John Constantine, General Accounting Manager John Constantine was General Accounting Manager in Atari's Consumer Division from 1978-1981, then became Executive Director until he left the company in 1984. This interview took place May 14, 2015. Teaser quote: "One of your clerks sent a package Federal Express — across the street — in the headquarters in Sunnyvale"
Manny Gerard, The Man Who Fired Nolan For this interview, we’re getting a different perspective of the Atari/Warner relationship, this time from the Warner side. (Emanual) Manny Gerard was a member of the Office of the President for Warner during the Atari days from 1976, when they acquired Atari, to 1984 when it was sold to the Tramiels. He in fact was the key person in the decision for Warner to acquire Atari. As you will hear in the interview, he was also the man who ousted Nolan Bushnell fro...
Tandy Trower, Atari product manager Tandy Trower started at Atari evaluating software titles, then moved on to the position of product manager, managing new titles including Missile Command, Asteroids, and the port of Microsoft BASIC for the Atari. Then, he left Atari for Microsoft, where — once again, he managed Microsoft BASIC for the Atari. Tandy also wrote the Character Set Editor program which was sold by Atari Program Exchange. This interview took place May 13, 2015. Teaser quotes: “The At...
Tim McGuinness, Atari Senior Research Engineer and Founder of ROMOX Tim McGuinness was a Hardware Design Engineer in Atari’s Personal Computer Division in 1980 and 1981, then moved to become Senior Research Engineer/Assistant Director of Corporate Research Engineering through 1982. Tim was co-developer of 400, 800, and 1200XL computers and peripherals. He was also the initial architect and designer of the first version of the Amiga computer. He left Atari in 1982 to co-found Romox, a software pu...
Steve Davis, Director of Advanced Research Steve Davis worked in Atari’s advanced research lab under Alan Kay, for 5 or 6 years, where he worked on several skunkworks projects including a laserdisc player controlled by an Atari 800, an Atari 800-based local area network, and artificial intelligence projects. This interview occurred May 11, 2015. Teaser quote: “I winded around the building, there was nobody there. ... I opened up this one door and there was, like, hundreds of people partying. Wit...
This is an interview episode of Antic, the Atari 8-bit podcast. I’m Randy Kindig and in this interview I sat down with one of the members of the core design team at Cyan Engineering for such projects as the Atari 2600 and the 8-bit computers, Mr. Ron Milner. Ron is currently President of Applied Design Laboratories, but from 1973-1984, as an employee of Atari Inc, he worked at the Grass Valley Think Tank (also known as Cyan Engineering) where they did some amazing stuff, as you’ll hear in this i...
Joe Villalobos, Materials Planner for Atari Boxes! Your Atari computers and game cartridges came in boxes! Someone was responsible for producing those boxes. Joe was the guy. Joe Villalobos was materials planner at Atari in El Paso, Texas from 1980 – 1982. He was responsible for the planning and expediting of materials used in the production of video game cartridges. This interview took place on May 6, 2015.
Ed Rotberg, Rotberg Synthesizer Ed Rotberg worked programmer in Atari’s coin-op division, where he worked on Atari Baseball, Battlezone, Blasteroids, Hard Drivin’, and other coin-op games. He consulted for the Atari consumer side, where he created demos for the Atari 800 — including working on the music for the in-store demo — and the Rotberg Synthesizer music software. Check the show notes at AtariPodcast.com for downloads of the Rotberg Synthesizer and Rotberg Scrolling Marquee software (which...
On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: Randy delves into Altirra BASIC, there’s another podcast to dilute our listenership, Kevin reports back from KansasFest, and there’s lots of new Atari stuff to download at Archive.org. Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevins Book “Terrible Nerd” New Atari books scans at archive.org ANTIC feedback at AtariAge What we’ve been up to Retrobright "Microcomputer Primer" by Mitchell Waite KansasFest - Retro Comput...
Hello, and welcome to a very special interview-only episode of Antic, the Atari 8-bit podcast. I am Randy Kindig, one of your hosts for this podcast. I say “special” because it’s not often that you get a chance to talk with an icon like the one we talk with today. Kevin Savetz and myself were given the chance to sit down, so to speak, with “Mr. Atari” Nolan Bushnell and spend a few minutes shooting the breeze. If you need any more introduction for this guest, then you’re probably listening to th...
