ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

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 - Introductory Experiments in Linear Dynamics, which appeared in the spring 1984 issue; and Computer-Aided Experiments with the Damped Harmonic Oscillator, which appeared in the October 1985 issue of American Journal of Physics. This interview took place on May 21, 2018. "The reviewers refused to believe I could do it which such cheap equipment. ... They said it wasn't possible to do it." Interfacing the Atari Microcomputer in the Science Laboratory Game Port Physics - Introductory Experiments in Linear Dynamics Computer-Aided Experiments with the Damped Harmonic Oscillator McInerney's bio

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, really." Draper Pascal "New Product" in Antic magazine, Feb. 1990 Draper Pascal 2.1 Manual AtariWiki on Draper Pascal AtariMania's list of Norm's software

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 daughter for not knowing the states and capitals. By the end of the commercial, having learned from her Atari 400 computer, she can quickly and correctly name the capitals. On the Electronic Retail Information Center (E.R.I.C.) laserdisc, Brooke also played the part of a mom who extolls the virtues of Atari's educational software, with an emphasis on Scram, the nuclear power plant simulation; and My First Alphabet, software for teaching letters and numbers to small children. This interview took place on July 2, 2018. States and Capitals commercial Atari E.R.I.C. point-of-purchase laserdisc Brooke's IMDB page

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 publisher Imagic. There, he was perhaps best known for creating "Atlantis" for the Atari 2600 (which we don't actually talk about in this interview.) This interview took place on May 15, 2018. A video version of this interview is available. "We had to show our best stuff. And we wanted to show technological tricks that we figured the Activision guys hadn't seen before. I don't know if they felt that rivalry toward us at that point, but it became a rivalry a little later, it really did." Video version of this interview AtariMania's list of Dennis' games 2017 ataricompendium.com interview with Dennis Dale Yocum interview Lee Actor interview Bob Smith interview Rawson Stovall interview

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 Stealey, co-founder of MicroProse Software

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

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://tehpodcast.com

What We've Been Up To

• Ted Nelson Junk Mail project https://archive.org/details/tednelsonjunkmail
• Sophia board project - 9-pin DIN to SCART to HDMI - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/258702-new-development-gtia-in-cpld/

Roundtable Discussion

• Thom Cherryholmes
• • https://twitter.com/tschak
  • https://www.irata.online
• Ethan Johnson
• • https://twitter.com/GameResearch_E
  • https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com
• Joe Decuir
• • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_C._Decuir
• Simon Wells
• • https://ataribits.weebly.com/1088XEL.html
  • https://atari8.co.uk/1088xel-u1mb-firmware-released/
  • http://www.vcfmw.org/
  • http://atariage.com/forums/topic/278212-avgcart/
  • http://atariage.com/forums/topic/258454-eclaire-xl-pcb-aka-atari-on-fpga-project/
• Curt Vendel
• • http://www.atarimuseum.com
  • ANTIC Interview 220 - Scott Scheiman, 850 Interface, Telelink I
• Jeff Fulton
• • http://www.atarimania.com/documents/The-Atari-Assembler.pdf
  • https://www.facebook.com/intotheverticalblank/
• Nir Dary
• • http://www.Sellmyretro.com
  • http://atariage.com/forums/topic/279849-avgcart-preorder-thread-i/
• Roland Wassenberg
• • http://atariwiki.org
  • ANTIC Interview 226 - Bob Frankston, co-developer of Visicalc
  • Altirra on a Mac - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/278822-altirra-30-mac-wine-port/

Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.

Stephen Romejko: APX Melt-Down, Moon Marauder Stephen Romejko published two games through Atari Program Exchange: Melt-Down and Moon Marauder. Melt-Down was first available in the winter 1982-1983 APX catalog. Moon Marauder was first available in the fall 1983 APX catalog, where it won third prize in the consumer category. This interview took place on April 14, 2018. "Melt-Down was causing some special issues ... Apparently the American Nuclear Society took offense to it. ... 'People would develop harmful misconceptions and phobias about the peaceful use of nuclear power.'" Melt-Down in the winter 1982-1983 APX catalog Moon Marauder in the fall 1983 APX catalog AtariMania's list of Stephen's games

Allan Moose, Atari Assembly Language Programmer's Guide Allan Moose was co-author of the book Atari Assembly Language Programmer's Guide, which was published by Weber Systems in 1986. He wrote the book with his wife and writing partner, Marian Lorenz. She passed away in 1992. The two also wrote many articles for Antic and A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing magazines. Their articles included many about display list interrupts and vertical blank interrupts, and pretty mathematical graphics routines. This interview took place on May 12, 2018. "...pretty much a joint, cooperative effort in writing articles. Sometimes I would have an idea and would sketch something out. Other times Marian would have an idea." Scan of Atari Assembly Language Programmer's Guide Allan's articles in Antic magazine Allan's articles in A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing magazine Article in Art & Science Journal Display Lists Simplified (work in progress article)

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: In this five-year anniversary episode of ANTIC, we reminisce back to show #1 all those years ago, our friend Nir Dary tells us all about Atari Invasion, Jeff Fulton of the Into the Vertical Blank Podcast gives us a game review of Star Island, plus all the Atari 8-bit news that we could find. Happy 5-Year Anniversary to us!

