin’Tari - https://www.facebook.com/groups/cintari
-
Atari ST emulator now! - https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_atari_st_games?tab=collection
ANTIC Episode 99 - 10-Year ANTICversary!
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… We bring in some of our Atari friends and talk about the last 10 years of Atari 8-bit happenings in this celebration of the ten-year anniversary of ANTIC!
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
-
Scantastix project manual scanning - https://archive.org/search?query=identifier%3Astx_%2A&sort=-publicdate
-
Editing VCFE videos - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_e5fSxflvrx86M2x_D5rQLIGjeffQuUM
-
“How to Excel on Your Atari 600XL and 800XL” by Timothy Knight - https://archive.org/details/how-to-excel-on-your-atari
-
“Let’s Learn BASIC” by Ben Shneiderman - https://archive.org/details/Let_s_Learn_BASIC
-
Wade Ripkowski (Inverse ATASCII) text mode libraries for Action!, CC65, and MadPascal:
-
Inverse ATASCII web site: https://inverseatascii.info
-
Atari Projects (Jason Moore) - https://atariprojects.org/
-
Bill Lange, Atari archivist - http://atari8bitads.blogspot.com/
-
Bill Kendrick, Atari game and utility programmer - http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/atari/
-
Robin McMullen, Player/Missile podcast https://playermissile.com/
-
Thom Cherryhomes, FujiNet - https://fujinet.online/
-
Atariteca: https://www.atariteca.net.pe/
-
VCF: https://vcfed.org
-
Old School Gamer Magazine: https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/
-
Audacity Games (David Crane/Kitchen brothers, Circus Convoy): https://adgm.us/portal/index.html
-
Jamie Lendino’s Books - https://www.amazon.com/s?k=jamie+lendino&crid=2BJGJAZOJ5A2P&sprefix=jamie+lendino%2Caps%2C98&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
-
Jason Moore’s Book - https://www.amazon.com/Atari-Projects-Jason-Moore/dp/0578556421
ANTIC Episode 98 - Don’t Toss Those Disks!
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… We talk about all the feedback we got concerning tossing or copying old non-commercial disks, we discuss the we-hope-it’s-not-vaporware RM800XL 800XL remake, we mention Thom Cherryhomes and FujiNet like 100 times, and all the other news we could find.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
-
“Apple II Age” by Laine Nooney - https://amzn.to/3BOxbPC
-
Indy Classic Expo - http://indyclassic.org
-
8-Bit Classics shop
-
Jakadapter Dual Atari joystick adapter v2 - http://kair.us/projects/jakadapter/index.html
-
Brian Snyder (Reifsnyderb) and the 1090XL - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/318373-1090xl-remake/
-
Southern AMIS and Atari non-commercial disks - https://www.southernamis.com/
News
-
RM 800XL:
-
Home page - https://revive-machines.com/index-en.html
-
Atariage - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/350395-new-atari-800xl-revive-machine/#comment-5240788
-
YouTube video by GenXGrownUp - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCv2v08Amnc
-
Cease and desist tweet - https://twitter.com/atari_bbs/status/1654986930818531328
-
Bob Smith died:
-
ANTIC Interview 238 - Bob Smith: Video Pinball; Imagic co-founder; Sleazy Adventure
-
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/obituary-bob-smith-atari-2600-programmer-has-passed-away
-
https://twitter.com/SeamusBlackley/status/1657795929951571968
-
FujiNet game server - https://twitter.com/tschak/status/1652819232067837952
-
Computer Chronicles Revisited, Volume 5 (1987) by S.M. Oliva. - https://archive.org/details/computer-chronicles-revisited-vol-5
-
8-bit Slicks - https://8bit-slicks.com/
-
FujiNet presentation from VCF East 2023 by Thom Cherryhomes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InQn_0nZ3Jo
-
Leonard Tramiel recent interview - https://hanselminutes.com/892/computing-history-with-atari-and-commodores-leonard-tramiel
-
Leonard Tramiel interview on Floppy Days - https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-104-interview-with-leonard-tramiel
-
A8DS - An Atari 8-bit Emulator for the DS/DSi/XL/LL:
-
Using a #FujiNet, a SIDE 2 or 3 cart, and an Ultimate 1MB together (Thom Cherryhomes):
-
ABBUC hardware and software contests 2023:
-
Atari XL/XE font maker for PC - https://github.com/matosimi/atari-fontmaker
-
Inertia, new game for Atari 8-bit computers converted from 1990 original BBC Micro game - https://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=8440
-
Fast BASIC starter project - Eric Carr - https://github.com/EricCarrGH/fastbasic-starterproject
Upcoming Shows
-
The 64 bits or less Retro Gaming Festival - June 3-4 - Benton County Fairgrounds in Corvallis, Oregon (sponsored by the PortlandRetro Gaming Expo) - https://www.64bitsorless.com/
-
Boatfest Vintage Computer Exposition - June 23-25 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info
-
VCF Southwest - June 23-25 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX - http://vcfsw.org
-
KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 (in-person), July 29–30, 2023 (virtual) - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri - https://www.kansasfest.org/
-
Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/
-
Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - Aug. 17-20 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2023-se
-
Fujiama 2023 - Aug. 30 - Sep. 3 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2023/
-
VCF Midwest - September 9-10 - Waterford Banquets and Conference Center, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/
-
Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center, Portland, OR - https://retrogamingexpo.com/
YouTube Videos
-
Installing Ultimate 1MB in Atari 800XL - Retro Tech Corner - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he6RbVR_5nw
-
Atari Reimagined! - This Week In Retro 122 - This Week in Retro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0POBEBrfeg8
-
Bad Apple!! SV2K18 - a demo for Atari XL/XE with Rapidus by MadTeam (2018) [real HW] (re-upload) - VoyAtari - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns8V44pjrRs
-
ATARI XE/XL - Flashing and testing new OS rev 6.00, 2023, real HW - w1k-atari - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEDngCCnQdc
-
Randy Glover - Jumpman (1983):
-
Q&A Sac Gamers Expo 2022 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-ppmTKIdyc
-
Kay’s interview - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-171-randy-glover-jumpman
-
BOULDER DASH: The Complete History - SGR | Retro Gaming Documentary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0rYqG3GYvA
New at Archive.org
-
Computer Entertainer - https://archive.org/details/@gameguy365?query=computer+entertainer
-
DX Distance and Bearing program for Atari computers - https://archive.org/details/atari-distance-and-bearing
New at Github
-
Bill Lange:
Feedback
-
“Starting Forth” by Leo Brodie - https://www.amazon.com/Starting-Forth-Introduction-Professionals-Prentice-Hall/dp/0138430799/
-
The SLCC Atari club - meeting weekly on Zoom, and monthly in person at the San Leandro Library - https://slcc.wdgeo.com/
ANTIC Episode 97 - Don’t go to the Commodore Show!
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast…Randy accidentally puts a link to an upcoming Commodore show in the show notes, we tell you how you too can emulate an Atari 1450XLD, and we give you the scoop on the Atari 8-bit entries in the BASIC 10-Liner Contest.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
-
Allan’s disks - http://a8preservation.com
-
Ham sw:
-
https://archive.org/details/stx_Datasoft_Alternate_Reality_The_City_manual_for_Macintosh
-
Case for XEP80-II - https://thebrewingacademy.com/products/xep80-ii-by-mytek?variant=39627658690662
-
576NUC+ - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/myteks-576nuc-atari-computer
News
-
Atari Today - Andreas Bertelmann - http://www.ataritoday.net/
-
Retro Roundup - https://retroroundup.com
-
a pair of 3D-printed hooks to hold your Atari 8-bit - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5336067
-
All you need to display a Mastodon post in Atari BASIC, with FujiNet by Thom Cherryhomes - https://www.reddit.com/r/atari8bit/comments/11o9z40/all_you_need_to_display_a_mastodon_post_in_atari/
-
Retro Directory - https://retro.directory/
-
Reboots of Atari 8-bit games:
-
review of Caverns - https://cogconnected.com/review/caverns-of-mars-recharged-review/
-
Altirra now supports Atari 1400XL and 1450XLD:
-
Atari XL - XE Sally to W65C02S adapter - Masteries - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/348982-atari-xl-xe-sally-to-w65c02s-adapter/
-
Updated version of the In-Store Demonstration Program - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/349203-in-store-demonstration-program/
-
ANALOG Computing Pocket Reference Card - SlagOMatic - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/349448-analog-computing-pocket-reference-card-redux/
-
BASIC 10-Liner Contest - https://gkanold.wixsite.com/homeputerium
-
7 x Atari 8-Bit 10 Liner Contest Entries, Cracky (A8): ZeroPage Homebrew - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTTfuTJ24r4
-
ugBASIC - An isomorphic language for retrocomputers - https://ugbasic.iwashere.eu/
-
AtariInside - https://www.atarinside.com/blog/
Upcoming Shows
-
VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
-
Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 29 & 30 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/
-
Boatfest Vintage Computer Exposition - June 23-25 - Hurricane, WV - http://boatfest.info
-
VCF Southwest - June 23-25 - Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center at University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX - http://vcfsw.org
-
Pacific Commodore Expo NW v4 - June 24-25 - “Interim” Computer Museum, Seattle, WA - https://www.portcommodore.com/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=pacommex:start
-
KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18–23, 2023 (in-person), July 29–30, 2023 (virtual) - https://www.kansasfest.org/
-
Southern Fried Gaming Expo (VCF Southeast) - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/
-
Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center - https://retrogamingexpo.com/
YouTube Videos
-
I, Robot - Voy_NG - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqJ9KC0yWnE
-
Pimp my Atari 800XL - AtariInside - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WHI8v2AN3c
-
Cracky, thirteenth game by Inufuto - Atari 8 Bits For Ever - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hfPCfDi_I0
-
Cracky download - http://inufuto.web.fc2.com/8bit/cracky/
New at Archive.org
-
https://archive.org/details/commodityoptions0000maye/page/n19/mode/2up?q=%22Atari+800%22
-
https://archive.org/details/bowling-tk-computer-products/mode/2up
-
Computer Shopper:
-
https://archive.org/details/computer-shopper-august-1989-vol-9-num-8-atari-articles
-
https://archive.org/details/computer-shopper-september-1988-vol-8-num-9-atari-articles
-
https://archive.org/details/computer-shopper-may-1988-vol-8-num-5-atari-articles
-
https://archive.org/details/computersastheat0000laur_e8v2 by https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-420-brenda-laurel-atari-research
New at GitHub
ANTIC Episode 96 - Atari Dreams
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… we talk about development for the Atari 8-bit, discuss a couple of highly-modified 800’s, dream about sleeping on an Atari pillow, and bring you all the other Atari 8-bit news we could find!
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
-
Converting Atari8BitBot to Mastodon with Papa Robot - @Atari8BitBot@oldbytes.space
-
Scantastix - https://archive.org/search?query=identifier%3Astx_%2A&sort=-publicdate
-
Dorm game - https://carringtonvanston.net/games/dorm/
-
ANTIC sign - https://m.aliexpress.us/item/3256804531104852.html
-
BASIC 10-liner contest - https://gkanold.wixsite.com/homeputerium
News
-
Action! Tutorial at YouTube by David Arlington - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ8ABW8rY40
-
Browser-based Eastern Front 1941:
-
How to Use Classic Atari, Commodore and Sinclair Software on Your Mac - https://appleinsider.com/inside/macos/tips/how-to-use-classic-atari-commodore-and-sinclair-software-on-your-mac
-
Atari Software Pack - Dean Garraghty (Scotland) - DGS Software - http://www.dgs.clara.net/
-
APX Atlas program - https://community.a8preservation.com/t/dumps-dumps-dumps/205/579
-
James Shackel passed away - https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/james-shackel-obituary?id=39585348
-
SuperSIO Splitter by Sikor - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/314342-supersio-splitter/
-
Mr. Robot 3D printing models:
-
Readytari items at Red Bubble by Steve Boswell (Mr. Robot) - https://www.redbubble.com/people/choccyhobnob/works/52776330-readytari-ntsc?carousel_pos=21&ref=work_carousel_work_portfolio&ref_id=30853044
-
Elite port - https://youtu.be/khhxWsZ7WC8
-
Goto10 newsletter - https://www.goto10retro.com/
-
Mathy's new and improved homepage - https://mathyvannisselroy.nl/index.htm
-
Compiling a new Atari OS By reifsnyderb - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/347696-compiling-a-new-atari-os/
-
hardware upgrades for all 8-bits by Brian Reifsnyder (reifsnyderb) - https://5cfab.com/
-
Weird Modded Atari 800 Computer - https://www.ebay.com/itm/255980663210
-
Atari computer pillow - https://www.8bittees.com/product/atari-800-pillow/
-
Chip-8 emulation on Atari:
-
5th Annual Atari Homebrew Awards - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/347449-5th-annual-atari-homebrew-awards-voting-information-discussion/
Upcoming Shows
-
VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
-
Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 29 & 30 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/
-
KansasFest, the largest and longest running annual Apple II conference - July 18-23, 2023 - Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri - https://www.kansasfest.org/
-
Southern Fried Gaming Expo - July 28-30 2023 - Cobb Galleria Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/ Keep an eye on the VCFSE section of the VCFED site for exhibit signups and more details.Use the discount code “INSERTCOIN” to save $5.
-
Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center - https://retrogamingexpo.com/
YouTube Videos
-
5th Annual Atari Homebrew Awards Nominee Playthrough Part 5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8L7MFrGMjI
-
40th Anniversary of the excellent Atari 600 by The Centre for Computing History - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh3DEUO-V4o
-
"Square Monuments" 256 Byte Intro Atari XL/XE LoveByte 2023 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJmfJ2G8PSwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJmfJ2G8PSw
-
VGA from a VBXE Atari 800 - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4RBDY0Y100
New at Archive.org
-
Hungarian Bit-Let - https://archive.org/details/bitlet_1983_1986
-
https://archive.org/details/computer-shopper-may-86-vol-6-no-5-atari-articles/
New at Github
ANTIC Episode 95 - Party at Brad’s House!
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast…we reluctantly add an “in memoriam” section, discuss other Atari news, and plan a party at Brad’s house during VCFSE.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
- Kay’s 2022 Wrap-up - https://www.patreon.com/posts/kays-2022-wrap-76408972
- DLARC Amateur Radio Software for Atari computers - https://archive.org/details/dlarc-software-atari
- TANK, an unreleased, unpublished game by Pat Kennedy for Atari 8-bit computers - https://archive.org/details/tank_atari
- Retroid 2 - https://www.goretroid.com/products/retroid-pocket-2-plus-handheld-retro-gaming-system
- FASTBASIC - https://github.com/dmsc/fastbasic
- The Personal Computer BASIC S Reference Manual by Donald A. Sordillo
- Home Computer trading card deck - http://www.8bitkick.cc
- ATARI 50: THE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION - https://atari.com/products/atari-50th-the-anniversary-celebration
News
- Rob 'n' Banks, new game - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/342151-rob-n-banks-new-game/
- Old School Gamer Magazine - https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/osgdigital/osg31free//
- Atari Scene news - https://mastodon.world/@Philsan
- v4.10 of Altirra, the Atari 8 bit computer emulator for Windows - https://www.virtualdub.org/altirra.html
- Atari Icons for Altirra by LesNick - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/346537-atari-icons-for-altirra/
- via therealbountybob on AtariAge - https://forums.atariage.com/forum/60-8-bit-high-score-club/
- Ultimate Gated Video Board - https://ataribits.weebly.com/ugv.html
- Atari custom disks (pen plotting) from Paul Rickards - https://mastodon.social/@paulrickards/109661825716424393
- Update to LinguaXE (uses FujiNet) by Amarok:
- FASTFP version F+ for 400/800/XL/XE - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/346575-fastfp-version-f-for-400800xlxe-in-final-version-5-new-roms/
- In Memoriam:
- Glenn Botts (Glenn the 5200 man) passes away:
- Archer Maclean passes away:
- Sal Esquivel (KJMANN on atariage) died. He did the soundtrack to space harrier, Tempest extreme and outrun:
- ANTIC Interview 17 - The Atari 8-bit Podcast - Sal Esquivel - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-17-the-atari-8-bit-podcast-sal-esquivel
- http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_atari-400-800-xl-xe-esquivel-sal_team_3357_8_G.html
- https://www.youtube.com/@salesquivel8562/videos
- http://archive.org/details/sal-esquivel-kjmann
- Atari 800 Best Game Pack - link update - https://mega.nz/file/0xQn2BgQ#piHWwHpSjqXqImAGAXAkXT949ywvtDyqagxeNgW4F0g
- Atari 8-Bit/5200 Homebrew Games Released/Completed/WIP in 2023 - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/345916-atari-8-bit5200-homebrew-games-releasedcompletedwip-in-2023/
- Silly Venture 2022 WE results:
Upcoming Shows
- VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
- Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - April 29 & 30 - Crowne Plaza Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/
- Southern Fried Game Expo - July 28-30 2023 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/
- Portland Retro Gaming Expo - October 13-15, 2023 - Oregon Convention Center - https://retrogamingexpo.com/
YouTube Videos
- VGA from a VBXE Atari 800 - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4RBDY0Y100
- Poison (6502) - TNT (atari music, pokey, chiptune) - Marek Pešout - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAHlaCUJFCU
- Last Ninja - Atari 8 Bits For Ever - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43I0qpM0Udg
- The Atari 800XL 8-bit computer - Keyboard repair and restoration - Arctic Retro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrsSvlTBEyc
- Atari 8-bit VBXE Special - Zeropage Homebrew - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjgS_P7BzZU
New at Archive.org
- https://archive.org/details/bestofcomputerfa0007vari/mode/2up?q=Atari
- https://archive.org/details/completehistoric0000davi
- https://archive.org/details/mundo-atari/MundoAtari-issue-00
- https://archive.org/details/latarien_sep85/latarien_apr84/
- Many Mid-Florida Atari Computer Club Bulletin issues e.g. - https://archive.org/details/mid-florida-atari-computer-club-bulletin-vol-11-no-10-oct-1994
- MMG Micro Software's Final Flight Manual - https://archive.org/details/final-flight-mmg/page/1/mode/2up
- Sierra Service's Easyfind Index Disk Images and Documentation - https://archive.org/details/sierra-services-flyer-catalog/Easyfind_Docs/
Feedback
- Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment in Oakland California - http://www.themade.org
Personal Mastodon Accounts
- @savetz@oldbytes.space
- @floppydays@oldbytes.space
- @Antic_Brad@oldbytes.space
(be sure to listen to the special "word from our sponsor!"
ANTIC Episode 94 - Are we just a chat bot?
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast…we discuss the new book “Broken Computer Games” and other Atari news, and raise the question “are we just a chat bot”?
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
- Secret Guide to Computers & Tricky Living Library- https://archive.org/details/secretguidetocomputers
- Eaten By A Grue - http://monsterfeet.com/grue/
- Broken Computer Games - https://archive.org/details/broken-computer-games
- ChatGPT chat bot - https://chat.openai.com/chat
- Atari 50th Anniversary Collection - https://atari.com/products/atari-50th-the-anniversary-celebration
News
- 4MB Axlon Compatible SRAM Card for the Atari 800 - reifsnyderb - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/344262-interest-in-a-4mb-axlon-compatible-sram-card-for-the-atari-800/
- new 8bitworkshop IDE release
- Silly Venture 2K22 COMPO:
- cracking archive - DjayBee:
- Universal game Verbix written with Cross-Lib - Fabrizio Caruso:
- 3D printer file search engine - https://www.yeggi.com/q/atari+800/2/
- Computer Chronicles Revisited, Volume 4 - https://archive.org/details/computer-chronicles-revisited-vol-4
- GEOS for Atari - other attempts at a graphical operating system for the Atari - http://atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1668428074&archive&start_from=0&ucat=1&ct=nowinki
Upcoming Shows
- VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
YouTube Videos
- Over 50 Atari 400/800 Games In Under 30 Minutes - Laird’s Lair - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57CNQ7xp69o
- C64 vs. Atari 800XL - 8 games from 1985 - RetroNoName - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cMH_WZ4-qU
- C64 vs. Atari 800XL - 9 games Starting with Letter A - Floppy Deep Dive - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv9Q7MoL88I
- Atari 400/800/XL/XE - Cassette Dual Track system - Kingdom [ATARI] 1880 - StaxX28 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3h0FQmpHtWA
- Atari 800 games on Xbox Series X - Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration - Metal Mauler Gaming:
-
- Caverns of Mars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFGZftiGzMA
- Yoomp! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v4xrYjvVsI
- This is the new best version of Atari's Star Raiders - ThisIsPete - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AstRleF8NAo
- How Atari Fought & Lost The PC Wars! - Tech History Channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKcQQZjp-Hc
New at Archive.org
- PSI Catalogue General 1986 - https://archive.org/details/psi-catalogue-general-1986acme
- Avalon Hill Microcomputer Games V1N2 Winter 1982 - https://archive.org/details/Avalon-Hill-Microcomputer-Games-v1n2-winter-1982
- Current Notes collection at archive.org - https://archive.org/details/currentnotesnewsletter?sort=titleSorter
ANTIC Episode 93 - All FujiNet, All the Time!
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast…Andy Diller (atariorbit) joins us to talk all things FujiNet!
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
- FujiNet main site - https://fujinet.online/
- Andy’s blog - https://www.atariorbit.org
- Andy’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/atariorbit
- Atari XDM121 printer on Shop Goodwill - https://shopgoodwill.com/item/154471414
News
- Fast BASIC - https://github.com/dmsc/fastbasic
- Vintage Computer Center closing (Gavin Haubelt) - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/
- Ben Smith, owner of Bravo Sierra Computers has passed away:
- Bravo Sierra Computers website - http://atarisales.sdf.org/
- Interview on ANTIC with Ben - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-260-ben-smith-atari-sales-and-service
- LinguaXE, a translator connected to Google with FujiNet - https://m.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR2Qc5u7SfPz8EMAnqNAm4R7ZRPWxK2Zoz3qrkgKTmPNB0Q9T9C2uQs4dPg&v=dwMr9_h-WlY&feature=youtu.be
- Nitelite BBS - https://www.reddit.com/r/atari8bit/comments/yl1nde/atari_bbsing_history_as_nitelite_bbs_software/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
- How to connect to the Atari BBS’s - https://southernamis.wixsite.com/website/how-to-connect
- Atari XL/XE - rendering of unicode text" by YouTube user "amarok" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_j0iSwbD7g
- Second ATASCII Graphics Compo Results Are Out - https://www.vintageisthenewold.com/second-atascii-graphics-compo-results-are-out
- ABBUC SW-Contest 2022 - https://abbuc.de/2022/11/ergebnis-abbuc-software-wettbewerb-2022/
- ABBUC Software Contest 2022 Games Playthrough Part 1: Atari 8-Bit Homebrew - Zero Page Homebrew - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9fXI0iQh3U
- Release of Break It! '22 Extended Version – https://forums.atariage.com/topic/343405-release-of-break-it-22-extended-version-abbuc-sw-contest-2022/
- New search engine for searching for vintage computer files from archive.org:
- http://discmaster.textfiles.com/
- https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/10/lost-something-search-through-91-7-million-files-from-the-80s-90s-and-2000s/
- InstaDOS on cartridge - The VintNerd - https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0FzaYjwDVsxBAMkaMKVcWoWHe5HfuSPXJFZQZoNMTxMpiw4X4uu5kBNUks85M6WsKl&id=100063817554401
Upcoming Shows
- VCF Zurich - November 19&20 - https://vintagecomputerfestival.ch/
- VCF East 2023 - Apr 14-16, 2023 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
YouTube Videos
- FlashJazzCat - Spectre Atari CVBS/s-video upgrade and UAV compared - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixBxTvo5yrU
- 10 Amazing Atari 400/800 Facts - Laird’s Lair (Kieren Hawken) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1FysqYmR5I
- RetroVGA new board preview Multi retro computer emulator (ZX128k, C64, Atari800) - Peter Misenko - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d1iRT5LjnE
- Play Games with a S-Drive Max for Atari 8-Bit Computers - Retro Bliss Gaming - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d1iRT5LjnE
- Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration Nintendo Switch Gameplay - Handheld Players - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tl6WUGjwJA
New at Archive.org
- Get the most out of your Atari - 1984 - French - https://archive.org/details/eyrolles-obtenez-le-maximum-de-votre-atari
- APX collection at archive.org - https://archive.org/details/atariprogramexchange
- Current Notes collection at archive.org - https://archive.org/details/currentnotesnewsletter?sort=titleSorter
New at Github
ANTIC Episode 92 - I Played 1,000 Hours!
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast…Randy talks about his great barn find and VCFMW, Kay gets a new personality (board), and Brad tries to accumulate 1,000 hours on Miner 2049’er.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
- Secret Guide to Computers and Tricky Living on IA - https://archive.org/details/secret-guide-33/page/684/mode/2up?q=Atari
- Atari 800 Personality Board by santosp:
- VCFMW - http://www.vcfmw.org
- Suburban Chicago Atarians - http://www.scatarians.org/
- Atari FujiNet NOS - https://www.atariorbit.org/
- The Taylor and Amy Show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI8b_XAuYXU
- 800XL cover from Paulo Garcia (Vintage is the New Old - https://www.vintageisthenewold.com/ )
News
- Retrochallenge 2022/10 - https://www.retrochallenge.org/2022/09/rc-202210-is-go.html
- ASMA - Atari SAP Music Archive - http://asma.atari.org/
- “Computer Ads from the Past” substack entry on Alan Alda and Atariwriter- https://computeradsfromthepast.substack.com/p/alan-alda-and-atariwriter
- Atari XL/XE fan scarf. Power Without the price since 1982 - https://www.ebay.com/itm/325252579215
- Thom Cherryhomes call for game conversion for FujiNet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeImwNKp-yY
- Andrew Diller (@atariorbit) put together a video showing the evolution of the FujiNet codebase, since its inception as "Atariwifi." - https://youtube.com/watch?v=pfeUelE9cYc… #RetroComputing
- Atari 50th Anniversary Collection - https://park.london/products/atari-50-star-raiders-print-wall-art
- Star Raiders will be included in Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration - https://twitter.com/DigitalEclipse/status/1577690194156785665
- “Save Atari History” by playing minigames - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QErw-mKwLg
- 3D printed Atari cases and keycaps - https://gp61.blogspot.com/?fbclid=IwAR0jISsGhUARscNVb0ojRw8PQIuR8WZ2Z9BdLvHSefCmfuLzeLvELUl_MQU
- 2nd ATASCII Compo - http://logiker.com/ATASCII
- Atari EPROM Programmer - https://www.ebay.com/itm/374261668413
- Atari sticker - https://www.ebay.com/itm/325374564098
- ABBUC Magazine #150 - https://abbuc.de
Upcoming Shows
- Portland Retro Gaming Expo = October 14-16 https://www.retrogamingexpo.com
YouTube Videos
- Hibernated 1, Directors Cut on the Atari 8-bit (adventure game), with talk about FujiNet, XEP-80, CPM and the game - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPViSZD_O90 - Andrew Diller (@atariorbit)
- Heavily modified NTSC Atari 600XL - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8YdqUTKvSw - FlashJazzCat (Jonathan Halliday)
- A bunch of things still in development from Lotharek and Candle like the Atari 400 Incognito Lite! - https://youtu.be/UN-8P3iK1IM - FlashJazzCat (Jonathan Halliday)
- Evolution of Atari computers and consoles 1972 - 2022 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFtTWKdXaGQ - World in Statistics
New at Archive.org
- (Josh Malone->Allan for scanning)
- Art Of Computer Game Design PDF
- https://archive.org/details/the-gospel-of-st.-pong-revisited-vol-4-april-1977
- Scanned by https://archive.org/details/@decode_document_digitize
Listener Feedback
- Piotr Bugaj’s ECI + Cartridge port expander - https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/atari-xe--port-expander.-eci-%2B-cart-x2-62320
ANTIC Episode 91 - HAM Atari
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast…Kay gets a new job, Randy officially retires, and we cover a ton of hardware upgrades
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
- Internet Archive job for Kay - https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1562130788602109952
- Low-profile Atari 400 keyboard - https://mobeets.com/
- Atari XE Remake - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/319881-atari-xe-remake-pre-order-thread/
News
- 1979 Atari 800 Personal Computer Metal Sign - https://www.walmart.com/ip/seort/638738386
- Best Electronics XE Touch upgrade:
-
- AtariAge thread - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/338985-best-electronics-xe-touch-upgrade/
- Best Electronics - https://www.best-electronics-ca.com/130xe.htm#TT
- AtariOrbit and This Week in FujiNet - https://www.atariorbit.org
- 822 printer on ebay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/314115004546
- Revive 1027 - https://retrohax.net/shorts-atari-1027-printer-the-revive1027-project/#more-15516
- Castlevania - https://www.indieretronews.com/2022/08/castlevania-thelen-is-still-working-on.html
- Eci+Cart port replicator by Piotr Bugaj (Poland) - https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/atari-xe--port-expander.-eci-%2B-cart-x2-62320
- FastBASIC - https://github.com/dmsc/fastbasic/releases/tag/v4.6
- Atari 800 Personality Board by santosp:
- The 1056 Board -- Atari 400 1056k Memory Upgrade - reifsnyder_b - https://www.ebay.com/itm/275417691367?fbclid=IwAR2KHKCUDIHQ_xs6xgxlpQWJQQl7s0Xgz4lx9Pyii1_PTXoIwzRcEaY7hhQ
- 1064M 64k Memory Upgrade For the Atari 600XL - https://www.ebay.com/itm/1064M-64k-Memory-Upgrade-For-the-Atari-600XL/275368998887
- Atari 800 48k RAM Card with Jumper Board - https://www.ebay.com/itm/Atari-800-48k-RAM-Card-with-Jumper-Board/275370454563
- 320k Memory Upgrade For the Atari 600XL and Atari 800XL - https://www.ebay.com/itm/320k-Memory-Upgrade-For-the-Atari-600XL-and-Atari-800XL/275424247115
Upcoming Shows
- Fujiama = Sept 8-11 in Lengenfeld Germany http://fujiama.eu/
- VCF Midwest = Sep. 10-11, Chicago area http://vcfmw.org/
- Portland Retro Gaming Expo = October 14-16 https://www.retrogamingexpo.com
YouTube Videos
- Atari Computers 1985 Jack Tramiel interview - Atari XE SX and WHY he left Commodore Computers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGGx4MBKEgk
- Hawkeye Tunetro - Atari 8-bit Demo by JAC! of WUDSN - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jo8gdFPFGU
- C-Drug The BEST Atari XL/XE Demo I have ever seen ! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyHAnahJ_D8
- Are THESE the "Ultimate" upgrades for your Atari XL/XE? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZNO58TRsjQ
Word from Our Sponsor
- Atari 800, (Atari, 1982) UK TV ad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1ed86r2uKQ - “The Science Museum 2040”
New at Archive.org
- https://archive.org/details/mini-office-ii-database-software
- https://inverseatascii.info/2018/06/02/s4e09-database-software-mini-office-ii-supplement/
- https://archive.org/details/cassette-operating-system-alpha-systems
- https://archive.org/details/raos-zobian-controls/
- https://archive.org/details/operation-whirlwind-broderbund
New at Github
ANTIC Episode 90 - Lets All Retire!
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… Atari hits 50 big years, Lego gets into the ballgame, and Randy talks retirement (no, not from the show).
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
- http://blog.archive.org/2022/07/13/have-you-played-atari-today-2/
- https://github.com/savetz/Phoenix_AdventureInTime
- https://github.com/savetz/Phoenix_BirthOfThePhoenix
- https://github.com/savetz/Phoenix_QueenOfPhobos
- Sharp Aquos 15” LCD - https://www.crutchfield.com/S-KJSgUXWo9OQ/p_284LC15S1U/Sharp-LC-15S1U.html
- 512 ram expansion, Atari 800 XL on SellMyRetro - https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/61296
News
- Atari 130XE Games Book (Retro Reproductions) - https://www.amazon.com/Atari-130XE-Games-Retro-Reproductions/dp/1789826233
- A Graphical OS for the Atari 8-bit by Flashjazzcat - https://atari8.co.uk/gui/
- SIO2PC USB at Vintage Computer Center - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/product/sio2pc
- Atari 800XL dust cover at VITNO - https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/989847739/atari-800xl-dust-cover-brand-new
- “A decade-long attempt to enter PC history: Atari home computers” by Vilius Petkauskas at CyberNews - https://cybernews.com/editorial/a-decade-long-attempt-to-enter-pc-history-atari-home-computers/
- “Atari Turns 50: A Look Back on the Original Name in Video Games” by Jamie Lendino, PC Magazine - https://www.pcmag.com/news/atari-turns-50-a-look-back-on-the-original-name-in-video-games
- Atari 2600 Lego - https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/atari-2600-10306
- Dungeoneer by Ed Salisbury
- The game can be downloaded directly - https://github.com/godlikemouse/atari-1200xl-asm/releases/download/v1.3/dungeoneer.xex
- You can find all the source code here - https://github.com/godlikemouse/atari-1200xl-asm
- YouTube channel - http://youtube.com/MissionEdPossible
- Atari emulator for the Nintendo 3DS - https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/Atari800-3DS
- Timothy Kline - https://atari-owner.com/
- SWUtils (SimCheck, SimTest, OSDump) by Panther
Upcoming Shows
- VCF West 2022 = Aug 6, 7, The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west/
- Long Island Retro Gaming Expo = Aug 12-14, Cradle of Aviation, Garden City, NY - https://liretro.com/?fbclid=IwAR1UBBrrkg-aoTwUb7fL_Rd56Chv29oyS7Ycxs7Wn5g4iyoN7q3JtWUxioE
- Fujiama = Sept 8-11 in Lengenfeld Germany http://fujiama.eu/
- VCF Midwest = Sep. 10-11, Chicago area http://vcfmw.org/
- Portland Retro Gaming Expo = October 14-16 https://www.retrogamingexpo.com
YouTube Videos
- Atari 800XL with the BackBit Pro - The Taylor and Amy Show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI8b_XAuYXU
- Atari XL/XE Hypra-Soft-Basic Tips - ???????????? ????????????????