Jon Freeman Jon Freeman was co-founder of the computer game publisher Automated Simulations, which became EPYX. At Automated Simulations, he co-created Starfleet Orion and Gateway to Apshai. Then he and his wife Anne Westfall started the game development company FreeFall Associates, where they created Tax Dodge, Archon, Archon II, and Murder on the Zinderneuf. This interview took place April 21, 2015. Teaser quotes: “That six months, I read two books in six months, and we went to one movie. The ...
ANTIC Special Episode - Atari Summer Camp Let's go to Atari Summer Camp! A special episode. Links Today Show clip The Magic Room Movie The Magic Room Trailer ANTIC magazine article Atari Connection article Bob Kahn's Atari Special Projects page Atari Computer Camps curriculum, software, and ephemera...
Lloyd Speyer, Batteries Included Lloyd Speyer worked for Batteries Included from 1983 to 1987, where he worked with Commodore PETs, 64, Apple ][, Macintosh, as well as the Atari 800. He built hardware dongles, demonstrated products in the retail store, and worked in quality assurance, where he beta tested PaperClip and HomePak. This interview was conducted April 27, 2015. Teaser quote: “The Atari version and the Commodore 64 version [of PaperClip] were completely different, even though we said ‘...
Thomas Renbarger, Dorsett Educational SystemsThomas Renbarger worked at Dorsett Educational Systems from 1978 through 1980, where he converted audio and filmstrip based educational programs to computer graphics and text for the TRS-80 and Atari 400 and 800 computers.This interview took place April 21, 2015.Teaser quote:“Smart, nerdy people might be interested in something just because it says it’s educational, but most of the programs and stuff that was written was pretty — not totally remedial ...
Ted Richards, Atari Connection Magazine Ted Richards was Editor In Chief of Atari Connection magazine, Atari’s in-house computer magazine; and was Marketing Communications Manager for Atari Home Computers, where he worked on print and package design, from 1981 to 1984. This interview took place on April 19, 2015. Links: Atari Connection Magazine scans 40 Year Old Hippie Brings The Computer Age Home Ted Richards’ web site Teaser Quotes: “Antic was a competing magazine, so to speak, at the time. I...
Peter Liepa, Boulder Dash Peter Liepa was co-creator and programmer of Boulder Dash and Boulder Dash 2 for the Atari computers. Boulder Dash was published by First Star Software in 1984 and is regarded as a seminal game for the Atari 8-bit machines. This interview took place on June 16, 2015 Teaser quotes: “I sat there playing these games and the idea of ‘I can do this’ or ‘I can build one of these’ welled up in my head.” “All of the pleasure of this project was in developing the game. I got ver...
Steve Mayer, Atari 400/800 Designer Hello and welcome to an interview-only episode of Antic, the Atari 8-bit computer podcast. Today I’m honored to be interviewing someone who was involved in the original design of the Atari 400 & 800 computers, Mr. Steve Mayer. Steve worked with Joe Decuir (whom I interviewed in an earlier episode), Jay Miner, and others on the Candy & Colleen project and that’s our main focus for this interview. However, Steve also was involved in much more, including ...
On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: We offer a library’s worth of geeky reading material, and - - did we just start a book club? Randy delves into another programming language We talk about a couple of competitions that will give you something to do through these summer months Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevins Book “Terrible Nerd” New Atari books scans at archive.org ANTIC feedback at AtariAge What we’ve been up to Ready Player One Sout...
Rebecca Heineman, Racing Destruction Set and Mindshadow Rebecca Heineman was the keynote speaker at Kansasfest 2015, where she told all sorts of amazing stories about her Apple II development work. She developed Tass Times in Tonetown, Bard's Tale III, Borrowed Time, Battle Chess, Crystal Quest, and many other games for many platforms. She ported Racing Destruction Set and Mindshadow to the Atari 8-bit machines. She won the National Space Invaders Championship, sponsored by Atari, in November, 1...
Bill Bartlett, Product Support Manager Bill Bartlett worked at Atari from 1981 through 1984, where he was a product support manager for the Atari home computer division, also did user group support. He also wrote the Diskette Mailing List program which was sold by Atari Program Exchange. This interview took place on April 16 2015, in person at a supermarket deli in the Portland Oregon area. I apologize for the background noise; recording in this situation is not a mistake I will make again. Link...
