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 An...
Sep 02, 2019•36 min
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 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 AHCS Eaten By a Grue Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https...
Aug 08, 2019•1 hr 23 min
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 Internati...
May 23, 2019•34 min
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 Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevin's Book "Terrible Nerd" New Atari books scans at archive.org ANTIC feedback at Ata...
May 19, 2019•1 hr 37 min
Roy Goldman, Daisy-Dot Roy Goldman was the creator of Daisy-Dot, a typesetting program for the Atari 8-bit computers which he published from about 1987-1990. There were three versions of Daisy-Dot, the original plus Daisy-Dot II and Daisy-Dot III. The earliest version was freeware, and later versions asked for payment for access to special features. This interview took place on May 11, 2019. After we talked, Roy sent me scans of memorabilia from that time, see the links below for those. Roy's Da...
May 12, 2019•32 min
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 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 A...
Apr 13, 2019•1 hr 14 min
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 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 AHCS Eaten By a Gru...
Feb 20, 2019•1 hr 20 min
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 t...
Feb 04, 2019•42 min
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 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 AHCS Eaten By a Grue Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https://paypal.me/Savetz TEH: T...
Jan 15, 2019•1 hr 21 min
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 LINKBAS.BAS , LINKBAS.EXE : Link BASIC (wi...
Jan 12, 2019•56 min
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 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 AHCS Eaten By a ...
Dec 13, 2018•1 hr 27 min
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: What we've been up to in the past month PLUS all the Atari 8-bit news we could find... READY! 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 AHCS Eaten By a Grue Donate to Ted Nelson project at: https://paypal.me/Savetz TEH: Tech Enthusiast Hour - https://...
Nov 05, 2018•1 hr 16 min
George Morrison: Alpha Systems, Atari Software Protection Techniques books George Morrison was founder of Alpha Systems, a company that produced many hardware and software products for the Atari computers, including The Parrot, and audio digitizer; MagniPrint II, a printing utility; and The Impersonator, hardware for copying cartridge-based programs; and other products. He was author of two books — Atari Software Protection Techniques and Advanced Atari Protection Techniques. This interview took...
Oct 23, 2018•1 hr 32 min
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: Bill Lange guest-hosts with us and tells us all about the recent Atari Party East. We talk about all the traveling and Atari things we did over the summer. Kevin throws in a mini-interview he did. And, Jeff Fulton reviews Tempest Elite Plus. Plus, all the Atari 8-bit news we could find... READY! Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevin's Book "Terrible Nerd" New Atari books scans at archive.org ANTIC...
Oct 01, 2018•1 hr 39 min
Bruce Artwick: Flight Simulator II, Night Mission Pinball Bruce Artwick was co-founder of SubLOGIC, and creator of the best-selling program, Flight Simulator II. FSII was first available for the Apple II, with versions released later for the TRS-80, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, and other platforms. His 1976 master's thesis, A Versatile Computer Generated Dynamic Flight Display, about creating a real-time flight simulator on the PDP-11, provided some of the early research for his flight simulation ...
Sep 07, 2018•46 min
Jon Williams: Jet Boot Jack, Timeslip Jon Williams created several programs for the Atari 8-bit computers, including Jet Boot Jack, Timeslip, Atari Cassette Enhancer, and Linkword German. This interview took place on August 6, 2018. Jon on AtariAge Atari Cassette Enhancer on AtariMania Atarimania's list of Jon's games...
Sep 03, 2018•42 min
Carlos Reyes: Quick Menu, Rent Wars Carlos Reyes wrote the game Rent Wars for the Atari 8-bit computers for First Star Software, which was never officially released but found its way onto the Internet years later. He also wrote Quick Menu, a 384-byte program that would display a menu of programs on a floppy disk and let the user choose one to run. The program was designed to fit into a floppy's three boot sectors, so it didn't eat into any of the usable space on the disk. The program was a popul...
Aug 30, 2018•41 min
Greg Gibbons, Automated Library II Greg Gibbons was the creator of Automated Library II, software for running school libraries, which was available for the Atari 8-bit and Apple II computers. There's an article about the software in the April 1985 issue of American Libraries: "The Automated Library II is a bar-code circulation system that runs on the Atari line of microcomputers. The program, designed for school libraries circulating 30 to 500 items per day, checks books in and out, compiles ove...
Aug 26, 2018•42 min
Tom Snyder, educational software Tom Snyder was the founder of Computer Learning Connection, which was later renamed to Tom Snyder Productions, a company that created many educational software titles for the school and home computer markets. The company's home software included Agent USA and Bannercatch (published by Scholastic,) Halley Project (published by Mindscape,) Run For the Money (published by Scarborough Systems,) and In Search of the Most Amazing Thing (published by Spinnaker.) Snooper...
Aug 23, 2018•1 hr 48 min
Bob Ertl, REWRITE Word Processor In 1987, Bob Ertl's master's thesis was titled "Narrowing the Gap Between the Word Processing Needs of Teachers and the Capabilities of Word Processors for Atari 8-bit Computers." As part of that project, he created a word processor for the Atari computers, aimed at the needs of math teachers. The word processor is called REWRITE and was never widely available. It was only used by a handful of teachers. Bob has released two versions of the word processor in ATR f...
