ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Latest Episodes:

ANTIC Interview 387 - Claudia Cohl, Editor-in-Chief of Family Computing and K-Power Magazine Jun 16, 2020

Show notes

Claudia Cohl, Editor-in-Chief of Family Computing and K-Power Magazine Claudia Cohl was the editor-in-chief of Family Computing Magazine for its entire run. Published by Scholastic, the magazine ran for 49 issues, from September 1983 through September 1987. Then it published 11 more issues, though August 1988, as "Family and Home Office Computing." Finally, it was rebranded "Home Office Computing". Claudia remained editor there until a new division was formed, and she moved to the Professional Publishing department to focus on magazines for teachers. In a 1983 New York Times article "Children's Magazine for a Computer Age," Claudia is quoted: "Our magazine is primarily for parents. Parents feel confused about computers and software and they feel they have no place to turn. We think parents will be using our magazine themselves or with their kids. Children will be picking up the magazine too." Claudia was also editor-in-chief of K-Power magazine, a computer magazine for kids. Only eight issues of K-Power were published, running from February 1984 to November/December 1984, after which it was merged with Family Computing. Our interview took place in two portions, on June 29, 2018 and December 11, 2019. Read Family Computing at Internet Archive Read K Power at Internet Archive Wikipedia on Family Computing New York Times article "Children's Magazine for a Computer Age"

ANTIC Episode 68 - What SIDE Are You On? With Jonathan Halliday Jun 14, 2020

Show notes

ANTIC Episode 68

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast… Jonathan Halliday joins as we discuss his amazing work on the SIDE loaders for the Incognito and Ultimate 1MB and the work going on for the SIDE3 cart.

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

Interview index: here

ANTIC Facebook Page

AHCS

Eaten By a Grue

What We've Been Up To

plotter ink https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1258830441320079360 But steve bowsell @A8bit working on 3-D printable solution
Kay's old Atari games https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1259569122364407808 ; https://github.com/savetz (Scavange, boggler, rats, testtube, hubcap of fortune, Komix Creator)
Carrington and Kay play Scavange at Eaten By A Grue http://monsterfeet.com/grue/notes/35 play it at https://archive.org/details/Scavange
Catalina broke Altirra under WINE and Xformer, Kay got them both fixed https://atariage.com/forums/topic/286036-altirra-on-macos-update-thread/page/2/#comments and https://atariage.com/forums/topic/289510-xformer-emulator-running-on-macos/?do=findComment&comment=4544143
Updated firmware to Jonathan Halliday's for Incognito in 800 - https://atari8.co.uk/firmware/incognito/
RetroPie on Pi4 - https://retropie.org.uk/
8Bit Classics - https://www.8bitclassics.com/

News

Retro Format is a physical print magazine covering computers and game consoles from the 1970s to the early 2000s; including Atari - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/8bitmagazine/retro-format-magazine-issues-1-to-12
PaperCraft - Rocky Bergen: "I've been working on an entire Atari 8-bit tradeshow display. But it may be some time before I can finish. I have an 800XL at home so that may actually show up before I finish this display." - http://rockybergen.com/ ; https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10158054518491047&set=p.10158054518491047&type=3&theater
MicroProse is back. Seems that one of the original founders, Bill Stealy, and a new partner have purchased the company back from whoever had it last (Infogrammes/Atari?) https://www.microprose.com/#; Kay's 2017 interview with Bill Stealy - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-263-bill-stealey-co-founder-of-microprose-software
Compute magazine disk image depository - Allan Bushman - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/307591-compute-magazine-disk-image-depository/
Break Into Chat, Josh Renaud's blog about BBS history, retro computing post "Unearthed: My Atari 8-bit cassette tape" - https://breakintochat.com/blog/2020/05/30/unearthed-my-atari-8-bit-cassette-tape/
Atari Portable Project - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/306569-atari-portable-project/
Kickstarter: The 8-BIT WARS - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andyremic/the-8-bit-wars
New version of Atari800MacX - makes it compatible with Catalina - https://github.com/atarimacosx/Atari800MacX/releases
- also fixed plotter support for Renderrific - https://github.com/atarimacosx/Atari800MacX/issues/10