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://tehpodcast.com

What We've Been Up To

• Dorsett paperwork https://archive.org/details/DorsettLessonQA
• Charlie Kulas sent and were scanned
• • https://archive.org/details/UpNDown_source
  • https://archive.org/details/BuckRogers_source
• How Atari 8-Bit Computers Defined a Generation by Steve S. Thomas - https://twitter.com/KevinSavetz/status/984539495268696065
• How Atari 8-Bit Computers Defined a Generation by Jamie Lendino - https://amzn.to/2MdWLCC
• Someone Stole My Entire Book (and My Job) and Is Selling It On Amazon - https://www.extremetech.com/internet/267446-someone-stole-my-entire-book-and-my-job-and-is-selling-it-on-amazon
• Update On My Stolen Book (and Job) on Amazon - https://www.extremetech.com/internet/268109-an-update-on-my-stolen-book-and-job-on-amazon
• Adventure: The Atari 2600 at the Dawn of Console Gaming by Jamie Lendino - https://amzn.to/2xZlYO1
• E.R.I.C. laserdisc project - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/265316-eric-cart-electronic-retail-information-center/page-2#entry4036420
• Sofia Video Upgrade - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/258702-new-development-gtia-in-cpld/

Interview Discussion

• Interview index: here
• Alan Alda on Id10T podcast: https://www.acast.com/thenerdist/alan-alda
• Video: Eric and Robert Anschuetz Talk About Programming Atari 8Bit Computer Games in the 1980s
• updated PDF document that describes games - https://archive.org/details/AnschuetzWesigerberAnschuetzDevelopmentNotes
• Original interview: ANTIC Interview 297 - Robert Anschuetz, Eric Anschuetz, John Weisgberber, Antic magazine games

News

• Ted Dabney died - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/31/obituaries/ted-dabney-dead-atari-pong.html
• 2010 Retrogaming Roundup interview with Ted - http://www.retrogamingroundup.com/shownotes/2010/roundup024_2010.10.php
• Time Pilot released - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/278834-time-pilot-final-release/
• Time Pilot Website - http://timepilot.atari.pl/
• SAM (Software Automatic Mouth) - https://github.com/s-macke/SAM
• VCF East article at Hackaday - https://hackaday.com/2018/05/30/vcf-east-the-mail-order-app-store/
• VCF East article at Ars Technica - https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2009/09/a-trip-down-memory-lane-and-beyond-at-vintage-computer-fest/
• ALibPC - https://www.facebook.com/ALibPc.Atari/
• Rob at Player/Missile found a reverse engineering of the Atari 8-bit M.U.L.E from 2009 - http://bringerp.free.fr/RE/Mule/mule_document.html
• Atariteca on hiatus? - https://atariteca.blogspot.com/
• Retro Roundup - https://retroroundup.com
• Into the Vertical Blank — new general Atari podcast - Jeff Fulton
• • http://www.8bitrocket.com/category/podcasts/into-the-vertical-blank/
  • https://twitter.com/Atari_VB_Pod
• Jonathan Halliday's website - https://atari8.co.uk
• MacRorie's website The Brewing Academy - http://www.thebrewingacademy.com
• Restoring an Atari 800 XL that's Beyond Restoring | Hackaday - https://hackaday.com/2018/06/09/restoring-an-atari-800-xl-thats-beyond-restoring/
• AtariInside seems to be trying to catalog Atari 8-bit software - https://atarinside.dyndns.org/blog/
• Atari Software Pack - Dean Garraghty (Scotland) - DGS Software - DGS-Atari on AtariAge - http://www.dgs.clara.net/
• Pete Meyer's Delta Space Arena - http://forums.atari.io/index.php/topic/3782-delta-space-arena-deluxe-edition/
• Atari Force comics reprint - https://amzn.to/2xDaL5y
• Jurgen van Radecke (tf_hh on AtariAge) makes all sorts of Atari 8-bit upgrades - http://www.van-radecke.de/STUFF/tfhh_HW_info.pdf
• Wap-Niak is a Polish event dedicated to Atari 8-bit computers. All the releases from this year's edition are now on Demozoo - https://demozoo.org/parties/3569/
• Silly Venture 2017 8-bit Results Pack - JAC! - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/279559-sillypack-2k17-released/
• Season 7 Episode 9 of the Comic Book Men (Atari Dump Dig) - https://www.amc.com/shows/comic-book-men/season-7/episode-09-power-man-vs-counter-man
• BASIC Ten-Liners - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/274782-basic-ten-liners-are-back-for-2018/page-4
• IEC cables - http://iec.net/?s=atari&post_type=product
• Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
• • Southern Fried June 8-10 http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com
  • KansasFest - https://www.kansasfest.org/ , July 17-22, 2018, Kansas City, Missouri
  • Atari Fujiama 2018 - from Thursday, July 26 to Sunday, July 29 in Lengenfeld (Vogtland) Germany - http://abbuc.de/~atarixle/fuji/2018/
  • VCF West - https://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west/ , August 4-5, 2018 - Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA
  • VCF Midwest - http://www.vcfmw.org/ - September 15-16, 2018, Elk Grove Village, IL
  • Portland Retro Gaming Expo - http://www.retrogamingexpo.com/ - Oregon Convention Center on October 19-21, 2018
  • International Atari Shows (Nir Dary) - https://calendar.google.com/calendar/[email protected]&pli=1