Bill Crooks, Atari Video Production Lab Bill Crooks worked in the coin-op division of Atari, where he facilitated the production of Atari games’ multi-million dollar television production facility, and worked on the FireFox laserdisc arcade game. In this interview we talk briefly about Cassie Maas whom I have previously interviewed. This interview took place on April 17 2015. “We had Clint Eastwood’s Lear jet standing by to get us there at the last minute, and we just kept telling them, ‘It will...
Ron and Lynn Marcuse, productivity applications Ron and Lynn Marcuse, also known as RLM Microsystems, are the husband-and-wife team who created many applications for the Atari 8-bit computers, including Weekly Planner, Home Inventory, Data Management System, Diskette Librarian, and Utility Diskette II, which were all released by Atari Program Exchange. Weekly Planner was later reworked and became Timewise, which was released as an Atari product. They also created medical and dental office softwa...
Albert Yarusso, Owner AtariAge This is Antic, the Atari 8-bit podcast, and I’m Randy Kindig. This interview-only episode features someone that many current Atari, vintage gaming, and vintage computer enthusiasts are probably familiar with by the service that he provides to the community, the AtariAge Website. Albert (or Al) Yarusso is one of the founders and is the current owner of AtariAge. The Atari 8-bit forum on AtariAge is probably the largest and busiest such forum in existence today, and ...
Jon Greer, Business Reporter In this interview, we’ll hear the perspective of an Atari outsider — a newspaper reporter who covered Atari. Jon Greer was a business reporter for the San Jose Mercury News newspaper from 1981 to 1986, and business reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1986 to 1988. As part of his beat, he covered Atari; Chuck E. Cheese; and Catalyst Technologies, Nolan Bushnell’s incubator. This interview took place April 17, 2015. Teaser quotes: “Atari was transforming the ...
Jess Jessop Jess Jessop was a software engineer at Commodore, writing diagnostics for the Commodore 64. Then at Atari, he started in the test and repair group for the Atari 400 and 800 SALT diagnostic cartridge, then moved to corporate research, Atari's R&D department under Alan Kay, where he was hardware team leader for the Sierra Project, Atari's unfinished laptop product. This interview occurred April 15, 2015. Teaser quotes: "We brought up an APRANET node there in my cubicle. We played w...
On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: We discuss new atari archive sites. Randy tells us all about BASIC XL Kevin delves into the sordid history of DorsETT Educational Systems Bill Kendrick fills us in on a panoply of stuff, including a brain transplant for your 8-bit. Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevins Book “Terrible Nerd” New Atari books scans at archive.org ANTIC feedback at AtariAge What we’ve been up to Jewel-encrusted Atari XL Alan W...
Thomas Cherryhomes Thomas Cherryhomes recently deciphered the Educational System Master Cartridge and decoded the “talk and teach” system used by Dorsett Educational Systems. He has created a C library called eduendcode which allows people to create new lessons using that format. Thomas and I are currently working to digitize and archive 46 sets of Dorsett courses. To hear some background about Dorsett Educational Systems and their educational cassettes, listen to my feature about that topic in ...
Pab Sungenis, developer Hi, I’m Randy Kindig and this is an interview-only episode of Antic, The Atari 8-bit computer podcast. Our guest for this show is Pab Sungenis, a long-time (and current) developer for the Atari 8-bits. A long time ago, Pab wrote a popular piece of bulletin board software called AtariLink BBS. He also developed an off-line mail reader. He was also more recently involved briefly with enhancements to the SpartaDOS alternative DOS, arguably one of the best DOS’s ever develope...
John-Michael Battaglia John-Michael Battaglia worked as a copywriter at Atari for about a year from 1981 through 1982, writing manuals and box copy for Atari 2600 and 5200 video games. He wrote the manuals for Atari 5200 Football, Space Dungeon, WaterWorld, Phoenix, and Adventure. He later worked at Catalyst, Nolan Bushnell’s incubator for technology startups. This interview took place March 2, 2015. LINKS John-Michael's web site Digital Press interview with John-Michael Teaser quotes: “Debacle,...
Steve Molyneux, German Software Development Manager Steve Molyneux was Atari’s Software Development Manager in Hamburg, Germany from 1981 through 1984. He was responsible for the European side of Atari Program Exchange, and launching games at European trade shows. Parts of this interview discuss adult situations, and are not appropriate for children. This interview occurred on April 13, 2015 LINK 2008 photos of Atari Europe HQ Teaser quotes: “...In sort of private helicopters up to this chalet. ...