Shows

Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
- July 10 - 12, VCF Southeast, in conjunction with Southern Fried Gaming Expo in Atlanta, GA - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/otherevents/vintage-computer-festival-southeast/ CANCELLED
- July 24-25, KansasFest - https://www.kansasfest.org/ (virtual) cost $20, opened registration on April 30th
- August 1, VCF West, Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - http://vcfed.org/wp/2020/05/24/vcf-west-2020-will-be-a-virtual-event/ GONE VIRTUAL - The entire event will be scheduled for 6-8 hours on Saturday August 1st; call for exhibitors and keynote speakers
- Aug. 20 - Aug. 23, 2020, Fujiama, Lengenfeld, Germany - http://abbuc.de/~atarixle/fuji/2020/
- September 12-13, VCF Midwest, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/
- October 10 - 12, VCF East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/ NOTE: You can order a t-shirt to support the VCF events at http://vcfed.org/wp/t-shirts/ for $20 + shipping
Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/

YouTube videos this month

Games That Push the Limits of the Atari 8-Bit Family - Sharopolis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTUmiot6vyM
ANALOG Computing Games on your Atari 8bit - The New Retro Show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9xOpFnqo88
Several demos from Poland, including one called Windows 95 - American NTSC - demo for Atari XL/XE from Poland - Miesiu - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7qy3DwsIX4
The Atari 8bit and ST games by Jon Williams - Into the Vertical Blank - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-HJR2WpWTc A companion to the Into The Vertical Blank: Generation Atari Season 3 Episode 11 Episode interview with Jon.

New at Github

Bill Kendrick pointed to omc65 (Our Macro Crossassembler for 6502) at https://GitHub.com/pkali/omc65
Disassembling SynCalc - https://github.com/jduerstock/syncalc
Alternate Reality: The Dungeon for Atari 8-bits cartridge project - https://github.com/Wilheim1977/ARDungeonCartridge

New at Archive.org

Italian XL catalog - https://archive.org/details/1984-catalogo-atari-home-computer/mode/2up and advertisements https://archive.org/details/@philsan69

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.

ANTIC Interview 386 - Sherman Rosenfeld, Atari Institute for Education Action Research Jun 08, 2020

Show notes

Sherman Rosenfeld, Atari Institute for Education Action Research Dr. Sherman Rosenfeld is an internationally-known leader in informal learning and science education. He was a consultant to the Atari Institute for Education Action Research. Founded in June 1981 and led by Ted Kahn, the Institute provided equipment, advice, and financial support to non-profit educational organizations. It granted more than $1 million in hardware and software to schools, science museums, vocational and special education programs, even a prison. Ted Kahn, whom I have previously interviewed, recently dug through his files to uncover several documents about the Institute, including "Informal Learning and Computers," the working paper written by Sherman Rosenfeld for the Atari Institute for Education Action Research in September 1982. Ted also graciously scanned a 1981 Atari Institute brochure, a 1983 progress report, and "Atari in Action," the Institute's newsletter, dated fall 1982. This interview took place on May 25, 2020. Sherman talked to me from his office in Israel. A video version of the interview is also available. Informal Learning and Computers Atari Institute For Educational Action Research Brochure Atari in Action — Atari Institute Newsletter fall 1982 Atari Institute Report Feb. 1983 Caspi Towards Creative Self Education Synopsis ANTIC Interview 185 - Ted Kahn, Atari Institute for Educational Action Research ANTIC Interview 288 - David Thornburg, Koalapad inventor Antic magazine: Atari Institute—Grants support educational projects by Gary Yost Dr. Rosenfeld's web site

ANTIC Interview 385 - Software Automatic Mouth: Mark Barton Jun 01, 2020

Show notes

Software Automatic Mouth: Mark Barton Mark Barton was creator of SAM — Software Automatic Mouth. Released in 1982, SAM was the first software-only speech synthesizer for personal computers. It was available for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and Atari 8-bit computers. He later developed Macintalk, speech synthesis for the Macintosh computer; and narrator, the speech system for the Commodore Amiga. This interview took place on May 22, 2020. SAM Demo Disk Steve Jobs movie Steve Jobs introduces the Macintosh Peter Ladefoged at Wikipedia Peter Ladefoged at UCLA SAM in your browser Switched On Bach by Wendy Carlos Why Modern Digital Synthesis Is More Analog Than Analog by Mark Barton Mark's Soundcloud ANTIC Interview 124 - Jerry White, programmer of Poker SAM. and Chaterbee Bill Lange's deep dive into SAM ads and reviews