YouTube videos this month

• YouTube videos this month - using the search term "Atari 800"
• • Nir Dary (The Modern Atari 8-bit Computer)
  • • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rrc2zptsbU - A simple way to connect the Atari computer to HDMI TV using mini Av to Hdmi adapter
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxmhfTRr-PM - Playing Time Pilot on the Atari 8-bit computer
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A40-57v-tu8&t=45s - Time Pilot cartridge in Rapidus Mode
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19VG1BJ3zG4 - Atari Party in Warsaw, Poland
  • Others
  • • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXlQESoROic - Sio2Arduino project with Atari 800 XL via Arduino Uno - Murat Özdemir
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9HkRe7tgis - The Pulse Rifle Plays - Gyruss (Atari 800) (World Record run 2018-05-20) - New world record: 308800 - Redfeyer
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2nj73mNgAE - qbertaddict1 - How to setup Atari 5200 using lr-atari800 and RetroPie - This tutorial works on the pi 3, pi 3b+, and the odroid but it should work on any system that has RetroPie Installed.
    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyXBSMzZ3E4 - Atari Bluetooth - connecting a Wiimote to an Atari 800XL via Bluetooth

New at Archive.Org

• Academy On Computers Hands On Atari 400/800 Beginner's Manual
• Atari CP/M Machine Preliminary Requirements Specification and Feasibility Study
• https://archive.org/details/AtariCPMMachineStudy
• Atari DOS 3 Disk Cleanup Utility FRS
• Atari Speech Handler External Reference Specification
• Draper Pascal Manual
• Kyan Pascal v1 Manual
• Kyan Pascal v2 Manual
• Presenting The Atari 1200XL
• Hollywood Squares - Atari PILOT Demo Program
• https://archive.org/details/AtariPOWERGermanAtariClubDuesseldorf
• Ultra Steve Green:
• • Atari Soccer 6 1983 Flyer
  • Atari Soccer 6 1983 Programme
• Allan:
• • APX Stereo 3-D Graphics Package manual
  • APX Keypad Controller Rev. 2 manual
  • MMG BASIC Commander manual
• Bill Lange:
• • Print Shop Atari 1020 Printer Driver
  • The Newsroom In Detail - The Complete Guide To Creating A Newspaper

Nir's Segment - Atari Invasion Party Netherlands 2018

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwhHDInXPMg

Jeff Fulton's Segment - Star Island Game Review

• http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-star-island_4984.html

Possible side effects of listening to the Antic podcast include stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat; drowsiness, dizziness, feeling nervous; mild nausea, upset stomach, constipation; increased appetite, weight changes; insomnia, decreased sex drive, impotence, or difficulty having an orgasm; dry mouth, intense hate of Commodore, and Amiga lust. Certain conditions apply. Offer good for those with approved credit. Member FDIC. An equal housing lender.

Larry Breakwell, Toronto Atari Programmers Society Larry Breakwell was founder of the Toronto West Atari Computer Support Group, then president of the Toronto Atari Programmers Society, which was the largest Atari user group in Canada. He adapted the Atari version of the book "Academy on Computers Hands-On Atari 400/800 Beginner's Manual" from a version of the book focused on the Commodore PET. These beginners manuals were part of the Academy on Computers, a self-directed learning activity based on "Bits and Bytes", a television program produced by the TVOntario network. This interview took place on May 10, 2018. Academy on Computers Hands-On Atari 400/800 Beginner's Manual Bits & Bytes TV show