W. Sean Hennessy W. Sean Hennessy worked in the Consumer Electronics Division at Atari from April 1982 through March 1984 where he developed Realsports Tennis for the Atari 800 and 5200, and created the version of Centipede for the Atari 5200, and Pengo for the Atari 800 and 5200. He also worked at The Software Machine, a company that was working to create edutainment software for the Atari and other platforms. This interview took place March 1 2015.
Mar 27, 2015•52 min
Scott Adams - Adventure International Scott Adams is probably best known for his line of text adventures for early personal computers -- including AdventureLand, Pirate Adventure, Mystery Fun House, and many others. He was also the founder of Adventure International, the company that brought Atari users myraid programs, including Preppie!, Rally Speedway, Whomper Stomper, and lots of others. The company also released countless programs for TRS-80, Commodore, Apple ][, and other platforms. This i...
Mar 25, 2015•50 min
Michael Katz is a video games industry pioneer. Katz was Marketing Director for New Product Categories at Mattel Toys, where he helped create the portable, hand-held games category with the Auto Race and Mattel Football handheld toys. And he was Vice President of Marketing at Coleco, where he worked on ColecoVision and the Coleco tabletop arcade game line. Then he was president at Epyx, where he oversaw the release of three hits for the Atari 8-bit computers — Pitstop, Jumpman, and Summer Games....
Mar 20, 2015•42 min
Alan Watson was one of the four founding owners of Ozark Softscape, the company that created M.U.L.E. and Seven Cities of Gold for the Atari, both published by Electronic Arts. Ozark also created Cytron Masters which was published by SSI. The company created more games for other platforms, including Heart of Africa, Modem Wars, and Robot Rascals. Alan specialized in interface and graphics code, and he contributed to both M.U.L.E. and Seven Cities. LINKS Alan's September 1981 article in Compute! ...
Mar 16, 2015•1 hr 6 min
Kathleen O'Brien worked at Shepardson Microsystems, where she wrote the Atari Assembler Editor cartridge, and wrote the floating point routines in Atari BASIC. (Her husband Paul Laughton wrote the rest of Atari BASIC.) She, along with Bill Wilkinson and Paul Laughton, co-founded Optimized Systems Software, where she wrote much of the book “Atari BASIC Source Book”. LINKS Atari BASIC Source Book Bill Wilkinson interview Paul Laughton interview...
Mar 13, 2015•12 min
Hi, everyone, and welcome to another interview-only edition of Antic, the Atari 8-bit computer podcast. I am Randy Kindig and I will be your host for this interview. This interview is one that I’ve hinted at on earlier Antic shows and one that I’m very excited to bring to you as it covers a modern upgrade to the Atari 8-bit line. Dan Winslow and Mark Dusko have been involved in the Atari 8-bit Ethernet Project to bring networking to the 8-bits. They even produced a cartridge some time back calle...
Mar 11, 2015•58 min
Larry Liberty - Atari 5200 Focus Tester Larry Liberty had what many kids in the '80s would have considered a dream job: focus tester for Atari 5200 games. He tested Space Dungeon and Vanguard when he was around 12 years old. Larry tells Kevin all about it in this short interview. LINKS Play Space Dungeon in your browser Play Vanguard in your browser...
Mar 06, 2015•20 min
On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: Brad gets mad about Kevin’s swap meet finds We discuss the release of source code for Action!, BASIC XL, and Star Raiders ROB (Player/Missile Podcast) fills us in about Atari emulation on the Android Brad gives a technical overview of the Atari 400 and 800 machines Randy tells you everything you ever wanted to know about Atari BASIC but was afraid to ask and we discuss the release of thousands of Atari program screenshots Links mentioned in this ...
Mar 05, 2015•2 hr 7 min
Lee Pappas was co-founder of A.N.A.L.O.G Magazine, which was the first magazine about Atari computers, and (along with Antic) one of the big two Atari magazines in the United States. LINKS Picture of Lee with Crash Dive original art Lee Pappas on Twitter Lee Pappas' A.N.A.L.O.G. photo archive Newspaper scans of early interviews with the founders Mike DesChenes interview at Player Missile Podcast A.N.A.L.O.G. page scans at archive.org A.N.A.L.O.G. full text at AtariMagazines.com Play Buried Bucks...