ANTIC Interview 384 - Fandal: Atari programer and archivist May 27, 2020

Show notes

Fandal: Atari programer and archivist Frantisek Houra is better known to the Atari community as Fandal. He's an Atari computer programmer and long-time archivist of European Atari software. He has created many original Atari games and conversions from other platforms: including Fruity Pete, Mashed Turtles, Crescent Solitaire, and Diamondz. This interview took place on August 28, 2019, during the Fujiama Atari conference in Lengenfeld, Germany. Roland Wassenberg sat in to assist with the interview. Shortly after, Fandal and I and several other attendees hooked up a multijoy and played some rounds of Mashed Turtles with six players (up to eight can play), and it was so. much. fun. Fandal's web site Mashed Turtles Xenophobe game for sale at Video61

ANTIC Interview 383 - Gregg Squires, Atari Manager of Hardware Engineering May 21, 2020

Show notes

Gregg Squires, Atari Manager of Hardware Engineering Gregg Squires was a Manager of Hardware Engineering at Atari from 1982 through 1984, working from their New York office. He was project manager for Val, a cost-reduced version of the Atari 2600; and project manager for the Atari XL computer series. He was co-designer of the 65816 microprocessor architecture. Greg sent me a scan of an Atari 600XL Product Status Meeting handout dated January 1983. It's an impressive 45 pages and paints a clear picture of the timeline, costs, and issues involved with creating that computer. This interview took place on February 13, 2019. Atari VAL photo Atari 600XL Product Status Meeting Handout The Working Clock-Timer by Joel Moskowitz ANTIC Interview 65 - Steve Mayer, 400/800 Designer

ANTIC Interview 382 - Rik Dickinson, Encore Video Productions May 13, 2020

Show notes

Rik Dickinson, Encore Video Productions Rik Dickinson is founder of Encore Video Productions, a company that rented Atari 8-bit computers to hotels for use as character generators. The computers would show information about the hotel on channel 2 of guests' televisions. This was part of a service that Encore offered to provide in-room movies that ran off videotapes. The tape machines ran on a timer, and when the movie ended, the video feed switched back to the text information displayed by the Atari. This interview took place on April 20, 2020. Forum about Encore Video Productions Display System Encore Video Productions

ANTIC Episode 67 - Still Socially Distant May 10, 2020

Show notes

ANTIC Episode 67 - Still Socially Distant

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast...Randy forgets to call the artist, formerly known as Kevin, as Kay about 100 times, we continue discussion on AtariFests and World of Atari, we help you with your free time by telling you about papercraft computers and RetroPie, and help you navigate what's happening with vintage computer shows; plus a whole lot more Atari news!

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

Interview index: here

ANTIC Facebook Page

AHCS

Eaten By a Grue

What We've Been Up To

Carol Shaw's Colleen Calculator - View the pages or download the images - https://archive.org/details/ColleenCalculator9K/mode/2up

Carol also sent the printout of Rev. A of Atari VCS Checkers - https://archive.org/details/VCScheckersA/mode/2up
A community member has digitized the listing - https://github.com/white-flame/vcs-checkers

Kay's 10-line contest entries 2014-2020 on GitHub - https://github.com/savetz?tab=repositories

Bankster

Kay's 10-line videos
2020 Atari 10-liners on one disk, by vitoco - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/301250-2020-basic-10liner-contest/?do=findComment&comment=4502763
AtariFest/World of Atari thread on AtariAge - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/304554-atarifest-and-world-of-atari
ABBUC (Atari Bit Byter User Club) - http://www.abbuc.de/

Recent Interviews

News

Jason Moore - Atari Projects on HackaDay
- https://hackaday.com/2020/04/29/classic-8-bit-computing-the-atari-way/
- http://atariprojects.org/
PaperCraft models - http://rockybergen.com/ Atari 800, and NeXT Cube are on the short short list
MidiMax at Best Electronics - http://www.best-electronics-ca.com/laser_printers.htm#MidiMax
RetroPie 4.6 released with Raspberry Pi 4 support - https://retropie.org.uk/2020/04/retropie-4-6-released-with-raspberry-pi-4-support/
RetroMagazine - https://www.retromagazine.net/

