Ron Luks, Founder and manager of the Atari Forums on CompuServe Welcome to this interview-only episode of Antic, The Atari 8-bit computer podcast. My name is Randy Kindig. In this show, I’ll be talking with Mr. Ron Luks, a name that you’re probably familiar with if you used your Atari to access the Compuserve Information Service. Ron was founder and manager of the Atari Forums on CompuServe (SIG*Atari, 8-bit Forum, 16-bit Forum (ST), Atari Developers, Atari Vendors, and others.) He also wrote ar...
Apr 22, 2016•43 min
John Powers, Atari Director of Software Development John Powers was co-founder of The Authorship Resource, the company that created all of the software for the CyberVision 2000 computer. From 1980 to 1982 he worked at Atari as Director of Software Development for personal computers. While he was there, he wrote three pieces of software for Atari Program Exchange: Newspaper Route Management Program, Computerized Card File, and Cosmatic Atari Development Package. He was later VP of Research and De...
Apr 20, 2016•52 min
Edward Lehmann, Recipe Search 'N Save Edward Lehmann published one Atari program through Atari Program Exchange: Recipe Search 'N Save, which first appeared in the summer 1982 APX catalog. It won third prize in the Personal Finance & Record Keeping category in that catalog. It was APX catalog number 20114, available on diskette, required 32K, and cot $22.95 This interview took place on February 2, 2016. Teaser quote: "The thing is, it didn't work all the time, that's what bugged me. I was se...
Apr 18, 2016•11 min
Chuck Mullally, Mastermatch Chuck Mullally published one game through Atari Program Exchange: Mastermatch, game similar to the Mastermind board game. Mastermatch was one of the last APX programs to be released: it was first available in the Winter 1983-1984 APX catalog — the final APX catalog. Chuck told me that the game won a $1000 prize from APX, but the catalog — a sparse 8 pages and much smaller than the previous APX catalogs — doesn’t even mention that. This interview took place on January ...
Apr 16, 2016•20 min
Bryon Wilcox, Wilcox Company On December 12, 2015, I bought an unusual Atari computer on ebay: it appeared to be a typical 800XL, but where the Atari name would have been, there was a sticker that said "GRAPHICS 1 - The Wilcox Company." Another sticker on the bottom of the computer indicated that the company was based in Washougal, Washington. When I received the computer, I found that it included a hand-made cartridge that contains a message display program. You can enter a few lines of text, p...
Apr 14, 2016•16 min
John Crane, RPN Calculator Simulator John Crane published one Atari program, through Atari Program Exchange: RPN Calculator Simulator. The program first appeared in the Spring 1982 APX catalog, where it was awarded second prize in the business and professional applications category. John was also one of the founders of the Bay Area Atari Users Group, and did some software evaluation for Atari Program Exchange. This interview took place on January 31, 2016. Teaser quote: "He [Steve Wozniak] intro...
Apr 12, 2016•47 min
Alan Newman: Domination, Tutti Frutti, Hotel Alien Alan Newman published several programs for the Atari 8-bit computers: Domination, a Hamurabi-style management game, was published by Atari Program Exchange. It first appeared in the Fall 1981 catalog, where it won first prize in the entertainment category. Next he created Tutti Frutti, an arcade-style game that was published by Adventure International. And Hotel Alien, a graphical adventure game published by Artworx. He also wrote Spy Vs. Spy — ...
Apr 09, 2016•32 min
Darren Schebek, Envision character set editor Darren Schebek wrote Envision, a character set editor for the Atari 8-bit computers. It was published in Antic magazine’s software catalog in 1986. Envision cost $19.95: “Create giant, multi-screen, 8-way scrolling pictures. Build effortless animations (up to 128 frames at 10 speeds). ENVISION has over 50 commands giving you total control over the Atari’s 6 incredible text modes. On the 130XE, Envision supports 16 simultaneous fonts.” After we conduc...
Apr 07, 2016•56 min
Jerome Domurat, artist and interface designer Jerome Domurat worked at Atari from November 1981 through July 1986 as an artist and interface designer. He started creating art for the home game systems, including E.T., Krull, and Raiders of the Lost Ark for the Atari 2600; and Jungle Hunt, Pengo, and Baseball for the 5200. He made the transition when Jack Tramiel bought the company: he worked on user interface design for the Atari ST. He also helped design the NEOchrome paint program, and adapted...
Apr 05, 2016•1 hr 15 min
Alan Henricks, Controller Alan Henricks was Controller at Atari during the Warner Communications era. He was there from 1978 through 1983. This interview took place on November 17, 2015. Teaser quotes: "Had the next generation of technology - the personal computer - succeeded, Atari would be where Apple is today." "The first thing he said to me, looking me in the eyes ... he said, 'I speak to you on fear of my life.' My response was, 'I so don't want to be here.'"...