- Is this the “Ultimate” upgrade for your Atari XL/XE? - retrobits - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br6iUfl73IU
- ReWind demo by NG & Zelax - philsan69 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s2vqN1jWgU
- Alley Dog demo by Agenda - philsan69 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTHxkxdoRgU
- SIDE3 Beta Loader Update: Part 1 - FlashJazzCat - https://youtu.be/LJgnJ10SVzU
- SIDE3 Beta Loader Update: Part 2 - FlashJazzCat - https://youtu.be/roID-Rzy5Aw
New at Archive.org
- https://archive.org/details/computer-shopper-dec-87-vol-7-no-12-atari-articles
- https://archive.org/details/atari-touch-the-future/Atari_PCS_Price_list
- https://archive.org/details/waug-newsletter-january-1983
- https://archive.org/details/waterloo-atari-users-group-newsletter-febuary-1983
- https://archive.org/details/waug-newsletter-june-1983
- https://archive.org/details/waug-newsletter-june-1983
- https://archive.org/details/bace-newsletter-july-1983
- https://archive.org/details/black-hawk-ace-newsletter-august-1983
- https://archive.org/details/black-hawk-ace-newsletter-october-1983
- https://archive.org/details/cintari0693
- https://archive.org/details/atari_computer_enthusiasts_hawaii/acehi_1987_december
ANTIC Episode 89 - Choke on it!
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… Brad regales us with his motherload of new Atari stuff, Kay solves the mystery of “Have You Played Atari Today?”, and we discuss lots of other Atari news
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
- Kay contributed a story to Taper:
- “Using Your Atari XL Computer” referenced at https://archive.org/details/Atari_Connection_Volume_3_Number_4_1983-09_Atari_US/page/n32/mode/1up
- “Have You Played Atari Today?” - https://archive.org/details/graphisnewtalent0000unse_l9l8/page/7/mode/1up?q=atari
- The ChalkBoard PowerPad by Chalkboard Inc. - https://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v9n10/52_The_legend_of_the_pad_of_.php
News
- Atari 130XE Machine Language for the Absolute Beginner (Retro Reproductions) - https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1789824338
- Alan Alda CES tape! - https://archive.org/details/alan-alda-atari-ces-1983
- Atari chat client for Fujinet, FujiTalk by bocianu:
- [K] Computer Chronicles revisited - https://smoliva.blog and in book format at https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator:%22S.M.+Oliva%22
- Floppy Days interview of Stewart Chefeit (host of Computer Chronicles) - (https://floppydays.libsyn.com/floppy-days-78-interview-with-stewart-chefeit-computer-chronicles )
- 576NUC+ Programmer Pack ROM - mytek - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/308191-the-worlds-smallest-atari-8-bit/page/28/?tab=comments#comment-5062163
- 8-bit Workshop - https://8bitworkshop.com/
- ABBUC Magazine #149 - https://abbuc.de/mitglieder/
- Via BIll Lange: Rare Peruvian “Aventuras D'Onofrio” education series for Atari 8-bit family has been archived - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-aventuras-d-onofrio_37340.html
- Fujinet servers - maintained by Mr. Robot - https://atari8bit.net/projects/software/fujinet-server-status/
- Atari800 updated for Raspberry Pi 4 & 400 - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/336269-installing-atari800-v500-on-the-raspberry-pi/
Upcoming Shows
- VCF Southeast - July 15-17 Southern Fried Gaming Expo https://gameatl.com/
- VCF West 2022 = Aug 6, 7, The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west/
- Fujiama - Sept 8-11 in Lengenfeld Germany
- VCF Midwest - Sep. 10-11, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/index.html
YouTube Videos
- How to Start Atari800 Emulator on RG350 - https://youtu.be/EguoIAq3qn8 - Mike Stringer - https://retrogamecorps.com/rg350/
- Atari 400 + UAV + Audio - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di_xhZ8CM20 - Mr Lurch’s Things
- Retro 1982 - McDonald's Atari Game - Dayton, Ohio TV History - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKU2BuTAQiw - Craig’s Daybook
- The start of an Atari 8-bit repair-a-thon! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrC_Ire_jEg - Adrian’s Digital Basement
New at Archive.org
- List of pirated programs on Atari 8 bit computers - https://archive.org/details/elenco-programmi-atari
- https://archive.org/details/b-c-computervisions-leaflets-1992
- https://archive.org/details/b-c-computervisions-catalog-handheld-and-8-bit-spring-1992
- https://archive.org/details/b-c-computervisions-catalog-winter-1992
- https://archive.org/details/american-techna-vision-catalog-1992
- https://archive.org/details/american-techna-vision-catalog-1993
- The Gospel of St. Pong - Original employee newsletter - Early Atari
ANTIC Episode 88 - We need more Atari shows!
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… lots of Atari action and news, loading Atari software from VHS, and a call for more Atari-specific shows
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
- MT32-pi - https://github.com/dwhinham/mt32-pi
- https://archive.org/details/michigan-atari-magazine-complete-collection
- https://archive.org/details/AtariFinalLegacyPoster
- https://archive.org/details/ukraine-computer-poster-1989
- https://rpilocator.com
- 576NUC+ cartridge upgrade - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/myteks-576nuc-atari-computer/products/myteks-576nuc-and-internal-fujinet
- AVG Cart .ATR mod - https://atari8bit.net/tutorials/de-re-avgcart/
- Cartridge shell from Vintage Computer Center - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/product/atari-8-bit-cartridge-shells
- 4-in-1 OSS cart - https://atariprojects.org/2021/11/21/purchase-a-new-4-in-1-oss-programming-language-cartridge-for-your-atari-8-bit-computer-5-10-mins/
- XEP-80 II - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/atari-800-xl-xe-xel-xld/products/xep80-ii-by-mytek
Recent Interviews
- Anthony Ramos: Parrot, Creepy Caverns - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-432-anthony-ramos-parrot-creepy-caverns
- Scott Savage: Lefty, the Checkers Playing Robot - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-433-scott-savage-lefty-the-checkers-playing-robot
- ANTIC Interview 434 - Michael Park: Swan and Fujiboink Demos, MIDI Maze - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-434-michael-park-swan-and-fujiboink-demos-midi-maze
- The looking for Xanth tweet - https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1509353652367998981
News
- Allan: Software for Atari Coin Executive -
- mozzwald Wikipedia reader for Atari 8 Bit FujiNet. You can load it via fujinet.online as /wiki.xex - https://github.com/FujiNetWIFI/fujinet-apps/tree/master/wiki/atari
- bocianu and mozzwald news reader for FujiNet - TNFS://fujinet.pl/Networking/fujinews.xex
- Thom Cherryhomes Mastodon Client for FujiNet - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/335680-worlds-simplest-mastodon-client-in-basic/
- Bluetooth Wireless Atari Joystick and Paddle Adapter - 2 DB9 Ports
- BASIC 10Liner Contest 2022 results - https://homeputerium.de
- Atari 400 mini - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mA8O_X8JGsA - Retro Relik (in French)
- Loading Atari software from VHS tape - Video Cartridge by Turbo Soft - https://retrogames.cl/vcturbosoft.html?fbclid=IwAR1jrCTTQR7RzH8nNGOUpZCtziSJDLxBxI3Kyoufgwnvh9ps2oxWUd_fDVc
- http://atariemailarchive.org/
- playing Atari with your hands as motion controls - Eran Feit - https://youtu.be/vJO6nMwUBXw
- ABBUC Magazine 148 released - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/335262-abbuc-magazine-148/
Upcoming Shows
- Boatfest Retro Computing Festival 2022 = June 24-25 - Hurricane, WV - https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/boatfest-retro-computer-festival-2022-tickets-222333103297
- VCF Southeast - July 15-17 Southern Fried Gaming Expo https://gameatl.com/
- KansasFest 2022 = July 19–24, 2022, Kansas City, MO - https://www.kansasfest.org/ in-person AND remote
- VCF West 2022 = Aug 6, 7, The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west/
- VCF Midwest 17 - Sep 10-11, Elmhurst, IL http://vcfmw.org/
- Fujiama - Sept 8-11 in Lengenfeld Germany http://fujiama.eu/
- PRGE Oct 14-16 https://www.retrogamingexpo.com
YouTube Videos
- Atari commercials - Seattle Retro Guy
-
- Mom - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmg4JApvsV0
- Father and Son - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw_wQJXkens
- Bachelor - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi95BYgwZPw
- Atari 800XL - Asteroids Emulator - Real Arcade Rom On Atari 8-Bit Computer - Paul Westphal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7RLYRZQ5Jo
- FlashJazzCat:
-
- Atari 800 Super Color CPU Card Installation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlb1b4YYT70
- Video issues on Atari 130XE with vendor-installed VBXE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZLgbu41Kdc
- Atari 130XE: VBXE fixed, Rapidus/SIDE3/AKI tested - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d1ljmI7lCo
New at Archive.org
- chickenman ACE NSW newsletters - https://archive.org/details/@chickenman
- https://archive.org/details/computer-shopper-jan-87-vol-7-no-1-atari-articles
- https://archive.org/details/computer-shopper-jun-87-vol-7-no-6-atari-articles
- https://archive.org/details/Hexenkueche
- https://archive.org/details/die-fundgrube
New at Github
Listener Feedback
Scott Savage: Lefty, the Checkers Playing Robot
"Lefty" was the name of the world's first checker-playing robot, which was located at the Omniplex science museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The robot arm would play games of checkers against museum visitors, picking up and moving pieces on a physical checkerboard. Lefty's game logic ran on an Atari 800 computer, which controlled the robot through the joystick port. Lefty was programmed by Scott Savage, the subject of today's interview.
Before the interview, Scott digitized his Atari cassette tape with the code for Lefty. The tape had some problems, but Atari community member "atarigrub" successfully recovered the data. Scott also provided scans of several newspaper and magazine articles about Lefty. Both the Lefty program and those articles are available at Internet Archive.
Also, be sure to watch the only known video of Lefty in action: Scott and Lefty appeared on the TV show "Dannysday" which aired on KOCO TV in spring 1984.
This interview took place on April 14, 2022.
Scott and Lefty on Dannysday TV show
Lefty BASIC program and media mentions
Paper about Lefty (in Spanish)
Scott Savage Techno Scavenger YouTube channel
Omniplex is now called Science Museum Oklahoma
This interview on YouTube
Anthony Ramos: Parrot, Creepy Caverns
Anthony Dandrea is better known to Atari computer enthusiasts as Anthony Ramos.
Anthony programmed Creepy Caverns, a type-in BASIC game that was published in Antic magazine's August 1984 issue. Anthony also created the software for Parrot, a $40 4-bit sound sampler and playback package that was marketed by Alpha Systems.
In this interview, we discuss George Morrison of Alpha Systems, and Peter Langston of LucasArts, both of whom I have previously interviewed.
This interview took place on April 8, 2022.
Creepy Caverns in Antic magazine
Discape Atari 8-bit Demo
Discape disk image
"Talk is Cheap" by Ed Stuart in Antic magazine
Parrot manual
Parrot review in Antic magazine
Creepy Caverns with sampled audio
Parrot Christmas demo
Anthony's Conway's Game of Life
Anthony on AtariAge
ANTIC Interview 367 - George Morrison, Alpha Systems
ANTIC Interview 126 - Peter Langston, LucasArts
Ground Kontrol arcade
ANTIC Episode 87 - Good news, bad news
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… we have tons of news, both good and bad, and lots of coverage of new hardware.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
- 576NUC+ cartridge upgrade - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/myteks-576nuc-atari-computer/products/myteks-576nuc-and-internal-fujinet
News
- FujiNet multi-platform - https://www.facebook.com/groups/fujinetusers/permalink/3255652564716397/
- Brewing Academy updates - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/atari-800-xl-xe-xel-xld/products/xep80-ii-by-mytek
- The SDRIVE Simple II from MyTek - https://ataribits.weebly.com/sdrive.html
- ABBUC software competition 2022 opened! - https://abbuc.de/2022/04/abbuc-softwarewettbewerb-2022-eroeffnet/
- Neon by Gistov:
- https://github.com/Gibstov/Neon/
- https://atariage.com/forums/topic/322460-neon-demo-hypertext-adf-browser-for-atari/
- Reference guide by MassiveRobot (Andrew Diller) - https://www.dropbox.com/s/4r5ib6u7b3b5oq3/Neon_Programmers_Reference_v1c.pdf?dl=0
- Atari Reference Guide by MassiveRobot - https://www.dropbox.com/s/mrmoaykb8wuzgvy/AndyAtariReference_current.pdf?dl=0
- Into the Vertical Blank Homesoft tweet - https://twitter.com/atari_vb_pod/status/1501596822250606600?s=21
- Homesoft disk images - http://www.mushca.com/f/atari/index.php?idx=10
- 8-bit Hub - http://8bit-unity.com/?page_id=551
- Atari 800XL Keychain - https://www.the8bitguy.com/product/atari-800xl-keychain/
- Argon and Atari 8-Bit (phone/tablet/TV/Chromebook/PC) - bhall408:
- Starmaster port by Glurk - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/332899-starmaster-8-bit-final/
Upcoming Shows
- VCF East 2022 = Apr 22, 23, 24, Infoage Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/
- Boatfest Retro Computing Festival 2022 = June 24-25 - Hurricane, WV - https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/boatfest-retro-computer-festival-2022-tickets-222333103297
- VCF Southeast - July 15-17 Southern Fried Gaming Expo https://gameatl.com/
- KansasFest 2022 = July 19–24, 2022, Kansas City, MO - https://www.kansasfest.org/ JUST ANNOUNCED it will be in-person AND remote
- VCF West 2022 = Aug 6, 7, The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west/
- Fujiama - Sept 8-11 in Lengenfeld Germany
YouTube Videos
- From $2 Billion to Nothing - The Rise and Fall of Atari by ColdFusion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_kEhHAMupU
- ATARI XL / XE =+ BERT += 10-LINERS BASIC CONTEST 2022 by Vitoco, posted by Atari 8 Bits For Ever - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL7dpQkLZBo
- Atari 800 Commercial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upfno98p1xE - uploaded by Nathan Hadley
- How to pronounce Atari 800 Computer FL in Telugu? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ztgGOscC7c
- ATARI XL / XE =+ FREEWAY += NEW PORT GAME 2022 by Atari 8 Bits For Ever - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BX5ESH2UovA
New at Archive.org
- German Atari books:
-
- https://archive.org/details/das-assemblerbuch-fur-die-atari-computer-400-800-600-xl-800-xl-130-xe-finzel-1986
- https://archive.org/details/6502-assembler-kurs-fur-beginner-dripke-2.-aufl-1984
- https://archive.org/details/atari-profibuch-2018
- https://archive.org/details/chip-sonderheft-atari-600-xl-800-xl-65-xe-130-xe
- https://archive.org/details/800-xe-0787
- Allen:
- Two more issues of Ad Astra from Michael Sternberg:
New at Github
Tom Zimmerman, AMY chip
AMY, which stands for Additive Musical sYnthesis, was originally intended to be part of the Rainbow chipset, which was the core of Atari's next generation of 16-bit microcomputers. Those computers were never finished. Then, the AMY chip was announced to be the centerpiece of the Atari 65XEM, an Atari 8-bit computer with advanced sound capabilities. A prototype of the 65XEM was shown at the 1985 Consumer Electronics Show, but ultimately it was another computer that didn't make it to market.
Also: in 1982 Tom filed a patent for a “Data Glove,” a glove with optical sensors to measure the bend of the wearer's fingers. He turned down a $10,000 offer from Atari to buy the rights to the Data Glove. The product would eventually end up at Nintendo, where it became the Nintendo Power Glove.
This interview took place on March 7, 2022.
65XEM info at AtariMuseum
AMY chip at AtariMuseum
AMY chip info at AtariMax
ANTIC Episode 86 - Tangents
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… the BASIC 10-liners contest and the AtariAge High Score Club contest are on like Donkey Kong, new software and hardware is available for our favorite machine, K continues his archiving work, and we go off on several tangents
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
What we’ve been up to
- Kay’s 2021 wrap-up - https://www.patreon.com/posts/kays-2021-wrap-60367090
- Current Notes (and other Atari magazines) collection at Internet Archive - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RkznDDlOL2O_K-RrbkajIuo6DvYof6Ajrn7j9NTcoDM/edit?usp=sharing
- OHAUG disks - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/331816-digitized-ol-hackers-atari-user-group-disk-library/
- ABBUC - http://www.abbuc.de
News
- Goto10 - a retrocomputing substack with a focus on Atari 8-bit - https://goto10.substack.com
- FujiNet
- Programming network games for the Atari 8-bit and Coleco Adam - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWSmMqzmiyw
- Playing a Connect Four game across an #Atari8bit and a #ColecoAdam with FujiNet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehF68h_BD0M&t=1s
- Atari flight sims on Steam
- Humble Bundle - https://www.humblebundle.com/
- AtariAge high score club - https://atariage.com/forums/forum/60-8-bit-high-score-club/
- Feb 26 2022 Atari 8-bit users meeting at the National Videogame Museum - http://nvmusa.org/
- Kim Slawson points us to new interviews at Ted Dabney Experience podcast - https://www.teddabneyexperience.com/episodes
- Atari Sprite Editor by bacianu
- 2021 BASIC 10-Liner Contest
- SDrive-Simple - mytek
- https://atariage.com/forums/topic/327764-sdrive-simple-yet-another-hardware-variation/
- This idea was born out of the discussion started by Chris Belcher - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/294991-sdrive-max-mini-no-screen-no-problem/
- Gacek - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2022/02/version-de-gacek-para-computadoras.html
- The Little Book of Sound Chips, Volume 1: 1977-1981 - https://c64audio.com/products/the-little-book-of-sound-chips-volume-1
- Topic for newbies or veterans returning to Atari - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/176545-topic-for-newbies-or-veterans-returning-to-atari/
Upcoming Shows
- VCF East 2022 = Apr 22, 23, 24, Infoage Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/
- VCF Southeast - July 15-17 Southern Fried Gaming Expo https://gameatl.com/
- KansasFest 2022 = July 19–24, 2022, Kansas City, MO - https://www.kansasfest.org/
- VCF West 2022 = Aug 6, 7, The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - https://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west/
YouTube Videos
- RetroVGA RP2040 #MCUME - Multi CompUter Machine Emulator Raspberry PICO - Peter Misenko - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKnAlRh_iew
- Atari 800 XL Not Booting & Colour Problem Repair - GadgetUK164 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_KoT6X6yjY
- 4th Annual Atari Homebrew Awards - Ceremony Event! LIVE Acceptance Speeches from Winners! - Zero Page Homebrew - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieffcAugqto
- 256-byte demos - For Lovebyte party 2022, "Oldschool 256 byte intro compo"
-
- https://lovebyte.party/
- Rescue on Mars - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg4FO7Jf1os
- Murkwood - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtfwDBb2_a0
New at Archive.org
ANTIC Episode 85 - Surprise Roundtable
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast...we have a surprise roundtable with guests Nir Dary, Jason Moore, Corey Koltz, and Bill Kendrick where we discuss numerous Atari 8-bit topics!
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Links for Items Mentioned in Show:
- Youtube interviews: https://www.youtube.com/c/KaySavetz
- Tracy Cullinan’s Glutton: https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1482204397903904768?s=20
- New Atari FB group - Atari 8-bit Trader - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1573723729649614/
- SIO2MIDI - https://thebrewingacademy.com/products/midi-for-your-atari-8-bit-400-800-xl-xe-xel-xld
- Happy Drive - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_drives#Happy_Computers
- Speedy 1050 - https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=CompyShop%20Speedy%20Upgrades
- Turbo 1050 - https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Turbo1050%20Upgrades
- Super Archiver - https://sites.google.com/site/ataripal/superarchiver
- Top Drive - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmkcD7nmxxo
- Toms Multi Drive - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1pFAcsD16Y
- 1050 Disk Drive with the Mega Speedy enhancement demo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbKYhzLJhJY&t=17s
- Atari Happy 1050 Four Drive Duplication Station - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCKbd63fj4o
- Atari 1050 megaspeedy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAUZye1Fk2A
- Stella at 20 - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/258130-stella-at-20-documentary/
- Raster Music Tracker - http://raster.infos.cz/atari/rmt/rmt.htm
- Raster Music Tracker, Unofficial version 1.32 by VinsCool - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/328790-release-raster-music-tracker-unofficial-version-131-by-vinscool/
- Raster Music Tracker Demos - https://www.youtube.com/user/vinscool022
- Jason Moore’s Atari Projects - http://www.Atariprojects.org
- Corey Koltz’s 8-Bit Classics - http://www.8bitclassics.com
- PokeyMax - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/295242-pokeymax-v2/page/6/
- FujiNet - https://fujinet.online/
- FujiNet Budget Version - https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/61595
- Gene Medic - https://genemedic.org
ANTIC Episode 84 - Atari Resolutions for the New Year
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast...we each talk about our top Atari resolution for 2022 (although maybe not the type of resolution you were thinking), and discuss all the Atari news we could find for December, 2021.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Kay finished getting interviews into youtube (https://www.youtube.com/c/KaySavetz)
- Scanned material from Dan Kramer:
-
- Atari 2700 https://archive.org/details/atari-2700-rc-stella
- Atari Cosmos: https://archive.org/details/atari-cosmos
- Atari 810 side board https://archive.org/details/atari-810-side-board-schematic
- Atari 800XL SECAM (Rose) https://archive.org/details/atari-800xl-secam
- Atari 600XL/800XL PAL to SECAM Converter (Yvette): https://archive.org/details/Atari-600XL-800XL-PAL-to-SECAM-converter
- Atari 5200 and 7800 cartridge library list: https://archive.org/details/atari-5200-7800-cartridge-library-1984-08-28
- Final Legacy Manual Draft For Atari 8-Bit
- Omnimon User's Guide
- Kay’s end of year summary letter https://www.patreon.com/posts/60367090
- Indy VCC Midi Maze tournament in December - https://www.facebook.com/groups/IndyVCC
- Atari Ugly Christmas sweater - https://animeape.com/products/atari-classic-ugly-christmas-sweater/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA5aWOBhDMARIsAIXLlkfyZk8YF3gJwpOgpLh39rOt0IXQWXFZXmAz4QE51pTW4iybPONNZkgaAk_rEALw_wcB
Recent Interview Shows
- Tim Huntington: Krazy Kopter, Fire Chief, Adventures of Robin Hood - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-430-tim-huntington-krazy-kopter-fire-chief-adventures-of-robin-hood
- Jack Verson, who programmed games for Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64. Action Quest, Ghost Encounters, Castle Hassle, Journey to the Planets, and Gyruss for Atari; Joust and Time Tunnel for C64 - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-429-jack-verson-action-quest-ghost-encounters-journey-to-the-planets-gyruss
News
- Atari 8-Bit/5200 Homebrew Games Completed/WIP in 2021 - by ZeroPage Homebrew - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/315811-atari-8-bit5200-homebrew-games-completedwip-in-2021/
- Phoenix 2021 - New AWA Game - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/328714-phoenix-2021-new-awa-game-and-christmas-reminiscing/
- The original BASIC version is available at Atarmania.com: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-phoenix_31474.html
- Yahtzee 2021 - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/327916-yahtzee-2021-new-atari-8bit-and-5200-game-release-by-anschuetzweisgerberanschuetz/
- This is a remake of a BASIC game written in 1987 which is available on Atarimania.com: http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-yahtzee_31440.html
- 8-bit Hub by 8Bit-Dude - http://8bit-unity.com/
- 8-bit Hub at YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK8DJswSw5c
- Atari 800CX - Gunstar - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/328119-my-atari-800cx-an-homage-to-the-ibm-atari-pc/
- Atari releases Sid Meier’s Command Series on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1703100/Crusade_in_Europe/
- PETSCII Robots now in color:
- Atari 130xe Keyboard Now Goes Clack - Hackaday - by Kristina Panos:
- FLOP 66 magazine for Atari 8-bit computers - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2021/12/atari-bone-cruncher-y-otras-novedades.html
YouTube videos this month
- A Very Retro Computer Yule Log with Atari 8-Bits - The VintNerd - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NTJ4Gu-ETKE
- Dual Atari 8-Bit Power Supply Build - Jan Beta - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4_QXnqbjV0
- The Atari 800XL - Seven billion screws and in need of a good scrub! - The Retro Shack - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSe81rNT69E
- Atari 800 Commercials 1983 (4) - Soga Natari:
New at GitHub
Word from our Sponsor
Tim Huntington was an Atari game developer based in the United Kingdom. He programmed Krazy Kopter, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and Fire Chief, which were published by English Software; and Despatch Rider, which was published by Mastertronic.
This interview took place on December 23, 2021.
Video version of this interview
Tim's segment on Look North West UK TV
AtariMania's list of Tim's games
Tim on Twitter
ANTIC Episode 83 - The Dog Ate It
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast...Kay forgets to wear his ANTIC t-shirt, we all have new members of the family (and Brad’s eats everything in sight), Kay goes crazy scanning Atari magazines, and we have lots of listener feedback.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Atari Interface (was there a July 1991 issue?)
- https://archive.org/details/Atari_Interface_1989-11
- https://archive.org/details/Atari_Interface_1989-08
- https://archive.org/details/Atari_Interface_1989-07
- Atari Interface Magazine - The Complete Collection" - 2,350-page PDF - https://archive.org/details/atari-interface-complete-collection
- The Advanced Home Computer course
- https://archive.org/details/The_Home_Computer_Course?sort=-publicdate
- Atari 600XL/800XL: https://archive.org/details/The_Home_Computer_Advanced_Course_10/page/189/mode/1up
- 810 disk drive: https://archive.org/details/The_Home_Computer_Advanced_Course_04/page/63/mode/1up
- 130XE: https://archive.org/details/The_Home_Computer_Advanced_Course_66/page/1309/mode/1up
- Indy Vintage Computer Club (VCC) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/IndyVCC
News
- Hyper Drive + RAM/ROM " Cartridge For The Atari 8 Bit Computer - https://www.ebay.com/itm/124998207996
- ABBUC 2021 Software Contest winners announced
-
- https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2021/11/descarga-los-juegos-del-concurso-abbuc.html
- https://abbuc.de/2021/11/ergebnisse-der-softwarewettbewerbs-2021/
- http://www.atari.org.pl/informacje/wyniki-abbuc-software-contest-2021/2224
- CONTrollerTESTPRO - Jakub Husak - http://www.atari.org.pl/forum/viewtopic.php?id=17979
- Meta Programming Tool - Kaj de Vos - https://language.metaproject.frl/ - A New, Human-Friendly Programming Language
- John Malone’s keypad usb mod - https://twitter.com/48kram/status/1462136144477499395?s=21
- XEP80-II by MyTek - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/atari-800-xl-xe-xel-xld/products/xep80-ii-by-mytek
- Final Assault first person shooter
- Atari Projects by Jason Moore - http://atariprojects.org
- Laser Squad https://mechanism.fr/getRecord.php?id=1002
- TRY2EMU Web Site - Atari news - https://www.t2e.pl/tag/atari
- https://www.npr.org/2021/11/05/1053009480/atari-video-game-joystick-world-record-largest
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- VCF East April 22-24: Vintage Computer Festival East , Wall, NJ
- VCF West August 6-7: Vintage Computer Festival West , The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- Old Time Radio Broadcasts on the 1 MB Atari 800xl - Red Rock Video Productions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gOxE5m6a6U
New at Archive.org
- Atari Personal Financial Management System manual
- Practicing Programming on the Atari
- Review Catalog of Atari Learning Systems Fall 1983
- Atari Special Additions Volume 1 Winter 1982
- Collegiate Microcomputer:
-
- Stevens Institute of Technology requiring freshmen to buy an Atari 800 - https://archive.org/details/sim_collegiate-microcomputer_1985-02_3_1/page/n36/mode/1up?q=atari
- Harvard Symposium “Video Games and Human Development” - https://archive.org/details/sim_collegiate-microcomputer_1984-11_2_4/page/334/mode/2up?q=atari
- Computer Drawn Polar Coordinate Graphs - https://archive.org/details/sim_collegiate-microcomputer_1984-08_2_3/page/n81/mode/2up
- Ideal Systems undimmed - https://archive.org/details/sim_collegiate-microcomputer_spring-1986_4_1/page/n27/mode/2up?q=atari
New at GitHub
Listener Feedback
- "Imagic 1-2-3" compilation - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-comp-imagic-1-2-3_1235.html
- XDOS (c) 2009 by Stefan Dorndorf - http://www.atarimania.com/faq-atari-400-800-xl-xe-what-are-realdos-spartados-x-and-xdos_83.html
Jack Verson was the founder of JV Software, where he programmed and published several games for the Atari 8-bit computers: Action Quest, Ghost Encounters, and Journey to the Planets. Roklan Software repackaged Action Quest and Ghost Encounters into a single game, titled Castle Hassle.
As part of On-Time Software, Jack programmed the Atari versions of Gyruss, James Bond 007, and perhaps other games, published by Parker Brothers. He ported the Atari 8-bit version of Joust to the Commodore 64. As Applied Systems Engineering, he programmed Time Tunnel for Commodore 64.
This interview took place on December 2, 2021.
AtariMania's list of Jack's software
James Bond 007
Gyruss
Journey to the Planets version differences and bugs
Larry Kalpan thanks Jack in the manual for 2600 Activision Bridge
Time Tunnel for Commodore 64
Jack's company, CDOAN
Mark Benioff review of Action Quest
Popeye "V1" for Commodore discovered
Verson quoted in Compute! "How the Pros Write Computer Games"
ANTIC Episode 82 - FujiNet to Take Over the World!
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast...we have special guest Thom Cherryhomes who tells us why FujiNet is aiming to take over the world, we discuss the recent VCF Midwest and VCF East, and of course tell you everything going on in the world of Atari.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Thom’s talk about programming FujiNet at VCF East: https://youtu.be/A9jflXkSef4
- Byte All Atari Articles - inspired by Allan Bushman's Computer Shopper All Atari - https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-atari-articles
- Dan Kramer engineering notebook from his time at Atari - https://archive.org/details/dan-kramer-atari-engineering-notebook
- VCF East video processing (Atari 2600 stuff, 8-bit specific stuff) - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_e5fSxflvrwAsI8UG2Ey9Nwx2zzP1XED
- Google Spreadsheet of Atari newsletters at Internet Archive - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RkznDDlOL2O_K-RrbkajIuo6DvYof6Ajrn7j9NTcoDM/edit?usp=sharing
-
- JACG, newsletter of the Jersey Atari Computer Group https://archive.org/details/jerseyataricomputergroup
- I/O Connector, newsletter of the San Diego Atari Computer Enthusiasts. https://archive.org/details/ioconnector
- Current Notes, Newsletter of the Washington Area Computer Enthusiasts https://archive.org/details/currentnotesnewsletter
- Kay on TikTok - https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMRETKduF/
- 576NUC+ - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/myteks-576nuc-atari-computer
- VCFMW - http://vcfmw.org
- Indy Vintage Computer Club (VCC) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/IndyVCC
News
- New Labels – 800 Personality/Memory Modules – Mr. Robot (Steve Boswell) - https://atari8bit.net/new-labels-800-personality-memory-modules/
- Prince of Persia for Atari 8-bits - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/298914-unicorns-season-prince-of-persia-for-the-a8/#comments
- ABBUC Magazine #145 is out! - http://abbuc.de/
- Atari User Issue 33 Is Out Now! - https://www.atariuser.com/atari-user-issue-33-is-out-now/
- Atari 815 sold on ebay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/124936737856?hash=item1d16cf5440%3Ag%3A3KgAAOSwRchhXcj3&nma=true&si=hxj5YADhiQ0fdSj5M3wmAhFvrcg%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
- Anschuetz/Weisgerber/Anschuetz remakes - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-297-robert-anschuetz-eric-anschuetz-john-weisgberber-antic-magazine-games
- Overflow 2021 - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/321417-overflow-2021-a-new-8-bit-and-5200-game-released-by-awa/
- Kooky Diver - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/322470-kooky-diver-new-8bit-and-5200-game-by-awa/
- Sokoban 2021 - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/322674-sokoban-2021-5200-release-and-8-bit-update/
- Night Rescue 1941 - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/320224-night-rescue-1941-new-awa-game-release/
- Piracy 1621 & Piracy 1981 - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/324486-piracy-1621-and-piracy-1821-new-atari-5200-releases-by-anschuetzweisgerberanschuetz/
- Alien Assault 2021 - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/323778-new-8-bit-and-5200-game-release-alien-assault-2121-by-awa/?tab=comments#comment-4884530
- Kooky Klimber (Crazy Climber inspired) - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/319869-abbuc-software-contest-2021/?do=findComment&comment=4891011
- Robot Dungeon (Shamus/Berzerk inspired) - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/319869-abbuc-software-contest-2021/?do=findComment&comment=4891009
- Space Assailants 2021 - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2021/09/space-assailants-2121-nuevo-shooter.html
- Brian Hall - Argon, a multi-system emulator - http://playargon.com
- XXX2CF3: CompactFlash HDD without using the cartridge port! – The Brewing Academy - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/atari-800-xl-xe-xel-xld/products/xxx2cf3-compactflash-hdd-without-using-the-cartridge-port
- Shahid Kamal Ahmad’s epic thread about his development career, starting with the Atari 8-bit - https://twitter.com/shahidkamal/status/1436771192892018693?s=20
- FujiNet wiki enhancements - SpicyJack - AtariAge - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/298720-fujinet-a-wip-sio-network-adapter-for-the-atari-8-bit/page/87/?tab=comments#comment-4922271
- Player MIssile Podcast released ep #30, 8-bit vs 5200 - https://playermissile.com/
- Loading Atari software from a record player
- The 100 MHz 6502
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- VCF East April 22-24: Vintage Computer Festival East , Wall, NJ
- VCF West August 6-7: Vintage Computer Festival West , The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- “64K ought to be enough for anybody” - Tmp
- “ATARI 800 XL repair + creating a USB power supply, a video cable & doing the CHROMA Mod” - RETRO is the new black (Wolfgang Kierdorf) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoFpFSrLoxA
- “Atari 400 48k Ram - Sdrive2 & Uno Cart Tech Demo” - Paul Westphal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLuHPxBIgFk
- “Stop using the Atari 'Ingot' power supply, Seriously!” - The VintNerd - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMlW0Bk_ueI
New at Archive.org
- Pokey - French Atari newsletter:
- Alan Bushman - https://archive.org/details/royal-software-catalog-winter-1982/
New at GitHub
- https://github.com/savetz/RAMbrandt
- Eventure - Let's Write a Roguelike Game in 6502 Assembly on the Atari 8-Bit
- companion code for element14 Presents episode 514: "Making a 3D Graphics Card for the Atari 800 XL" - https://github.com/andy-west/atari800xl-3d
- Updates to annotated Star Raiders source code - https://github.com/achurch/StarRaiders
- Tools and utils for the Atari xe 8-bit - https://github.com/pjones1063/atarixe
- Python command line utility to manage file systems on Atari 8-bit and Apple ][ disk images - https://github.com/robmcmullen/atrcopy
Listener Feedback
- RealSports Curling - https://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=7657
Dave Johnson: Demon Attack, Atlantis; APX Lookahead; Personal Financial Management
Dave Johnson programmed software for the little-known Interact Model One computer, and later worked as a programmer for Atari, where he created the game Lookahead, which was published by Atari Program Exchange. Lookahead is a fun little strategy board game that you can play against the computer or another human.