Jonathan Halliday has updated his Incognito, Ultimate 1MB, etc. to 3.1 - https://atari8.co.uk/

Shows

Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people):
- July 10 - 12, VCF Southeast, in conjunction with Southern Fried Gaming Expo in Atlanta, GA - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/otherevents/vintage-computer-festival-southeast/
- July 24-25, KansasFest - https://www.kansasfest.org/ (virtual) cost $20, opened registration on April 30th
- August 1-2, VCF West, Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-west/
- Fri, Aug 14, 2020 – Sun, Aug 16, 2020, Portland Retro Gaming Expo, Portland OR - https://www.retrogamingexpo.com/ CANCELLED
- Aug. 20 - Aug. 23, 2020, Fujiama, Lengenfeld, Germany - http://abbuc.de/~atarixle/fuji/2020/
- September 12-13, VCF Midwest, Elmhurst, IL - http://vcfmw.org/
- October 10 - 12, VCF East, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/

Event page created by Chicago Classic Computing - http://chiclassiccomp.org/events.html?fbclid=IwAR3Fm5hf7PCQj0yXBxXvj9J8Mp8GDwD2w1bfD_qktpPOnNYNoQUmN_EpgB8
Event page created by Floppy Days - https://www.facebook.com/VintageComputerShows/
Event page on Vintage Is The New Old - https://vintageisthenewold.com/vintage-is-the-new-old-releases-new-events-calendar/

YouTube videos this month

20MHz Atari 800XL: Rapidus, U1MB, and Sophia DVI: Part Two - Flashjazzcat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnfjxNqoZ7Y
800XL with Rapidus and Ultimate 1MB: What Have We Learned? - Flashjazzcat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2go2VU7xyYU
How to flash Ultimate 1MB and SIDE/SIDE2 with new firmware - flashjazzcat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SLyjhLba6c
New Games for your Atari 8 bit Part 12 - The New Retro Show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIrZHksTKIM - Time Pilot (2018) and Runner Bear (2020)
SpartaDos X Cartridge - 8-bit and more - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkvIyj6-lMQ
- Bits of the past - Super Sparta DOS PCB - https://www.bitsofthepast.com
- iCore64 - Atari ICD R-Time 8 Cartridge Case, XL/XE cart extender - https://corei64.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=62_87&product_id=67

New at Github

New at Archive.org

Current Notes Volume 10 Number 9 - https://archive.org/details/current-notes-volume-10-number-9-november-1990/mode/2up
Many issues of Atari Interface magazine: https://archive.org/details/@scottithgames
Steve Boswell many issues of Atari User: https://archive.org/details/@choccyhobnob

Feedback

Rare Atari software found: Atamon DXG 5724 V1.3 is an Atari Germany title - https://www.atarinside.com/blog/index.php/atamon-dxg-5724/
https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=ATA%20MON%20DXG%205724
German version of Sky Writer was the last puzzle of the series: Spielend lernen mit Atari-Programmen- https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Articles#section-Articles-GermanyAtariDeutschlandGmbH
From CSS, we have the BUG/65 manual Rev. 1.0 missing page - https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Bug65
Tanktics bits and piece to play this hybrid game. These are available at https://www.mobygames.com/game/tanktics_/cover-art/gameCoverId,349600/.
The parts for Dnieper River Line are there as well - https://www.mobygames.com/game/dnieper-river-line/cover-art/gameCoverId,348252/

ANTIC Interview 381 - Youth Advisory Board: Tracey Cullinan May 03, 2020

Show notes

Youth Advisory Board: Tracey Cullinan This is the seventh in a series of episodes featuring the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. In 1983, Atari formed a Youth Advisory Board, selecting teenagers from around the United States to share their opinions about computers and video games, test software, and promote Atari's computers at events. The group consisted of kids aged 14 through 18, including Tracey Cullinan. Tracey worked as a salesperson at the ComputerLand store in Los Altos, California — starting at the age of 12. He started a software company, Superior Software, which produced custom software for local businesses, as well as a couple of games for the Apple II computer. At 14, Tracey was invited to be a member of the Youth Advisory Board. As part of that job, he went to the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago to demonstrate Atari computers. The next year, as a 15-year-old, Tracey was interviewed on the "Today" show as a young entrepreneur. There's a chapter about Tracey in the 1984 book "Computer Kids" by George Sullivan. (His picture in on the back cover of the book.) I'm going to read several passages from that book, quotes from Tracey.