Feb 27, 2015•1 hr 7 min
Gardner Pomper was president and co-founder of Games Computers Play. Games Computers Play was almost certainly the first graphical online service (except for maybe PLATO, depending on how you're counting). It was devoted exclusively to interactive, multi-player games, and it was only for Atari computers. You probably didn't get a chance to use Games Computers Play -- it only managed to get about 1,000 subscribers at its peak. But you may have seen the colorful, enticing advertisement that they r...
Feb 25, 2015•37 min
Hello, welcome to this interview-only episode of Antic, the Atari 8-bit podcast. I am Randy Kindig, one of the hosts of the podcast, and this interview is with Sal Esquivel, also known as KJMANN on AtariAge. Sal has been very involved in the Atari community and owns a company by the name of Atlantis Games Group out of Portland, Oregon that produces software for the 8-bits. That software includes games like Outrun, Venture, Tempest Xtreem and others, which are sold through Video 61 & Atari Sa...
Feb 22, 2015•52 min
This is a different sort of interview. Kevin talked to three old friends reminiscing about their Atari days. Those friends are Dean Wittmann, Max Derhak and Dean Derhak (Max and Dean are brothers.) These guys were best friends, Atari pals living in Salt Lake City, Utah area going to Atari computer club meetings, cracking programs, and running a BBS. This interview was conducted on September 27, 2014 over Skype. Links: Encore video system for hotels - AtariAge discussion Picture of the "Atari Com...
Feb 20, 2015•1 hr 21 min
Sometimes fun to talk to CEOs, and sometimes fun to talk to the people in the trenches. This is an interview from the trenches. Kent Smith was an Atari customer service/technical support rep for the Atari 400/800 from 1982-1984. I interviewed him on September 19, 2014 via Skype. The videotape that he mentions at the end of the interview -- you'll want to watch that too, for a look at life in some of the Atari offices around Christmas 1981, which has never been on the Internet until now. Kent sen...
Feb 11, 2015•33 min
Hello and welcome to Antic the Atari 8-bit podcast. My name is Randy Kindig and this is a special interview-only episode of Antic. This interview is with Chuck Peavey, who worked on games for the Atari 8-bit computer like Blue Max, Lode Runner, Fight Night, One on One Basketball, Panther, Ace of Aces, and Dark Chamber. We had a great conversation about his days programming the Atari and I hope you enjoy it. This interview was recorded via Skype on October 4, 2014. links: Universal Net Chuck’s En...
Feb 05, 2015•1 hr 14 min
Ihor Wolosenko was co-founder of Synapse software, the company that brought us SynFile and SynCalc, and an amazing list of games including Blue Max, Zeppelin, Fort Apocalypse, Alley Cat and Shamus. And Nautilus, and Rainbow Walker, and Protector II, and others. Kevin interviewed Ihor on December 23, 2014. LINKS Scans of Synapse art Can a Computer Make You Cry (EA ad)...
Jan 27, 2015•1 hr 8 min
On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: We debrief on the current state of atari retail Kevin delves into the best and worst Atari 8-bit magazines We learn how to stuff a raspberry pi into a miniature, 3-D printed 800XL We try -- and fail to -- avoid becoming bird food Links mentioned in this episode: Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevins Book “Terrible Nerd” New Atari books scans at archive.org ANTIC feedback at AtariAge the Atlanta Historical...
Jan 20, 2015•1 hr 48 min
Hello, and welcome to this interview-only episode of Antic, the Atari 8-bit computer podcast. My name is Randy Kindig and I’ll be conducting the interview for this show. The interview is with Paul Westphal, a much more recent Atari vendor than Brad Koda, Bruce Carso, or Lance Rinquist that I’ve recently interviewed. Paul not only offers some hardware and software but also offers service, which is hard to come by these days. Paul is located in Portland, Oregon and the interview was conducted on N...
Jan 17, 2015•30 min
Kevin’s interview with Dave Small. Dave was half of the prolific writing and software team Dave and Sandy Small. He wrote the Outpost: Atari column in Creative Computing magazine, and the book Creative Atari. He also wrote for ANALOG, Antic, and Current Notes magazines. He was co-founder of LE Systems, a company that made disk duplicating hardware and the Integrator hard drive interface; and Gadgets By Small. He created Magic Sac and Spectre GCR, emulators that let you run Mac software on the At...