We think Dave Johnson programmed the Atari Personal Financial Management System, a slick-looking but buggy home finance package that Atari kept delaying, finally released a year late, then quickly discontinued. Read Bill Lange's blog post for the full story about that program.
After Atari, Dave worked at Imagic, where he programmed the Atari 8-bit versions of the games Demon Attack and Atlantis. There, he also created the game Quick Step! for the Atari 2600.
This interview took place on October 12, 2021. A video version is also available.
AtariMania's list of Dave's Atari 8-bit games
Play or download Lookahead
Lookahead in the fall 1981 APX catalog
Bill Lange research on Atari Personal Financial Management System
Personal Financial Management System at AtariWiki
Interact Model One computer
Dave on Twitter
This interview on YouTube
Margaret (Akin) Guilbault, Atari Camper
Margaret Akin was one of the children who attended Atari's computer camps, and one of the kids who was featured in The Magic Room, Atari's movie about the camps. Her name is now Margaret Guilbault.
Atari ran its summer camps from 1982 through 1984 at several locations around the United States. That first year, Atari commissioned a film about its summer camps, which was filmed at the San Diego location. Margaret attended Atari camp that first year in San Diego, then again in 1983 the Minnesota location.
It turns out Margaret's first year at a computer camp was in 1981, the summer before Atari's first camps. Her first computer camp experience was at Zaca Lake -- near Santa Barbara, California -- hosted by a company called Computer Camp Inc., which used Atari computers.
I talked with Margaret about her experiences at those camps, and taking part in the filming of The Magic Room, on September 12, 2021.
You can watch The Magic room at YouTube and Internet Archive. In previous interviews I've talked with filmmaker Bob Elfstrom; Linda (Gordon) Brownstein, the Atari vice president who oversaw the camp project; and other Atari computer campers.
The Magic Room (18-minute version)
Newspaper article about Computer Camp Inc.'s Zaca Lake camp
ANTIC Interview 419 - Bob Elfstrom, The Magic Room
ANTIC Special Episode - Atari Summer Camp
Eric Podietz, Interactive Picture Systems
Eric Podietz was co-founder of Interactive Picture Systems, a company that created software for 8-bit computers from 1982 through 1984. The company's first program was PAINT! for the Atari 8-bits, which was developed at the Superboots software development lab located at the Capital Children's Museum in Washington, D.C.. PAINT! was first published by Reston then by Atari.
Their next program was Movie Maker, an animation program. Next came three educational titles published by Spinnaker Software: Trains, a business simulation; Grandma's House, a digital dollhouse; and Aerobics, a fitness program. The company also created Operation Frog, simulated frog dissection software for the Apple II and Commodore 64.
This interview took place on September 9, 2021. In it, we discuss Guy Nouri, Ann Lewin-Benham, and Bill Bowman, whom I have previously interviewed.
After the interview, Eric sent me the source code for his early Apple II program Painter Power, which I scanned and uploaded to Internet Archive.
This interview on YouTube
ANTIC Interview 410 - Ann Lewin-Benham, Director of Capital Children's Museum
ANTIC Interview 407 - Guy Nouri, Interactive Picture Systems
ANTIC Interview 278 - Bill Bowman, CEO of Spinnaker Software
Reston Software's Paint manual
The Designers Behind MovieMaker in Compute! Gazette Issue 15
IPS feature in Starlog Magazine Issue 084
Movie Maker feature in Creative Computing April 1984
Painter Power source code
Emma One Sock fabric
ANTIC Episode 81 - Too Much Commodore
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… we wax philosophical about Raspberry Pi upgrades for the Atari, discuss the drama that was the Atari fest of the past, and talk WAY too much Commodore!
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Atari8BitBot - https://twitter.com/atari8bitbot
- The Magic Room - 18-minute version https://youtu.be/Cs7jnOlNl9Y
-
- (K’s tweets about it: https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1429130503622336514?s=20 )
- New old Bits & Bytes pictures - https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1422715900805869571?s=20
- VCFSE 8.0 was a success! - https://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/otherevents/vintage-computer-festival-southeast/
- 576NUC+ - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/myteks-576nuc-atari-computer
- VCFMW - http://vcfmw.org
- Indy Vintage Computer Club (VCC) - http://indyvcc.c
News
- Atari 64. the Commodore 64 KERNAL, modified to run on the Atari 8-bit line of computers - https://github.com/unbibium/atari64
- Indy Retro News - http://www.indieretronews.com/search/label/ATARI
- Star Raiders pre-production manual - http://www.sonic.net/~nbs/star-raiders/preprod-manual/?fbclid=IwAR00ZBTKG-g2d83KDvZTtlqDpNqJ-e9z22JuJdRxR4tHcqCumXtMwIN8k54
- Retrochallenge 2021/10 - http://www.retrochallenge.org/?fbclid=IwAR3Hi6PLMi3wpfQda2hHMZiQOAREGMnY_E1NF8AjXIDbfjXqvOBHK5md8sA
- Attack of the PETSCII robots - https://www.the8bitguy.com/product/petscii-robots-for-atari/
- BackBit Pro - https://store.backbit.io/product/backbit-pro/
- https://huddle.today/cfl-personalities-to-talk-football-on-halifax-made-social-media-platform/
- The Retroist: A 1982 video visit to the video game department of sears - https://retroist.com/a-1982-video-visit-to-the-video-game-department-of-sears/ (for video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPm7xbPzpUA&t=50s , starts at 4 minute mark and goes to 5 minute mark
- New ABBUC site available - https://abbuc.de/
- Cart extender from BitsOfThePast - https://www.bitsofthepast.com/?product=130xe-ra-extenders-switchers
- SIO Pass Through Breakout Board v2.2 (Mozzwald) - https://fujinet.online/shop/hardware/sio-pass-through-breakout-board-v2-2/
- https://8bitnews.io newsletter
- Atari Projects by Jason Moore - http://atariprojects.org/
- PICOmputer, pocket computer that emulates 8-bit computers - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2021/07/picomputer-computadora-de-bolsillo-que.html
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- VCF Midwest Sep 11-12 http://vcfmw.org/announce , Elmhurst, IL (Chicago)
- Fujiama Sep. 12-19, Lengenfeld, Germany, http://fujiama.eu/
- VCF East October 8, 9, 10, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival East , Wall, NJ
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- "The Story of the Atari 1200XL - Is It GOOD?" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_WpWOrIE9g
- Making a 3D Graphics Card for the Atari 800 XL using the Raspberry Pi - element 14 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4ffGLkgoEg&t=64s
- Atari 800 with Sophia 2 DVI and Incognito plugins - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df3lfFLuUF
New at Archive.org
- Allan Bushman uploaded “Hardcopy” newsletter April 1987 Allentown Bethlehem Easton’s Atari Computer Enthusiasts - https://archive.org/details/hardcopy-april-1987
This interview took place on August 25, 2021.
Today's interview is with Mark Knutsen, who wrote a star cluster simulation in the Forth programming language for his high school science fair. I found this blurb in the July 1986 edition of the Jersey Atari Computer Group newsletter:
"June meeting highlights ... Mark Knutsen showed us his Star Cluster program in Forth that won a science fair prize for him. Mark’s program demonstrates the interaction of four stars in two planes. Mark also discussed Forth in general."
This interview took place on August 21, 2021. If you'd like to see our talking heads — and the visuals of his program running — a video version of this interview is available at YouTube and Internet Archive. Mark has shared his program and the source code: those links are in the show notes.
This interview at YouTube
Download Mark's Star Cluster program
Star Cluster blurb in JACE newsletter July 1986
ValFORTH Documentation
Computer Recreations - Star Clusters column in Scientific American: At JSTOR and At Internet Archive
Tom Halfhill discusses Charles Brannon and SpeedScript
Charles Brannon was program editor at Compute! Publications from 1980 until 1986. He wrote and edited articles for Compute! Magazine and Compute!'s Gazette. His Linkedin profile says that his "primary responsibility was crafting BASIC and assembly language software creations. Secondary was managing other young programmers." Charles' wrote and ported many type-in programs for the Atari 8-bit and other computers. His Atari programs included FontMaker, a character set editor and The Atari Wedge, for adding commands To Atari BASIC.
His most popular and well-known program was SpeedScript, an assembly language word processor that was available first for the Commodore 64 in the March 1985 issue. In subsequent issues -- one month after another -- versions were published for VIC-20, then the Atari 8-bits, then the Apple II. Each version was a type-in listing that -- after excruciating hours of careful entry -- would build a powerful, functional word processor. Charles wrote a couple of books about SpeedScript (one specific to Atari and one specific to the Commodore versions) which contained the manual, type-in program code, and commented assembly language source code.
I've been trying to get an interview with Charles Brannon since 2015, to talk about his time at Compute! in general and SpeedScript specifically. This year, I heard back from his wife Margaret, who told me that Charles suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2016 and no longer feels confident in his memory. I won't be able to interview Charles.
But, Tom Halfhill, Charles' old friend and colleague at Compute!, volunteered to talk to me about Charles. Tom was a supervisor at Compute! when Charles wrote SpeedScript, and often discussed which features to include and the problems he encountered. Tom worked at Compute! Publications from 1982 to 1988, starting as the first Features Editor for Compute! Magazine later becoming Editor. He was the launch editor of Compute!'s Gazette for Commodore, Compute!'s Atari ST Disk and Magazine, Compute!'s PCjr Magazine, and Compute!'s PC Magazine.
This is not the first time I've talked with Tom: I interviewed him about his time at Compute back in 2016. This time I talk with him with an emphasis on Charles Brannon and SpeedScript. (To be perfectly honest, we stuck to those topics for about 35 minutes. After that, we found other interesting things to talk about, most of which I left in this episode.)
This interview took place on July 22, 2021.
This interview at Youtube
Compute! articles by Charles Brannon at AtariMagazines.com
SpeedScript book, Atari version, at Internet Archive
SpeedScript book, Atari version, at AtariArchives.org
Download SpeedScript for Atari or try it in your browser
My 2016 interview with Tom
Tom's web site
ANTIC Interview 206 - Richard Mansfield
ANTIC Interview 7 - The Atari 8-bit Podcast - Bill Wilkinson
Donald Dixon, Robotics R&D at Atari Research
Donald Dixon worked at Atari Research from 1983 through 1984, under Dr, Alan Kay. There, he worked in robotics research and development, working on a robotic wheelchair. After Atari, Donald worked at Axlon, Nolan Bushnell's toys and consumer robotics company; and Worlds of Wonder, the company most famous for the animatronic bear toy, Teddy Ruxpin.
This interview took place on July 27, 2021.
Don's web site
ANTIC Interview 11 - David Small
ANTIC 2013 Chris Crawford interview
ANTIC Interview 420 - Brenda Laurel, Atari Research
ANTIC Interview 421 - Jim Leiterman, Atari Research Group
ANTIC Episode 80 - Atari Dunking Booth
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… we discuss the exciting progress being made around the 576NUC+ project, all of the great new Atari projects from the mind of Jason Moore, Kay’s awesome series of recent interviews, and we dunk your minds in the deep booth that is Atari news!
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Intro
- Atari Ad Slicks, Line Art, Radio Scripts 1983-07-13 - https://archive.org/details/Atari_Ad_Slicks_Line_Art_Radio_Scripts_1983-07-13
What We’ve Been Up To
- “How I accidentally archived hundreds of Apple II source code floppies” by Kay at KFest 2021 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFa75CqJw_4
- https://archive.org/details/TheMagicRoomDocuments - (https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1416420208172957699?s=20)
- MyTek’s 576NUC+ - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/myteks-576nuc-atari-computer/products/myteks-576nuc-and-internal-fujinet
News
- Atari 2” circle stickers available at the museum and VCF East and VCF West - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-Cl8ZPsxcT3d05krNtuam684_o6QdYAk?usp=sharing, http://www.vcfed.org
- @atariorbit: wrote up a little bit about the history (so far) of the 576 NUC - https://www.atariorbit.org/2021/07/02/576-nuc-history/
- Atari Projects by Jason Moore - http://atariprojects.org/
- Allegro is a Polish online e-commerce platform - has lots of Atari upgrades available for purchase - https://allegro.pl/
- While ABBUC site being slowly put back together, alternate forum sites are being used:
-
- temporary alternative forum at https://www.atari-portal.de/
- https://www.forum64.de/index.php?board/161-atari-8bit/
- U1MB, Incognito, SIDE2, SIDE3, 1088XEL/XLD Firmware 4.0 Released by FlashJazzCat - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/321394-u1mb-incognito-side2-side3-1088xelxld-firmware-40-released/
- SNACK - SNES Atari Controler Kit - Irgwender - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/323171-snack-snes-atari-controler-kit/
- https://hackaday.com/2021/07/09/zooming-through-the-mandelbrot-set-on-an-atari/
- Tricky Tutorials archive - itaych - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/22905-tricky-tutorials/?do=findComment&comment=4866295
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- VCF West August 7 & 8, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival West , The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA
- VCFSE Aug 20-22 https://gameatl.com/vintage-computing-festival-southeast-8-0-at-sfge/ or http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/ , Atlanta, GA
- VCF Midwest Sep 11-12 http://vcfmw.org/announce , Elmhurst, IL (Chicago)
- Fujiama Sep. 12-19, Lengenfeld, Germany, http://fujiama.eu/
- VCF East October 8, 9, 10, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival East , Wall, NJ
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- VT100 on the Atari 800/XEP80 - Cathryn Mataga - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8laMyHJbJzw
- Atari XL -=512KB Rambo - Saberman - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbEGeOR1TGM External 512KB memory expansion (Rambo) for Atari 800XL
- ISS Tracker on the Atari 800 XL - Retro Computer Paraguay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-hvt0gLkDY Let's follow the trajectory of the International Space Station from our 8-bit Atari computer equipped with FujiNet. Bill Kendricks’s ISS Tracker: http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/fujin...
- Atari 800XL: Weird Video Issue and Botched Soldering - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8WGrTZXh20
New at Archive.org
- Kay:
-
- Cable Graphic Sciences Info-gen manual - https://archive.org/details/Cable_Graphic_Sciences_Info-gen_manual
- Ensign Communication Inc Information Display System - Ensign 5000 - https://archive.org/details/Ensign_Communication_Inc_Information_Display_System_-_Ensign_5000
- INFOsoft 7000 Quick Start Guide - https://archive.org/details/INFOsoft_7000_Quick_Start_Guide
- Atari Research Memos on the Subject of Interactive Fantasy - https://archive.org/details/brenda_laurel_atari_memos
- Unofficial Atari Computer Users Groups 1982-12-01 - https://archive.org/details/Unofficial_Atari_Computer_Users_Groups_1982-12-01
- Official Atari Computer Users Groups 1982-12-01 - https://archive.org/details/Official_Atari_Computer_Users_Groups_1982-12-01
- texts
- How To Start an Atari Computer Users Group draft 1: https://archive.org/details/How_To_Start_an_Atari_Computer_Users_Group_draft_1
- Atari Computer Users' Group Registration Form and Cover Letter - https://archive.org/details/Atari_Computer_Users_Group_Registration_Form_and_Cover_Letter
- Atari Ad Slicks, Line Art, Radio Scripts 1983-07-13 - https://archive.org/details/Atari_Ad_Slicks_Line_Art_Radio_Scripts_1983-07-13
- Bay Area Atari Users Group newsletters - https://archive.org/search.php?query=Bay+Area+Atari+Users+Group
- Ornjuce:
-
- Atari Computer Association Of Orange County Newsletter Vol 9 No 1 Qtr 11988 - https://archive.org/details/ornjuce-atari-computer-assocation-of-orange-county-newsletter-vol-9-no-1-qtr-11988
- Allan:
-
- Dal-Ace - Dallas Atari Computer Enthusiasts newsletters - https://archive.org/details/@allan52?query=dal-ace
- Computer Shopper Atari articles - https://archive.org/details/@allan52?query=computer+shopper
New at Github
- Invenies Verba ("Find the Words") by Bill Kendrick - https://github.com/billkendrick/iverba-2
- Sebastian Igielski - ANTY *AJEK COPY - https://github.com/seban-slt/antyajek
- An Atari BASIC program to render the Sierpinski Triangle on Atari 8-bit computers - https://github.com/as6o/atari8bit_sierpinski
- KRET - The Mole - https://github.com/GSoftwareDevelopment/Mole
Jim Leiterman, Atari Research Group
He created a symbolic disassembler, which he used to port the game Kangaroo from Atari 5200 to the Atari 800. That version of Kangaroo was released by Atari Program Exchange, in the fall 1983 catalog. Prior to Atari, Jim was a programmer at Horizon Simulations, where he worked on Shadow Hawk One, "a futuristic game of spacefaring piracy."
This interview took place on July 12, 2021. Be sure to check out Jim's web site where he has posted some photos of the hardware and software that we discussed.
This interview at YouTube
Jim's Atari page
Jim's games at AtariMania
"Atari nearly introduced the world to fitness gaming 30 years ago" in Washington Post
AtariProtos on Tumbleweeds
Horizons Simulations article in Softline Magazine Issue 1.4
Brenda Laurel, Atari Research
Dr. Brenda Laurel worked at Atari from 1980 through 1984. She began as software specialist for educational applications then soon became manager of software strategy for the home computer division. In mid-1982, she joined Atari Corporate Research at the Sunnyvale research laboratory, where she worked with Alan Kay.
After Atari, she worked at Activision as director of software development. Later she founded Purple Moon, a software company focused on creating games for young girls; and co-founded Telepresence Research, a company focused on first-person media and virtual reality.
This interview took place on July 15, 2021. Check the show notes for links to articles she wrote for Atari Connection magazine; her doctoral dissertation, "Toward the Design of a Computer-Based Interactive Fantasy System"; scans of memos on the subject of interactive fantasy that she wrote while at Atari Research; and more.
Brenda's web site
Brenda's dissertation — Toward the Design of a Computer-Based Interactive Fantasy System
Brenda's Atari memos
The Renaissance Kid article by Brenda Laurel in Atari Connection Volume 1 Number 1
Atari PILOT with Turtle Graphics article by Brenda Laurel in Atari Connection Volume 1 Number 4
Valley of Genius podcast episode 11: Brenda Laurel at Atari
Brenda Laurel on games for girls
Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet
ANTIC Episode 79 - Basically MyTek and Nir
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… we discuss all the great work that MyTek is doing with Atari hardware (including the 576NUC), Nir Dary surprises all of the hosts with (late/early) Christmas (or birthday) Atari gifts, and Randy gets unmercifully teased about his overuse of the word “basically”.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Magic Dump! - http://atariprojects.org/2019/02/12/dump-your-atari-computer-screen-to-printer-or-disk-10-15-mins/
- CircuitScribe - https://circuitscribe.com/
- Monkey Wrench II - http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-monkey-wrench-ii_17608.html
News
- MyTek’s 576NUC+ and internal FujiNet!! - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/myteks-576nuc-atari-computer/products/myteks-576nuc-and-internal-fujinet
- Latest Atari Projects by Jason Moore - http://atariprojects.org/
-
- Upgrade an Atari 400 to Composite Video with the Super Color CPU Card (1-2 hours)
- Read Creative Computing Magazine (30-60 mins)
- Read the Book “The Creative Atari” (30-60 mins)
- Upgrade an Atari 400 to 48K of RAM (1-2 hours)
- Update the Firmware of Your Ultimate 1MB Upgrade for Atari 8-Bit Computers (5-10 mins)
- Watch Curt Vendel’s Exhibit Presentation at VCF-East (30 mins)
- Purchase or Download the Atari 8-Bit Programming Reference Book “Mapping the Atari” (5-10 mins)
- Purchase the Book “Art of Atari” (5-10 mins) - Tim Lapetino
- Purchase and Install a 64K RAM Upgrade for an Indus GT Floppy Drive (30-60 mins)
- Run the CP/M Operating System on Your Atari 8-Bit Computer using an Upgraded Indus GT Floppy Drive (30-60 mins)
- Vice article about Best Electronics - https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kvkx9/dont-piss-off-bradley-the-parts-seller-keeping-atari-machines-alive
- Randy’s interview with Brad (interview #5 from 2014!) - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-5-the-atari-8-bit-podcast-brad-koda-of-best-electronics
- Brewing Academy stocks Lotharek items - https://twitter.com/BrewingAcademy/status/1383459449692516352?s=20
- ABBUC site status - http://abbuc.de
- Online version of Atari emulator for web browsers: “Good Enough Atari Emulator" is the project of Mariusz "emrk" Kryński (Poland)
- XEP80-II a new beginning - MyTek - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/322186-xep80-ii-a-new-beginning/
- SUPDUP terminal emulator
-
- Code and discussion - https://github.com/PDP-10/its/pull/2034
- More discussion - https://twitter.com/larsbrinkhoff/status/1404700557286203393?s=21
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- KansasFest July 23-24 https://www.kansasfest.org ; virtual event
- VCF West August 7 & 8, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival West , The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA
- VCFSE Aug 20-22 https://gameatl.com/vintage-computing-festival-southeast-8-0-at-sfge/ or http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/ , Atlanta, GA
- VCF Midwest Sep 11-12 http://vcfmw.org/announce , Elmhurst, IL (Chicago)
- Fujiama Sep. 12-19, Lengenfeld, Germany, http://fujiama.eu/
- VCF East October 8, 9, 10, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival East , Wall, NJ
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- Atari Dealer Demo by MS-DOS Friends - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psxSm9PeVgA
- New Games for Your Atari 8-bit (Part 20) - The New Retro Show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWyiI5LNHSA
- Massive Atari Software Archive - TOSEC and the Internet Archive by The Atari Geek - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl7FfLuYGTg
- Original Atari 800 POKEY Chiptune by Cobra Commander for ANTIC Podcast! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2klUVHRWtyk
New at Archive.org
- 57 Atari Computer Enthusiasts newsletters 1982-1987 via Dale Lutz - https://archive.org/details/@savetz?query=atari+computer+enthusiasts+newsletter
- Allan Bushman - https://archive.org/details/@allan52?query=dal-ace
- Richwood Software's The Gladiator manual - https://archive.org/details/gladiator-the-richwood-software/mode/2up
- Bill Lange - Creative Computing Software Thorn EMI - https://archive.org/details/creative-computing-software-disk-jacket
New at Github
- https://github.com/kenjennings/Atari-1nvader
- https://github.com/bhall408/atari800-touchpad-keyboard-controller
- https://github.com/GSoftwareDevelopment/SFX-Tracker
- https://github.com/pkali/feudal-economy
- https://github.com/dgreefhorst/fujinews
Listener Feedback
- Bits & Bytes and the Academy on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/bitsandbytestvo
End of Show Music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2klUVHRWtyk Original Atari 800 POKEY Chiptune by Cobra Commander
Bob Elfstrom, The Magic Room
Interview and research by Kay Savetz.
From 1982 through 1984, Atari ran summer computer camps at several locations around the United States. I covered the Atari camps extensively in a special episode in 2015. Now it's summer 2021, and we're going back to camp!
That first year of the computer camps, in 1982, Atari commissioned a film about its summer camps, about the kids and teachers who were there, about the process of learning about computers, about kids challenging themselves, and about making friends at summer camp. Atari commissioned filmmaker Bob Elfstrom and his partner Lucy Hilmer to make the film. They shot the 26-minute film at the University of California, San Diego campus in 1982. It would be titled The Magic Room and was released the next year.
There are many scenes in the computer lab: we see close-ups of kids concentrating, thinking about the logic of their programming projects. Their faces light up as they solve their problem. There’s an adorable scene with a robotic, computer controlled turtle running across the floor, racing an actual turtle. There's kids riding horses at magic hour, and singing by the campfire, and finally an epic pillow fight, with feathers flying everywhere in the dorm hallways. The end credits were made with an Atari 800, naturally.
This interview is with the filmmaker, Bob Elfstrom. (Lucy Hilmer was unavailable for an interview.) Bob has a long list of film credits to his name. He is known for his work on Johnny Cash! The Man, His World, His Music (1969), and Mysteries of the Sea (1980) -- his IMDB page lists scores of credits.
It's easy to watch The Magic Room (and you should!). It's available at YouTube and Internet Archive.
My interview with Bob took place on June 17 and June 25, 2021.
Watch The Magic Room
The Magic Room Trailer
Magic Room credits:
Robert Elfstrom Productions
Executive Producer: Linda S. Gordon
Executive Consultant: Lauren Dunbar
Produced and Directed by: Robert Elfstrom and Lucy Hilmer
Edited by: Michael Chandler
Associate Producer: Gloria S. Borders
Music by: Sasha Matson
Written by: Lucy Hilmer and Michael Chandler
Production Advisor: Richard Pugh
Sound: Agamemnon Andrianos
Additional Sound: Nelson Stoll
Production Manager: Kathleen Andrianos
Special Assistant Caroline Pugh
Special Thanks: Raymond E. Kassar, Robert A. Kahn, Wayne Harvey, Ted M. Kahn
Head computer instructor: Richard Pugh
Instructor: Karen Okagaki
Computer Campers: Maria Smith, Candace Shockley, Margaret Aiken, Enrique Rios, J. J. Kreideweiss, Vincent Cook, Jim Dillon, Leendert Mulder, Rick Crosby, Brent McDonald, Barry Champagne
This is the second interview episode about Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow.
Rick Trow was the president of Rick Trow Productions, the company that created the Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow show -- as well as more than 40 other school assemblies and other productions over the years. Mr. Trow wrote the script for the 40-minute show, which combined two synchronized films with a live actor to teach computer basics to young people.
This interview took place on June 5, 2021.
ANTIC Interview 417 - Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow
The Career Game
Rick Trow Productions Employee Newsletters 1983
"Taking the Show on the Road" in Personal Computing September 1983
Atari Brings Multimedia Computer Show To Schools in AtariAge v2n1
ANTIC Episode 78 - The Extremely Elderly Computer Geeks Club
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… We discuss lots of new things you can do with your FujiNet, the differences in FujiNet versions, the Old Computer Geeks Club, and other recent Atari news...
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Interesting conversation with Mike Albaugh - https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1388206215356829696?s=20
- 2013 Mike Albaugh interview: https://archive.org/details/MikeAlbaughInterview
- Brian Manning - Academy on Computers tapes and newsletters https://archive.org/details/@savetz?query=academy+on+computers
- TIARA - The Internet Archive Research Assistant - https://github.com/savetz/tiara
News
- FujiNet - Astronomy Pic of the Day (APOD) - http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/fujinet-apod/?fbclid=IwAR3gDo6hV8Sgx4fPgcfE-5s0n26Rpe7jD_3O8V-vbAVPbFx5yq2gEzBoLYc by Bill Kendrick
- Latest Atari Projects - http://atariprojects.org/
-
- Purchase and Assemble a SpartaDOS X Cartridge (15-30 mins)
- Explore Demoscene Demos (15-30 mins)
- Explore ANALOG Computing Magazine (30-60 mins)
- Purchase a 3D Printed Case for your SIO2PC (10-15 mins)
- Michael Darland died - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-394-michael-darland-microperipheral-corporation-and-sofcast
- and John Skruch, Atarisoft:
- Personalized dust covers for the Atari XL series. - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/320047-personalized-dust-covers-for-the-atari-xl-series/ - nowy80
- Dust covers for 1200XL users - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/318555-good-news-for-1200xl-lovers-new-dust-covers - "papa*nannysfunstuff"
- Kilobyte Magazine - Jason Worley - https://archive.org/details/@kilobyte_magazine
- Atari XE PCB Remake Pre-Order Thread - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/319881-atari-xe-remake-pre-order-thread/
- Sokoban 2021 http://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=8029
- Old Computer Geeks Club (OCGC) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/atari8bitcomputers/permalink/3918610088176468/ - Monthly meeting
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- KansasFest July 23-24 https://www.kansasfest.org ; virtual event
- VCF West August 7 & 8, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival West , The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA
- VCFSE Aug 20-22 https://gameatl.com/vintage-computing-festival-southeast-8-0-at-sfge/ or http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/ , Atlanta, GA
- VCF Midwest Sep 11-12 http://vcfmw.org/announce , Elmhurst, IL (Chicago)
- Fujiama Sep. 12-19, Lengenfeld, Germany, http://fujiama.eu/
- VCF East October 8, 9, 10, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival East , Wall, NJ
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- Spectrum, Commodore, and Atari emulators for Android - IT Guy in Action - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX9sj8OoK2Y&t=0s
- 3D rendering of 800, 810 drive, and Amdek monitor by EmuRetro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCA5UshDfpY
- How I built my modern Atari XL computer by GeSpy Build Stuff - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fbeg5dx5CE
- Atari 800XL: Sophia 2 DVI video upgrade - by Mr. Lurch’s Things - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQyNmJtPrBQ&t=1s
- Dead Atari 800XL: Fix and Extreme Restoration by FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-IEetUJB1w
- Atari Fujinet inside a 1030 Modem by Doug Venner - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcmxCWUO2GE
New at Archive.org
- The "Archives of CSS(tm)" can be found at https://archive.org/details/@cs_stuttgart by DjayBee (Joachim)
ANTIC Interview 417 - Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow
Imagine this. It's 1983 or 1984. You're drudging through yet another day of middle school or high school. But today, there's a surprise, a break from the monotony. The teacher tells your class to put away their stuff and go to the gym, or the cafeteria, or the auditorium. Today, there will be an assembly.
As you and your class -- and all the other classes -- get settled in the uncomfortable folding chairs, or the bleachers, or even the floor, you take in the scene: two large projection screens. Some speakers and audio equipment you haven't seen before. One of your peers is getting ready to run a spotlight. Then, this enthusiastic person -- older than you but really not by much -- explains why you're here. Today, at this assembly, you're going to learn about computers.
The lights go down, the spotlight comes up on that energetic host, and you realize this is a different sort of school assembly than you've seen before. Two projectors come on, lighting those two big screens -- it's a synchronized wide-screen movie. The presenter -- that not-much-older-than-you person -- talks to the screens, interacting with the movie and talking to the audience too. It's kind of corny, but your peers seem interested so you keep watching.
The show discusses the basics of computer operation, and how computers work differently than the human brain. There's a scene where the computers talk in voices like people. There's a section about robots, and a part where Suzanne Ciani shows how she makes music using computers. It touches on computer art, and the social implications of computers in the world.
40 minutes later, the show is over, and it's back to class. You learned a few things about computers, and talk about the assembly with your friends at lunch. Maybe you'll ask your parents for a computer for your birthday.
This scenario played out more or less exactly that way for more than a million middle school and high school students in 1983 and 1984. The assembly was called "Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow" and it was financed by Atari.
According to a 1983 article in InfoWorld: "Atari has a fleet of ... people traveling around the country giving the Atari multimedia presentation 'Expressway to Tomorrow' to a minimum of 500 people per performance at high-school assemblies."
(Full disclosure, the article claimed "Atari has a fleet of 700 people" putting on the show, but I can't believe that number is accurate. More likely the number was closer to 7.)
The traveling show would visit 2,000 schools in 1983, and was booked a year in advance. With the required minimum attendance of 500 students per show, that's a million kids. More than a million kids saw this assembly. that year.
The September 1983 issue of Personal Computing magazine said: "Since January 1983, nine separate touring units have crisscrossed the United States, presenting the show to nearly 1,400 public and private schools — a total of 1.2 million students to date. Touring begins again this September after the summer break, and will run through December 1984." In reality, I believe the show ended by mid-1984.
