ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Neil Harris: Commodore, Atari, GEnie

Neil Harris started at Commodore as a member of the VIC-20 launch team, then continued to be a writer, programmer, and product manager there. He moved to Atari, where he was from 1984 to 1988. There he was hardware products manager, director of communications, and director of publications. He worked on Atari Explorer magazine, and wrote a bit for other publications including Compute!'s First Book of Atari and STart magazine. He later moved on to the GEnie online service.

This interview took place on March 31, 2016. In it, we discuss Bill Louden, whom I previously interviewed.

Teaser quotes:

"The Ataris were really good computers. ... The view inside of Commodore was that the Ataris, especially the 800, was over-engineered."

"Every person in Silicon Valley either had a close family member or a close friend who had been laid off by Jack [Tramiel]. ... You know, we were not the golden children. We were not Apple."

Color Wheel for the Atari: http://www.atariarchives.org/c1ba/page085.php

Atari Base BBS article: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v5n10/ataribulletinboard.html

ST:1999 article in STart magazine: http://www.atarimagazines.com/startv3n7/st1999.html

Jay Jaeger, APX Space War

Jay Jaeger released one program for the Atari computers: Space War, which was published by Atari Program Exchange. It appeared in the fall 1983 APX catalog.

This interview took place on March 16, 2016.

Teaser quote:

"It took a couple revisions back and forth. The program was fine; getting the documentation right, and yet have them be happy with it, was a little frustrating. But managed to get it done."

Space War in the fall 1983 APX catalog

Space War at AtariMania

Space War source code

Creative Computing — the Origin of Space War: http://www.wheels.org/spacewar/creative/SpacewarOrigin.html

Jay's web site: http://webpages.charter.net/thecomputercollection/collect.htm

Joel Gluck: Babel, Attank!, Pushover, Fun-FORTH

Joel Gluck published four programs through Atari Program Exchange: Babel, Attank!, Pushover, and Fun-FORTH. The first, Babel, was published when he was just 16 years old. He later worked at Atari's corporate research under Alan Kay. He also wrote a few articles for A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing magazine.

Babel was available in the first APX catalog, fall 1981, where it won second prize in the Entertainment category. Pushover first appeared in the summer 1982 catalog. Attank! first appeared in the winter 1982-1983 catalog. fun-FORTH was first available in fall 1982, which won third prize in the System Software category.

This interview took place on November 20, 2015. In it, we discuss Jack Palevich, whose interview is already published.

Teaser quotes:

"I wasn't so aware of the royalty checks because, I think, my mom was intercepting them. She told me later that I earned enough from APX royalties to put me through a year at M.I.T."

"I came out wearing a white robe and wearing a very tall plastic garbage bag on my head ... But the kids loved it!"

Links:

Email Joel: joelgluck at yahoo.com

AtariMania's list of Joel's games

Joel in Atari Connection magazine

Babel in APX catalog

Pushover in APX catalog

Attank in APX catalog

fun-FORTH in APX catalog

Ted Kahn, Atari Institute for Educational Action Research

Ted Kahn was creator of the Atari Institute for Educational Action Research, which awarded major grants of Atari home computer products, and consulting services to individuals, schools, and non-profit organizations. The group granted more than $1.25 million in products and services to about 100 innovative people and projects around the US and overseas.

He also co-wrote the books Atari Games and Recreations, and Atari PILOT Activities and Games. This interview took place on October 9, 2015. In it, we discuss Ted's bother, Bob Kahn; and Tandy Trower, both of whom I have previously interviewed.

Teaser quotes:

"Its purpose is not just to give stuff away, but it's purpose is to really make sure that if it's given away, it's going to be given to people and organizations who can make some impact with it."

"A thing, behind closed doors, in Washington, in which we had an entire group of Senators and Congressmen, for a period of about a day, to learn about all this stuff..."

Antic magazine article about the Atari Institute for Educational Action Research: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v2n6/insideatari.html

Rob Zdybel, Star Trek, Missile Command, Bug Hunt

Rob Zdybel was a long-time employee at Atari, having worked there from 1979 to 1996, when the Tramiels left. Rob has a long line of credits including Pigs in Space, Real Sports Football, Stellar Track and Star Trek for the Atari 400/800, SOS for the Atari 2600, Missile Command for the Atari 5200, and Bug Hunt for the Atari XE. He also designed the system BIOS for the Atari 5200.

