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episodes

  • S6E01 Broderbund Bank Street Writer

    Podcast: Download

    This episode features Bank Street Writer, originally released in 1982 by Broderbund. It was a beginners word processor.  It was developed by Intentional Software, Bank Street College of Education and Franklin E. Smith, with the Atari version being credited to Charles Olson Jr.

    Intro music is an excerpt from a chip tune by Wizwars named 8 Bit Raceway.  It is used under Creative Common license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States.
    32 min
  • S5EB1 Is This Thing On? – Supplement
    Is this thing on?

    https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/inverseatascii-s5eb1-isthisthingon.mp3

    Download: S5EB1

    This episode discusses the absence of the podcast, some general life stuff, new editing tools and test workflows.

    Links

    Ocenaudio: https://www.ocenaudio.com

    Pixelmator Pro: https://www.pixelmator.com/pro/

    Audio Hijack: https://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijack/

    Fission: https://www.rogueamoeba.com/fission/

    Ardour: https://ardour.org

    Reaper: https://www.reaper.fm

    Hindenburg: https://hindenburg.com

    Garage Band: https://www.apple.com/mac/garageband/

     

    Intro music is an excerpt from a chip tune by Wizwars named 8 Bit Raceway.  It is used under Creative Common license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States.
    16 min
  • S5EB1 – Is This Thing On?

    Podcast: Download

    This episode discusses the absence of episodes, some general life stuff, new editing tools, and test workflows.

     

    Intro music is an excerpt from a chip tune by Wizwars named 8 Bit Raceway.  It is used under Creative Common license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States.
    16 min
  • Podfolio 13 The Summary – Supplement
    Episode 13 – The Summary

    Play: https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/podfolio-13-thesummary.mp3

    Download: 13 – The Summary

     

    Screen Shots

     

    Running the screen capture program PGCAP:

     

    Links

    Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Portfolio

    BoxCat Map Theme: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/BoxCat_Games/Nameless_the_Hackers_RPG_Soundtrack/BoxCat_Games_-_Nameless-_the_Hackers_RPG_Soundtrack_-_17_Map_Theme

    Internet Archive: https://archive.org

    XNView: https://www.xnview.com/en/

    Portfolio Backlight Kit: http://www.palmzip.de

     

    Special thanks goes out to BoxCat Games for the podcast intro music which I adapted from the track “Map Theme” from the album “Nameless: The Hackers RPG” which BoxCat released under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
    9 min
  • Podfolio 13 The Summary
    Episode 13 – The Summary

    Play: https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/podfolio-13-thesummary.mp3

    Atari Portfolio summary episode featuring the summary!

    9 min
  • Podfolio 12 The Chess Card – Supplement
    Episode 12 – The Chess Card

    Play: https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/podfolio-12-thechesscard.mp3

    Download: 12 – The Chess Card

     

    Box Scans

    Front and Back:

     

    Top and Bottom:

     

    Left and Right:

     

    Card Scans

    Front and Back:

     

    Manual

    Atari_Portfolio_Chess_Manual_1991

     

    Screen Shots

     

    Links

    Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Portfolio

    BoxCat Map Theme: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/BoxCat_Games/Nameless_the_Hackers_RPG_Soundtrack/BoxCat_Games_-_Nameless-_the_Hackers_RPG_Soundtrack_-_17_Map_Theme

    Special thanks goes out to BoxCat Games for the podcast intro music which I adapted from the track “Map Theme” from the album “Nameless: The Hackers RPG” which BoxCat released under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
    10 min
  • Podfolio 12 The Chess Card
    Episode 12 – The Chess Card

    Play: https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/podfolio-12-thechesscard.mp3

    Atari Portfolio game episode featuring specifications and details of the Chess Card software.