According to that article: "The show is a lively one, with the host on stage for the entire presentation. Several film projectors are going at once, filling two huge screens with fast-moving shots. Music is constant throughout. The host is busy either talking to the audience or interacting with characters on screen. ...The program aims to give people [a] feeling of comfort about computing. The show focuses on the many applications of computers today, from storing recipes to teaching a language, to tutoring."
What survives of this show today? Not much that I know about so far. We don't have the film or the script. Audio tapes were available to help the presenters learn their lines. Informational packets were produced for teachers to hand out after the assembly. So far, I haven't been able to find anyone who has any of those things. (If you do, contact me!) What I do have is two interviews: memories of that project by one of the performers who went from school to school running the assembly, and the filmmaker.
Before we get to the interviews, I want to give some background about the business of producing school assemblies. It turns out that school assemblies are a big business. Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow was one of many shows put on by Rick Trow Productions of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. These shows were often sponsored by corporations, designed to educate kids, but also to get them excited about whatever it was they wanted to promote: taking pictures with Kodak cameras. Going skiing. Buying new music.
According to an article in the Boston Globe from 1972 -- this is 11 years before the Atari show, but some of the few hard stats I could find -- Rick Trow Productions staged 7,000 assemblies in 1971, maintained 23 touring companies offering 16 different shows to schools. They put on educational assemblies that promoted products and services from companies that wanted to reach the "youth market" -- CBS Radio, Air France, Eastman Kodak, and others. Its multimedia productions also included titles such as "The Black Experience", "Environment: Challenge to Action", and "The History of Rock and Roll". At the time, according to the article, the company charged a school just $80 per assembly. But by the time of the Atari show in 1983, the company seemed to have changed its business model to offer the shows to schools for free; earning their money entirely from the companies whose products its shows promoted. The companies got access to an audience of young people who might become eager to buy their product (or to ask their parents to get it.) The schools got free access to (hopefully) an educationally worthwhile presentation that would broaden their students' horizons.
A classified advertisement by Rick Trow Productions seeking presenters stated that in the early 1980s, presenters could expect to receive a salary of $100 per week during rehearsal period, and $500 per week for salary and expenses while on tour.
My first interview is with Veronica Wiseman, who was one of the presenters who traveled from school to school putting on the Atari show. Her name at the time was Ronnie Anastasio. Veronica did three "tours" of Expressway to Tomorrow, from January 1983 through April 1984.
(interview)
Next, my interview with Dr. Chuck Sterin, the filmmaker.
(interview)
The interview with Veronica Wiseman took place on October 23, 2020. The interview with Chuck Sterin took place on June 5, 2020.
Thanks to Chuck Sterin and Veronica Wiseman, and to Tom Bregatta, Bob Barto, and Frank Darby, who were also presenters who provided background information for this episode.
If you remember seeing Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow at a school assembly, I'd love to hear your recollections. If you happen to have any of the materials, such as the script, practice tapes, or the film, please contact me.
Check the show notes for links to magazine articles about the show, as well as scans of material that Veronica Wiseman saved, including Rick Trow Productions employee newsletters, a large collection of thank-you and feedback letters from many schools where she presented, and her photographs from that time.
Veronica Wiseman's collection of letters from schools
Rick Trow Productions Employee Newsletters 1983
Veronica's photo album
New Educational Film Show Charts Future Computer Careers for Students in Atari Connection v3n1
Atari Brings Multimedia Computer Show To Schools in AtariAge v2n1
Spring CUE Conference article in Infoworld v5n4
"Taking the Show on the Road" in Personal Computing September 1983
This is the fourth in our series of interviews about the Atari computers at the Capital Children's Museum.
Bob Evans wore many hats at the museum: he was director of special exhibits, where he worked on the museum's exhibit on the history of human communication, which used several computers, both public-facing and behind the scenes. He was administrator of Superboots, the museum's software publishing lab -- it published the computer art program PAINT! but no other software. Bob was administrator of The Future Center, the museum's public computer lab, and administrator of the museum's summer computer camp for disadvantaged youth.
This interview took place on April 22, 2021.
ANTIC Interview 391 - Tracy Frey, Atari Birthday Girl
Peter Hirshberg was curator of the communications wing of the Capital Children's Museum in the early 1980s, where he helped build The Future Center, the computer lab outfitted with Atari 800 computers; and museum exhibits, some of which were computer controlled.
This interview took place on April 12, 2021. In it, we discuss Ann Lewin-Benham, director of the museum; and Guy Nouri, from the Superboots lab, both of whom I previously interviewed.
Compu-tots and Other Joys of Museum Life by Peter Hirshberg, Instructional Innovator, Sept 1981
ANTIC Interview 410 - Ann Lewin-Benham, Director of Capital Children's Museum
ANTIC Interview 407 - Guy Nouri, Interactive Picture Systems
Bob Puff, Computer Software Services
Bob Puff is owner of Computer Software Services, a company that began creating hardware and software for the Atari 8-bit computers in 1982. Bob became president of the company in 1991. He designed a bevy of hardware products for the Atari computers, including The Black Box, a hard drive host adapter; The Multiplexer, a networking system; the UltraSpeed Plus operating system upgrade; upgrades for the XF551 floppy drive; the Super-E Burner EPROM burner; and others. He also created a number of popular utility programs, including the BobTerm terminal program; Disk Communicator, to convert boot disks to a single compressed file for transfer over modem; and MYDOS version 4.53; among other software.
This interview took place on April 27, 2021.
Computer Software Services legacy site
1993 Computer Software Services catalog scan
ANTIC Interview 393 - Charles Marslett, MYDOS and FastChip
Valerie (Atkinson) Manfull, Atari Game Research Group
Valerie Atkinson was a member of Atari's Game Research Group. Now named Valerie Manfull, she was on the team that designed and programmed the game Excalibur, along with Chris Crawford and Larry Summers. Excalibur was published by Atari Program Exchange in fall 1983. She is also one of the programmes of Ballsong, along with Douglas Crockford. Ballsong is a music and graphics demo program released by Atari, in which a ball bounces on the screen in response to an improvised tune. She was one of the programmers, with Ann Marion, of TV Fishtank, a demonstration of an artificially intelligent fish. (It's unclear if the fishtank program was released anywhere, though it apparently was shown at the 1984 SIGgraph conference.)
This interview took place on April 22, 2021.
ANTIC Episode 4 - Chris Crawford
ANTIC Interview 240 - Douglas Crockford
TV Fishtank at SIGgraph
Jim Leiterman describes TV Fishtank
Chris Crawford describes the development of Excalibur in The Art of Computer Game Design
Excalibur announced in Atari Program Exchange, fall 1983
Excalibur review in Atari Connection
Excalibur at AtariMania
Video of Ballsong
ANTIC Episode 77 - Jason Moore, PhD
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… Jason Moore joins us to discuss his atariprojects.org Web site and we discuss all the news rocking the Atari 8-bit world...
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Ed Fries source code, mac/65 tokenized:
-
- https://github.com/savetz/edfries-seachase
- https://github.com/savetz/edfries-anteater
- https://github.com/savetz/edfries-frog
- https://github.com/savetz/edfries-nitro
- https://github.com/savetz/edfries-chess (Xuel got it working at https://atariage.com/forums/topic/318961-assembly-source-code-for-5-programs-by-ed-fries/?do=findComment&comment=4799922
- Prentice Associates Classroom Computer News and Apple II source code disks. Classroom computer news - https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Intentional+Educations%22&sort=-publicdate
News
- FrogFind! http://frogfind.com/ - The Search Engine for Vintage Computers
- AtariAge thread on FrogFind! - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/319514-new-websites-for-your-old-computers/
- Atari Projects - Jason Moore does it again! - http://atariprojects.org/
- US based Amiga store, AmigaOnTheLake, has branched out into wider retro territory and now includes multiple Atari 8-bit items - http://amigaonthelake.com/atari-8-bit/
- ABBUC (Atari Bit Byter User Club) Website is down until further notice due to a hackers attack - https://vintageisthenewold.com/abbuc-atari-bit-byter-user-club-website-is-down-until-further-notice-due-to-a-hackers-attack/
- 10-line BASIC contest results
- ABBUC 2021 Software Contest - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/319869-abbuc-software-contest-2021/
- 8-Bit Dungeon which is being created with the 8-Bit Unity platform has a tech demo out - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2021/04/descarga-demo-jugable-de-8bit-dungeon.html
- TCL language - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/269553-test-computer-language-version-22-from-d-firth/?tab=comments#comment-4807575
- ABBUC magazine #144 - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/319736-abbuc-magazine-144/
- Bill Kendrick transcribed 1982 Byte magazine article Advanced Star Raiders Tactics and Strategies - http://www.sonic.net/~nbs/star-raiders/advanced-star-raiders-tactics-and-strategies.html
- Issue 32 of Atari User Magazine is available - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2021/04/atari-y-c64-se-enfrentan-en-nuevo.html
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- KansasFest July 23-24 https://www.kansasfest.org ; virtual event
- VCF West August 7 & 8, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival West
- VCFSE Aug 20-22 https://gameatl.com/vintage-computing-festival-southeast-8-0-at-sfge/ or http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/ , Atlanta, GA
- VCF Midwest Sep 11-12 http://vcfmw.org/announce , Chicago area
- VCF East October 8, 9, 10, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival East , Wall, NJ
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- CROSS HORDE =+ ATARI 800 XL += NEW GAME 2021 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcc4TtB1e9U - Atari 8 Bits For Ever
- MOON CRESTA !!! ATARI 800 XL - VBXE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVmH7_1hFGA&t=42s - Atari 8 Bits For Ever
- Atari 800XL Music - "Return of Atarians" - On Real Hardware (( IN STEREO )) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jHQaT1Ei28 - Paul Westphal
- Retropie 4.6 Atari 5200 Tutorial - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTZCK5EX5AA - Ace1000ks1975
- Atari 800 - NOS Keyboard and Reassembly - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K-JRvFzci8 - ShadowTron Blog
New at Archive.org
- https://archive.org/details/zongmagazine
- Atari Playing David To The Giants - https://archive.org/details/atari-playing-david-to-the-giants
- GRASSHOPPER — A Low-Level Language for Use on the MOS 6502 Microcomputer - https://archive.org/details/grasshopper-6502
Linda Brownstein, Atari VP Special Projects
As I've researched Atari and it's 8-bit computer projects over the years, one name has come up over and over again, attached to the most interesting projects. Linda S. Gordon. Executive Director of Atari Computer Camps. Linda. Executive Producer of The Magic Room, Atari's movie about its camps. Atari's collaboration with Club Med to offer computer labs at vacation destinations — Linda again. Atari Club, the fan group that published Atari Age magazine - Linda launched that. More recently, in my interview with Ann Lewin-Benham of the Capital Children's Museum, Linda's name came up once again -- she was the liaison between Atari and the museum. Linda worked on the most interesting projects.
Today, her name is Linda Brownstein. Linda joined Atari in December 1980 as Vice President of Special Projects, where she worked on most of the projects that I mentioned before. In October 1983 she became Senior Vice President in Atari's Education group. She left the company in July 1984 after Jack Tramiel took over the company.
This interview took place on April 21, 2021.
ANTIC Interview 78 - Manny Gerard, The Man Who Fired Nolan
ANTIC Special Episode - Atari Summer Camp
ANTIC Interview 410 - Ann Lewin-Benham, Capital Children's Museum
ANTIC Interview 185 - Ted Kahn
Atari Computer Camps — The Magic Room
Video version of this interview
Mark Simonson, Atari Artist and Font Designer
Mark Simonson used his Atari computers who create art that was published in magazines in the 1980s, including a portrait of Nolan Bushnell that was commissioned by TWA Ambassador, an inflight magazine; a colorful street scene for the cover of Minnesota Monthly, the magazine of Minnesota Public Radio; and a juggler for the cover of Credit Union Advantage magazine, among others.
Professionally, Mark is a font designer. He created Atari Classic, a free TrueType font family for modern computers that looks like the Atari 8-bit screen font. Today, you'll see Atari Classic used in many Atari emulators, web sites, the WUDSN IDE, and elsewhere.
This interview took place on April 15, 2021.
Mark's Atari reminisce blog post
Mark's Mac/Atari Fusion site
Mark's Nolan Bushnell portrait in Hi-Res Magazine Issue 1
A wild Mark appears on AtariAge
FujiNet
This interview on YouTube
Ann Lewin-Benham, Director of Capital Children's Museum
Ann Lewin-Benham was executive director of the Capital Children's Museum in Washington, D.C. The museum was home to the first public-access computer center in the nation’s capital, and indeed, one of the first in the United States. In 1981, Atari and Apple each donated dozens of computers to the museum. The exact number is unclear, but 30 is the number I've seen most often for Atari's contribution.
The computer lab was called The Future Center. There, the museum offered computer literacy classes for people of all ages, from Compu-Tots for preschoolers, to programming classes for adults, there was even a computer literacy session for members of Congress. It also used the lab for birthday parties. (Last year, I interviewed a woman who had her 8th birthday party at the museum.) The museum used more of its computers in its exhibit on communication. It established a software development laboratory, called Superboots, in which developers created custom softare for the museum, and one product that was released commercially: the graphics program PAINT!
In a 1982 article titled A Day At The Capital Children's Museum, Melanie Graves described the scene:
"My twelve-year-old friend Sarah and I went to the museum to explore the computers. There are several dozen computers scattered throughout the building which are used for exhibits, classroom teaching and the development of educational software...
A machine that calls itself "Wisecracker" is the noisest of the computers that beckon visitors to the Communication exhibit. "My-name- is-Wise-crack-er," it says in a monotone, "Come-type-to-me." This message repeats endlessly until someone types at the keyboard or turns off the computer. "Hello, how are you?" Sarah typed, and pressed the return key. "Hel-lo-how-are-you," the machine’s voice responded. Sarah typed for awhile longer and then proclaimed, "It sure is dumb, but its voice is kind of cute."
The computer next to Wisecracker has a data base program that asked Sarah her name, where she came from, and other questions. It informed her that she was the thirty-seventh person from Virginia to type in data that day... "Fifty-five percent of the people who came here were girls," she told me. Next to the data base, a computer is set up with a music program. Sarah pressed some random keys, causing notes to sound. At the same time, the letter names of the notes appeared on the keys of a piano that was displayed on the screen.
There is also a Teletext terminal that tells inquirers about weather predictions, and news releases, the latest acquisitions at the public library, local cultural events and whatever else has been entered into the data base for that day...
After playing with Teletext, Sarah and I went to the Future Center, a room equipped with twenty Atari 800s. On weekdays, the classroom is available to school groups ranging from prekindergarten to high school. On weekends, families arrive for courses in programming. Classes have also been created for working people, senior citizens, community groups, congressional spouses and other special interest groups. This summer more than sixty students from the Washington, D.C. public schools attended one of two free month-long computer camps at the museum."
This interview took place on April 2, 2021.
Ann's web site
Museum in Atari ConnectionVolume 1 Number 4
A Day At The Capital Children's Museum
Ed Fries programmed three games for the Atari 8-bit computers, which were published on cartridge by Romox: Sea Chase, Ant Eater, and Princess and Frog. His forth game for Romox, Nitro, was unfinished because the company went out of business before Ed was done coding it.
Years later, Ed became vice president of game publishing at Microsoft where he oversaw the creation of the Xbox. In 2010, Ed released Halo 2600, a demake of the Halo video for the Atari 2600. In 2013, he coded an Atari 2600 version of Rally X.
This interview took place on March 11, 2021.
After the interview, Ed sent me the assembly language source code to five games, which he graciously released as open source. You'll find the code for Sea Chase, Ant Eater, Princess and Frog, the unreleased/finished game Nitro, and a chess game, at GitHub.
AtariMania's list of Ed Fries' games
2015 Atari Compendium Interview
Ed's Blog
Ed on Twitter
This interview at Youtube
ANTIC Interview 76 - Tim McGuinness, founder of Romox
The Paper Computer Unfolded
Sea Chase source code
Ant Eater source code
Princess and Frog source code
Nitro source code
Chess source code
ANTIC Episode 76 - The Bill Kendrick Show
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… Bill Kendrick gets more mentions than when he’s on the show, Kay discovers he owns more Atari disk drives than the rest of the Atari community combined, and we discuss all the news rocking the Atari 8-bit world.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Worms? Source code archiving - https://github.com/savetz/worms
- Atari Speed Reading Receipts - https://archive.org/details/atari-speed-reading-receipts
News
- 800XL PCB remake:
- ATasm, a command-line based 6502 cross-assembler that's compatible with OSS's 1982 "Mac/65" macroassembler:
-
- SourceForge page - https://sourceforge.net/projects/atasm/
- The documentation - https://sourceforge.net/p/atasm/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/atasm.txt#l54
- Atari Projects - Jason Moore does it again! - http://atariprojects.org/
- Atari Flashback X with Atari Computer Games - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2021/03/pack-con-mas-de-130-juegos-para-consola.html
- Paul Nicholls’ Coded Snippets Cookbook - 6502 edition - https://syntaxerrorsoftware.itch.io/code-snippets-cookbook-6502-edition
- Atari Giant - http://atarigiant.com/ - Web site store that caters to Atari 8-bit
- Pro(c) issue 15 - https://proc-atari.de/en/proc-atari-magazine/proc-atari-issue-15-softcover-book-edition
- USB Keyboard Interface available from Lotharek - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=311
- Belts for 1050 - https://console5.com/store/fabric-reinforced-belt-for-atari-1050-tandon-tm100-4p-floppy-drive.html
- Atari Compendium Website - Mostly 2600, with a smattering of computer - http://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/controllers/controllers.html
- Gem Drop Deluxe - Bill Kendrick - http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/gemdrop_deluxe/
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- VCFSE August 20-22 http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/
- KansasFest July 23-24 https://www.kansasfest.org ; virtual event
- PRGE - cancelled
- August 7 & 8, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival West 2021 (VCF West)
- October 8, 9, 10, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival East 2021 (VCF East)
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- The real fight Atari versus Commodore - IT Guy in Action - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFhAX9gijXY
- Atari 800 - Part 2 - Replacing Electrolytic Capacitors - ShadowTron Blog - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-dgDZ4MJYM
- NEW IMPROVED VERSION EN Atari 8-bit emulator (Atari800 emulator) - IT Guy in Action - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoONYg8Yehs
- Gem Drop Deluxe! (Atari 800) - ArcadeUSA (William Culver) - Programmed by Bill Kendrick - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SNvh88SiW4
- Also Gem Drop Deluxe! video by Atari 8 Bits For Ever - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HBQOjnBKu8
- Gem Drop Deluxe! blog by Bill Kendrick - http://newbreedsoftware.com/gemdrop_deluxe/?fbclid=IwAR3VrwTV4-XAVd-S1exD5EiDdMhy0CQtRZIWBH8oqkfGqTVUJzWva3aE94M
- Quarter Express - 256 bytes intro for Atari XL/XE by Ilmenit / Agenda - For Lovebyte party 2021, "Low-End 256 byte intro compo" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UKnPHhKaFg
- Atari 800 XL Lite Rally Motorcycle racing game - The Modern Atari 8bit Computer (Nir Dary) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnG43ooEHtE
New at Archive.org
- Pigeons at Internet Archive Scholar. Several researchers tested pigeons' perception and visual ability using Atari 800 computers. A dozen papers dated 1983-1993 - https://scholar.archive.org/search?q=%22atari+800%22+pigeons&sort_order=time_desc
- Atari HQ Archive #1 - https://archive.org/details/atari-hq-archive-1
- Allan Bushman:
-
- Your First Atari Program by Rodnay Zaks https://archive.org/details/your-first-atari-program-rodnay-zaks
- Software Merchandising magazine, January, 1983 https://archive.org/details/software-merchandising-january-1983/
- Current Notes magazines 1994-1995 https://archive.org/details/current-notes-volume-15-number-1-january-february-1995
- Portland Atari Club newsletters 1994-1995 https://archive.org/details/portland-atari-club-january-1985
- Adventure International's Airline manual https://archive.org/details/airline-adventure-international/page/n19/mode/2up
Commercial
- Touch Me By Atari (Commercial, 1979) - https://archive.org/details/touch-me-by-atari-commercial-1979
New at Github
- Atari 800 Soundbox https://github.com/zbyti/atari800-soundbox
- ATARI XE Replacement Keyboard https://github.com/gianlucarenzi/A130KB_MX
- XEGS-DS https://github.com/wavemotion-dave/XEGS-DS
-
- Also A5200DS https://github.com/wavemotion-dave/A5200DS
- Atari800-Display-Lists https://github.com/pedromagician/Atari800-Display-Lists
- Atari 1090XL expansion box remake https://github.com/kenames99/1090
- Atari800-benchmarks https://github.com/pedromagician/Atari800-benchmarks
- Micview https://github.com/tschak909/micview
- Turbo Decoder https://github.com/baktragh/turbodecoder
- MidiJoy https://github.com/fredlcore/MidiJoy
- USB_to_RS232 Connector https://github.com/pjones1063/USB_to_RS232#usb_to_rs232-connector-usbmodem
Listener Feedback
- Vegas 1988 World of Atari show - https://archive.org/details/WorldOfAtariConventionLasVegas1998/
Closing
- END OF SHOW MUSIC: Donnie Iris and the Cruisers - Do You Compute? (1983) - music video featuring an Atari 1200XL - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Rjyu_4HzI
ANTIC Interview 408 - David Maynard, Electronic Arts Worms?
David Maynard created the game/simulation "Worms?" Published by Electronic Arts in 1983, it was a launch title -- one of the five initial releases from the company. David, one of EA's first employees, wrote Worms? for the Atari 8-bit in FORTH. It was later ported to the Commodore 64.
Worms is an interactive version of Paterson's Worms, a family of cellular automata devised in 1971 by Mike Paterson and John Conway. It is an unusual program, in which the player teaches wormlike creatures how to move on a hexagonal grid -- what direction to move in various situations. The worm's goal is to to grow and survive, and to capture more space on the grid than its competitors. Up to four worms could play simultaneously, with any combination of human- and computer-controlled worms.
But the program's manual didn't tell you all that straight off. In fact, here's the first thing you saw after opening the package: "You will find detailed instructions enclosed. Do not read them. Instead, sit down and get started. Don't ask how. Just start. You know how these things work... Resist them. Do not read them for a very long time. In fact, do not read them until you know how the game works... Then never read the instructions. Innocence is bliss."
David also collaborated on Cut & Paste, a word processor published by Electronic Arts in 1984.
After our interview, David sent me a binder of Worms? development documentation and source code for Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64, all of which I have scanned and are available at Internet Archive and GitHub. The originals are going to the Strong Museum of Play, at David's request.
This interview took place on March 4, 2021.
Worms? source code for Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64
Scans of printed Worms? source code
Worms? Development Notes
David's blog
Worms? at AtariMania
Michael Beeler's original Paterson's Worms paper
Martin Gardner's article in Scientific American
Darworms, Javascript version of Worms?
Darworms instructions and explanation
More Paterson's worm math
EA We See Farther poster
Guy Nouri was co-founder of Interactive Picture Systems, a company that created software for 8-bit computers from 1982 through 1984. The company's first program was PAINT! for the Atari 8-bits, which was developed at the Superboots software development lab located at the Capital Children's Museum in Washington, D.C.. Its next program was Movie Maker, an animation program. Next came three educational titles for the Atari: Trains, a business simulation; Grandma's House, a sort of digital dollhouse; and Aerobics, a fitness program. The company also created Operation Frog, virtual dissection software for the Apple II and Commodore 64; and First Draft, an outline processor that helped kids plan their writing.
This interview took place on March 7, 2021.
PAINT! manual
First Annual IPS Computer Film Show
PAINT! in K-Power magazine
Atari at the Science Fair: Michael Fripp: Silent E
An article was published in the Daily Press newspaper of Newport News, Virginia on February 13 1985, titled "Best in Show at Science Fair: Computer program helps young readers conquer the 'silent e' challenge'.
Two years ago Michael Fripp wanted to make sure his younger brother didn't face a hard time learning how to deal with the "silent e" principle in reading lessons. Putting his own Atari computer to work, Michael developed a fun, educational computer program designed to teach then 6-year-old Daniel how to successfully pronounce words like "cap," "tub" and "man" when an "e" is added to each.
"I remember the trouble I had with 'silent e' and didn't want him to have that trouble," says 13-year-old Michael, an eighth grader at Queens Lake Intermediate School. "There are lots of math but few English programs for computers. I hope to bridge that gap."
Michael went on to expand the "silent e" program, complete with more detailed instruction and graphics, through his computer science class at school and entered it as an exhibit in the York County Science Fair. Michael's educational reading program — "Silent E: A Program for K-3" — was judged best in show.
"We were pleased and surprised a computer program was picked because usually the judges pick pure science," says Carolyn Gaertner, who teaches math and computer science at the intermediate school.
Michael's computer program involves a simple story outline about an earthling named Tim and his spaceship landing on the planet EOP which is ruled by the Silent E's. There, Tim learns how the Silent E's simply and quickly turn words such as "pan" into "pane" with the addition of their favorite letter...
He has copyrighted the program and hopes to market it commercially. More than 100 hours of work have gone into the project...
"Computers are like a fever; they grow on you," says the young man. "I try to do a lot of programming at home but homework really limits me."
The large photograph accompanying the article shows young Michael, replete with calculator watch, in front of an Apple II computer, not an Atari.
I talked with Dr. Fripp to hear all about his program.
This interview took place on February 28, 2021.
Intro song: Silent E by Tom Lehrer
Heidi Brumbaugh, Antic and START Magazines
Heidi Brumbaugh worked at Antic Publishing, where she started off as editorial clerk, then was promoted to editorial assistant, for both Antic magazine and START magazine, then was programs editor for START Magazine. She wrote many articles for Antic and START, including three programs for the 8-bits published in Antic: Red, White and Blue, a board game; Hot and Cold, a Master Mind-type game; and Antic Prompter, a teleprompter application.
She met her husband through Antic publishing, START author and programmer Jim Kent, who also created the Cyber Paint program for Atari ST.
This interview took place on February 28, 2021.
List of Antic articles by Heidi Brumbaugh
List of START articles by Heidi Brumbaugh
Heidi's programs at Atarimania
Heidi's review of Linkword Languages
Cyber Paint by Jim Kent
2013 Interview with Jim Capparell, Founder of Antic Magazine
Atari at the Science Fair: Scott Ryder: Atari-Controlled Robot
Here's an article from The Fresno Bee (Fresno, California) dated April 15, 1982: "Science proves Fair game to young minds".
"Joseph Paul Ogas, 17, has designed a cheaper way to manipulate material beneath a microscope. Garey Nishimura, 13, has evaluated the relative flammability of several household fabrics. Theirs were the big winners among the 693 projects that filled the Fresno Convention Center Exhibit Hall for this year’s California Central Valley Science and Engineering Fair.
"There were other interesting projects that didn’t win big [such as]
'The Effects of Birth Control Pills on Plants,' and 'Determining the Correlation Between Canine Howling, Cockroach Activity and Earthquake Prediction'."
And later -- in the article's final paragraph, the reason for this interview: "Runners up [included] Scott Ryder, a sixth-grader at Ayer Elementary School: "Can an Atari 800 Control a Robot With Software?"
Can an Atari 800 control a robot with software? And if so, why did an awesome Atari-controlled robot only earn a runner-up award at the Science and Engineering Fair? I talked with Scott to find out.
This interview took place on February 21, 2021.
ANTIC Episode 75 - Video Wars
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast… we discuss the merits of Sophia vs. VBXE for video upgrades, kick off the BASIC 10-liners contest, discuss some new games, and talk about numerous hardware upgrades that are coming.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games - https://amzn.to/3k8avzS
- Code for Atari8BitBot (https://twitter.com/atari8bitbot) now on GitHub - (https://github.com/savetz/Atari8BitBot)
- PC BASIC Bot - https://pcbasicbot.com
- ACE80XL cart - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/
- Interview with Claus Buckholz and Lance Ward - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-292-claus-buchhoz-lance-ward-ace-80 in 2017
Recent Interviews
- https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-403-dan-kramer-atari-trak-ball-controllers
- https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-special-episode-my-atari-by-suzanne-ciani
News
- External version of Ultimate1MB for Atari XL/XE under development by Sebastian 'Candle`o`Sin' Bartkowicz - https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Rx20IQ94UuU&fbclid=IwAR0gZj99WWBTq1EDMLK5yUkmpTqa51-f7dLwighOuZUqjIRr-HU0Pjwn8Q8
- Atari800MacX emulator update - https://github.com/atarimacosx/Atari800MacX/releases/tag/Release_6.0.0
- Atari Projects: http://atariprojects.org/ - Jason Moore - latest project is on using Atari FastBASIC. Also recent projects on using CP/M through FujiNet, and the ACE80 carts.
- Version 6.0.0 of the RECOIL graphics browser from Atari computers and others has been released - http://recoil.sourceforge.net
- BASIC 10-Liner Contest 2021:
- MouSTer for Atari 8-bit:
- Thingiverse Atari 800 Pi case - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3110334
- Atari Homebrew Awards - BINARIES, INSTRUCTIONS & PACKAGING
- New game Albert by kski:
- Atari 800 / Sophia-2 Install by Faicuai:
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- VCFSE June 11-13 http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/
- KansasFest July 23-24 https://www.kansasfest.org ; virtual event
- August 7 & 8, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival West 2021 (VCF West)
- October 8, 9, 10, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival East 2021 (VCF East)
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- Atari 800 VBXE installation - gyorka (Candle o Sin) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=CvoUvU4AFEc&fbclid=IwAR0GQZIvUSN3-cwGnMR0tZSIZ9xTpoGAvkkvN-t7M1zMVJsLSVVydqk-6qk
- zxEmu and 8bit Atari (Rapidus, Ultimate 1MB, VBXE) - nowy80Retro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzrXcf-WBXA
- Dingux-atari, new Atari 800 and Atari 5200 emulator for Miyoo consoles - silvacam - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXJ2Ekv7KiY
- Back to the Future Java (b2fJ) - Eduardo Ahumada Gallardo:
- Polish games for Atari 8-bit developed after 2000 - https://youtu.be/GQQR7Xy-nTk
New at Archive.org
- Hobbit, Dutch computer magazine, March 1983 - https://archive.org/details/HOBBIT_1983_0003/mode/2up
- Paul Daniels:
-
- Video - https://archive.org/details/twitter-710542070373429248
- Paul Daniels' Magic Adventure - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-paul-daniels--magic-adventure_3906.html
- Allan Bushman: Strategic Simulations, Inc's Fall 1987/Winter 1988 Catalog - https://archive.org/details/strategic-simulations-inc-catalog-fall-87-winter-88-catalog/mode/2up
After I published my interview with Suzanne Ciani, she sent me an email: she had found an unpublished Atari spot in her archives. It's a tune titled "My Atari". She sent it to me and graciously allowed me to share it with you.
She wrote "I don't think it is a final. There are a bunch of mixes. Maybe you could shed some light on this as to whether it was ever used." Well, I'd certainly never heard it before, and don't think it was ever used. I suppose it might have been used internally by Atari, but it wasn't released to the public. Suzanne later said that she believes it was a demo for a campaign, but as far as she knows it was never used. She hasn't found records indicating what year the song was made. My guess is probably between 1981 and 1984.
Lyrics:
I've been to lots of places
There's more I wanna see
And being young is all that's stopping me
Beyond my time I know there's more
A whole world waiting to explore
But I can't seem to get past my back door
But when I sit
At my Atari
I know the world is mine
And the future is my time
When I sit
At my Atari
There's no mountain I can't climb
No adventure I can't find
I know the world is mine
When I sit behind
My Atari
I know the world is mine
I know the world is mine
My Atari
I know the world is mine
I know the world is mine
It's a rockin' tune with a powerful bassline that propels the song forward, but beyond that, the lyrics tell a poignant story of a person who feels ready to explore and conquer the world — but is still too young. Until their time comes, their Atari video game provides an exciting glimpse into a future of exploring the world for themselves. It strikes me sad, but hopeful.
Suzanne sent me several versions of the song, and there doesn't seem to be a definitive final version. Some have differences in length of a few seconds. My untrained ear can't tell any difference between some variations. One is significantly shorter, leaving out some lyrics. Others abruptly stop, due to technical issues during mixing or perhaps because they were meant as insertion edits.
You've heard one of the complete versions. For completionists and the curious, I'll play the other versions she sent me now. I've uploaded high-quality versions of all of these audio files to Internet Archive.
Thank you to Suzanne Ciani for taking the time to recover these files, and for sharing them with me and the world.
"My Atari" audio at Internet Archive
My interview with Suzanne: audio, YouTube, Internet Archive
Dan Kramer, Atari Trak-Ball Controllers
Dan Kramer worked at Atari from 1980 to 1984 in the consumer engineering group where he created products for the home computers and home video games. He championed the creation of the Trak-Ball accessories for the Atari game consoles and computers, and received a patent for his digital-to-analog interface for the Atari 5200 trak-ball. He also worked on the French (SECAM) version of the Atari XL computers, the Atari 2700, and various other projects.
This interview took place on December 18, 2020.