Rob mentions the SYLVIA game system in the interview, although he couldn't remember the name of the system at the time. It was the machine that was supposed to come between the 2600 and the 5200 and which Doug Neubauer worked on.

Niles Strohl and Doug Neubauer are both mentioned in the interview, both of which I'm working to get interviews.

Please note that this interview does have some profanity.

This interview took place on January 17, 2016.

Teaser Quotes:

• "I said Good Lord, Man, I don't know if I can stand the idea of using computers to kill people more accurately."
• "They were going to give us a free Atari 800 computer. That's one of things you got for signing on with the Atari crew."
• "I signed on to the Atari 2600 program at the time. I was not actually interested in writing 2600 programs, but where my heart was really at was the Atari 800 computer because it was so much more powerful."
• "The lights had come on: you CAN'T win at Marketing Adventure."
• "You're talking to the man who's responsible for Chris Crawford being in the game industry. It's my fault."

Links:

list of Rob's games at AtariMania

PRGE 2013 - Bob Smith, Rob Zdybel, Joe Decuir - Portland Retro Gaming Expo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmqzybUe9m4

"Once Upon Atari" - http://www.onceuponatari.com/

Lane Winner: Graph-It, XEP-80, De Re Atari

Lane Winner was an Atari employee for about a decade: he worked in the software development support group, as a programmer, and as an engineer. He is the author of Atari's Graph-It, contributor to De Re Atari, and designer of the XEP-80 80-column peripheral. Lane wrote several early releases for Atari Program Exchange: BASIC Cross-Reference Utility, BASIC Renumber Utility, and Variable Changer.

This interview took place April 20, 2016.

"OK, Lane. When you get your ... head and your heart together, you can be useful, and help the company out and help other people out."

Inverse ATASCII podcast explores Graph-It

AtariMania's list of Lane's software

Dave Menconi, Atari Customer Service and User Group Support

Dave Menconi started at Atari in 1982 doing customer support for the Atari computers. Later he moved to the marketing group, where he helped support the Atari users groups. Dave wrote the program "Dancin' Man" for Antic magazine, and wrote several articles for Atari Connection magazine.

In this interview, we discuss Chris Crawford, Ted Richards, and Mike Albaugh, whom I previously interviewed. This interview took place on April 19, 2016.

Teaser quotes:

"...A light bulb went on above my head. That, it's one thing to know how to program but it's a much harder thing to know what to do with the skills that you have."

"He identified what the problem was and proposed a fix, and they fixed the product. And then afterwards, I remember him saying, 'And don't ever come back.'"

Dave featured in "User Group Support" article in Antic: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v1n2/insideatari.html

Dancin' Man: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v2n3/startingline.html

Database 2000 in Atari Connection

Stan Ockers, public domain game programmer

Stan Ockers started on the KIM-1 single board computer, where was was co-author of The First Book of KIM with Jim Butterfield. He later got an Atari 400, and became a prolific author of public domain programs which were distributed by users groups and in Antic magazine. His game credits include Chicken, Frog, and Bats, all of which were published in early issues of Antic magazines. Some of his programs were also published in Page 6 magazine.

This interview took place on March 10, 2016.

Teaser quote:

"I put in like, I figured, something like about 40 hours to write a program before I was satisfied to get rid of it. Or, got sick of it."

Stan's articles in Antic magazine

AtariMania's list of Stan's games

Harry Guiremand, SynChron

Harry Guiremand wrote SynChron, a calendar application, which was published by Synapse Software in 1983.

This interview took place on April 15, 2016.

Thanks to Wade at the Inverse ASASCII podcast for his research and suggestions. You can hear Wade's thorough review and walkthrough of SynChron at the Inverse ATASCII podcast.

Teaser quote:

"I had a password system where if you didn't guess the password correctly, you had to wait a little bit longer each time you missed it. Somebody who was trying to break the password with brute force method would end up having to wait days and days for the next chance to make a guess."

Inverse ATASCII review of SynChron

Greg Thrush and Marian Dillashaw: Stock Management and WordGo

Greg Thrush published two programs through Atari Program Exchange: Stock Management and — with his wife Marian Dillashaw — Wordgo. Stock Management first appeared in the fall 1982 APX catalog, where it won first prize in the business and financial applications category. Wordgo first appeared in the summer 1983 catalog.

This interview took place on March 4, 2016.

Teaser quote:

"If nothing else, it got them a little excited about technology. They could see that they could actually make some things happen."

Stock Management in the fall 1982 APX catalog

Wordgo in the summer 1983 catalog