    10 min
  • Podfolio 11 The PowerBASIC Card – Supplement
    Episode 11 – The PowerBASIC Card

    Play: https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/podfolio-11-thepowerbasiccard.mp3

    Download: 11 – The PowerBASIC Card

     

    Box Scans

    Front and Back:

     

    Top and Bottom:

     

    Left and Right:

     

    Card Scans

    Front and Back:

     

    Other Images

    Compiling the program that generated the “Have you played Atari today?” interlude music:

    Manual

    Atari_Portfolio_PowerBASIC_Manual_1991

     

    Screen Shots

    Editing tune program with the Portfolio’s built-in editor;

     

    Compiling the tune program:

     

    Trying to run the tune program from a card without the runtime installed to the card:

     

    Compiling “Guess My Number” program I ported from the many other implementations I’ve done:

     

    Goops, a syntax error encountered:

     

    Successful compile:

     

    Running “Guess My Number”, game 1:

     

    Running “Guess My Number”, game 2:

     

    Truchet Tiles program:

     

    Source Code
    Guess My Number
    REM Declare & Init Vars
    SINPT$="":SZERO$="00000":SGNUM$=""
    STEMP$="":SGUESS$=""
    GSNUM%=1:IGUESS%=0
    REM Generate Random Number
    ISEED%=VAL(MID$(TIME$,4,2)+MID$(TIME$,7,2))
    RANDOMIZE ISEED%
    MYNUM%=INT(RND*100)+1
    REM Setup Screen
    CLS
    PRINT "-[Number Guess, PowerBASIC, V1]--------"
    PRINT "My number is between 1 and 100."
    PRINT "What is it?"
    REM Main Guess Loop
    DO WHILE IGUESS%<>MYNUM%
    REM Create 0 padded guess number
    STEMP$=STR$(GSNUM%)
    STEMP$=RIGHT$(STEMP$,LEN(STEMP$)-1)
    SGSNUM$=RIGHT$(SZERO$+STEMP$,5)
    REM Display Guess & Get Input
    PRINT "Guess #";SGSNUM$;
    INPUT "?",SINPT$
    REM Convert input to value
    IGUESS%=VAL(SINPT$)
    REM Check Value
    IF IGUESS%>MYNUM% THEN
    PRINT "Sorry, too high!"
    ELSEIF IGUESS%

     

    Truchet Tiles
    ' -----------------------------------------------
    ' Program....: TruchPB.BAS
    ' Description: Truchet Tiles
    ' -----------------------------------------------
    TSTART:
    CLS:SCREEN 0
    T%=3:D%=1:X%=229:Y%=50
    ? "Truchet Tiles, PowerBASIC, V 1.0":? ""
    ? "Choose Pattern Type:"
    ? " 1 - Predefined X"
    ? " 2 - Random"
    ? " 3 - Quit"
    INPUT T%
    IF T%=3 THEN SCREEN 0:END
    '
    ' --- DRAW TILES
    TDRAW:
    SCREEN 1
    ON T% GOSUB TPREDEF,TRANDOM
    WHILE INKEY$<>"":WEND
    WHILE INKEY$="":WEND
    GOTO TSTART
    '
    ' --- PREDEF PATTERN X
    TPREDEF:
    FOR R=2 TO Y% STEP 12:FOR C=0 TO X% STEP 12
    IF D%=5 THEN D%=1:RESTORE TDATA
    READ V%:GOSUB TDOTILE
    NEXT C
    D%=D%+1
    NEXT R
    RETURN
    '
    ' --- RANDOM PATTERN
    TRANDOM:
    FOR R=2 TO Y% STEP 12:FOR C=0 TO X% STEP 12
    GOSUB TGETRAND
    NEXT C
    NEXT R
    RETURN
    '
    ' --- GET RANDOM NUMBER
    TGETRAND:
    ISEED%=VAL(MID$(TIME$,4,2)+MID$(TIME$,7,2))
    RANDOMIZE ISEED%
    V%=INT(RND MOD 2)
    TDOTILE:
    ON V%+1 GOTO TTILE0,TTILE1
    '
    ' --- PLOT V=0
    TTILE0:
    LINE (C+5,R) - (C+5,R+2):LINE (C+5,R+2) - (C+2,R+5):LINE (C+2,R+5) - (C,R+5)
    LINE (C+6,R) - (C+6,R+2):LINE (C+6,R+2) - (C+2,R+6):LINE (C+2,R+6) - (C,R+6)
    LINE (C+11,R+5) - (C+9,R+5):LINE (C+9,R+5) - (C+5,R+9):LINE (C+5,R+9) - (C+5,R+11)
    LINE (C+11,R+6) - (C+9,R+6):LINE (C+9,R+6) - (C+6,R+9):LINE (C+6,R+9) - (C+6,R+11)
    RETURN
    '
    ' --- PLOT V=1
    TTILE1:
    LINE (C+5,R) - (C+5,R+2):LINE (C+5,R+2) - (C+9,R+6):LINE (C+9,R+6) - (C+11,R+6)
    LINE (C+6,R) - (C+6,R+2):LINE (C+6,R+2) - (C+9,R+5):LINE (C+9,R+5) - (C+11,R+5)
    LINE (C,R+5) - (C+2,R+5):LINE (C+2,R+5) - (C+6,R+9):LINE (C+6,R+9) - (C+6,R+11)
    LINE (C,R+6) - (C+2,R+6):LINE (C+2,R+6) - (C+5,R+9):LINE (C+5,R+9) - (C+5,R+11)
    RETURN
    '
    ' --- PREDEF PATTERN DATA
    TDATA:
    DATA 1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0
    DATA 0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0
    DATA 1,1,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,1,1,1
    DATA 0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1