Playing Catch-Up: Dan Kramer (2005 interview): https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/97175/Playing_CatchUp_Dan_Kramer.php
Patent: Digital-analog conversion for shaft encoders: https://patents.justia.com/patent/4496936
Video version of this interview at YouTube: https://youtu.be/l0E6BCrhka0
ANTIC Episode 74 - Name Wars
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast… Kevin (er... Kay) and Randy have a name fight and, as usual, we bring you all the Atari 8-bit news that’s fit to print.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Atari Party Dec 19 - https://www.facebook.com/groups/281252672436874
- Kay’s 2020 Post-Mortem - https://www.patreon.com/posts/2020-post-mortem-45658000
- Retrotink zero-latency HDMI converter - https://www.retrotink.com/product-page/2x-mini
- Sid Meier’s Memoir - https://amzn.to/3oyobG4
- BASIC games Kay recovered - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/315354-a-few-basic-games-i-recovered/
- SIO2PC-USB case - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/product/sio2pc-universal-interface-case , https://atariage.com/forums/topic/313161-atarimax-sio2pc-and-sio2pc-usb-cases/#comments
Recent Interviews
- ANTIC Interview 401 - John F. White: Writing Strategy Games On Your Atari Computer & Superquerg
- ANTIC Interview 402 - The Famous Computer Cafe
News
- Fractalus 1.0 Released - https://www.lsdwa.com/blog/2020/12/18/fractalus-1-0-released/
- ACE80 cart run at Vintage Computer Center - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/312362-ace80-ace80xl-dt80-pre-order/
- Tfhh list - http://www.van-radecke.de/STUFF/tfhh_HW_info.pdf
- Mystery cart - https://www.facebook.com/groups/floppydays/permalink/2840376299554125/
- Fresh interview with Mark Reid, Author of Getaway - https://www.everythingamiga.com/2021/01/a-conversation-with-mark-reid-author-of-getaway.html
- Rob’s 2016 interview with Mark - http://playermissile.com/podcast/ep019.html
- A-Train Systems A-TRACK - model railroad electronics and control - https://www.a-train-systems.co.uk/getatrack.htm
- History and Features of the Original Atari A-TRACK Version - https://www.a-train-systems.co.uk/projects.htm#atHistory
- 'FLOP' Magazine - http://flop.atariportal.cz/index.en.php
- Atari800MacX v5.5.0 - https://github.com/atarimacosx/Atari800MacX/releases/tag/Release_5.5.0
- Authentic Reproduction ATR8000 Interest - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/312890-authentic-reproduction-atr8000-interest/#comments
- Invitation to play in the new season of the HSC, first round starting now! - http://atariage.com/forums/forum/60-8-bit-high-score-club/
- Real 16KB RAM game compo from Sikor Soft - Sikor on AtariAge - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/315158-real-16kb-ram-game-compo-from-sikor-soft/
- Atari 8-bit on hackaday - https://hackaday.com/2020/12/30/alien-inspired-cyberdeck-packs-vintage-atari-800xl/
- https://github.com/eizen6/6502portable
- AspeQt on a Raspberry Pi how-to - https://13leader.net/AspeQT2RasPI.pdf
- Once Upon Atari: How I made history by killing an industry Paperback – December 14, 2020 by Howard Scott Warshaw - https://amzn.to/3mjSC0u
- http://www.atariwomen.org
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- April 9, 10 & 11, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival East 2021 (VCF East)
- VCFSE June 11-13 http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/
- KansasFest July 19-25 https://www.kansasfest.org
- August 7 & 8, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival West 2021 (VCF West)
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- Atari Quirks and Solutions - Thomas Cherryhomes - https://youtu.be/3lPsd0FkNss
- Thomas Cherryhomes - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwP6ehTJXvcI-JOWTEwnyGQ U1MB and SpartaDOS X with FujiNet and a whole series of videos around FujiNet
- FujiNet Disk Copy - Vintage Computer Center (Gavin Haubelt) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YovR3mrCmQ0&t=731s
- Building the FujiNet - Vintage Computer Center - Parts 1-5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqKOGyEjYec
- SDrive-Max videos - Vintage Computer Center - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOp5f6eC-yh4cLnxfw2yrxQ
- FlashJazzCat (Jonathan Halliday) - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4nx-i-2K34RDHyDn06i7Ng Atari XEGS with UAV, VBXE, U1MB, and PokeyMAX, Various videos on repairing and upgrading a 600XL
New at GitHub
- https://github.com/codingbychanche/atariParallelDataTransfer
- Bill Lange’s Exploring Atari Action https://github.com/billlange1968/ExploringAtariAction to accompany https://exploringaction.blogspot.com
New at Archive.org
- New collection “Atari Computer Disk Images” https://archive.org/details/ataridiskimages
- Antic magazine renewal letters https://archive.org/details/1986.07-antic-renewal https://archive.org/details/1986.05-antic-renewal
- https://archive.org/details/rearc_atr-8000-newsletter-august-1984-08-swp-inc-us/mode/2up
- Chalk Board Inc's Power Pad Programming Kit manual https://archive.org/details/power-pad-programming-kit-chalk-board-inc/mode/2up
- Strategic Simulations, Inc. Spring, 1987 Catalog https://archive.org/details/strategic-simulations-inc-spring-1987/mode/2up
- Atari Home Computer Products Premium Incentive Confidential Price List https://archive.org/details/atari-home-computer-products-1-1-82/mode/2up
Feedback
- Adam Trionfo video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJcftw31VQw
- a nice tweet we got - https://twitter.com/dneedham8302/status/1335755648278155267?s=21
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
The Famous Computer Cafe
This is a podcast episode featuring three interviews with people who created a radio show that did hundreds of interviews.
The Famous Computer Cafe was -- not a restaurant -- but a radio program that aired from 1983 through the first quarter of 1986. The program included computer news, product reviews, and interviews.
The program was created by three people — who were not only the on-air voices, but did all the work around the program: getting advertisers, buying air time, researching each day's computer news, booking interviews -- everything. Those three people were Andrew Velcoff, Michael Walker (now Michael FireWalker), and Ellen Fead Hansen (later Ellen Walker, now Ellen Fields.) For this episode of Antic, I got to talk with all three of The Famous Computer Cafe's proprietors.
There were several versions of the show, which aired on several radio stations, primarily in California. A live, daily half-hour version allowed phone calls from listeners. Taped versions (running a half-hour and up to two hours) also aired daily. The show started in 1983 on two stations in the Los Angeles area: KFOX 93.5 FM and KIEV 870 AM. In 1985 it began airing in the California Bay Area: on KXLR 1260 AM in San Francisco and KCSM 91.1 FM in San Matro, and KSDO 1130 AM in San Diego.
Also in 1985 a nationally syndicated, half-hour non-commercial version of The Famous Computer Cafe was available via satellite to National Public Radio stations around the United States, though it's not clear today which stations ran it.
To me, the most exciting thing about the show was the interviews. The list of people that the show interviewed is a who's-who of tech luminaries of the early 1980s. But not just computer people: they interviewed anyone whose work was touched by personal computer technology. musicians, professors, publishers, philosophers, journalists, astrologers.
The cafe aired interviews with Philip Estridge, the IBM vice president who was responsible for developing the PC; Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates; Atari Chairman Jack Tramiel; Bill Atkinson, developer of MacPaint; Infocom's Joel Berez; Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek; musician Herbie Hancock; Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts; author Douglas Adams; Stewart Brand, editor of the Whole Earth Catalog; psychologist Timothy Leary; science fiction writer Ray Bradbury; synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog; and pop star Donny Osmond. The list goes on and on and on. By mid-1985, the show had run more than 300 half-hour interviews.
Here's the bad news. Those episodes, those interviews, are lost. Today, a recording of only one Cafe episode is known to exist. That show, which aired January 2, 1986, includes an interview with Rich Gold, creator of the Activision simulation Little Computer People; a call-in from tech journalist John Dvorak; and commercials for Elephant Floppy Disks and Microsoft Word. The entire 29-minute episode is available at Internet Archive, with the gracious permission of the show's creators. It's an amazing time capsule -- which survived because Rich Gold, interviewed on the program, saved a cassette of that show. Perhaps, somewhere, there are hundreds more episodes waiting to be re-discovered — if someone has the recordings. If you do, contact me at antic@ataripodcast.com.
The good news is that transcripts of six interviews do exist (and are now online): Timothy Leary, Donny Osmond, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's Douglas Adams and Steve Meretzky; Frank Herbert, author of the Dune series; Tom Mahon, author of Charged Bodies; and Jack Nilles, head of the University of Southern California Center for Futures Research.
Check this episode's show notes, at AtariPodcast.com, for links to the one episode, the six transcripts, and the cool Famous Computer Cafe logo.
You'll hear the interviews in the order in which I recorded them. First up is Michael FireWalker, then Ellen Fields, then Andrew Velcoff.
The interview with Michael FireWalker took place on May 27, 2020. The interview with Ellen Fields took place on June 1, 2020. The interview with Andrew Velcoff took place on July 3, 2020.
Special thanks to fellow researcher Devin Monnens, and the Department of Special Collections at Stanford University.
This podcast used excerpts from the one The Famous Computer Cafe episode that is known to exist. That episode, now available at Internet Archive, was digitized by Stanford University (the physical tape is in their special collections located in the Stanford Series 9 of the Rich Gold Collection (M1510), Box 2.)
If you have any other recordings of any Famous Computer Cafe episodes, please contact me at antic@ataripodcast.com.
The Famous Computer Cafe 1986-01-02 episode
The Famous Computer Cafe interview transcripts
The Famous Computer Cafe ads, photos, articles
John F. White is author of the book Writing Strategy Games On Your Atari Computer and the creator of Superquerg and Negaquerg, computer chess programs that were distributed in New Atari User magazine.
He was also a contributor to the UK computer magazines Popular Computing Weekly, Personal Computing, Practical Computing, and Computer Weekly, often writing about computer chess and game strategy.
His book Writing Strategy Games On Your Atari Computer, published in 1983, offers “techniques for intelligent games,” with advice and BASIC code for programming tic-tac-toe, checkers, chess, and other board games.
New Atari User’s description of SuperQuerg — it was a “disk bonus,” not a type- in program — was: “SuperQuerg Chess is a third generation program with alpha-beta pruning and iterative deepening. An alpha-beta window is also employed. Uses Shannon A and B strategies, killer heuristic and chopper functions, new methods for searching to deep levels and for other game strategies. ... Querg Chess is unusual among chess programs in that it relies more on the strength of its positional strategy than on its tactical play. Artificial Intelligence methods are used to switch between strategic and tactical searching, as the program considers appropriate.”
John organized the 1982 Chess Computer Symposium, the first major tournament to assign gradings to chess computers by their play against human opponents. He is co-creator of Blitz Latin, Latin-to-English language translation software.
This interview took place via email from July 13 through 16, 2020. You will be hearing John’s words but not his voice. John preferred not to do a voice interview, so for this audio podcast, his emailed responses will be read by Victor Marland.
ANTIC Episode 73 - Randy’s Personality Board
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast… we have a ton of Christmas gift ideas for that Atari nerd in your life (even if that nerd is you); we find out Randy has a broken personality board; and we bring you the Atari 8-bit news to fill out your life.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
Recent Interviews
- ANTIC Interview 400 - Suzanne Ciani, pioneer in electronic music - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-400-suzanne-ciani-pioneer-in-electronic-music
News
- River Raid “Cold Winter” for the Atari XL/XE
-
- Article at Vintage is the New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/river-raid-cold-winter-for-the-atari-xl-xe-a-new-take-on-a-classic-game-that-goes-beyond-a-simple-rom-hack/
- short video as a teaser: https://youtu.be/CnviviXT6wg
- Download: AtariOnline.pl
- Pokey Explorer POKEY explorer - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/313338-pokey-explorer-v11-release/ and https://github.com/ivop/pokey-explorer
- atarimacosx Version Release_5.4.0 - https://github.com/atarimacosx/Atari800MacX/releases/
- New software coming for the Atari 8-bit at AtariAge - https://mobile.twitter.com/atariage/status/1324466917051113472/photo/2 - 2 new games for Atari 8 Bit computers in the AtariAge Store later this month: Adventure II XE and Scramble!
- Inverse ATASCII Season 6 podcast - https://inverseatascii.info/
- Chicken Missile Podcast https://chickenmissile.com
- Michael Sternberg got Magic Castle working:
-
- https://github.com/michaelsternberg/magic-castle
- ANTIC Interview 375 - Bruce May, Unreleased Magic Castle Game - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-375-bruce-may-unreleased-magic-castle-game
- ABBUC 2020 Software Contest Winners - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/304311-atari-8-bit5200-homebrew-completedwip-in-2020/?do=findComment&comment=4678322
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- December 19, 2020: Atari Party (Bill Lange), virtual - https://t.co/uAEmMqlZz2?amp=1
- April 9, 10 & 11, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival East 2021 (VCF East)
- June 11-13, 2021: http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/
- August 7 & 8, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival West 2021 (VCF West)
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
Christmas Gift Ideas
- Atari 1020 Tissue Box - https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/911472311/atari-1020-tissue-paper-box?ref=cart
- buy or build a FujiNet https://fujinet.online/shop/ don’t forget about $5 off coupon at http://www.vintagecomputercenter.com Coupon code:“antic5”, limit 1 per person and only good for the FujiNet. No expiration
- Atari face mask - https://www.etsy.com/listing/840113927/atari-face-mask
- ABBUC membership - http://www.abbuc.de/mitgliedschaft/mitglied-werden
- SDrive Max - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/product/atari-1050-sdrive-max
- ArcadeR Joystick - https://retroradionics.co.uk/#!/ArcadeR-9-pin-ATARI-standard-Joystick/p/168982750/category=0
- Atari XL/XE 5-Pin DIN S-Video & Composite AV Cable - https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/atari-xlxe-5-pin-din-to-s-video-composite-av-cable/
- RetroTink2X Pro - https://www.retrotink.com/product-page/retrotink-2x-pro or RT2xMini https://www.retrotink.com/product-page/2x-mini (converting component, S-video and composite signals from retro consoles to a modern digital display)
- Atari Badges/Stickers - https://www.mateoproceo.com/search?controller=search&orderby=position&orderway=desc&search_query=atari&submit_search=
- books
-
- Terrible Nerd by Kevin Savetz - https://www.amazon.com/Terrible-Nerd-Kevin-Savetz/dp/1939169003
- Atari: Visual History of the Atari 8-bit Computer by Darren Doyle - https://www.greyfoxbooks.com/product/the-atari-a-visual-history/
- Atari Inc. Business is Fun by Marty Goldberg and Curt Vendel - https://www.amazon.com/Atari-Inc-Business-Curt-Vendel/dp/0985597402
- Breakout: How Atari 8-bit Computers Defined a Generation by Jamie Lendino - https://www.amazon.com/Breakout-Atari-Computers-Defined-Generation/dp/0692851275
- Atari Projects by Jason Moore - https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/jason-moore/atari-projects/paperback/product-196qrpj9.html?page=1&pageSize=4
- Art of Atari by Tim Lapetino - https://www.amazon.com/Art-Atari-Tim-Lapetino/dp/1524101036
- Art of Atari Poster Collection by Tim Lapetino - https://www.amazon.com/Art-Atari-Poster-Collection-Lapetino/dp/1524103020
- Missile Commander https://arcadeblogger.com/mcbookusa/
- Make a donation to Internet Archive https://archive.org/donate/
YouTube videos this month
- Atari 400 and 800 Computer Comprehensive Presentation 2019 VCF EAST Festival - DRGUILLOTINE - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rT8QzHWTFQ - Curt Vendel
- All About Atari 8-Bit Programming - Rhode Island Computer Museum - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF97bRp8tKo
- Atari 8 Bit OS Boot Sequence - Dendrite Digital - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56ZRKFpsu48 - Find out how the Atari 8 Bit Computer initializes.
New at GitHub
- syntax highlighting for Visual Studio Code - https://github.com/pedgarcia/ossaction-vscode
New at Archive.org
- Invitation to Programming 1,2,3 manuals in Italian:
- Atari 130 XE, 600 XL, 800 XL für Einsteiger (for beginners) in German by Norbert Szczepanowski - https://archive.org/details/atari-130-xe-600-xl-800-xl-fur-einsteiger
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
Suzanne Ciani, pioneer in electronic music
Suzanne Ciani is a pioneer in electronic music, Grammy-nominated composer, and recording artist. In the 1980's, she created music for television commercials, corporate tags, and audio logos for Atari as well as many other companies. She also created the soundtrack for the 1980 Bally pinball machine, Xenon. In addition to being an early adopter of electronic music, she educated the world about it, demonstrating sound design techniques on The David Letterman Show, 3-2-1 Contact, and other popular media.
This interview took place on November 5, 2020.
Suzanne Ciani's web site
Suzanne Ciani Creates The Soundtrack For A Pinball Machine
A Life In Waves trailer
Suzanne Ciani interview in ANP Quarterly Vol 2/No 7
2012 Suzanne Ciani interview in LA Times Music Blog
Suzanne Ciani on Letterman
Suzanne Ciani on 3-2-1 Contact
Atari Video Game Summer commercial
This interview at YouTube
ANTIC Episode 72 - Pick and Place
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast… we have as a guest Mr. Gavin Haubelt who runs the Vintage Computer Center and who is feverishly producing #FujiNets for the Atari community, Brad as the host of this episode shows why he’s considered the master of segues, and we talk about all the new hardware available or coming (such as the world’s smallest Atari 8-bit).
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Atari8BitBot https://twitter.com/Atari8BitBot/with_replies and https://atari8bitbot.com/
- Weather app for #FujiNet:
- ABBUC membership and newsletters - http://www.abbuc.de
- Vintage Computer Center - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com
News
- The World’s Smallest Atari 8-bit (mytek, Michael St. Pierre) - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/308191-the-worlds-smallest-atari-8-bit/
- ”random image from curated collections” from Steve Boswell:
-
- New https://twitter.com/a8bitrobot
- (also Kay’s older https://twitter.com/Atari800screens)
- To get SAM audio: tweet “@a8bitrobot SAM: hello”
- #FujiNet Links:
-
- Vintage Computer Center (Gavin) and others creating run of FujiNet boards - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/fujinet
- Coupon code:“antic5” to get $5 off at Vintage Computer Center; limit 1 per person and only good for the FujiNet; No expiration
- Thom Cherryhomes video on the FujiNet at VCF East - #FujiNet in 15 Minutes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izdCLDQ1ZxU&fbclid=IwAR0X7-2Lz8oM18t3MgPtp1Ra4Dp82gsgsF-7cz4JVbM-GUVWie9X6gvWNKU
- #FujiNet Quick Start Guide - https://github.com/FujiNetWIFI/fujinet-platformio/wiki/FujiNet-Quickstart-Guide
- Transparent plexiglass 800XL case:
-
- Bernd Heraleo on Atari 8-bit Computers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/atari8bitcomputers/)
- https://www.plexilaser.de/Retro-Computer-Gehaeuse
- https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3371131223000011&set=gm.3377139998990149&type=3&eid=ARAOHLxXHWsWcELxuZzpB-nQ9Q4hFX_WDXMiTaLjUkf_SwEW9Bul2eDQXTuy8E-3NsTar1GOgh9kMDhO&ifg=1
- Rick Trotter, Atari Dealer, Horizon Computers - Article from 1996 (WestWorld) - https://www.westword.com/news/game-over-5056756
- Bill Lange’s “Atari Community Awareness Program” post at Atari8BitAds:
- ATARI 5200 CONTROLLER - RIGHT STICK, NO CABLE - https://www.maker-matrix.com/product/5200-controller-right
- Mark Simonson’s blog post about his Atari 8-bit history - https://www.marksimonson.com/notebook/view/de-re-atari
- The Easy 6502 - http://skilldrick.github.io/easy6502/
- 1979 Atari 800 Personal Computer Vintage Look Metal Sign
- More Current Notes scanned by Allan Bushman - https://archive.org/details/current-notes-volume-14-number-5-june-july-1994/mode/2up
- SIDE3 from Jonathan Halliday (firmware) and Candle (hardware) - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=143
- Atari Fan #1 – A new Paper magazine in English for all Atari fans out there - https://vintageisthenewold.com/atari-fan-1-a-new-paper-magazine-in-english-for-all-atari-fans-out-there/
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- April 9, 10 & 11, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival East 2021 (VCF East)
- VCFSE June 11-13 http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/
- August 7 & 8, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival West 2021 (VCF West)
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- Atari 800XL - Collector's Box - 2020 - retro eighties - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qJ9K96gbYY
Making the Boxes for collectors of the Atari 800 xl and the Drive 1050 to keep the collections in perfect condition The scheme and prints in:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zE68...
- Atari FujiNet for Dummies - Doug Venner - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZx1aCD1G4Y&t=1177s
- Atari XEGS: Installing Ultimate 1MB and s-video jack - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7nfMNz_CCc
- Atari Fan Magazine 1/2020 Review - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zk-Jxr3uSo&t=577s
- How to use SIDE3: Part 1 - Stand Alone - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKPjbVyrgBQ
New at Archive.org
- https://archive.org/search.php?query=Layton+Atari+Computer+Enthusiasts
- Allan Bushman adding Current Notes (Washington Area Atari Computer Enthusiasts)
-
- And manual for Timework's Swiftax manual https://archive.org/details/swiftax-timeworks
- Happy Computer 5/86 https://archive.org/details/happy-computer-programmiersprachen
- Atari 600 XL 800 XL Intern - https://archive.org/details/atari-600-xl-800-xl-intern-data-becker
- https://archive.org/details/%40bultro
-
- Many issues of ZONG https://archive.org/details/zong-sonderheft-1
- And many issues of Boletín Informativo Centro Atari (Chili, Spanish) https://archive.org/details/boletin-informativo-centro-atari-1986-05-06
Listener Feedback
- Adam Trionfo Atari collection video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08ztNibKzy8
- "My Atari 800 XL (Part 2) Troubleshooting, Getting it Working, So Many Games..." - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7KgwjwVb4
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
Jim Tittsler, Atari 1600 prototype
Jim Tittsler got my attention with a tweet, an old photo of a computer in a PC-style case, connected to Atari joysticks and disk drive. In the tweet, Jim wrote: "A prototype of what we hoped would become the #atari 1600: an Atari 800 grafted on to an IBM PC compatible. A Jekyll/Hyde mashup allowing you to plug in cartridges, SIO drives, and PC expansion cards. It seemed a good idea at the time."
So I reached out to Jim to learn more about that computer, and his time at Atari.
Jim worked in Atari's Special Projects Group, where he worked on several pie-in-the-sky, unreleased, home computer projects including the Atari 1600. When Atari was sold to Jack Tramiel, he was re-hired, where he worked on the Atari ST, the Atari PC-1 IBM compatible, and other projects. He worked at Atari for more than a decade.
This interview took place on September 9, 2020.
Video version of this interview at YouTube
Jim's Atari 1600 tweet
Dan Noguerol (Farb): Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative
Two interviews with the same person, recorded more than four years apart. Dan Noguerol is better known to the Atari community as Farb. He is the mastermind behind the Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative, and years ago created SIO2Arduino, an Arduino-based disk drive emulator.
I interviewed Farb on August 29, 2019, where we talked primarily about the Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative. That interview took place at the Fujiama Atari event in Lengenfeld, Germany. Our friend Roland Wassenberg sat in on the interview. Shortly after doing that interview, I learned that Randy Kindig had also interviewed Farb, on April 20, 2015, but got busy and hadn't published the interview.
So in this episode, two interviews with Farb: my more recent interview first, then we'll go back to 2015 to hear Randy's interview.
...
Since this interview was recorded, I received my SuperCard Pro, and have used it to digitize a couple hundred Atari disks. I've also digitized dozens of Atari cassette tapes. With the Software Preservation Initiative web site, the process has gotten a lot easier. The Kryoflux and SuperCard Pro hardware and software still isn't as foolproof as I'd like, but there's been progress on that front for sure.
Next, Randy's 2015 interview. In it, they discuss the Software Preservation Initiative, which was at a much earlier stage at that point, and SIO2Arduino. SIO2Arduino is an Atari 8-bit device emulator that runs on the Arduino platform. It connects to Atari 8-bit hardware and emulates a single Atari 1050 disk drive. In the years since this interview was recorded, the project has largely been made obsolete by projects like the S-Drive-MAX and FujiNet. But Farb's work on SIO2Arduino, and making it open-source, absolutely laid the groundwork for those newer hardware projects.
Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative
SIO2Arduino web site
SIO2Arduino at GitHub
ANTIC Episode 71 - Goodbye, Curt Vendel
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast...we say goodbye to good friend and Atari legend Curt Vendel and bring you lots of other Atari news.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Atari8BitBot https://twitter.com/Atari8BitBot/with_replies and https://atari8bitbot.com/
- https://twitter.com/Atari8BitBot/status/1307715507391324162/video/1
- Indy Vintage Computer Club - https://www.facebook.com/groups/IndyVCC/
Recent Interview Shows
- K’s twitter thread about Sofcast - https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1299759503039062016?s=20
News
- Curt Vendel died Aug 30 - https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-09-08-gaming-historian-curt-vendel-dies-at-53 and https://ruggieroandsonsfh.com/tribute/details/2607/Curtis-T-Vendel/obituary.html
- Gofundme for Curt’s daughter’s education: https://www.gofundme.com/f/24lkoij26o
- Jack Rickard died - https://www.semissourian.com/story/2831878.html
- Paulo Garcia ACTION! Series - https://vintageisthenewold.com/going-into-action-with-atari-xl-xe-part-1-hello-world/
- Atari800MacX Version Release_5.3.1 - http://www.atarimac.com/atari800macx.php
- Vintage Computer Center (Gavin) creating run of FujiNet boards - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/fujinet
- The 20 greatest home computers – ranked! - The Guardian - Keith Stuart - https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/sep/07/the-20-greatest-home-computers-ranked
- QuadTari - Champ Games - Sep. 1 post on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/champdotgames/posts/2758300214426652?comment_id=2759157137674293&reply_comment_id=2759988334257840¬if_id=1599159184524954¬if_t=comment_mention&ref=notif
- Atari Paints - “RETROCOMPUTING SPRAY PAINTS: AMIGA BEIGE, COMMODORE, AND ATARI GREY” at Hackaday - https://hackaday.com/2020/09/01/retrocomputing-spray-paints-amiga-beige-commodore-and-atari-grey/
- also Hackaday - https://hackaday.com/2020/09/07/miniature-faux-floppy-for-8-bit-atari-looks-the-part/
- Gr9Lab, Photoshop for Atari computers - https://atariteca.net.pe/gr9lab-el-photoshop-para-computadoras-atari/
- Gr9Lab example video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf-eK0A_iIE
- tree simulator - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/311454-tree-simulator-4k-abbuc-contest-2020/
- Atari User Magazine is back! - http://www.atariuser.com/
- Elegy for XL-Search - http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/xlsearch/ and https://twitter.com/billkendrick/status/1305027460254191616?s=20
- Jason Moore’s Atari Projects continues - http://atariprojects.org/
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- October 10 - 12, VCF East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/ GONE VIRTUAL + LIVE. NOTE: You can order a t-shirt to support the VCF events at http://vcfed.org/wp/t-shirts/ for $20 + shipping
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- #Atari8bit #FujiNet Hacking on Battleship - Thom Cherryhomes - a simple game in Turbo Basic XL for Atari systems with a #FujiNet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTpascJqw10&feature=push-lsb&attr_tag=AhNtji2D_09IhuJz%3A6
- Silicon Valley CEO's Childhood Computer - Vintage Unboxing - by Borderline OCD - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pjvBwErl4o&feature=youtu.be
- Bill Kendrick Radix sort (using counting sort & prefix sum) in TurboBASIC XL - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXEAAvRYeO4
New at Github
- https://github.com/pfeuh/AtariCreditsEditor
- https://github.com/pfeuh/atariCreditsRoller
- https://github.com/savetz/ColleenCalculator
New at Archive.org
- https://archive.org/details/das-atari-buch-band-1-happy-computer
- https://archive.org/details/strategiespiele-und-wie-man-sie-auf-dem-atari-programmiert-data-becker
- https://archive.org/details/atari-basic-handbuch-sybex
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
Youth Advisory Board: Steve Cohen
This is the eighth in a series of episodes featuring the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. In 1983, Atari formed a Youth Advisory Board, selecting teenagers from around the United States to share their opinions about computers and video games, test software, and promote Atari's computers at events. The group consisted of kids aged 14 through 18, including Steve Cohen.
He attended George Washington High School in Denver Colorado, where his teacher, Dr. Irwin Hoffman, taught. George Washington High School received a grant from the Atari Institute for Education Action Research, Atari's educational support arm, The Atari Institute Newsletter (fall 1982) wrote: "High school students in a model math and computer program will use their grant of ATARI Home Computer systems to develop individual and group research projects in their own fields of interest. Extensible programming languages, such as FORTH, will be used to develop new syntax for use in other high school subjects: electronics, music, art, history, mathematics, and home economics. This project supports a major 'model school' known for its innovations in computer education over the last twenty years."
This interview took place on May 21, 2020.
Enter Magazine—When These Kids Talk, Atari Listens
Kai and George Esbensen, Micro-Ed Software
I first heard about the Micro-Ed software company when a member of the Atari community sent me a batch of educational cassette tapes to digitize. The tapes had titles like Maps and Globes, Punctuation, and Spelling Level E. Intriguingly, the tape labels said "Micro-Ed, creators of more than 2,500 programs, pre-school through adult." 2,500 programs? Why had I never heard of this company?
I asked 4AM, a software preservationist specializing in the Apple II — and specializing in little-known educational software — if they had heard of the company. The answer was also no. So I started to research.
A two-page advertisement in Compute! magazine issue 4, May 1980, provided my first glimpse into the company: "LOOK at all the MICRO-ED programs for the PET!" The titles listed include Agreement of Subject and Verb; Run on Sentences; Higher, Same, Lower; Word Demons; and (oddly) Usage Boners. Many of the software tapes were sold in packs, for instance $84 for a pack of 12 elementary school programs. $49.95 for a grade's worth of spelling lessons on 7 tapes.
An item in the Washington Apple Pi journal, four years later, January 1984, intrigued me: "$10,000 EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE GIVEAWAY. Micro-Ed Incorporated has announced its willingness to donate up to $10,000 worth of software to any school district, Special Education cooperative, or parent group willing to establish a school-to-home lending library. No limit has been established on the number of grants Micro-Ed will make. The donation is not contingent upon the purchase of any Micro-Ed products. ... Thorward Esbensen, Micro-Ed's president, 'envisions the establishment of a free lending library of educational software for families.'"
Less than a year later, in November 1984, the Commodore magazine The Transactor (v5n3) wrote that Micro-Ed had donated "more than a half million dollars worth of its instructional programs to school systems" for those free software lending libraries.
So. Micro-Ed was established in 1979 by Thorward (Tory) Esbensen. Based in Eden Prairie, MN, the company specialized in low-cost educational software. The software, written in the BASIC programming language, was available for Commodore PET, VIC-20, and Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit, Apple II, TRS-80, and Texas Instruments computers. Micro-Ed's best-known title was perhaps "Trail West," an Oregon Trail-like game.
Mr. Esbensen died in 2012. I interviewed two of his sons, both of whom worked with their father at Micro-Ed. First, I talked with Kai Esbensen, the youngest in the family. Kai told me in email: "My siblings had all moved out by the time Micro-Ed was in motion, but I lived it. Helping out with Micro-Ed was my first paid job, in 2nd/3rd grade, and I was still on the payroll helping out through age 22." This interview took place on May 28, 2020. ...
Next, I talked with Kai's older brother, George Esbensen, who was a salesman for Micro-Ed, and later was president of Cycle Software Services, a software duplication company that spun off from Micro-Ed. This interview took place on June 3, 2020.
Very old Micro-Ed/Thorwald Esbensen web site
AtariMania's partial list of Micro-Ed Software for Atari
Micro-Ed advertisement in Compute! magazine May 1980
Thorwald Esbensen obituary in StarTribune
Thorwald Esbensen obituary in Duluth News Tribune
Washington Apple Pi, January 1984
The Transactor v5n3
Myra Marshall, Computer Applications Tomorrow
Myra Marshall, along with her husband-at-the-time Roger Marshall, was co-founder of Computer Applications Tomorrow, a small software company that specialized in educational software for microcomputers. Most of the company's software was self-published and sold in small computer stores, including titles such as USA States and Capitals, Spelling Exam, and Alphabet Keyboard Primer. One title, Musical Computer: The Music Tutor, was sold by Atari Program Exchange. It first appeared in the spring 1982 APX catalog. It was available on disk and cost $14.95.
This interview took place on August 26, 2020.
Musical Computer in the spring 1982 APX catalog
AtariMania's list of Computer Applications Tomorrow software
Michael Darland was co-founder of Microperipheral Corporation, and president of Sofcast, a system that sent computer data over AM and FM radio.
Founded in 1979, Microperipheral Corporation produced 300 BPS modems for several brands of microcomputers, including models compatible with the Atari 8-bit computers. Using telecommunications software called TariTerm, the Atari compatible-modems worked with the Atari 850 interface, or by connecting directly to the SIO bus.
Michael was also co-founder of Sofcast. Launched in August 1984, Sofcast was a system that sent computer programs and other data over traditional AM and FM radio stations. Listeners would use a $70 receive-only modem, called a Shuttle Communicator, to receive the programs that were transmitted over radio waves at up to 4800 bits per second.
According to an article in the June 1986 issue of Modern Electronics magazine, "The software itself actually originates at the radio studio as a tape recording of what is essentially a modem’s output. It’s the same as if you fed an ASCII file through a modem, but recorded the modem’s output instead of sending into a telephone line."
An article in PC Magazine, May 28, 1985, provides more detail:
"The show’s format falls under the bailiwick of Robert E. Lee Hardwick, a veteran radio announcer of 25 years. Harwick’s articulate voice serves as the common thread tying together the distinct parts of the weekly 30-minute show. At the microphone, Hardwick interviews guests like Bob Landware, developer of software for synthesizing music on PCs, or he demonstrates computing curios such as the Ghostbusters theme played over a Commodore computer speaker. ...What separates Hardwick's show from its counterparts, though, is the transmission of software, or sofcasts.