Jan 11, 2015•2 hr 43 min
Kevin interviews Mark Rustad, Mark worked at Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) where he developed "Classroom Star", classroom networking hardware for the Atari 8-bits -- a product that was not released by Atari. Then he worked at Atari 1983-1984 as Systems Project Leader, where he troubleshooted the DTMF dialing on the Atari 1030 modem. We also talk about Mark’s work with the PLATO educational computer system. LINKS Software provided by Mark Classroom Star mentioned in Creative C...
Jan 07, 2015•56 min
Hello, welcome to Antic, the Atari 8-bit podcast. My name is Randy Kindig and this is a special interview-only episode. This is the third in an ongoing series of interviews with the people behind the companies that still provide hardware, software, or service today for our Atari 8-bit computers. The interview is with Lance Ringquist, owner of the Video 61 and Atari Sales Website. Lance has been in business selling Atari items and services for over 30 years and has a lot of great stories to share...
Dec 31, 2014•49 min
Hello, welcome to a special interview-only episode of Antic, the Atari 8-bit podcast. This interview is part of the ongoing set of interviews for the holiday season where I talk to many of the people still out there providing hardware, software, and/or support for our favorite computer. This interview is with Bruce Carso, of B&C ComputerVisions. As you will hear during the interview, Bruce has been in the Atari business for 34 years as of the recording of this episode and has many amazing st...
Dec 29, 2014•55 min
Kevin interviews Bill Wilkinson, of Optimized Systems Software fame! Links: Bill’s INSIGHT: Atari column in Compute! Magazine INSIDE ATARI DOS book by Bill The development of Atari Basic and Atari DOS, article by Bill...
Dec 22, 2014•1 hr 22 min
On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: -Our Atari Holiday Gift Picks - which is apparently now a tradition on our show -Randy’s definitive roundup of virtual drive options -Bill plays three new, award-winning games -and lots of listener feedback about the Atari 850 interface Links mentioned in this episode: Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevins Book “Terrible Nerd” New Atari books scans at archive.org ANTIC feedback at AtariAge the Atlanta His...
Dec 19, 2014•1 hr 59 min
Diane Gaw, Managing editor of A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing Links: A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing magazine at AtariMagazines.com A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing magazine at archive.org Juiced.GS magazine Solatrium House
Dec 18, 2014•40 min
Welcome to this special, interview-only episode of Antic the Atari 8-bit podcast. This is the first of a few interviews we’re planning to air in the month of December, 2014, leading up to the traditional US holidays of Christmas and New Years. As December tends to be a month where lots of purchases are made, I thought it might be a good idea to talk to each of the remaining Atari dealers in the US and to get their stories. This interview is with Brad Koda, proprietor of Best Electronics, certain...
Dec 14, 2014•1 hr
Randy interviews a long-time friend of the show, Chris Olson. Chris is an Atari enthusiast from a very early age, as he discusses in this interview. His father taught in the computer camps that Atari used to run in the 80’s. Chris is known as CGOApps in the forums. I hope you enjoy this interview with a general Atari 8-bit fan. Links: Aviation Careers Podcast episode with Chris as a guest (Episode 35, From Computers to the Cockpit) DOS Nostalgia Podcast on flight simulators with Chris as a guest...
Nov 27, 2014•1 hr 4 min
On this episode of Antic, the Atari 8-bit PODCAST: We look at the Atari 850 interface, the SIO2SD device, and the right cartridge slot --- we strike out with Alan Alda --- and our friend Gray Chang sends us a care package of amazing previously-unreleased books and software. Also with a great segment by our good friend Bill Kendrick about games converted from the Atari 2600 to the computers. And, a special segment by Chris Olson about Atari 8-bit emulation on IOS. It’s an information-packed episo...
Nov 05, 2014•2 hr 6 min
Kevin interviews John Henson - The New Aladdin Magazine Download issues of The New Aladdin Henson’s new venture, Nuvolibri
Oct 16, 2014•38 min
Randy interviews Marty Goldberg, co-author of “Atari Inc.: Business is Fun” and Atari historian. Atari Book Atari Book Facebook Atari Museum Atari Museum Facebook “Atari Inc.:Business is Fun” by Marty Goldberg and Curt Vendel at Amazon.com...
Oct 06, 2014•1 hr 6 min
Kevin interviews Paul Laughton. Paul Laughton is the author of Apple DOS 3.1, Atari BASIC, the Atari DOS filesystem, and co-founder of Optimized Systems Software. The Atari 400/800 and OSS at Paul's web site Atari BASIC Source Book Paul's BASIC for Android...
Oct 01, 2014•35 min