...A Computerland store opened in a mall near my home. I made friends with the people who worked in the store, and they let me use the computers there. The store happened to be within walking distance of where I live, and I'd go there after school and on week- ends, or almost anytime I had free time. I often wrote game programs on the computers, and I bought a disk on which to store the programs. They let me keep the disk at the store. When customers came into the store, I'd sometimes help out by showing them what a computer could do. They'd be amazed. "What's this nine-year-old kid doing showing me how a computer works?" I'm now working at the store. I started as an employee when I was twelve. I was in sales at first but later I shifted over to computer repair... I now know five or six computer languages — BASIC, Pascal, LOGO, plus three machine languages: 6502, the one that's used on the Apple and Atari and the one I use the most, Z-80. I'm starting to learn 8086, the language for the IBM Personal Computer... The company that I operate is called Superior Software. I prepare custom programs for businesses in the area. One program involves inventorying and invoicing for a company that sells charcoal fire starters. I've got another program that gathers stock market prices from a computer, and then correlates them and prints them out for a local stockbroker. A third program I wrote for the Los Altos Little League. It's a mailing list program. They use it in sending out notices about tryouts, practices, and things like that. I became a member of the Atari Youth Advisory Board because someone at the consulting firm that was getting the names of kids together for Atari happened to know my dad. When the consulting firm found out that I was into computers, they put my name on the list. Then the people at Atari picked me. We've been giving Atari advice mostly on their home computers. Later, I think they're going to ask us for advice on their video games and arcade games... I also use the computer to write game programs once in a while. One that I've written is called Glutton [for the Apple II.] You, the shooter, are armed with little missiles and positioned on the right side of the screen. You can move up and down only. You shoot to the left. The glutton moves back and forth across the screen. The glutton likes to eat. Different kinds of food fall from the top of the screen. Some of it is good food, like apples, carrots, and chicken drumsticks. But some of the food is junk food, like cupcakes and soda pop. The object of the game is to keep the glutton well fed, but healthy, You try to eliminate the pieces of junk food by blasting them with your missiles. I've tried to sell Glutton to some of the companies that market game software to computer owners, to companies such as Broderbund and Sirius. But I haven't been successful yet. ...As far as the future is concerned, I plan to go to college. I'd like to go to a good private university, a technical one, like MIT, Cal Tech, or Stanford... After that, I think I'd like to be a game programmer, and maybe work for Atari, Imagic, or Activision, or some company like that.

Tracey didn't go to any of those colleges. He died 1986 of brain cancer. He had just turned 18. I talked with Tracey's mother, Leola Wooldridge; and his younger brother, Cory Cullinan, about their memories of Tracey. This interview took place on April 17, 2020. In it, we discuss John Dickerson, whom I previously interviewed. Tracey in Computer Kids book Demystifying Excellence by Cory Cullinan John Dickerson interview

Tracey Cullinan On Today Show on Youtube or Internet Archive

ANTIC Interview 380 - Atari Speed Reading: Karlyn Kamm and Brad Oltrogge Apr 26, 2020

Show notes

Atari Speed Reading: Karlyn Kamm and Brad Oltrogge The Atari Speed Reading software package was released by Atari in 1981. It was a self-paced program, for use with the Atari computer and a cassette drive, that promised to teach you to increase reading speed and comprehension with 30 days of practice. The package contained a workbook and five cassette tapes. This is an interview with two of the people who created the Atari Speed Reading package. Karlyn Kamm created the speed reading educational material at the University of Wisconsin with Dr. Wayne Otto. In 1975, she and Dr. Otto published a book titled "Speedway, the Action Way to Read." Dr. Otto died in 2017. Brad Oltrogge is president of Learning Multi-Systems, the software publisher that was contracted by Atari to turn Kamm and Otto's speed reading material into a product for the Atari home computer. This interview took place on April 16, 2020. Atari Speed Reading Workbook Atari Speed Reading at AtariWiki Dr. Otto obituary Speedway: The action way to speed read The Study Skills Component of the Wisconsin Design Learning Multi-Systems

1983 purchase order, letter, and check from Atari to Learning Multi-Systems

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