Midway through the show, Hardwick advises the listening audience to ready their equipment for sofcasts. He briefly describes the program or data file to be sent and counts down the sofcast like a rocket launch. A 1-second beep follows, after which the actual software is broadcast. This typically lasts 10 to 12 seconds, terminated by another 1-second beep. Then Hardwick’s voice returns.
To transmit or download software across the air, Hardwick cables a device called a Shuttle Encoder to the serial interface port of his PC. With a program written by Microperipheral, he transfers the file to be sofcast to the Encoder, which converts it to analog signals. These signals can be taped or broadcast directly. ... The show is subsequently played on two AM stations in the Seattle/Tacoma area on Sunday nights, KAMT...and KXA.
...On the receiving end, the audience has an AM radio tuned to the show. Prior to the sofcast, listeners attach a Shuttle Communicator to the radio. A cable coming from the Communicator connects to the radio earphone jack. Another cable connects the battery-powered Communicator with the computer through the serial port.
...A special program, also developed by Microperipheral, is executed on the computer... It accepts a stream of data sent by the Shuttle Communicator to the serial interface and writes the data to a disk file.
Since the show first went on the air in August 1984, Hardwick has sofcast a plethora of programs. The list includes spreadsheets, flight simulators, picture files, and games aimed at Commodore, Atari, Macintosh, Radio Shack, and IBM PC computers, among others. The public-domain programs distributed through the sofcast were initially received by only a few computers because of the limited availability of Shuttle Communicators."
Later in the article, it says: "One of the biggest tasks facing Hardwick and his colleagues is to convince radio stations to air the show. ...Sofcast airs Sunday nights, sandwiched, on one station, between two religious broadcasts, a time when there 'is no revenue possibility at all, and hasn’t been for 20 years.' Yet a computing audience is tuning in, and businesses can reach them through advertising without paying exorbitant rates."
Sofcast would grow to broadcast on 30 radio stations in the United States.
Michael Darland's co-founder for both ventures, Donald L. Stoner, was a world-renowned ham radio operator who died in 1999.
This interview took place on May 24 and May 31, 2020.
"Software Takes To The Air" in PC Magazine 1985-05-28
"Free BASIC programs by Radio" in Modern Electronics 1986-06
"Software On The Air" in Computer Shopper 1985-08
Cable Systems Talk to Computers by Donald L. Stoner
Wave of Future in Computer Software May Come Over The Radio
Sofcast receive-only modem
Donald L. Stoner obituary
Microconnection modem review in InfoWorld, Sep 20, 1982
Microperipheral Launches Low-Cost Videotex System
Microconnection User Manual 2.0
Microconnection User Manual 4.0
Microperipheral Corporation Sofcast FSK data communication system patent
Microperipheral Corporation Sofcast data communication system patent
ANTIC Episode 70 - Who Wants a FujiNet Anyway… I do!
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast… we discuss the roll-out of the first 50 units of FujiNet, “virtual” shows remaining this year, new software, hardware and all the current Atari news riding the waves.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- FujiNet - https://fujinet.online
- Lurking Horror, Infocom text adventure - http://monsterfeet.com/grue/notes/38
- Atari Memopad from Wade at Inverse ATASCII - https://inverseatascii.info/2015/04/01/s1e14-atari-memo-pad/
- SIO2BT - https://github.com/TheMontezuma/SIO2BT
News
- Atari 1600xl prototype pics - Jim Tittsler - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/310176-new-atari-1600xl-prototype-pics-on-twitter/
- Revive1027 Revived - Dragonstomper (Sascha Kriegel):
- Decrunch 2020 Demo Party was held in Poland - https://atariteca.net.pe/intros-atari-participantes-del-decrunch-2020/
- ABBUC Magazine #141 - http://www.abbuc.de
- Atari dust covers at Retro Ready. - https://retroready.one/collections/atari/dust-covers
- Old Games Finder - http://www.oldgamesfinder.com/
- Steve Boswell (Atari8bit) - De Re AVGCART - https://atari8bit.net/de-re-avgcart/?fbclid=IwAR1Y9clA_WOgBhStZnE33AzCHqpY9MkF-G5GZZ64-6I2kn5xm_WrZrDF8Ok
- New game on cartridge "Adam Is Me" pre-order - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/309962-new-game-on-cartridge-adam-is-me-pre-order-starts-today/
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- September 12-13, VCF Midwest, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ CANCELLED, but there was a call for virtual exhibits
- October 10 - 12, VCF East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/ GONE VIRTUAL + LIVE. NOTE: You can order a t-shirt to support the VCF events at http://vcfed.org/wp/t-shirts/ for $20 + shipping
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- Atari 800xl and 1010 loading with Rambit turbo upgrade - Mat Barker - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gomWkGo5Q-g
- Atari 800XL motherboard restoration and system overview (Pimp My Eight, episode 6, part 1) - The Byte Attic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scifA1AUZlo
- Dead Atari 800XL gets Sophia RGB after repair - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CHreoZNTIY
New at Github
- Effectus - ACTION! Cross-compiler - https://github.com/Gury8/effectus
- Parallel data transfer between the Atari 8- bit computers and the modern world via the Atari's joystick ports - https://github.com/codingbychanche/atariParallelDataTransfer
- Bruce Lee Construction Kit (BLCK): build your own Bruce Lee for Atari 8-bit - https://github.com/fa8ntomas/blck
- Sally-to-W65C02S-adapter https://github.com/TheByteAttic/Sally-to-W65C02S-adapter
Commercial
New at Archive.org
- https://archive.org/details/games-for-your-atari-600-xl/mode/2up (w disk image!)
- https://archive.org/details/mace-journal-v-5n-6-july-1985
- New Atari User/Page6 https://archive.org/details/newatariuserpage6?sort=-publicdate
Listener Feedback
- Rob Sherman - BBS - southernamis.com
- interview with Konstantinos Giamalidis (TIX) from Greece - https://atariteca.net.pe/tix-mi-objetivo-es-producir-la-mejor-version-de-los-sprites-de-8-bits-para-prince-of-persia/
- "Compute!'s Third Book of Atari", first chapter, "Exponents" by Matt Giwer - https://www.atariarchives.org/c3ba/page003.php
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
Charles Marslett, MYDOS and FastChip
Charles Marslett wrote floppy disk and hard drive drivers for Percom, and was the creator of MYDOS, a disk operating system for the Atari 8-bit computers that offered support for double density sectors, subdirectories, and hard drives. He also created FastChip, a hardware add-on for the Atari, sold by Newell Industries, that claimed to speed up floating point routines by 300%. He also created the A65 Assembler, a macro assembler. He has released the source code for MYDOS and FastChip.
This interview took place on July 13, 2020.
Charles' web site
MyDOS at AtariWiki
MyDOS 3.0 User Guide
A65 Assembler at AtariWiki
ANTIC Interview 212 - Wes Newell, Newell Industries
ANTIC Interview 7 - The Atari 8-bit Podcast - Bill Wilkinson, OSS
ANTIC Interview 11 - The Atari 8-bit Podcast - David Small
ANTIC Interview 22 - The Atari 8-bit Podcast - Kathleen O'Brien, OSS
Michael Abrash
Zen of Assembly Language by Michael Abrash
Zen of Assembly Language by Michael Abrash: free eBook version; code at GitHub
ANTIC #69 Show Notes, July, 2020
Title: Bill Collector
Guests
- Bill Lange - https://twitter.com/BillLange1968
- Bill Kendrick - https://twitter.com/billkendrick
- Nir Dary - https://twitter.com/ndary
- Bill Winters - https://twitter.com/TheGuruMeditate
What We’ve Been Up To
- https://archive.org/details/stx_Program_Protection_Methods_for_the_Atari
- https://archive.org/details/program-design-international-captivity-manual
News
- ABBUC Magazine - http://abbuc.de
- uDOS (ultra small DOS) - http://www.abbuc.de/community/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10347#p86149
- Screaming Wings 2000 - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/308643-improved-version-of-screaming-wings/
- Atari 8-bit Display List Encoder - https://github.com/jtsom/DisplayListDecoder
- Atari 1064 memory expansion for 600XL - https://www.ebay.com/itm/Atari-1064-Speichererweiterung-für-600-XL-RAM-Expansion-working/203022106013?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649 , http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/XL/xlperipherals/1064.html
- Atari800MacX 5.0.4 - https://github.com/atarimacosx/Atari800MacX
- Atari Wall Art - https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/584958100/atari-wall-art-logo-sticker-decal?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=atari+computer&ref=sr_gallery-2-16&organic_search_click=1
- Flop65 - http://flop.atariportal.cz/index.en.php
- Atari copyright registrations - https://archive.org/details/atari-copyright-registrations/
- Kilobyte Magazine - https://retro.wtf/
- Run Your Favorite 8-bit Games On An ESP32 - https://hackaday.com/2020/06/09/run-your-favorite-8-bit-games-on-an-esp32/
- Bonus Life Computers - https://bonuslifecomputers.com/
Shows
- July 24-25, KansasFest - https://www.kansasfest.org/ (virtual)
- August 1, VCF West, http://vcfed.org/wp/2020/05/24/vcf-west-2020-will-be-a-virtual-event/
- Aug. 20 - Aug. 23, 2020, Fujiama, Lengenfeld, Germany - http://abbuc.de/~atarixle/fuji/2020/
- September 12-13, VCF Midwest, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ , CANCELLED (might go virtual)
- October 10 - 12, VCF East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/
YouTube
- Atari 1200XL with UAV, Sophia DVI and Ultimate 1MB - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNj4vOQSv0o
- SIDE3: Final Progress Update - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65QOMDfYric
Feedback
- Corey Huinker - https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmyjoystick/comments/gzr1tc/atari4001981seigelike_game/
- Adam Trionfo
-
- Family Computing TV Show (Wikipedia) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubxigAp14Jg
- Ad for Family Computing TV Show - https://archive.org/details/family-computing-18/page/n103/mode/1up
Dorothy Siegel, Pioneer in Computer Music
I'm Kay Savetz, and this is ANTIC: The Atari 8-bit podcast. This interview, however, is about events that happened before Atari released its first computers.
This interview is with Dorothy Siegel, a pioneer in computer music. The music she created was on an IMSAI 8080 computer and a clarinet.
The First Philadelphia Computer Music Festival was held August 25, 1978 as part of a show called Personal Computing '78 held at the Philadelphia Civic Center. In 1979, Creative Computing Magazine published a record album, also titled First Philadelphia Computer Music Festival. The 12" 33 RPM record was of music performed at the festival: 18 pieces, including Dorthy's.
Dorothy was co-founder of Newtech, along with her husband Michael Abram and business partner Stuart Newfeld, a company that built add-on music cards for two S-100 bus computers: the IMSAI 8080 and the Southwest Technical Products Corporation 6800. The Newtech Music Cards cost $59.95 each. (Newtech was not the same company as NewTek, the company that sold the Video Toaster in the 1990s.)
Dorothy performed Johann Wanhal's Rondo from Sonata in B-flat for Clarinet and Piano. The IMSAI, with three Newtech music boards, performed the piano part, and Dorothy accompanied it on clarinet.
I'm going to play the song now. It's about four minutes long.
Regarding Dorothy's song, the album notes read: "Newtech's music card for the S-100 bus is essentially a digital-to-analog converter controlled by an output port on the computer. The analog output is fed into amplifiers to be heard. This approach to computer music synthesis is extremely flexible since hypothetically any possible sound can be created. In actual practice the performance of the music circuitry is somewhat limited by the speed of the host computer. Each card can produce up to three voices output to one channel.
Newtech's music software consists of a BASIC program which converts music into binary tables, and a machine-language interpreter to play the music with three voices and different envelopes. The piece on this record uses three cards each playing one voice."
Check the show notes for an extensive list of links to people that we talk about and the articles that Dorothy wrote for ROM Magazine and Popular Electronics. You can hear the entire First Philadelphia Computer Music Festival at VintageComputerMusic.com or buy the album on a remastered audio CD directly from Dave Ahl of Creative Computing Magazine.
This interview took place January 7, 2014, when I was doing research for a book about the first personal computer magazines. Although I've decided not to write the book, I am publishing the interviews that I did while doing the research.
Personal Computing '78 flyer
Popular Electronics magazine, January 1975
Edward Miller's Piece for Clarinet & Tape
Stan Viet
Electro-Harmonix
ANTIC Interview 332 - Mike Matthews, founder of Electro-Harmonix
ANTIC Interview 280 - David and Betsy Ahl, Creative Computing Magazine
Samuel Abram, Dorothy's son
ROM Magazine Issue 4: Scott Joplin on Your Sci-Fi Hi-Fi by Dorothy Siegel
ROM Magazine Issue 5: Make Me More Music, Maestro Micro by Dorothy Siegel
Popular Electronics November 1979: CP/M: The Standard Microcomputer Software Interface by Dorothy Siegel
Listen to/download First Philadelphia Computer Music Festival album
Buy the album on a remastered audio CD from Dave Ahl
There's an article in the New York Times, dated April 9, 1982: "8-Year-Old's Birthday Party in a Computer Center." The story, written by Barbara Gamareklin, is about the birthday party of Tracey Pizzo — now Tracey Frey — which took place at the Capital Children's Museum in Washington, DC.
Quoting the article:
Tracy Pizzo decided that Chunky’s Cheese Pizza Parlor was not the place for her eighth birthday party after all. She chose the Future Center of the Capital Children’s Museum, where her 13 guests were able to try their hand at the video games on 20 Atari 800 microcomputers.
Without waiting to remove their coats and jackets, the girls, most of them 6 to 8 years old, rushed toward the glowing multicolored screens. In no time they were engrossed in computer games — from Asteroids and Find Hurkle to Lemonade Stand.
"Go, Megan, go!" cried 6-year-old Enid Maran, who was still wearing her black kid gloves. "We have to explode those little stars." Megan Thaler worked her control lever and sent a stream of blue and red simulated antiaircraft fire across the screen in the direction of a small green airplane.
Tracy’s mother, Peggy Pizzo, said that Tracy’s older sister, Cara, had been to the Future Center on a school field trip "and Tracy got so excited when she heard about it that she insisted we have a computer birthday party.” ...
"Tracy said the reason she wanted to come was because her friends liked to push buttons," said 11-year-old Cara, who had baked the white birthday cake with pink frosting that had "Eight" spelled out in strawberries.
"What is your name?" the Birthday Banner computer asked. "And how old are you now? Are you a boy or a girl?" As Tracy typed in the answers and her friends serenaded her with “Happy Birthday,” a five-foot computer tape slowly emerged from the machine, reading in letters six inches tall: "Happy Birthday Tracy."...
Tracy, aided by her friends, Katherine Herz and Annamaria Hibbs, tried out her entrepreneurial skills at Lemonade Stand. ... Tracy played Hangman with her father, Dr. Philip Pizzo. She said, "Make it hard, but not too hard," as she closed her eyes and her father entered the word "Christmas" for her to guess, each incorrect guess slowly forming a hangman’s noose on the screen....
Asteroids is the only noneducational game offered in the computer room...
Computer birthday parties cost $5 a person, with a minimum of eight in a party...
As for Tracy Pizzo, as she and her friends filed down the hall to the balloon-festooned party room for ice cream, cake and presents, she pronounced the day "just perfect."
In 1981, Atari donated 30 Atari computer systems to the Capital Children's Museum. The contribution allowed the museum to establish the Future Center "computer learning environment", to put computer programs in exhibits, and to create a software development lab.
By the way, the Capital Children's Museum still exists — it's now called the National Children's Museum, but there probably aren't any Atari computers around to play with anymore.
This interview took place on June 26, 2020.
NYT — 8-Year-Old's Birthday Party in a Computer Center:
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/09/style/8-year-old-s-birthday-party-in-a-computer-center.html
Picture of Tracey and her friends: https://imgur.com/a/pD7RTF6
National Children's Museum
https://nationalchildrensmuseum.org
David Gedalia, Atari-controlled Telescope
Listener Paul Somerfeldt sent me a blurb he found in a book titled "The Dobsonian Telescope" by David Kriege and Richard Berry. The book reads: "Computer-controlled Dobsonian telescopes entered amateur astronomy in the late 1980s. An outstanding early example was David Gedalia's 10-inch f/4.5 Dobsonian driven by an Atari 800XL computer, shown at the 1987 Riverside Telescope Makers Conference. With the Atari driving altitude and azimuth stepper-motors, the telescope would move automatically to coordinates entered on the computer’s keyboard. David was a third-year engineering student when he built this telescope."
I sought out David to find out more about his Atari-controlled telescope.
This interview took place on May 29, 2020.
Photos of David with his telescope
The Dobsonian Telescope by David Kriege and Richard Berry
Brad Stewart, Covox
Brad Stewart was the co-founder and chief designer of Covox, the company that created Covox VoiceMaster. VoiceMaster was speech digitizer and voice recognition hardware for the Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit, and Apple II computers. Covox's own demonstration audio tape describes it well, although the demo tape that I found doesn't mention the Atari.
This interview took place on May 21, 2020.
Aerosynth
Brad's blog post about Covox Voice Master
Kay plays with VoiceMaster in 2014
Covox Voicemaster Demo cassette
A Bionic Approach to Speech Processing
Escape from Planet X at AtariMania
Henry Taitt was founder of the Creative Learning Association, which created books and classes about how to program computers in BASIC. Henry, along with his wife Nancy Taitt, ran the company from 1982-1988.
The book series, TLC For Growing Minds — TLC means Thinking, Learning, Creating — delivered self-paced lessons about the BASIC programming language. Versions of the series were available for Atari 8-bit, Apple II, IBM PC, TRS-80, and other platforms. Each platform series had seven books with color-coded covers: the red cover was level 1, orange for level 2, yellow for level 3, and so on down the rainbow. Another series offered platform-agnostic microcomputer projects.
The material was used as the bases for in-person classes at computer labs around the United States. Creative Learning Association also published a newsletter and a "national registry of computer programers" highlighting students who had progressed in the book series.
I have been able to find and scan some of Creative Learning Association materials and upload them to The Internet Archive.
This interview took place on April 14, 2020.
TLC for Growing Minds book scans
Claudia Cohl was the editor-in-chief of Family Computing Magazine for its entire run. Published by Scholastic, the magazine ran for 49 issues, from September 1983 through September 1987. Then it published 11 more issues, though August 1988, as "Family and Home Office Computing." Finally, it was rebranded "Home Office Computing". Claudia remained editor there until a new division was formed, and she moved to the Professional Publishing department to focus on magazines for teachers.
In a 1983 New York Times article "Children's Magazine for a Computer Age," Claudia is quoted: "Our magazine is primarily for parents. Parents feel confused about computers and software and they feel they have no place to turn. We think parents will be using our magazine themselves or with their kids. Children will be picking up the magazine too."
Claudia was also editor-in-chief of K-Power magazine, a computer magazine for kids. Only eight issues of K-Power were published, running from February 1984 to November/December 1984, after which it was merged with Family Computing.
Our interview took place in two portions, on June 29, 2018 and December 11, 2019.
Read Family Computing at Internet Archive
Read K Power at Internet Archive
ANTIC Episode 68
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast… Jonathan Halliday joins as we discuss his amazing work on the SIDE loaders for the Incognito and Ultimate 1MB and the work going on for the SIDE3 cart.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- plotter ink https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1258830441320079360 But steve bowsell @A8bit working on 3-D printable solution
- Kay’s old Atari games https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1259569122364407808 ; https://github.com/savetz (Scavange, boggler, rats, testtube, hubcap of fortune, Komix Creator)
- Carrington and Kay play Scavange at Eaten By A Grue http://monsterfeet.com/grue/notes/35 play it at https://archive.org/details/Scavange
- Catalina broke Altirra under WINE and Xformer, Kay got them both fixed https://atariage.com/forums/topic/286036-altirra-on-macos-update-thread/page/2/#comments and https://atariage.com/forums/topic/289510-xformer-emulator-running-on-macos/?do=findComment&comment=4544143
- Updated firmware to Jonathan Halliday’s for Incognito in 800 - https://atari8.co.uk/firmware/incognito/
- RetroPie on Pi4 - https://retropie.org.uk/
- 8Bit Classics - https://www.8bitclassics.com/
News
- Retro Format is a physical print magazine covering computers and game consoles from the 1970s to the early 2000s; including Atari - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/8bitmagazine/retro-format-magazine-issues-1-to-12
- PaperCraft - Rocky Bergen: “I've been working on an entire Atari 8-bit tradeshow display. But it may be some time before I can finish. I have an 800XL at home so that may actually show up before I finish this display.” - http://rockybergen.com/ ; https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158054518491047&set=p.10158054518491047&type=3&theater
- MicroProse is back. Seems that one of the original founders, Bill Stealy, and a new partner have purchased the company back from whoever had it last (Infogrammes/Atari?) https://www.microprose.com/#; Kay’s 2017 interview with Bill Stealy - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-263-bill-stealey-co-founder-of-microprose-software
- Compute magazine disk image depository - Allan Bushman - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/307591-compute-magazine-disk-image-depository/
- Break Into Chat, Josh Renaud's blog about BBS history, retro computing post “Unearthed: My Atari 8-bit cassette tape” - https://breakintochat.com/blog/2020/05/30/unearthed-my-atari-8-bit-cassette-tape/
- Atari Portable Project - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/306569-atari-portable-project/
- Kickstarter: The 8-BIT WARS - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andyremic/the-8-bit-wars
- New version of Atari800MacX - makes it compatible with Catalina - https://github.com/atarimacosx/Atari800MacX/releases
- also fixed plotter support for Renderrific - https://github.com/atarimacosx/Atari800MacX/issues/10
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- July 10 - 12, VCF Southeast, in conjunction with Southern Fried Gaming Expo in Atlanta, GA - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/otherevents/vintage-computer-festival-southeast/ CANCELLED
- July 24-25, KansasFest - https://www.kansasfest.org/ (virtual) cost $20, opened registration on April 30th
- August 1, VCF West, Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - http://vcfed.org/wp/2020/05/24/vcf-west-2020-will-be-a-virtual-event/ GONE VIRTUAL - The entire event will be scheduled for 6-8 hours on Saturday August 1st; call for exhibitors and keynote speakers
- Aug. 20 - Aug. 23, 2020, Fujiama, Lengenfeld, Germany - http://abbuc.de/~atarixle/fuji/2020/
- September 12-13, VCF Midwest, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/
- October 10 - 12, VCF East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/ NOTE: You can order a t-shirt to support the VCF events at http://vcfed.org/wp/t-shirts/ for $20 + shipping
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- Games That Push the Limits of the Atari 8-Bit Family - Sharopolis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTUmiot6vyM
- ANALOG Computing Games on your Atari 8bit - The New Retro Show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9xOpFnqo88
- Several demos from Poland, including one called Windows 95 - American NTSC - demo for Atari XL/XE from Poland - Miesiu - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7qy3DwsIX4
- The Atari 8bit and ST games by Jon Williams - Into the Vertical Blank - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-HJR2WpWTc A companion to the Into The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari Season 3 Episode 11 Episode interview with Jon.
New at Github
- Bill Kendrick pointed to omc65 (Our Macro Crossassembler for 6502) at https://GitHub.com/pkali/omc65
- Disassembling SynCalc - https://github.com/jduerstock/syncalc
- Alternate Reality: The Dungeon for Atari 8-bits cartridge project - https://github.com/Wilheim1977/ARDungeonCartridge
New at Archive.org
- Italian XL catalog - https://archive.org/details/1984-catalogo-atari-home-computer/mode/2up and advertisements https://archive.org/details/@philsan69
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
Dr. Sherman Rosenfeld is an internationally-known leader in informal learning and science education. He was a consultant to the Atari Institute for Education Action Research. Founded in June 1981 and led by Ted Kahn, the Institute provided equipment, advice, and financial support to non-profit educational organizations. It granted more than $1 million in hardware and software to schools, science museums, vocational and special education programs, even a prison.
Ted Kahn, whom I have previously interviewed, recently dug through his files to uncover several documents about the Institute, including "Informal Learning and Computers," the working paper written by Sherman Rosenfeld for the Atari Institute for Education Action Research in September 1982. Ted also graciously scanned a 1981 Atari Institute brochure, a 1983 progress report, and "Atari in Action," the Institute's newsletter, dated fall 1982.
This interview took place on May 25, 2020. Sherman talked to me from his office in Israel. A video version of the interview is also available.
Informal Learning and Computers
Atari Institute For Educational Action Research Brochure
Atari in Action — Atari Institute Newsletter fall 1982
Atari Institute Report Feb. 1983
Caspi Towards Creative Self Education Synopsis
ANTIC Interview 185 - Ted Kahn, Atari Institute for Educational Action Research
ANTIC Interview 288 - David Thornburg, Koalapad inventor
Antic magazine: Atari Institute—Grants support educational projects by Gary Yost
Mark Barton was creator of SAM — Software Automatic Mouth. Released in 1982, SAM was the first software-only speech synthesizer for personal computers. It was available for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and Atari 8-bit computers. He later developed Macintalk, speech synthesis for the Macintosh computer; and narrator, the speech system for the Commodore Amiga.
This interview took place on May 22, 2020.
SAM Demo Disk
Steve Jobs movie
Steve Jobs introduces the Macintosh
Peter Ladefoged at Wikipedia
Peter Ladefoged at UCLA
SAM in your browser
Switched On Bach by Wendy Carlos
Why Modern Digital Synthesis Is More Analog Than Analog by Mark Barton
Mark's Soundcloud
ANTIC Interview 124 - Jerry White, programmer of Poker SAM. and Chaterbee
Fandal: Atari programer and archivist
Frantisek Houra is better known to the Atari community as Fandal. He's an Atari computer programmer and long-time archivist of European Atari software. He has created many original Atari games and conversions from other platforms: including Fruity Pete, Mashed Turtles, Crescent Solitaire, and Diamondz.
This interview took place on August 28, 2019, during the Fujiama Atari conference in Lengenfeld, Germany. Roland Wassenberg sat in to assist with the interview. Shortly after, Fandal and I and several other attendees hooked up a multijoy and played some rounds of Mashed Turtles with six players (up to eight can play), and it was so. much. fun.
Fandal's web site
Mashed Turtles
Xenophobe game for sale at Video61
Gregg Squires, Atari Manager of Hardware Engineering
Gregg Squires was a Manager of Hardware Engineering at Atari from 1982 through 1984, working from their New York office. He was project manager for Val, a cost-reduced version of the Atari 2600; and project manager for the Atari XL computer series. He was co-designer of the 65816 microprocessor architecture.
Greg sent me a scan of an Atari 600XL Product Status Meeting handout dated January 1983. It's an impressive 45 pages and paints a clear picture of the timeline, costs, and issues involved with creating that computer.
This interview took place on February 13, 2019.
Atari VAL photo
Atari 600XL Product Status Meeting Handout
The Working Clock-Timer by Joel Moskowitz
ANTIC Interview 65 - Steve Mayer, 400/800 Designer
Rik Dickinson, Encore Video Productions
Rik Dickinson is founder of Encore Video Productions, a company that rented Atari 8-bit computers to hotels for use as character generators. The computers would show information about the hotel on channel 2 of guests' televisions. This was part of a service that Encore offered to provide in-room movies that ran off videotapes. The tape machines ran on a timer, and when the movie ended, the video feed switched back to the text information displayed by the Atari.
This interview took place on April 20, 2020.
Forum about Encore Video Productions Display System
Encore Video Productions
ANTIC Episode 67 - Still Socially Distant
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast...Randy forgets to call the artist, formerly known as Kevin, as Kay about 100 times, we continue discussion on AtariFests and World of Atari, we help you with your free time by telling you about papercraft computers and RetroPie, and help you navigate what’s happening with vintage computer shows; plus a whole lot more Atari news!
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Carol Shaw’s Colleen Calculator - View the pages or download the images - https://archive.org/details/ColleenCalculator9K/mode/2up
- Carol also sent the printout of Rev. A of Atari VCS Checkers - https://archive.org/details/VCScheckersA/mode/2up
- A community member has digitized the listing - https://github.com/white-flame/vcs-checkers
- Kay’s 10-line contest entries 2014-2020 on GitHub - https://github.com/savetz?tab=repositories
- Bankster
- Kay’s 10-line videos
- 2020 Atari 10-liners on one disk, by vitoco - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/301250-2020-basic-10liner-contest/?do=findComment&comment=4502763
- AtariFest/World of Atari thread on AtariAge - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/304554-atarifest-and-world-of-atari
- ABBUC (Atari Bit Byter User Club) - http://www.abbuc.de/
Recent Interviews
- http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-378-gabriel-baum-atari-conversational-french-and-spanish
- http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-380-atari-speed-reading-karlyn-kamm-and-brad-oltrogge
News
- Jason Moore - Atari Projects on HackaDay
- PaperCraft models - http://rockybergen.com/ Atari 800, and NeXT Cube are on the short short list
- MidiMax at Best Electronics - http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/laser_printers.htm#MidiMax
- RetroPie 4.6 released with Raspberry Pi 4 support - https://retropie.org.uk/2020/04/retropie-4-6-released-with-raspberry-pi-4-support/
- RetroMagazine - https://www.retromagazine.net/
- Jonathan Halliday has updated his Incognito, Ultimate 1MB, etc. to 3.1 - https://atari8.co.uk/
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- July 10 - 12, VCF Southeast, in conjunction with Southern Fried Gaming Expo in Atlanta, GA - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/otherevents/vintage-computer-festival-southeast/
- July 24-25, KansasFest - https://www.kansasfest.org/ (virtual) cost $20, opened registration on April 30th
- August 1-2, VCF West, Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west/
- Fri, Aug 14, 2020 – Sun, Aug 16, 2020, Portland Retro Gaming Expo, Portland OR - https://www.retrogamingexpo.com/ CANCELLED
- Aug. 20 - Aug. 23, 2020, Fujiama, Lengenfeld, Germany - http://abbuc.de/~atarixle/fuji/2020/
- September 12-13, VCF Midwest, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/
- October 10 - 12, VCF East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- 20MHz Atari 800XL: Rapidus, U1MB, and Sophia DVI: Part Two - Flashjazzcat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnfjxNqoZ7Y
- 800XL with Rapidus and Ultimate 1MB: What Have We Learned? - Flashjazzcat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2go2VU7xyYU
- How to flash Ultimate 1MB and SIDE/SIDE2 with new firmware - flashjazzcat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SLyjhLba6c
- New Games for your Atari 8 bit Part 12 - The New Retro Show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIrZHksTKIM - Time Pilot (2018) and Runner Bear (2020)
- SpartaDos X Cartridge - 8-bit and more - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkvIyj6-lMQ
-
- Bits of the past - Super Sparta DOS PCB - https://www.bitsofthepast.com
- iCore64 - Atari ICD R-Time 8 Cartridge Case, XL/XE cart extender - https://corei64.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=62_87&product_id=67
New at Github
New at Archive.org
- Current Notes Volume 10 Number 9 - https://archive.org/details/current-notes-volume-10-number-9-november-1990/mode/2up
- Many issues of Atari Interface magazine: https://archive.org/details/@scottithgames
- Steve Boswell many issues of Atari User: https://archive.org/details/@choccyhobnob
Feedback
- Rare Atari software found: Atamon DXG 5724 V1.3 is an Atari Germany title - https://www.atarinside.com/blog/index.php/atamon-dxg-5724/
- https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=ATA%20MON%20DXG%205724
- German version of Sky Writer was the last puzzle of the series: Spielend lernen mit Atari-Programmen- https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Articles#section-Articles-GermanyAtariDeutschlandGmbH
- From CSS, we have the BUG/65 manual Rev. 1.0 missing page - https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Bug65
- Tanktics bits and piece to play this hybrid game. These are available at https://www.mobygames.com/game/tanktics_/cover-art/gameCoverId,349600/.
- The parts for Dnieper River Line are there as well - https://www.mobygames.com/game/dnieper-river-line/cover-art/gameCoverId,348252/
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
Youth Advisory Board: Tracey Cullinan
This is the seventh in a series of episodes featuring the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. In 1983, Atari formed a Youth Advisory Board, selecting teenagers from around the United States to share their opinions about computers and video games, test software, and promote Atari's computers at events. The group consisted of kids aged 14 through 18, including Tracey Cullinan.
Tracey worked as a salesperson at the ComputerLand store in Los Altos, California — starting at the age of 12. He started a software company, Superior Software, which produced custom software for local businesses, as well as a couple of games for the Apple II computer. At 14, Tracey was invited to be a member of the Youth Advisory Board. As part of that job, he went to the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago to demonstrate Atari computers. The next year, as a 15-year-old, Tracey was interviewed on the "Today" show as a young entrepreneur.
There's a chapter about Tracey in the 1984 book "Computer Kids" by George Sullivan. (His picture in on the back cover of the book.) I'm going to read several passages from that book, quotes from Tracey.
...A Computerland store opened
in a mall near my home. I made friends with the people
who worked in the store, and they let me use the computers
there.
The store happened to be within walking distance of
where I live, and I'd go there after school and on week-
ends, or almost anytime I had free time. I often wrote
game programs on the computers, and I bought a disk on
which to store the programs. They let me keep the disk
at the store.
When customers came into the store, I'd sometimes
help out by showing them what a computer could do.
They'd be amazed. "What’s this nine-year-old kid doing
showing me how a computer works?"
I’m now working at the store. I started as an employee
when I was twelve. I was in sales at first but later I shifted
over to computer repair...