Aug 20, 2018•1 hr 2 min
Ed Meyer, physical chemistry experiments with Atari computers In the 1990s, Ed Meyer was a professor at DePaul University in Chicago, where he taught physical chemistry. In August 1990, The Journal of Chemical Education published his article, "An Inexpensive Computer Station for Undergraduate Laboratories Using the Atari 800XL" in which Ed showed how to interface the Atari controller ports with a 12-bit analog-to-digital converter chip to do chemistry experiments. (The article includes schematic...
Aug 17, 2018•40 min
John Harris, APX Can't Quit John Harris published one program for the Atari computer: Can't Quit, a game that was published by Atari Program Exchange. Can't Quit first appeared in the summer 1983 APX catalog. It was the only program published by this John Harris — although he has the same name as the John Harris who created Jawbreaker (whom I previously interviewed.) This interview took place on July 5, 2018. Can't Quit at AtariMania Can't Stop at BoardGameGeek ANTIC interview with the other Joh...
Aug 10, 2018•19 min
David Young, Omnimon David Young was the creator of Omnimon, the popular hardware monitor/debugger for the Atari 8-bit computers. His other products included DiskScan, a floppy disk utility; Supermon, the predecessor to Omnimon; Omnicom, a terminal program; and Omniview, an 80 column E: handler. This interview took place on June 11, 2018. In it, we discuss Wes Newell, whom I previously interviewed. "The IBM PC came out. I looked at it really hard. ... And I thought, 'You know, I really should de...
Aug 07, 2018•45 min
Rockie "RJ" Morgan, APX Piano Tuner Rockie "RJ" Morgan published one program through Atari Program Exchange: Piano Tuner, which first appeared in the summer 1983 APX catalog. This interview took place on June 5, 2018. Piano Tuner in the summer 1983 APX catalog Piano Tuner at AtariMania Unix: An Open Systems Dictionary...
Aug 03, 2018•13 min
Michael McInerney, physics experiments with Atari computers In the 1980s, Michael McInerney was a professor in the physics department at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, when he wrote several journal articles about how to control experiments and gather data using Atari computers. The articles included Interfacing the Atari Microcomputer in the Science Laboratory, which appeared in the spring 1983 issue of Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching; Game Port Physics - Introduct...
Jul 29, 2018•22 min
Norm Draper, Draper Pascal Norm Draper was the creator of Draper Pascal, a version of the Pascal programming language for the Atari 8-bit computers. Draper Pascal started as a commercial program sold directly though advertisements in computer magazines, then later became shareware. This interview took place on July 3, 2018. "I offered club members to pay them for every bug they would find in my software. I'd pay them $3. ... There were a few. I didn't have to pay out that much money at all, real...
Jul 25, 2018•20 min
Brooke Alderson, Atari TV Commercials Brooke Alderson was an actor in the 1980s and 1990s: she appeared in several television shows including Murder, She Wrote and Family Ties; and is perhaps best known for her role as Aunt Corene in the 1980 film Urban Cowboy. She also appeared in many TV commercials. She did a 30-second spot for Atari home computers, and was featured on Atari's in-store point-of-purchase laserdisc. In the commercial, Brooke played the part of a mom who is teased by her teenage...
Jul 20, 2018•17 min
Dennis Koble: APX Avalanche, Imagic Dennis Koble was an early Atari employee, where we would become manager of the computer and consumer divisions. He designed Atari's "Touch Me" handheld electronic game. He also wrote three programs that were published by Atari Program Exchange: Avalanche, an adaption of the coin-op game which he also created; and the text adventure games Chinese Puzzle and Sultan's Palace. He was at Atari for about 4 1/2 years before leaving to co-found the video game publishe...
Jul 17, 2018•1 hr 32 min
Joe Hellesen: Deluxe Invaders, Pac Man, PQ: The Party Quiz Game Joe Hellesen programmed the Atari 8-bit versions of Deluxe Invaders (published by Roklan), and Pac Man (published by Atari,) Gyruss (published by Parker Brothers), and Mickey in the Great Outdoors (published by Disney.) He also coded PQ: The Party Quiz Game (for SunCom.) This interview took place on April 14, 2018. AtariMania's list of Joe's software ANTIC Interview 265 - Ronald Borta, Roklan Software ANTIC Interview 263 - Bill Stea...
Jul 12, 2018•45 min
Atari Computer Roundtable In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: We got some of the biggest names of the current Atari computer community on a live, international conference call to ask: what's happening in your Atari 8-bit world? Guests Thom Cherryholmes, Ethan Johnson, Joe Decuir, Simon Wells, Curt Vendel, Jeff Fulton, Nir Dary, and Roland Wassenberg. The conversation went in amazing and unexpected directions. READY! Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org Ata...
Jul 09, 2018•2 hr 19 min