Apr 03, 2016•39 min
On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: we find a lot of new hardware gadgets for our Atari 8-bit machines, and learn all about Atari-branded printers. Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevin’s Book “Terrible Nerd” New Atari books scans at archive.org ANTIC feedback at AtariAge Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge ANTIC Facebook Page What we’ve been up to Cauzin Softstrip - https://archive.org/details/CauzinSoftstrip TRS-80 Trash Talk - h...
Apr 01, 2016•1 hr 21 min
Richard Leinecker, Your Atari Comes Alive Richard Leinecker is author of the book Your Atari Comes Alive, which was published by Alpha Systems. The book provides instructions for building hardware projects that work with the Atari 8-bit computers, such as event detectors, motion sensors, a light pen, Christmas lights, and networking computers together. The book has been scanned as is available at the Internet Archive. He wrote a followup book called Your Atari ST Comes Alive. He also wrote for C...
Mar 31, 2016•27 min
Art Prag: Mapware, Starware, and Astrology Art Prag, along with Harry Koons, published three programs with Atari Program Exchange: Mapware, Starware, and Astrology. Harry Koons died in 2005. Mapware first appeared in the fall 1981 APX catalog, where it won second place in the personal interest and development category. “With the MAPWARE programs you can create a wide variety of high-resolution world maps. MAPWARE already contains 9,000 pairs of geographic coordinates for locating main land masse...
Mar 29, 2016•14 min
Jeff Johannigman Jeff Johannigman published his first two computer programs through Atari Program Exchange: Rabbotz and Snark Hunt. He went on to program the Atari ports of Mask of the Sun and Serpent's Star for Br0derbund, then worked on Relax for Synapse, GI Joe for EPYX, copy protection for Electronic Arts, and was producer of Master of Orion, published by MicroProse. Jeff is also one of the co-founders of the Game Developers Conference. This interview took place on January 30, 2016. Teaser q...
Mar 27, 2016•59 min
Leigh Zeitz, Epson Connection book Leigh Zeitz wrote the book The Epson Connection: Atari Edition, about using your Atari 8-bit computer with Epson printers; as well as a version of the book for the Commodore 64. This interview took place on November 8, 2015. Teaser quotes: "IBM came out and said: 'Well guess what? As of next month we're not going to be creating any more IBM PCjrs.'" "'Uh, Leigh, I probably don't even need to make this phone call, but we don’t need your book.'" Links: Epson Conn...
Mar 25, 2016•20 min
David Johnson, Popeye David Johnson co-created the Atari 400/800/5200 version of Popeye, which was released by Parker Brothers. This interview took place on November 9, 2015. Teaser quote "That was my first work experience. I really enjoyed it. We were doing like 60, 70 hours a week."
Mar 23, 2016•15 min
Steve Baker: Defender, Stargate Steve Baker is well-known in the Atari world as having done the 400/800 and 5200 conversions of Defender. He also did ports of Stargate for the 5200 and the 400/800. Additionally, he developed Miniature Golf and Microgammon SB for the 400/800 and 5200, and Reversi and Gomuku for the 400/800. He worked for Apple from 1980 to 1982, then for Atari from 82 to 84. Steve also wrote games for the Apple II, the Atari 2600, the Intellivision, and the Commodore 64. This int...
Mar 20, 2016•51 min
Mike Potter: Protector II, Shadow World, Nautilus, Chicken Mike Potter ported several Apple II games to the Atari 8-bit computers for Crystalware, including Protector. He later developed five programs for Synapse Software: Protector, Protector II, Chicken, Nautilus and Shadow World — in a one year period, with the combined sales of 93,000 copies. In this interview we discuss Steve Hales and Ihor Wolosenko, both of whom I previously interviewed. This interview took place October 22, 2015. Teaser ...
Mar 18, 2016•40 min
Arthur Leyenberger, Atari columnist Arthur Leyenberger wrote the "Outpost: Atari" column in Creative Computing magazine, the End User column in A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing, and the ST User column in ST-Log magazine. He was also editor of the Jersey Atari Computer Group newsletter. This interview took place on November 10, 2015. Teaser quote: "If I think about one thing that really captures that era, is that it was exciting. It was exciting, it was fun, it was something new, it was something you could...
Mar 16, 2016•42 min
Jeff Bell, Atari coin-op Jeff Bell worked for Atari Games for 31 years. He stated in 1973 as a Pong inspector, then moved to the engineering department, specifying requirements for parts. He worked in IT and system administration, and did other jobs in his more than three decades with the company. He also ran the Itsy Bitsy Bulletin Board System. This interview took place on November 7, 2015. In it, we discuss Bob Stahl, whom I previously interviewed. Teaser quote: "People say Atari died in — wh...