I now know five or six computer languages — BASIC,
Pascal, LOGO, plus three machine languages: 6502, the
one that’s used on the Apple and Atari and the one I use
the most, Z-80. I’m starting to learn 8086, the language
for the IBM Personal Computer...
The company that I operate is called Superior Software.
I prepare custom programs for businesses in the
area. One program involves inventorying and invoicing
for a company that sells charcoal fire starters. I’ve got
another program that gathers stock market prices from a
computer, and then correlates them and prints them out
for a local stockbroker.
A third program I wrote for the Los Altos Little
League. It’s a mailing list program. They use it in sending
out notices about tryouts, practices, and things like that.
I became a member of the Atari Youth Advisory Board
because someone at the consulting firm that was getting
the names of kids together for Atari happened to know
my dad. When the consulting firm found out that I was
into computers, they put my name on the list. Then the
people at Atari picked me.
We've been giving Atari advice mostly on their home
computers. Later, I think they're going to ask us for advice
on their video games and arcade games...
I also use the computer to write game programs once
in a while. One that I’ve written is called Glutton [for the
Apple II.] You, the shooter, are armed with little missiles
and positioned on the right side of the screen. You can
move up and down only. You shoot to the left.
The glutton moves back and forth across the screen.
The glutton likes to eat. Different kinds of food fall from
the top of the screen. Some of it is good food, like apples,
carrots, and chicken drumsticks. But some of the food is
junk food, like cupcakes and soda pop. The object of the
game is to keep the glutton well fed, but healthy, You try
to eliminate the pieces of junk food by blasting them with
your missiles.
I've tried to sell Glutton to some of the companies that
market game software to computer owners, to companies
such as Broderbund and Sirius. But I haven’t been successful yet.
...As far as the future is concerned, I plan to go to college.
I'd like to go to a good private university, a technical
one, like MIT, Cal Tech, or Stanford... After that, I
think I'd like to be a game programmer, and maybe work
for Atari, Imagic, or Activision, or some company like
that.
Tracey didn't go to any of those colleges. He died 1986 of brain cancer. He had just turned 18.
I talked with Tracey's mother, Leola Wooldridge; and his younger brother, Cory Cullinan, about their memories of Tracey.
This interview took place on April 17, 2020. In it, we discuss John Dickerson, whom I previously interviewed.
Tracey in Computer Kids book
Demystifying Excellence by Cory Cullinan
John Dickerson interview
Tracey Cullinan On Today Show on Youtube or Internet Archive
Atari Speed Reading: Karlyn Kamm and Brad Oltrogge
The Atari Speed Reading software package was released by Atari in 1981. It was a self-paced program, for use with the Atari computer and a cassette drive, that promised to teach you to increase reading speed and comprehension with 30 days of practice. The package contained a workbook and five cassette tapes.
This is an interview with two of the people who created the Atari Speed Reading package. Karlyn Kamm created the speed reading educational material at the University of Wisconsin with Dr. Wayne Otto. In 1975, she and Dr. Otto published a book titled "Speedway, the Action Way to Read." Dr. Otto died in 2017.
Brad Oltrogge is president of Learning Multi-Systems, the software publisher that was contracted by Atari to turn Kamm and Otto's speed reading material into a product for the Atari home computer.
This interview took place on April 16, 2020.
Atari Speed Reading Workbook
Atari Speed Reading at AtariWiki
Dr. Otto obituary
Speedway: The action way to speed read
The Study Skills Component of the Wisconsin Design
Learning Multi-Systems
Gabriel Baum: Atari Conversational French and Spanish
Gabriel Baum worked at Thorn EMI, where he managed the project to create two early language learning programs that were published by Atari: Conversational French and Conversational Spanish. (Atari's language learning series would also include Conversational German — Gabriel started that, but left Thorn EMI before that project was finished — and Conversational Italian.)
After Thorn EMI, Gabriel moved to Mattel where he became one of the "Blue Sky Rangers," creating Intellivision games. If you'd like to hear more about that, Paul Nurminen interviewed him about that time in episode 37 of The Intellivisionaries podcast.
For a deep dive into the Atari Conversational French software, listen to season 5, episode 1 of the Inverse ATASCII podcast. You can download the software and audio for all of the conversational language series from AtariWiki.
This interview took place on March 31, 2020. In it, Gabriel mis-remembers a bit of the technical capabilities of the Atari cassette drive, which was a lot less sophisticated than he recalls. If you'd like to read the technical details of how the Atari 410 and 1010 program recorders worked, check out Appendix C of De Re Atari.
Conversational language series at AtariWiki
Inverse ATASCII podcast covers Atari Conversational French
Gabriel interview on the Intellivisionaries podcast
De Re Atari on the Atari cassette capabilities
ANTIC Episode 66 - Socially Distant
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: We talk about what we’re doing Atari-wise in these socially distant times and we bring you all the Atari news from around the world.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What We’ve Been Up To
- Bill Lange points us to Atari 1020 plotter pen refill / restoration video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdVHkZwGZhk
- Thornton's Luxury Goods Premium Fountain Pen Ink Bottle 30ml - https://amzn.to/2RcNtL6
- 5 Pack 5ML/CC Premium Ink Filling Syringe - https://amzn.to/34gxctN
- Supercard Pro and Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative - http://a8preservation.com/
- AtariFest/World of Atari thread on AtariAge - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/304554-atarifest-and-world-of-atari
- Home Computer Course and Home Computer Advanced Course magazines
News
- Rare Atari software found: Atamon - https://www.atarinside.com/blog/index.php/atamon-dxg-5724/
- German Sky Writer:
- Bill Lange Exploring Kyan Pascal blog:
- 1200XL - An Atari 8 Bit Gaming Podcast - https://anchor.fm/1200xl
- BASIC 10-liners contest winners:
- Atari Disk Image Studio project on FB - Mike Fulton - https://www.facebook.com/Atari-Disk-Image-Studio-112460410404811/?pageid=112460410404811&ftentidentifier=112493333734852&padding=0
- Dropcheck (Lenore, bitsofthepast.com) donations voted project - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/301569-donation-voted-projects-proposed/
- ABBUC software competition 2020:
- Six Atari games on epidemics and diseases (Atariteca) - http://atariteca.blogspot.com/2020/03/seis-juegos-de-atari-sobre-epidemias-y.html
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- CANCELLED Portland Retro Gaming Expo, Fri, Aug 14, 2020 – Sun, Aug 16, 2020, Portland OR
- POSTPONED TO Oct 10-12, 2020, Vintage Computer Festival East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east
- VCF Southeast July 10-12 2020, in cooperation with SFGE - http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- 20MHz Atari 800XL: Rapidus, U1MB, and Sophia DVI: Part One - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r42zsEc6pUo
- Joystick Reading on the Atari 800 / 5200 - 6502 Lesson S13 - ChibiAkumas - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CAbqfu_1jI
- Backing up 5 1/4” disks to ATR images using Atari 800XE, Atari 1050 disk drive and Sio2sd - Marek Chorvat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1Am3zbWSZ0
Commercial
- Skit from Selling the Atari 400/800 Computers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKxN59fuXsg
New at Archive.org
- Online Computer Centers Inc. Pro Card reference card - https://archive.org/details/procardonlinecomputercentersinc/mode/2up
- Atari Camp newsletters scanned by https://archive.org/details/@david_gaxiola:
- new torrent release zip for easy downloading of Atari software archive - https://archive.org/details/a8sp_archives
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
ANTIC Episode 65 - Cats with umbrellas and dogs!
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: Kevin’s dogs do their best to be a part of the podcast, we tell you all about a very busy month of personal Atari stuff, all the programming contests going on, and all the other news we could find.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https://paypal.me/Savetz
TEH: Tech Enthusiast Hour - https://tehpodcast.com
What We’ve Been Up To
- Kevin’s Atari workbench set up! - https://twitter.com/KevinSavetz/status/1220554086593904644
- AVG cart. Moon Patrol, and Redux - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/297535-moon-patrol-redux/
- XC-11 cassette drive from Rodrigo Castro Sage - https://twitter.com/KevinSavetz/status/1223696069302706176
- https://github.com/savetz/Renderific updates
- Charlie Kulas disks - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/287589-leafer-madness-by-charlie-kulas/?do=findComment&comment=4458986
- Supercard Pro and Atari 8-bit Software Preservation Initiative - http://a8preservation.com/
- Astra 1620 dual disk drive - http://gury.atari8.info/hardware/162.php
- SDrive Max (810) - Gavin at Vintage Computer Center - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/product/atari-810-sdrive-max
- Incognito for Atari 800 - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=275
- Tricky Tutorials - https://archive.org/details/ataribooks-tricky-tutorials-1-6/mode/2up
Recent Interviews
News
- Thunderdome the Atari Site - https://atari.fox-1.nl/ - games, tools, demos, emulation
- Atari hotels - https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/29/business/atari-hotel-phoenix.html
- 10-line BASIC contest
https://gkanold.server.deerpower.de/
AtariAge discussion - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/301250-2020-basic-10liner-contest/
https://atariaction.tumblr.com/post/190760859977/10-line-poker-machine
https://atariaction.tumblr.com/post/190761401187/10-line-blackjack
- 12th Kaz Compo announces the best Atari games released in 2019 - https://vintageisthenewold.com/12th-kaz-compo-announces-the-best-atari-games-released-in-2019/
Atariage Thread - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/300855-kaz-kompo-2019-vote-for-the-best-game-of-2019/#comments
- Adventure II XE – New game for the Atari 8-bit demo released - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/213695-adventure-ii-xe-demo-and-testing
- Fandal’s game updates - http://a8.fandal.cz/news.php?news_id=1685
- Spotify client for Atari 8-bit - https://github.com/possan/atari-spotify-app ,
https://twitter.com/possan/status/1225530633621032961
- Magazine type-in work - http://forum.atarimania.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18619,
http://forum.atarimania.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18847
- ZX-Uno FPGA - http://www.zxuno.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=2814 , http://zxuno.speccy.org/faq.shtml
Shows
- Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
-
- March 21 & 22, 2020, Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest, Living Computers:Museum+Labs in Seattle,Washington - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-pacific-northwest
- March 21, Indy Vintage Computer Club Expo 2020, Camby, IN - https://www.facebook.com/events/188334755647918/
- April 24-26, 2020, Vintage Computer Festival East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east
- Portland Retro Gaming Expo, Fri, Aug 14, 2020 – Sun, Aug 16, 2020, Portland OR
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube videos this month
- UAV Atari 800XL still has poor video - Jonathan Halliday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh1YQ8oU7LU
- A First Look at the SIDE3 SD card multicart for the Atari 8-bit - Jonathan Halliday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oayRUtTFVDE
- Display List Programming Introduction on the Atari Computer - 8-bit and More - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io4AZmT9Bnw
- #FujiNet - Simple Terminal program for N: Device in 10 lines of BASIC. - Thomas Cherryhomes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL6PhXULdFE
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
Craig Hickman, Atari Photography Software and Security System
Craig Hickman was featured in the June 1982 edition of Atari Connection magazine for his photography software tools. "Craig has developed two programs written in Atari BASIC for use in his darkroom. One of the programs times the negative’s development, and the other monitors and times enlargements and the making of the positive prints." His Developing program could store up to 30 film processing combinations. "Once the film is developed into a negative, you are ready to use Craig's Enlarger/Timer program to make a positive print." The Atari 400 was connected to the enlarger with relays: the computer would turn the enlarger on and off at precise intervals for making photographic prints.
Craig also rigged up an apartment security system using his Atari 400, which he wrote about in an article on his web site. He wrote: "I designed a home surveillance system for our apartment in Seattle that used little magnetic switches from Radio Shack. It displayed a representation of our apartment on the screen and showed when a door or window was open. It worked so well I expanded the system to include little tilt switches placed on bushes outside the windows. This also worked fine until one windy night when I was away from home and it set off the alarm every few minutes. The next day my wife told me to dismantle it."
Later, Craig created the popular program Kid Pix for the early Macintosh computer.
This interview took place on January 29, 2020. See the show notes for links to Craig's web site and YouTube channel, and the Atari Connection magazine article.
Craig's web site
Craig's darkroom timer in Atari Connection Magazine
Craig's YouTube channel
ANTIC Episode 64 - Living in the Future
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast:
We talk about our Atari-related resolutions for the new year, how 2020 sounds like we’re living in the future, and bring you news and feedback from across the Atari 8-bit landscape.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https://paypal.me/Savetz
TEH: Tech Enthusiast Hour - https://tehpodcast.com
What We’ve Been Up To
- Faster Than Light: The Atari ST and the 16-Bit Revolution by Jamie Lendino - https://amzn.to/2v5823V
- Kevin’s annual computer history work post mortem article - https://www.patreon.com/posts/2019-post-mortem-33065636
- Punctuation Put-On - https://archive.org/details/PunctuationPutOn4amCrack https://twitter.com/KevinSavetz/status/1217869228939862023
- Portland Retro Gaming Expo panel “Atari 800 series computers: 40 years” that Kevin did with Joe Decuir and David Crane, is now on youtube - https://youtube.com/watch?v=lIaxXumt1zY
- Kevin’s Poker Machine and Blackjack games for 10-line BASIC contest - https://twitter.com/KevinSavetz/status/1210786683135725571
- Dneiper River Line & Tanktics - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-dnieper-river-line_1651.html
- Atari Visual History book - https://www.greyfoxbooks.com/
- SDrive Max 1050 Case - Steve Boswell (A8bit) - https://atari8bit.net/sdrive-max-cases/
- SDrive Max 810 (labeled) - Vintage Computer Center - Gavin Haubelt - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/product/atari-810-sdrive-max
- Incognito for Atari 800 - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=275
Interviews
- Interview index: here
Atari News
- High Score Club Season 17 - https://atariage.com/forums/messenger/447762/?tab=comments#comment-1667618
- Rescue Expedition - http://atariteca.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-rescue-expedition-para-computadoras.html#more
- Allan Bushman antic disks 1-9 https://archive.org/details/@allan52?and[]=creator%3A%22antic+magazine%22
- Atari article in Fast Company by Benj Edwards - https://www.fastcompany.com/90432140/how-atari-took-on-apple-in-the-1980s-home-pc-wars
- Fandal’s monthly update http://a8.fandal.cz/ and Monty On The Run - http://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=7774
- Runner Bear, first game of 2020 for Atari - http://atariteca.blogspot.com/2020/01/runner-bear-primer-juego-del-2020-para.html
- Atari Retro-pen: mass storage device for Atari 8-bits - http://atariteca.blogspot.com/2019/12/atari-retro-pen-dispositivo-de.html
- Great website to download game XEXs is Homesoft
- SIO2Midi 3D-printed Case - https://ataribits.weebly.com/midi-3d-printed-cases.html
- Thanks to Mr Robot (Steve Boswell) of AtariAge there is now a 3D printed enclosure design available to protect your SIO2MIDI board (https://ataribits.weebly.com/midi.html)
- Atari800 emulator new version 4.2.0 - https://github.com/atari800/atari800/releases/tag/ATARI800_4_2_0
Upcoming Shows with Atari Computers
- March 21 & 22, 2020, Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest, Living Computers:Museum+Labs in Seattle,Washington - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-pacific-northwest
- March 21, Indy Vintage Computer Club Expo 2020, Camby, IN - https://www.facebook.com/events/188334755647918/
- April 24-26, 2020, Vintage Computer Festival East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
- New event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/
YouTube Videos
- Debugging With the Altirra Atari 8-bit Emulator by Jonathan Halliday (flashjazzcat) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4sS_xv7oBs
- Sprites using Assembly language on the Atari with Joystick control by 8-bit and more - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uYc1cdB-mY
- Atari 800XL MiSTer Core Available on DE10-Standard and Arrow SoCKit FPGA by ModernHackers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ7lcWp3B0k
- Atari 8 Bit - Sphere Demo Benchmark in Fast BASIC by Atari 800XL - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRr94ZxaOLw
- Lesson S4 - Bitmap Drawing on the Atari 800 / 5200 by ChibiAkumas - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogt1WFoHTvk
- Second Life Syndrome Demo by Lamers group in SillyVenture 2k19 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2fzv3-mXKs
- Far Away By Agensa group Demo at SillyVenture Atari Party Poland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYDLX1-c8NI
New at Archive.org
- Issues of Hardcopy newsletter (Lehigh Valley, PA) - https://archive.org/details/@allan52?and%5B%5D=hardcopy
- McDonnell Douglas Recreational Computer Club's Atari Syncalc Demo - https://archive.org/details/syncalcdemojune1985mcdonnelldouglasrecreationalcomputerclub/
- Elfin Magic's Super 3D Plotter II manual - https://archive.org/details/super3dplotter2elfinmagic/
Feedback
- Incognito firmware from FJC (Jonathan Halliday) - https://atari8.co.uk/firmware/incognito/
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
James Hugard, Neanderthal Computer Things
James Hugard was co-founder of Neanderthal Computer Things, a company that created just one product. "810 Turbo" was a hardware conversion board for the Atari 810 disk drive that promised true double density storage, and faster data reading and writing. The device, released in 1983, could be installed inside your 810 disk drive with "no jumpers, no soldering, no extra box." It cost $295. James wrote the firmware for the device.
Check the show notes for links to the 810 Turbo Manual and advertisement, photos of the board, and a lively discussion on AtariAge (in which James has answered some questions and added more commentary.)
This interview took place on June 7, 2019.
810 Turbo ad
810 Turbo Manual
810 Photos and software
NCT Letter to Atari users groups
Discussion on AtariAge
SillyVenture and FujiNet
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: In the tradition of bringing you the latest Atari 8-bit news, we have a couple of very special guests in this episode. First of all, Bart comes to us literally direct from the fabulous SillyVenture show to give us a rundown, and then Thomas Cherryhomes tells us all about the amazing work going on with FujiNet!
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https://paypal.me/Savetz
TEH: Tech Enthusiast Hour - https://tehpodcast.com
What We’ve Been Up To
- SDrive Max from Vintage Computer Center -
https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/product-category/atari
- Atari: A Visual History by Darren Doyle - https://www.greyfoxbooks.com/product/the-atari-a-visual-history/
Guests
- Thomas Cherryhomes
- Bart (SillyVenture) - http://www.sillyventure.eu/en/
Interviews
- Interview index: here
Atari News
- A Crash Course on Advanced DLIs https://playermissile.com/dli_tutorial/
- Galaga for the 8-bits - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/296152-another-galaga-thread/ - playsoft
- Into the Vertical Blank Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-vertical-blank-generation-atari/id1376995635
- Prince of Persia WIP Demo has surfaced http://atariteca.blogspot.com/2019/12/primer-demo-jugable-de-prince-of-persia.html#more
- Nolan Bushnell interviewed At Computer History Museum from August - https://youtu.be/FyHbzhtrP0w
- ABBUC Software Contest - http://www.abbuc.de/atari/software-ressort and http://atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=nowinki&ucat=1&subaction=showfull&id=1572114881
Upcoming Shows with Atari Computers
- March 21 & 22, 2020, Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest, Living Computers:Museum+Labs in Seattle,Washington - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-pacific-northwest
- April 24-26, 2020, Vintage Computer Festival East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
New at Archive.org
- MANUS Manual — Music Notation Software for Atari 8-bit computers - https://archive.org/details/MANUS/
- Atari Karateka Development Disks - https://archive.org/details/AtariKaratekaDevelopmentDisks
- Magic Castle — unreleased game for Atari 8-bit computer - https://archive.org/details/magiccastle_atari
- Atari Telephone Directory - https://archive.org/details/ataritelephonedirectory
- Atari Office Supply Catalog and Office Administration Handbook - https://archive.org/details/atariofficesupplycatalog
- B.A.S.I.C. Bulletin disk newsletters - https://archive.org/details/@allan52?and%5B%5D=bulletin
- Silent Butler 80 - https://archive.org/details/SilentButler80
- Atari 400 800 ROM Wizard - https://archive.org/details/romwizardsummary/page/n7
- Success Magazine Feb 83 - https://archive.org/details/successfeb83
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
This interview took place on June 13, 2019. In it, we discuss Art Walsh, whom I previously interviewed.
Atarimania's list of Dennis' games
Dennis' software at Archive.org
ANTIC Interview 284 - Art Walsh, Dynacomp and Artworx
Z-Stuff for Trains
Bruce May, Unreleased Magic Castle Game
In 1982 Bruce May created Magic Castle, a game for the Atari 800 computer. He finished the game but was unable to find a publisher for it, so hardly anyone played it. In October 2019 he sent me scans of his original documents regarding Magic Castle: his design notes, and even rejection letters from the three companies that he submitted the game to: Catalyst Technologies, Avalon Hill, and Origin Systems. He hasn't been able to find the floppy disks with the game, but he does have printouts of the source code — which he also scanned and sent to me — so it could potentially be resurrected by the Atari community.
This interview took place on October 13, 2019.
Bruce's Magic Castle documents
Wolfgang Burger, President of Atari Bit Byter User Club
Wolfgang Burger is the president and a founding member of the Atari Bit Byter User Club, the world's largest user group dedicated to the Atari 8-bit computer. The group was founded in 1985 in Herten, Germany. Today, the group has about 500 members from around the world. The group's quarterly magazine — still produced on an Atari computer — is almost certainly the longest continually published computer magazine anywhere.
This interview took place on August 28, 2019, during the Fujiama Atari conference in Lengenfeld, Germany. Wolfgang doesn't speak much English, and I don't speak any German, so Roland Wassenberg provided real-time language translation.
ABBUC web site
Bruce Irvine, Atari VP of Software
Bruce Irvine was Atari's Vice President of Software — heading the company's new computer software division — from September 1980 through approximately July 1982. Among other responsibilities, he oversaw Atari Program Exchange and the opening of Atari "software acquisition centers." After leaving Atari, he co-founded Mindset Corporation with Roger Badertscher.
This interview took place on November 7, 2019. In it, Bruce mentions Steve Gerber, Fred Thorlin, Dale Yocum, and Manny Gerard, all of whom we have previously interviewed.
Infoworld — Atari Opens Second Software-Acquisition Center
ANTIC Interview 268 - Steve Gerber, VP of International New Product Development
ANTIC Fred Thorlin interview
ANTIC Dale Yocum interview
ANTIC Interview 78 - Manny Gerard, The Man Who Fired Nolan
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: Kevin hobnobs with Atari celebrities at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, Brad and Randy find out they’re podcast hosts #2 and #3, respectively, and together we cover all the Atari news that’s fit to print.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https://paypal.me/Savetz
TEH: Tech Enthusiast Hour - https://tehpodcast.com
What We’ve Been Up To
- 1088XLD by The Brewing Academy https://thebrewingacademy.com
- Charlie Kulas' Leafer Madness — Development Notebook - https://archive.org/details/LeaferMadnessDevelopmentNotebook/ , https://twitter.com/KevinSavetz/status/1190788999884886017
- Incognito from Lotharek - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=275
- Atari Projects book by Jason Moore - http://www.lulu.com/shop/jason-moore/atari-projects/paperback/product-24223087.html
- Atari 800 from Bill Lange - https://twitter.com/BillLange1968/status/1183407999492206593
- Atari cartridge holder from Bill Lange - https://twitter.com/BillLange1968/status/1179041907978244096
- Vintage computer sign - https://twitter.com/FloppyDays/status/1188147474604539904?s=20
- Atari video cables from Corey Koltz, 8bitclassics - https://www.8bitclassics.com/
Atari News
- Team 6502 announces the launch of http://team6502.org
- Atari Tape Drive Turned Security DVR - https://hackaday.com/2019/11/01/atari-tape-drive-turned-security-dvr/
- fan remake of Rescue on Fractalus (Lucasfilm Games, 1984) is in development - https://twitter.com/LucasfilmGames/status/1168913659080445953/photo/1
- SDrive MAX from Vintage Computer Center - https://www.vintagecomputercenter.com/product-category/atari
- Popeye hack http://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=7755 and http://www.indieretronews.com/2019/09/popeye-atari-8bit-arcade-classic.html?m=1
- TransKey-II PS/2 Keyboard Adapter (Michael St. Pierre) - https://ataribits.weebly.com/tk-ii.html
- Moon Patrol Redux - https://vintageisthenewold.com/moon-patrol-redux-a-revamped-version-of-the-classic-game-for-the-atari-xl-xe/ and https://atariage.com/forums/topic/297535-moon-patrol-redux/
- PRO(C) Atari #14 - WWW.PROC-ATARI.DE
- FLOP #64 - New Issue of the Floppy Disk Magazine - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/297963-flop-64-new-issue-of-the-floppy-disk-magazine/
- A Compendium of Atari 8-bit Games - Volume One by Kieren Hawken - https://amzn.to/2JhxBTK
- Star Vagrant XL/XE Game - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/298001-star-vagrant-atari-xlxe-game/ and http://madsoft.us/en
- Atari Museum patreon - https://www.patreon.com/atarimuseum
- ABBUC Software Contest - http://www.abbuc.de/atari/software-ressort and http://atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=nowinki&ucat=1&subaction=showfull&id=1572114881
Upcoming Shows with Atari Computers
- March 21 & 22, 2020, Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest, Living Computers:Museum+Labs in Seattle,Washington - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-pacific-northwest
- April 24-26, 2020, Vintage Computer Festival East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
YouTube Videos Since Last Show
- 8-bit and more - Mac/65 Assembler introduction video just posted for those who want to learn about the best assembler/debugger ever created - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5drPFoMi4A
- Atari XEGS “2 Systems in 1” Ad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6Z7MwLu8-4
- Incognito (Flashjazzcat):
-
- Installing Incognito Part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vduEeKiMcWA
- Installing Incognito Part 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNXDEm-E3pc
- Incognito: Unboxing, Observations and Additional Information - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oIqSevx8X0
- Incognito: Hands-on (What it can do and how to do it) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAma2d_QQIE
- Demos from Poland (Miesiu):
-
- Garfield - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpHRc9HIapM
- Forever or Never - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjrvCjRhbPM
- Five to Five - Mirage - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE3K7p2DqA8
- Framed Again - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLSmtltww7c
New at Archive.org
- https://archive.org/details/Atari_Woodshop_Physical_Inventory_Procedures
- Allan Bushman:
- (Bill Lange) Parrot by Alpha Systems - https://archive.org/details/ParrotDigitalSoundSystem
- Atari catalog in italian - https://archive.org/details/atarihomecomputercatalogo1984
- Atari 1050 disk drive users guide in Italian - https://archive.org/details/atari1050guidaalluso
- Atari 400 users guide (multilingual) - https://archive.org/details/atari400multilingualmanual
- Bit by Bit, Cell by Cell: Music for Soprano & Atari 800XL by Yoav Gal & Yael Kanarek - https://archive.org/details/cd_bit-by-bit-cell-by-cell-music-for-soprano_yoav-gal-yael-kanarek
Listener Feedback
- Bombjack archive - http://commodore.bombjack.org/
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
ANTIC Special Episode — Atari 800 series computers: 40 years
This is Antic, the Atari 8-bit podcast. I'm Kevin Savetz. On Saturday, October 19, 2019 I had the privilege of taking part in a panel at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. The session was titled "Atari 800 series computers: 40 years." The panelists were Joe Decuir, one of the hardware designers of the Atari 400 and 800; David Crane, who was one of the developers of the Atari's operating system before he famously left Atari to co-found Activision; and myself.
The session was attended by roughly 50 people. There were some difficulties getting Joe's computer to throw its video to the projector, and you can hear some fussing with that in the recording before it gets resolved. I had a great time participating in this panel celebrating the Atari 800's 40th birthday.
Joe Decuir's slide deck for this panel
Joe Decuir 1977 Engineering Notebook
Joe Decuir 1978 Engineering Notebook
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: Kevin comes back from Fujiama with a report and Bill Lange joins us to talk about the David Ahl Collection that he acquired.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https://paypal.me/Savetz
TEH: Tech Enthusiast Hour - https://tehpodcast.com
What We’ve Been Up To
- Fujiama (some photos http://abbuc.de/~atarixle/fuji/2019/ )
-
- Pac man source project https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=PAC-MAN and https://archive.org/details/pacmansourcecode
- Gift of chocolate from Austria from Siegfried Lenz https://twitter.com/KevinSavetz/status/1167000448412409857
- Caverns of Mars poster https://archive.org/details/AtariCavernsOfMarsPoster
- VCF Midwest - http://vcfmw.org/
- SDrive MAX cases from Steve Boswell (MrRobot) - https://atari8bit.net/sdrive-max-cases/
- Atari XL/XE power supply & Atari 400/800 power supply from 8-bit Classics - Corey Koltz - https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/advanced-atari-xl-xe-power-supply/ and https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/atari-400-800-1050-ac-adapter/
- Atari Party East - https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNguze6iWf33GWEuU_-NFY36dwIU9pyDNiZQ34wwJjQs4WT3uaOzauAL-_7rvkCjQ?fbclid=IwAR3a7GKjJzuNQqY0o-cn8nQXzM-WMt0cJxlsYArfdmptXMH0-Aq8En8rQj4&key=N0N2Ny1hZFpoSF9nanR2emk2Y1JWN1dGMTM2VTl3 and https://www.flickr.com/photos/lambdacalculus379/sets/72157711003940108/
- Old School Gamer Magazine - https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com and https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/magazineosg/osg12/html5/index.html?page=19&noflash
- Kryofluxing - https://www.kryoflux.com/ and http://a8preservation.com/#/software?page=1 and http://www.atarimania.com/
- The David Ahl Collection - https://theahlcollection.blogspot.com/p/the-david-h-ahl-collection.html and https://theahlcollection.blogspot.com/p/documentation.html
- Okimate 10 Color Printer - https://archive.org/details/Okimate10PlugNPrintBack and https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002XJLIL6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (paper)
Atari News
- UniJoySticle 2 - https://retro.moe/unijoysticle2/
- Jason Moore’s new Atari Projects book - http://www.lulu.com/shop/jason-moore/atari-projects/paperback/product-24223087.html and http://atariprojects.org/
- make retro-music on modern systems, a company called Micro-Routine has samples made on an Atari 8-bit. https://micro-routine.com/atari-8-bit-basic-sample-pack/
- Incognito Pre-Order @ Lotharek - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=275
- Atari 8-bit game AtariNet updated to version 1.1 (Slor/James Wilkinson) - http://atariteca.blogspot.com/2019/09/publican-actualizacion-de-juego-atarinet.html#more and https://atariage.com/forums/topic/296122-retronet-11-released/?tab=comments#comment-4351719
- PokeyMax, multiPokey board is now at Ver 2. Looks like this might be a quad-Pokey setup in FPGA. Very interesting. https://atariage.com/forums/topic/295242-pokeymax-v2/
- Atari 800 mouse mat - https://www.rhayadercomputers.co.uk/atari_800/p4866955_18074027.aspx
- “Amiga Bill” Bill Winters, Amiga enthusiast, closet Atari 800 fan , perennial VCF exhibitor, and along with Anthony Becker, shot the amazing “Tour of Ultimate 400/800 40th Anniversary Exhibit at VCF East” video was awarded an Emmy Award earlier this month for his work on the MLB Playoffs Opening last year - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlqxDgnYHWU
- PLATOTERM LITE 1.3 Cartridge Release - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/296293-platoterm-lite-13-cartridge-release/ - Thomas Cherryhomes
Upcoming Shows with Atari Computers
- Portland Retro Gaming Expo Oct 18-20 - http://www.retrogamingexpo.com
- March 21-22, 2020: Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
YouTube Videos Since Last Show
- This is an Atari dealer sales information video explaining how to sell the Atari 400 and Atari 800 - Atari Museum - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKxN59fuXsg (25 minutes)
- Atari I/O Seminar - Intro to Atari Pascal (Part 1 of 2) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IQEDCAmJTw&t=697s
- Atari I/O Seminar - Intro to Atari Pascal (Part 2 of 2) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV-4BcDKgwA&t=376s
- Atari XL LCD Prototype Display - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8P9Crbsd-E&t=265s
New at Archive.org
- https://archive.org/details/bellcompublicdomainsharewarecatalog/
- https://archive.org/details/atarihomecomputersanewgenerationatarijanuary1984
- https://archive.org/details/toadcomputers1996catalog
- https://archive.org/details/atariosseminaroutline An early seminar outline for the Atari 400/800 operating system
- https://archive.org/details/atarimonitor/page/n1 Atari Monitor Source Listing. An early source listing for a machine language monitor for the Atari 400/800 computers.
- https://archive.org/details/atarilecturenotes Atari lecture notes, most likely from programming seminars originally hosted by Atari's Chris Crawford
- https://archive.org/details/PreliminaryAtariBasic/ Preliminary Atari BASIC (Sheparson's) Documentation Rev 3 Very early documentation for Atari BASIC as provided by Shepardson Microsystems
- The https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_atari?sort=-publicdate category has lots of new intros and demos
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
Andrew and John Lenz: Atari Still in Productive Use in Store
It’s very difficult these days to find vintage computers still in productive use out in the wild. Andrew and John Lenz have an Atari 8-bit still in use, at the time of this interview, in the picture framing department at Lenz Arts in Santa Cruz, CA, a store that sells art materials and custom framing services. The Atari computer has over 200,000 hours of operational time. (That's on and in use!) Running a program written in BASIC by Andrew in the mid-1980s. According to Andrew, it boots from a floppy every morning without fail.
Store Web Site - http://www.Lenzarts.com
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: We try to catch up after being on hiatus for 2 months by bringing you all the Atari news we could find and we learn a new word in the process.