     

    Atari Tune
    tone 12,21
    for i=1 to 2:next i
    tone 12,21
    for i=1 to 2:next i
    tone 12,21
    for i=1 to 2:next i
    tone 12,21
    for i=1 to 2:next i
    tone 15,21
    tone 14,36
    tone 12,21
    tone 10,85
    Links

    Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Portfolio

    BoxCat Map Theme: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/BoxCat_Games/Nameless_the_Hackers_RPG_Soundtrack/BoxCat_Games_-_Nameless-_the_Hackers_RPG_Soundtrack_-_17_Map_Theme

    Special thanks goes out to BoxCat Games for the podcast intro music which I adapted from the track “Map Theme” from the album “Nameless: The Hackers RPG” which BoxCat released under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
    11 min
  • Podfolio 11 The PowerBASIC Card
    Episode 11 – The PowerBASIC Card

    Play: https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/podfolio-11-thepowerbasiccard.mp3

    Atari Portfolio BASIC episode featuring specifications and details of the PowerBASIC Card software.

    11 min
  • Podfolio 10 The Instant Speller Card – Supplement
    Episode 10 – The Instant Speller Card

    Play: https://inverseatascii.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/podfolio-10-theinstantspellercard.mp3

    Download: 10 – The Instant Speller Card

     

    Box Scans

    Front and Back:

     

    Top and Bottom:

     

    Left and Right:

     

    Card Scans

    Front and Back:

     

    Screen Shots

    From the DOS CLI (command line):

     

    You would think Atari’s dictionary would have included ATASCII since its short for ATARI ASCII:

     

    From the Editor using the HOO file:

     

    Manual

    Atari_Portfolio_InstantSpeller_Manual_1991

     

    Links

    Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Portfolio

    BoxCat Map Theme: http://freemusicarchive.org/music/BoxCat_Games/Nameless_the_Hackers_RPG_Soundtrack/BoxCat_Games_-_Nameless-_the_Hackers_RPG_Soundtrack_-_17_Map_Theme

    Special thanks goes out to BoxCat Games for the podcast intro music which I adapted from the track “Map Theme” from the album “Nameless: The Hackers RPG” which BoxCat released under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
    12 min