Mar 14, 2016•46 min
Stephen Lawrow, Mac/65 assembler Stephen Lawrow created the Mac/65 assembler, which was published by Optimized Systems Software. Stephen became an employee of OSS, where he also worked on the company’s enhanced BASIC products, BASIC XL and BASIC XE. This interview took place on November 1, 2015. In this interview we discuss Bill Wilkinson of OSS, whom I previously interviewed. Teaser quotes: “I got so frustrated, I couldn’t wait till I got Mac/65 mature enough where it could start assembling its...
Mar 12, 2016•50 min
Bob Stahl, Atari receiving inspection and software quality Bob Stahl worked in the Atari home computer division, where he was the senior technician in the receiving inspection department, doing first article inspection. (He explains what that means in the interview.) He then moved to software quality engineering, testing produced software to make sure it looked right and worked correctly. Later, he was hired by Atari's coin-op division to do receiving inspection for that company. He also ran an ...
Mar 10, 2016•48 min
Clayton Walnum, A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing and ST-Log Clayton Walnum was writer and editor at A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing and ST-Log magazines. He started out as technical editor at A.N.A.L.O.G., and was eventually executive editor of both magazines. Clayton wrote the C-manship column - an ongoing tutorial on the C programming language - as well as many, many other articles. This interview took place on November 8, 2015. In the interview we talk about Lee Pappas, whom I previously interviewed. Teaser quo...
Mar 08, 2016•30 min
Bob Polin, Blue Max Bob Polin was the programmer of Blue Max and Blue Max 2001 — both published by Synapse Software, and co-creator of Puzzle Panic with Ken Uston. He also wrote the game "Maxter Mind" which was published by Antic magazine. This interview took place on February 15, 2016. In it, we discuss Ihor Wolosenko, whom I previously interviewed. After we did this interview, Bob sent me the floppy disks containing the source code for Blue Max, which I was able to recover. There's a link to t...
Mar 06, 2016•23 min
Steve Hales: Slime, Dimension X, Fort Apocalypse Steve Hales published several games with Synapse Software: Slime, Dimension X, Fort Apocalypse, and Mindwheel. His first job was reverse engineering the Atari 2600 to create the Starpath Supercharger. His game for that platform was Suicide Mission, an Asteroids clone. This interview took place on October 21, 2015. In it we discuss Ihor Wolosenko and Cathryn Mataga, whom I previously interviewed; and Mike Potter and Bob Polin, whose interviews are ...
Mar 04, 2016•1 hr 19 min
Glenn Faden, Microsailing Glenn Faden published one program for the Atari 8-bit computers: Microsailing, which was published by Atari Program Exchange. Microsailing first appeared in the Spring 1983 APX catalog. This interview took place on January 27, 2016. Teaser quote: “I got a lot of interesting feedback. One of the comments that I got back from people was that it was too difficult.”
Mar 02, 2016•12 min
Surfer Bob, Warez Sysop "Surfer Bob", real first name Carlos, ran The Pipeline BBS, an Atari bulletin board system that offered warez for download -- pirated software. This interview took place on January 28, 2016. Teaser quote: "He didn't have anybody to back him up but he had a stun gun ... he had that in his pocket, and he walked up to Shlomo and grabbed him ... took out the stun gun and just, like, sparked it in his face."
Feb 29, 2016•42 min
David Stoutemyer, The Soft Warehouse David Stoutemyer was co-founder of The Soft Warehouse, a company that specialized in mathematics software for several computer platforms. The company published three programs through Atari Program Exchange. Algicalc and Polycalc first appeared in the summer 1982 APX catalog for $22.95 each. Algicalc was described as a "valuable tool for students and teachers of algebra and calculus and for professionals who want a quick way to perform operations in symbolic a...
Feb 27, 2016•21 min
David Crane, Pitfall! and Atari 400/800 OS David Crane started his programming career at Atari, making games for the Atari 2600. He also worked on the operating system for the Atari 800 computer, as well as the games Outlaw and Howitzer, which were sold through APX. David left Atari in 1979 and co-founded Activision, along with Alan Miller, Jim Levy, Bob Whitehead, and Larry Kaplan. While at Activision, he was best known as the designer of Pitfall! This interview took place October 23, 2015 Link...
Feb 25, 2016•48 min
Bill Rice, HYSYS Bill Rice published one program in the Atari Program Exchange catalog: HYSYS, or Hydraulic Program. It was a tool that did calculations for sizing hydraulic systems and components. HYSYS first appeared winter 1982 APX catalog. This interview took place on January 27, 2016 Teaser quote: "So you can imagine with something like a hydraulic program, they're like 'No we've got our scientific calculators and we look really cool punching in these numbers. We're not going to get a home ...
Feb 23, 2016•23 min