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https://paypal.me/Savetz
TEH: Tech Enthusiast Hour - https://tehpodcast.com
What We’ve Been Up To
- Whiz Kids - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiz_Kids_(TV_series)
- KansasFest Megapodcast - http://rcrpodcast.com/episodes/2019/7/28/rcr-episode-196-chicken-missile-kansasfest-megapodcast-i-don.html
- Kevin’s Atari floppy drive stash - https://twitter.com/KevinSavetz/status/1158039012017205250
- American Computer Museum, Bozeman, MT - https://acrmuseum.org/
- Indy Vintage Computer Club - https://www.facebook.com/groups/IndyVCC/
- Atari 800 5-pin DIN to S-video cable - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=198 , https://www.8bitclassics.com/shop/av-cables/atari-xlxe-5-pin-din-to-s-video-composite-av-cable/
- Atari 400/800 Programmer’s Guide poster - Steve Boswell - https://www.redbubble.com/people/choccyhobnob/works/39504539-basic-programmers-guide-from-1981?asc=u&c=1128814-wall-art&p=poster&ref=work_collections_grid
- Atari XL/XE USB power supply - https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/32717
- AVGCART - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/278212-avgcart/ tmp on AtariAge
- Nir Dary's demo of the AVGCART - https://youtu.be/j20PlHd6hWU
- Clear For Action, Avalon Hill, http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-clear-for-action_1083.html
Atari News
- [R] pass-thru SDrive2-PT: alsp on AtariAge - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/262509-sdrive-arm-preorder/page-17#entry4277150
- Atari 8-bit open-source hardware - GozdniJezek - https://medium.com/@gozdnijezek/atari-400-800-xl-xe-open-source-hardware-55cd06e7311c
- Solderless Atari 1050 DD/Speed Upgrade: 1050E - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=250
- The disk library of the Atari club KWEST (Kitchener Waterloo Atari Eight Sixteen Thirtytwo) has been found, copied and uploaded - http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=98&t=36939&sid=c66548d9600468cb9ab58df52cb1c9fc
- And at https://archive.org/details/KWEST
- HP calculator emulators for Atari - http://members.aon.at/~nkehrer/a800_c64_hp_emu.html - Norbert Kehrer
- Discussion about Ethernet cart options for the Atari - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/287229-new-dragon-ethernet-cartridge-interest-check/page-8
- Kevin’s blog post at Archive.org - http://blog.archive.org/2019/05/28/have-you-played-atari-today/
- Web Site - The Serious Computerist - http://seriouscomputerist.atariverse.com/pages/home/home.htm - Links to lots of Atari 8-bit information: books, disks, etc.
- Great Green Adv 2 Prologue, Indie Retro News - http://www.indieretronews.com/2019/07/great-green-adventure-2-prologue-very.html#more
- Wasteland - http://www.indieretronews.com/2019/04/wasteland-journey-through-wasteland-in.html#more
- Altirra Extended BASIC - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/284061-altirra-extended-basic
- new version of SIO2SD at Lotharek - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=255
- Amiga Bill: “Putting the final touches on our first non-Amiga video. Rare Atari 800 stuff from Curt Vendel of http://AtariMuseum.com The video comes out Monday August 5th”
- Guru Meditation: a Commodore Amiga YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/thegurumeditation
- Bill Winters and Anthony Becker - http://www.thegurumeditation.org/
- Incognito board by Candle - http://spiflash.org/node/20
Upcoming Shows with Atari Computers
- Fujiama 2019 - Monday, August 26, 2019 to Sunday Sep. 1, 2019 Fujiama 2019 will be held at the Schützenhaus, Schützenhausweg, Lengenfeld, Germany. Visit atarixle's Fujiama page, Krupkaj's parties photos or mathy meetings page.
- VCF Midwest, Elmhurst, IL - Sep. 14-15, 2019 - http://vcfmw.org/
- Portland Retro Gaming Expo Oct 18-20 - http://www.retrogamingexpo.com
- Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
- Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
YouTube Videos Since Last Show
- 2019 Toyota RAV4 hybrid unboxing - Every one includes an Atari 800 home computer in the trunk! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSrhvZ3wslY - GamedOut Gamer
- Introduction to the Platform Specific Series… In this series of tutorials we're going to cover how to do simple common tasks on multiple 6502 systems - Joystick Reading on the Atari 800 / 5200 - Learn 6502 Assembly Lesson P11 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm1FyJ-NjxA (5 thousand 2 hundred) - ChibiAkumas
- 3.5" Drive for the Atari 8bit computer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MLhSWtX84M - Nir Dary (drive by Zaxxon for sale at https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/37199)
- How I connected by 800XL to Irata Online - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KSv5bZT2SE - Jeff Thiele
New at Archive.org
- https://archive.org/details/@jcbstein uploaded many Energy newslettters, Happy computer flyers
- Jason scott put many many Atari newsletters at https://archive.org/details/computermagazines?sort=-publicdate Light House, Tyne & Wear, Doktor Atari
- https://archive.org/details/BasicFunWithGraphicsTheAtariWay
- https://archive.org/details/@moorejh (Jason Moore) - letters from Atari, Adventure International, users group
- And Dorsett Courseware Catalog - https://archive.org/details/dorsettcoursewarecatalog
- Allan Bushman - https://archive.org/details/AtariVidtexUsersGuideCompuserve Compuserve's Atari Vidtex Users Guide
- And Twenty-Fifth Century Atari Software Catalog Summer Fall 1987 - https://archive.org/details/twentyfifthcenturyatarisoftwarecatalogsummerfall1987/page/n7
- Kevin: https://archive.org/details/@savetz Many Jersey Atari Computer Group newsletters, many Current Notes, a few Portland Atari Club; Many manuals and packages from that software store
- Purser's Magazine Atari Edition Summer 1981 - https://archive.org/details/pursersmagazineatarieditionsummer1981
- https://archive.org/details/daisydotiiii
- https://archive.org/details/daisydotii
- Draper Pascal 1.5 And 1.6 Manual; Manual for Draper Pascal 1.5 with addendum for version 1.6 Posted with permission of Norm Draper. - https://archive.org/details/DraperPascal1.5And1.6Manual
- https://archive.org/details/LetterEditorDonTippmann - Printed Atari BASIC source code for Letter Editor by Don Tippmann for Atari 8-bit computers
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
John Anderson: Rally Speedway and Arex
John Anderson worked at Adventure International, where he coded several games: Eliminator, Rear Guard, and Sea Dragon for the Apple II, then Rally Speedway and Arex for the Atari 8-bits.
This interview took place on May 22, 2019. In it, we discuss Scott Adams and Russ Wetmore, both of whom I have previously interviewed.
List of John's games at Atarimania
John's web site
ANTIC Interview 113 - Russ Wetmore
ANTIC Interview 25 - Scott Adams, Adventure International
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: We have a special round table episode with Nir Dary, Darren Doyle, Roland Wassenburg, Thomas Cherryhomes joining the usual hosts of ANTIC where we discuss what everyone is up to in the Atari 8-bit world, including the latest shows (VCFSE and VCFE). It’s an Atari mega-show!
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https://paypal.me/Savetz
TEH: Tech Enthusiast Hour - https://tehpodcast.com
Links Mentioned in Show:
- The Modern Atari 8bit computer (Nir Dary) - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmzjD_biYJ5hQf-MoK9Ztcw
- AVG Cart - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/278212-avgcart/
- Atari ERIC kiosk - http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8BITS/400800/ERIC/index.html
- Type-In Task Force - http://ataribasiclistings.mygamesonline.org/
- TV Powww - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Powww
- TV Powww from Around the USA - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdl-TbT3DGU
- Atari: A Visual History Kickstarter (Darren Doyle) - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1294981709/atari-a-visual-history
- Second place for Lunar Lander and Floody Bot (Kevin Savetz) - https://gkanold.wixsite.com/homeputerium/kopie-von-results-2019
- VCF East - Picture of the Atari contingent - https://twitter.com/KevinSavetz/status/1124757313234010112
- Jeff Piepmier 3D-printed Jumpman gift to Kevin - https://twitter.com/KevinSavetz/status/1126134721392435200
- Joe Decuir’s VCF East Keynote - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlVpu_QSHyw
- The David Ahl Collection https://theahlcollection.blogspot.com
- VCF West, Aug 3-4, Computer History Museum, 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mountain View, California - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west/
- 3.5" Atari XF551 Remake drive - https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/37199?fbclid=IwAR0O6ZiMSnXY-A866G038_CtEEh3vLihz6BnyyquBb5ZPyJGksxvByznAuo
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: Kevin regales us with his exploits in the 10-Line BASIC Contest, we discuss the renewed efforts to show off Midi-Maze on the Atari 8-bits, and the entire staff prepares to be involved in several great shows this year ...
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https://paypal.me/Savetz
TEH: Tech Enthusiast Hour - https://tehpodcast.com
What We’ve Been Up To
- Renderific is an SVG renderer for Atari 8-bit computers, written in Turbo-BASIC XL. It tries to parse SVG Tiny files and draw them on screen and/or on an Atari 1020 plotter. - http://github.com/savetz/Renderific. It was featured on Hackaday - https://hackaday.com/2019/03/08/svg-rendering-comes-to-8-bit-atari-computers/
- Xformer 10 emulator running on MacOS under PlayonMac. Video showing how: https://youtu.be/uoJOfhaGX4g , AtariAge forum discussion: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/289510-xformer-emulator-running-on-macos/
- “Endless Loop: The History of the BASIC Programming Language” - https://amzn.to/2HMb0zn
- “Gaming the Iron Curtain: How Teenagers and Amateurs in Communist Czechoslovakia Claimed the Medium of Computer Games” - https://amzn.to/2UCCU6N
- MultiJoy8 - Steve Boswell (Mr Robot, @A8bit on twitter). List of Multijoy games: http://a8.fandal.cz/search.php?search=multijoy&butt_details_x=x
- Atari 800 5-pin DIN to S-video cable - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=198 , https://www.8bitclassics.com/shop/av-cables/atari-xlxe-5-pin-din-to-s-video-composite-av-cable/
Atari News
- Dropcheck is taking pre-orders on Midi-Maze XE Super Cart 128K PCB - https://www.bitsofthepast.com/?p=1591
- Dragon Ethernet Cartridge - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/287229-new-dragon-ethernet-cartridge-interest-check/. There's a talk on atari.area forum http://www.atari.org...=246635#p246635 about producing new Dragon Ethernet cartridge http://www.atari8ethernet.com. Duddie from http://retronics.eu/ said, that he can start making them after he get customers for 50 cartridges.
- Manual for Edit 6502 from LJK Enterprises. ROM-based assembler, disassembler, editor. - https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Edit%206502
- ABBUC Issue #136 is out - Atari Bit Byter User Club. It's always a joy to receive new issues of magazine of ABBUC, the German club with 460 members.
- BASIC 10-line contest - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/287756-2019-basic-ten-liners-contest
- New SRAM module from Lotharek - https://lotharek.pl/...tail.php?id=232
- Type-In Task Force http://ataribasiclistings.mygamesonline.org/. All users, who are listening to your podcast, are invited to help with the missing programs in red. Mr.Bacardi@freenet.de
- New Atari book - “We Love Atari” by Karl Morris, Volume 1, 1972-1983 - www.zafinnbooks.com
- Vintage Atari becomes modern USB keyboard - https://hackaday.com/2019/03/17/vintage-atari-becomes-modern-keyboard/ , https://camper-assistant.com/atrkb.html
Upcoming Shows with Atari Computers
- The Great Oz Retro-Fest, (GORF) April 24-28, 2019 - Melbourne, Australia. GORF is a multi-day event celebrating the personal computing platforms of the 1970s, 80s and 90s including the Apple, Microbee, Commodore, Atari, Sinclair and other 8- and 16-bit computer lines. Similar to KansasFest there is bunk-style accommodation provided on-site and participants are encouraged to live-in for the duration of the event. https://www.reddit.com/r/retrocomputing/comments/ar4uvw/gorf_the_great_oz_retrotechnology_festival/
- VCF Southeast April 27 & 28, Roswell, GA http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/otherevents/vintage-computer-festival-southeast/
- VCF East May 3-5, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/
- KansasFest July 16 – 21 in Kansas City, Missouri. https://www.kansasfest.org
- Fujiama 2019 - Monday, August 26, 2019 to Sunday Sep. 1, 2019 (ONE WHOLE WEEK. Fujiama 2019 will be held at the Schützenhaus, Schützenhausweg 11, 08485 Lengenfeld, Germany. Visit atarixle's Fujiama page, Krupkaj's parties photos or mathy meetings page.
- VCF Midwest, Elk Grove Village, IL - Sep. 14-15, 2019 - http://vcfmw.org/
- Portland Retro Gaming Expo Oct 18-20 http://www.retrogamingexpo.com
YouTube Videos Since Last Show
- 3D Visualization of the Atari 800XL and peripherals - Edyta Ka - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHeYgxdADYU
- Connecting to BBS using Atari 800XL, ICD P:R: Connection, wifimodem and ICE-T - Marek Chorvat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1X9LkEKsIg
- Five NEW games for the Atari 8 bit games, some of which ported from existing systems. Time Pilot, Total Eclipse, Ziggy, Drudarium and Jack The Nipper are the games, all running on my Atari 65 XE. - ChinnyVision - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNdEDxq3GoA
- Atari 400 is talking over a DECtalk DTC01 speech synthesizer, using serial ports. The Atari 850 is being used - Michael Wessel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wb6WQOGmtZs&t=91s
New at Archive.org
- Allan: Cin'Tari - Atari Computer Enthusiasts Newsletter, April, 1983, Vol 1, Issue 4 - https://archive.org/details/CinTariAtariComputerEnthusiastsNewsletterApril1983Vol1Issue4
- https://archive.org/details/AmericanTechnaVisionCatalog1991 - American Techna-Vision Catalog 1991
- https://archive.org/details/@allan52?and%5B%5D=computer+shopper+atari - Atari articles in Computer Shopper
Commercial
- tweet from Andrew Borman, Digital Games Curator at the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester, NY: “We're underway with our U-Matic digitization project at @museumofplay. Check out this clip from Atari's First Decade celebration! We are dialing in some settings and comparing to some of the previously digitized footage” - https://twitter.com/Borman18/status/1100143648476487680
Feedback
- Adam Trionfo - Atari keyboard stickets
End of Show Music
- The Czech composer Adam J. Sporka published this week "For Ember", album with 18 chiptune songs composed using an Atari 800XL computer.
The album is available on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Deezer, Amazon and SoundCloud. More information on the official page of For Ember - http://kcdsoundtrack.com/for-ember.html
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: Bill Lange joins us as a special guest, and he has lots of Atari Pascal news; we have all the Atari news fit to print, and more shows coming in 2019 than you can shake a stick at ...
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https://paypal.me/Savetz
TEH: Tech Enthusiast Hour - https://tehpodcast.com
What We’ve Been Up To
- VCF East XIII -- Bill Lange -- Atari 8 Bit Maintenance and Repair https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWkzZr-ZOdo
- Bill Lange fixed Atari 822 Thermal Printer -
https://www.facebook.com/groups/181644898539691/permalink/1963165623720934/
- MagFest: A four day/24 hours a day celebration of (M)usic (A)nd (G)ames -National Harbor, MD near Washington D.C. - https://www.magfest.org/
- Old School Gamer - Bill Lange Star Raiders Article - https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/magazine/
- SDrive Max - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/275629-sdrive-max-atx-support/page-23
- Bill Lange notes on SDrive Max: - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HATTyf5TrxwfdCmRVrT1gOl-XPtCRmzqt9Ulp52C2jg/edit?usp=sharing
- Computer Animation Primer by David Fox https://www.atariarchives.org/cap/
- PASCAL Primer by David Fox https://amzn.to/2Guizdl
- Bill Lange’s new blog about Pascal: https://insideataripascal.blogspot.com/
- Atari Pascal research: https://www.oldschoolgamermagazine.com/magazineosg/osg08/
- Kevin’s twitter thread about Atari Pascal documentation: https://twitter.com/KevinSavetz/status/1074036786190401536
- Steve Boswell (Mr Robot, @A8bit on twitter) MultiJoy8. The hub was designed by Jan Křupka, he came 5th in the ABBUC hardware contest in 2014 with it. Sails of Doom http://atariage.com/forums/topic/283993-sails-of-doom-new-multijoy-game/ — list of Multijoy games: http://a8.fandal.cz/search.php?search=multijoy&butt_details_x=x
- Charlie Kulas’ Leafer Madness - code https://archive.org/details/LeaferMadness and discussion http://atariage.com/forums/topic/287589-leafer-madness-by-charlie-kulas/
- RespeQT - https://github.com/jzatarski/RespeQt
Interviews
- Philip Bouchard - MECC, The Oregon Trail - http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-369-philip-bouchard-the-oregon-trail
Atari News
- New season of gameplay on AtariAge - 8-bit High Score Club Season 16 - The Real Bounty Bob - http://atariage.com/forums/forum/60-8-bit-high-score-club/
- Atari XL/XE -=Space Fortress Omega=- - Jason Kendall - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CMgWsLjqx8
- Space Fortress Omega is a great new vertically scrolling shoot 'em up for the Atari 8-bit computers by Kendallsoft - http://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=7659
- New Atari news web site: https://atari8bit.net by Steve Boswell (Mr Robot, @A8bit on twitter)
- LiteDOS 2.0 released https://atari8bit.net/litedos2-0-released/
- New game Animal Keeper - www.atarisales.com
- Mytek’s 1088XLD project - Thread on AA: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/280918-1088xld-custom-a8-computer-in-1050-drive-case/
- 10-line BASIC contest is underway http://gkanold.wixsite.com/homeputerium/kopie-von-games-list-2019-2
- 6502 competition http://6502.atari.org.pl (deadline was January 31, 2019)
- ANTIC now on TuneIn - http://tun.in/pjiJE - You can listen to ANTIC on your Echo Dot or Spot!
- Everyone’s favorite Atari emulator for Mac AtariMacX has been updated to 5.0.1 http://www.atarimac.com/ (update 2019-01) (Mojave Dark Mode and minor fixes), Altirra’s current version is 3.10 http://www.virtualdub.org/altirra.html (Updated 2018-08) Atari800 emulator is at 4.0 https://atari800.github.io/index.html (Updated 2018-05) Rainbow v1.5.8 https://www.bannister.org/software/rainbow.htm
- AKI - Atari Keyboard Interface - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=228 AVAILABLE END OF FEBRUARY
- Sio SPLITTER https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=158
- RetroChallenge 2019/03 is now open. Anyone doing Atari projects out there? - http://www.retrochallenge.org/
Upcoming Shows with Atari Computers
- VCF Pacific Northwest 2019 will take place March 23-24, 2019 at Living Computers: Museum+Labs in Seattle, Washington. Details can be found at http://www.vcfed.org/vcf-pnw.
- Midwest Gaming Classic - Milwaukee, WI - April 12-14, 2019 - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/
- The Great Oz Retro-Fest, (GORF) April 24-28, 2019 - Melbourne, Australia. GORF is a multi-day event celebrating the personal computing platforms of the 1970s, 80s and 90s including the Apple, Microbee, Commodore, Atari, Sinclair and other 8- and 16-bit computer lines. Similar to KansasFest there is bunk-style accommodation provided on-site and participants are encouraged to live-in for the duration of the event. https://www.reddit.com/r/retrocomputing/comments/ar4uvw/gorf_the_great_oz_retrotechnology_festival/
- VCFSE 7.0 is scheduled for April 27&28, 2019 in Roswell, GA at the new Computer Museum of America.
- VCF East May 3-5, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/
- Fujiama 2019 - Monday, August 26, 2019 to Sunday Sep. 1, 2019 (ONE WHOLE WEEK. Fujiama 2019 will be held at the Schützenhaus, Schützenhausweg 11, 08485 Lengenfeld, Germany. Visit atarixle's Fujiama page, Krupkaj's parties photos or mathy meetings page.
- VCF Midwest, Elk Grove Village, IL - Sep. 14-15, 2019 - http://vcfmw.org/
- Portland Retro Gaming Expo Oct 18-20 http://www.retrogamingexpo.com
YouTube Videos Since Last Show
- Atari 800XL NTSC to PAL Conversion - FlashJazzCat (Jonathan Halliday) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwGtzZzoO0Q
- Restoring an Atari 800 XL - Atomo Workshop - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QLfS8mqsuI
- Atari 800XL Extreme Refurb: Revisited new surprise ending! - Perifractic's Retro Recipes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au8tCd0-b4k
- Animal Keeper for Atari 5200 and 8-bit Computers! - Video61 (Lance Ringquist) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2DGnsuRbGc
- David Fox Book “Computer Animation Primer” examples video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJwCYsQSziWYUlDBNcWy80g/videos?view_as=subscriber
New at Archive.org
- https://archive.org/details/BASICXAAPXVer5/ allan
- https://archive.org/details/Atari800SecretWeapon
- https://archive.org/details/DasAtariSpielebuch
- https://archive.org/details/6502MachineCodeForBeginners by A. P. Stephenson
- https://archive.org/details/GettingMoreOutOfYourAtariCrawfordWinnerImages
- https://archive.org/details/AtariA600XLProductStatusMeetingHandout
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
Philip Bouchard - MECC, The Oregon Trail
Philip Bouchard spent over 30 years designing computer software, 18 of which were focused on educational software. He was the principal designer for the Apple II games The Oregon Trail and Number Munchers.
The Oregon Trail is a computer game originally developed in 1971 and produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) in 1974. The original game was designed to teach school children about the realities of 19th-century pioneer life on the Oregon Trail. "The Oregon Trail" is the world's longest-running video game franchise.
This interview took place August 26, 2017.
Links:
- Philip’s personal Web site - http://www.philipbouchard.com/
- The Philipendium, Insightful stories about science, nature, language, and education - https://medium.com/the-philipendium
- “How I Managed to Design the Most Successful Educational Computer Game of All Time” article by R. Philip Bouchard - https://medium.com/the-philipendium/how-i-managed-to-design-the-most-successful-educational-computer-game-of-all-time-4626ea09e184
- “You Have Died of Dysentery: The creation of The Oregon Trail – the iconic educational game of the 1980s” book by R. Philip Bouchard - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B8JMKMC
- Oregon Trail game at archive.org - https://archive.org/details/msdos_Oregon_Trail_The_1990
- Oregon Trail series at WikiPedia
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: late-breaking up-to-the-minute Atari news, Randy disappears mid-episode, and we hear what Atari was like in Chile...
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https://paypal.me/Savetz
TEH: Tech Enthusiast Hour - https://tehpodcast.com
What We’ve Been Up To
- Kevin’s year-end blog - http://atariaction.tumblr.com/post/181930826652/kevins-2017-post-mortem
- Atari CX401: General Accounting System - https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=The%20Atari%20Accountant%20Series
- Official start of BASIC 10-Liners 2019 edition is January 30 - http://gkanold.wixsite.com/homeputerium/forum/_2019/official-start-of-2019-edition-is-january-the-30th
- Turban - TUrboBAsic Nifty - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/244686-turban-turbobasic-nifty/
- Christmas present from Nir Dary - Lost in Space by Mr. Atari - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/245323-my-second-game-lost-in-space-philips-space-rendezvous/page- , https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=r8rfAzmq_n8
- SDrive Max - https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=SDrive-MAX
- SIO2SD - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=58
Interviews
- Recent thread started by Ethan_GameResearch (@GameResearch_E) praising the interview efforts by this show - https://twitter.com/GameResearch_E/status/1082672051243094016
Atari News
- New Version of Atari800MacX Released - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/286777-new-version-of-atari800macx-released/
- Rainbow emulator - Chris Lam’s old emulator. Richard Bannister updated of OS X - https://www.bannister.org/software/rainbow.htm
- Xformer demo video: http://www.emulators.com/Videos/XformerDemo2.mp4
- Presenting for the new year: 2600 Combat, ported to the 800 - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/286592-combat-for-the-8-bit/ - phaeron
- 2019 Atari new year disk - https://atariteca.blogspot.com/2019/01/new-year-disc-2019-con-juegos-y-demos.html
- Adventures in Atari BASIC: By Mikey Walters - Space Assault in ANALOG Computing #13 - https://wearethemutants.com/2016/09/06/adventures-in-atari-basic-lesson-one-programmer-kids-and-plotting-stars/
- http://atariprojects.org/2019/01/12/watch-episodes-of-the-bits-and-bytes-tv-show-1-2-hours/
- Rodman is a fun new Pac-Man inspired maze game that is being released for no less than 8 different 8-bit computers simultaneously! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9FyFbLGPnI
- You can check out Rodman screenshots and video, download demos and buy tapes here: https://www.thefuturewas8bit.com/shop/games/rodman-special.html?fbclid=IwAR1vJeCVO4OcWcgsoK0plcBjy-AwJhcVqRscGh5OmqqFhkuUlpIrOhSaUbQ
- Hundreds of Atari 8-bit fonts, converted to TrueType for use on modern computers by @choccyhobnob https://github.com/ChoccyHobNob/EightBit-Atari-Fonts
- 8-bit Unity - THE ULTIMATE GAME SDK FOR 80S COMPUTERS - http://8bit-unity.com/?fbclid=IwAR112vDfmdwwovZTtEsztAqwYheDMhjteQZiXV8ccOK8G0UlvXZtbEdtqbg
Upcoming Shows with Atari Computers
- VCF Pacific Northwest 2019 will take place March 23-24, 2019 at Living Computers: Museum+Labs in Seattle, Washington. Details can be found at http://www.vcfed.org/vcf-pnw.
- Midwest Gaming Classic - Milwaukee, WI - April 12-14, 2019 - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/
- VCFSE 7.0 is scheduled for April 27&28.
- Fujiama 2019 - Monday, August 26, 2019 to Sunday Sep. 1, 2019 (ONE WHOLE WEEK.
-
- As always, the Fujiama 2019 will be held at the Schützenhaus, Schützenhausweg 11, 08485 Lengenfeld, Germany. Visit atarixle's Fujiama page, Krupkaj's parties photos or mathy meetings page.
- VCF Midwest, Elk Grove Village, IL - Sep. 14-15, 2019 - http://vcfmw.org/
- Portland Retro Gaming Expo Oct 18-20 http://www.retrogamingexpo.com
- New event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
YouTube videos since last show
- Atari 800XL VBXE Installation - Jonathan Halliday (FlashJazzCat) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKS5MJ0AdEU
- Fitting a DIN13 RGB Jack to an Atari 800XL - Jonathan Halliday - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQUfsjq9SN8
- COMING SOON: PLATOTerm on an Atari 8-bit Cartridge! - Thomas Cherryhomes (tschak909) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z30YqJJHRA
- Top 100 Games for Atari 8-bit/Atari XL/Atari XE - CRT Chronicles - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq6PZJAusFY
New at Archive.org
- https://archive.org/details/ColleenHardwareManualVersionA/
- https://archive.org/details/ColleenHardwareManualVersionB/
- https://archive.org/details/AtariA1200OperatingSystemManualSupplement/
- https://archive.org/details/LNBUG5
- https://archive.org/details/AtariOperatingSystemUsersManualAugust1980
- https://archive.org/details/EvaluationOfTheDeepBlueCCompiler
- Deep Blue C Compiler 1.1 Draft Manual - https://archive.org/details/DeepBlueCCompiler1.1DraftManual
- Atari Pascal Development Proposal - https://archive.org/details/AtariPascalDevelopmentProposal/
- Atari Pascal V 0.0 Documentation - https://archive.org/details/AtariPascalV0.0Documentation/page/n25
- Comparison Points Between UCSD Pascal And ATARI Pascal - https://archive.org/details/ComparisonPointsBetweenUCSDPascalAndATARIPascal
- Atari Pascal Functional Specification - https://archive.org/details/AtariPascalFunctionalSpecification/
- Atari Pascal Functional Specification - Harry Stewart Memo https://archive.org/details/AtariPascalFunctionalSpecificationStewartMemo
- Harry Stewart Pascal Meeting Notes - https://archive.org/details/HarryStewartPascalMeetingNotes
- https://archive.org/details/AtariPASCALExecutionMonitor version 1.0, March 1 1982, by W. Saville and M. Lehman — is another gift from Harry Stewart. "The final delivered version!!! Hooray"
- Kevin deep dive into the Pascal material https://twitter.com/KevinSavetz/status/1074036786190401536
Feedback
- Chilean Websites:
- Facebook Groups:
-
- Atari Chile (Every day content!) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/840633719349481/
- RetroGames - https://www.facebook.com/groups/156206107736466
Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.
Stan Gilbert, Tricky Tutorials
Hello, and welcome to an interview-only episode of Antic, The Atari 8-bit computer podcast. Stan Gilbert worked for Educational Software (previously known as Santa Cruz Educational Software) in the early 80’s and developed several products in the Tricky Tutorial series for the Atari 8-bit computer line. He later also worked for Apple.
This interview took place July 29, 2017.
Links:
- Antic Magazine August 1987 - Vol. 6 No. 4
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- LINKBAS.BAS, LINKBAS.EXE: Link BASIC (with compiled version), programming utility by Robin Alan Sherer and Stan Gilbert, 99 (BASIC, binary load)
- http://www.elisoftware.org/index.php?title=Tricky_Tutorial_No._9_GTIA_Graphics_(Atari_8-Bit,_5_1/4%22_Disk)_Educational_Software_-_1983_USA,_Canada_Release - Tricky Tutorial No. 9 GTIA Graphics (Atari 8-Bit, 5 1/4" Disk) Educational Software - 1983 USA, Canada Release
- The Adventures of Proto - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-adventures-of-proto-_125.html
- Stan on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stan-gilbert-485b4b77/?ppe=1
In this special Holiday episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast:
Nir Dary regales us with stories about SilliVenture 2018. We share Atari gift ideas for yourself or others for Christmas. Plus, all the Atari 8-bit news we could find...
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https://paypal.me/Savetz
TEH: Tech Enthusiast Hour - https://tehpodcast.com
What We’ve Been Up To
- Atari CX401: General Accounting System - https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=The%20Atari%20Accountant%20Series http://atari8bitads.blogspot.com/2017/12/atari-bean-counter.html
- SDrive Max - https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=SDrive-MAX
Atari News
- Pole Position Graphics hack - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go2iQs8XkaY , http://atariage.com/forums/topic/284958-pole-position-modest-sprite-hack/page-7
- BAD APPLE demo by MadTeam won 2nd place in the Silly Venture 2018 Atari Rapidus / VBXE Demo competition - BAD APPLE VIDEO.
- Altirra on Mac issues resolved? Wade of Inverse ATASCII indicates he has resolved the Wine issues. - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/278822-altirra-30-mac-wine-port/?p=4170603
- Homesoft Atari XL/XE Disk Images - http://www.mushca.com/f/atari/
- Sidewriter Screen Sonics Keyboard - https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/60960870 , https://www.atarimagazines.com/v1n5/productreviews.html
- 1980's Atari 8-bit Platforming classic, now with 72 NEW rooms! - https://www.indieretronews.com/2018/09/montezuma-again-1980s-atari-8-bit.html
- Dungeon Hunt II - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/285702-dungeon-hunt-ii/ by Jacobus
- new digital book The A-Z of Atari 8-bit Games: Volume 3 is now available to buy on both Amazon and Kindle Store - Kieren Hawkin
UK Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Z-Atari-8-bit-Games-Gaming-ebook/…/
US Link: https://www.amazon.com/Z-Atari-8-bit-Games-Ga…/…/B07KYVVWDM/
YouTube videos since last show
- Amiga : The successor to the Atari 800 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-lzl54MOzk - Here is an excerpt from a talk by two of the Amiga designers: Ron Nicholson and Joe Decuir.
- SillyVenture 2018 - Atari Party in Gdansk Poland - published by Nir Dary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svD_K8ulgbs
- Atari800 Emulator on Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro runs "Drunk Chessboard" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1grm0DAzqM
New at Archive.org
- Hawkquest Game art and notes https://archive.org/details/HawkQuestGame and https://archive.org/details/HotCopter
- Ad Astra V2n1 The Journal of the Atari Microcomputer Net Amateur Radio Operator Users' Group https://archive.org/details/AdAstraV2n1/
- Ad Astra V2n2 https://archive.org/details/AdAstraV2n2/
- Atari Logo In The Classroom: A Teacher's Manual by Donna Bearden https://archive.org/details/AtariLogoInTheClassroom/
- Axlon Memory Upgrades Catalog https://archive.org/details/AxlonMemoryUpgradesCatalog/
Nir Dary - SilliVenture 2018
- SV 2K18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svD_K8ulgbs
- Sillventure Demos - https://demozoo.org/parties/3538/#competition_14740
- UltraSyd music party: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXPD57D-oNI
- Paul Laughton greeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-iiCttMK8Y
- Flimoís quest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGlwzFFeMAI
- Druidarium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRtTSJoZhz8
Atari Christmas Gifts
- Atari Touch Tablet at Best Electronics - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/274432-new-cx-77-atari-touch-tablets-at-best/
- Best Buy edition of Arcade1Up - Deluxe Edition 12-in-1 Arcade Cabinet with Riser - Atari Graphics $399 - https://www.bestbuy.com/site/arcade1up-deluxe-edition-12-in-1-arcade-cabinet-with-riser-atari-graphics/6288355.p?skuId=6288355&ref=212&loc=1&extStoreId=598&ds_rl=1266837&gclid=Cj0KCQiA8f_eBRDcARIsAEKwRGeAU8mBZa9kAVI9nOEn93PD8cLoGglqaadfKOGFlQAdqXiip0fZl9EaAqXPEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&fbclid=IwAR036TybxXU3qzgHMLqodTsHJ-4anZZx0TMbDosLA3zuYCRWDhgv-RY__t8
- WalMart edition of Asteroids Cabinet - https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arcade1Up-Asteroids-Machine-4ft/828150107?athcpid=828150107&athpgid=athenaItemPage&athcgid=null&athznid=PWVAV&athi