ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Latest Episodes:

ANTIC Interview 167 - Al Casper: Counter, My Spelling Easel, Equestrian May 02, 2016

Show notes

Al Casper: Counter, My Spelling Easel, Equestrian

Al Casper published three programs with Atari Program Exchange. His first, Counter, was first available in the fall 1982 APX catalog. It won first prize in the learning category in that catalog. Counter was also released in a French language version by Atari France.

Next was My Spelling Easel, which was first available in the spring 1983 catalog, and won second prize in the learning category. His third program was Equestrian, which appeared in the winter 1983-1984 APX catalog (the very last APX catalog) and was the "APX Olympic contest winner."

Al also wrote an article called Purge, a quicker and simpler method of housecleaning diskettes, for Compute! magazine, which was re-published in Compute!'s Third Book of Atari.

This interview took place on February 7, 2016

Teaser quote:

"I remember, we got a quarterly... royalty check. It seems to me the first one I got... several hundred dollars, I think. One of the next ones, it was like $10,000. ... I couldn't believe it, because this was basically just a hobby."

Al's programs at AtariMania

Counter in the fall 1982 APX catalog

My Spelling Easel in the spring 1983 catalog

Equestrian in the winter 1984 catalog

Purge utility

ANTIC Interview 166 - Michael Crick, Frogmaster Apr 30, 2016

Show notes

Michael Crick, Frogmaster

Michael Crick created the game Frogmaster, which was published for the Atari computers by Atari Program Exchange. It first appeared in the summer 1982 APX catalog, where it won first prize in the entertainment category. Michael later made a version of Frogmaster for the Commodore 64. He created two other C64 games: Break Street (a break dancing game), and Go For the Gold (an Olympics style game) as well as TERSE, a programming language for the C64.

Frogmaster cost $22.95 and was APX catalog number 20131. A Spanish version of Frogmaster was also released by APX, Amansarranas - APX catalog number 20252.

This interview took place on February 3, 2016.

Teaser quote:

"The truth was, it wasn't really a very fun game. I mean, it was an interesting scientific exercise."

Michael's web site: http://crick.com/gamemaster.html

ANTIC Episode 32 - Into the Big Scary World Apr 28, 2016

Show notes

On this episode of Antic the Atari 8-bit podcast, we venture out into the big scary world — both Randy and I went to VCF SouthEast, and Kevin went to the museum. The winners of the 2016 10-line BASIC programming contest are announced, and Bill Kendrick drops knowledge about the demo scene.

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

What we've been up to

Hacking Jumpman: Finished GP III video
Kevin's a winner!
Game Masters special exhibit at OMSI - https://www.omsi.edu/gamemasters
SpartaDOS X Super Cart
Edladdin Controllers - http://edladdin.com/
Podcaster's Roundtable at VCFSE
Steve DeFrisco - Antic Interview 123
Steve DeFrisco Wing War
breakout PCB - https://www.bitsofthepast.com/?p=833

Interview Discussion

News

Atariada 2016
FLOP - Diskette electronic "magazine" for Atari XE / XL (Czech) - http://flop.atariportal.cz/
10-line contest
youtube vidoes in which Kevin tests all the 10-line Atari games
Atari 65XE USB Keyboard by Tynemouth Software on Etsy
Atari 65XE USB Keyboard complete with Raspberry Pi and USB hub
Atari 65XE USB Keyboard with USB joystick controller where the original joystick ports are
Insert coin to tour the new National Videogame Museum
National Videogame Museum
A Look At Video Game History: 'The Art Of Atari' Due For October Release
"The Art of Atari" preview
Upcoming Shows:

- Last Chicago CocoFest - http://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ April 23 & 24, 2016, Heron Point Convention Center, Lombard, IL
- Southern Fried GameRoom Expo June 10-12
- KansasFest - July 19-24, 2016 - https://www.kansasfest.org
- Atari Party - Saturday, July 30, at 12 PM - 5 PM in PDT, Mary L. Stephens Davis Branch Library, 315 E 14th St, Davis, California 95616
- VCF west - Aug 6-7
- VCF midwest — Sep 10-11, Elk Grove Village, IL
- PRGE Oct 21-23 http://www.retrogamingexpo.com
Colo. Lottery Launches Atari Scratch-Off
Upgraded internal replacement Mylars for the Atari 1200XL keyboard
Widely used repair tips - 1200XL Keyboard Tune-up
Atari800 handheld console emulator for Nintendo 3DS

New at Archive.org

APX manuals https://archive.org/details/@allan52
https://archive.org/details/XLXEPowerSupplies - modern electronics magazine 1986
https://archive.org/details/ICDRamboXL256KBManual
https://archive.org/details/AxiomAT846PrinterInterfaceManual
https://archive.org/details/HebrewAtariClubJuly89
https://archive.org/details/AtariEnvisionSourceCode

Bill's Modern Segment

"Control" demo, by LaResistance, 2010
- Pouet entry: http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=56481
- DemoZoo entry: http://demozoo.org/productions/56527/
- YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OsK4eC6rpg
- LaResistance website: http://laresistance.pigwa.net/

Based on "Control" demo for Amiga, by Oxygene, 1995
- Pouet entry: http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=3031
- Amiga Demoscene Archive entry: http://ada.untergrund.net/?p=demo&i=299
- YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzOp3ngc1MA

Definitions:
- "Demoescene" Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demoscene
- "Demake" TV Tropes entry
- "Demakes" section of "Video game remake" article at Wikipedia

Of the Month

Bit 3 Full-View 80 - 80 column card for the Atari 800 - ebay auction
Dave and Sandy Small wrote an article in Antic
There's a few lines of BASIC code that will kick on the Bit-3. You'll find them at - http://www.cchaven.com/BIT3FV80.HTML

ANTIC Interview 165 - Yakov Epelboim: Pushky and Devilator Apr 26, 2016

Show notes

Yakov Epelboim: Pushky and Devilator

Yakov Epelboim is a Russian immigrant who published two programs for the Atari 8-bit computers. Pushky (which I learned is the Russian word for "cannons") was published by Atari Program Exchange, and first appeared in the Winter 1982-1983 APX catalog for $22.95. He also wrote Devilator, which he self-published as Zebra Company. Both programs were written in machine language, and both are unusual games, a little off the beaten track from other games of the era. The APX catalog said: "Pushky is in a class by itself in terms of game format. At least, we have nothing else like it at APX."

Yakov is joined in this interview by his wife Olga, who added color commentary and translation help.

This interview took place February 5, 2016.

Teaser quote:

"Then I did couple more programs, games, and send them to Atari. And they wrote me, 'Everything fine. We will take them, but you should change this and this, add music.' I did everything, send them, but in this time they were bankrupt."

AtariMania

ANTIC Interview 164 - John Palevich: Dandy and Deep Blue C Compiler Apr 24, 2016

Show notes

John Palevich: Dandy and Deep Blue C Compiler

John Palevich wrote several programs which were published by Atari Program Exchange: the Chameleon CRT Terminal Emulator; Mantis Boot Tape Development System; Deep Blue C Compiler and its source code on a product called Deep Blue Secrets; and Dandy, a graphical dungeon crawl game that is famously the inspiration for the arcade classic, Gauntlet.

He later worked in the advanced projects division at Atari, working on Atari's unfinished Eva computer project, as well as the unfinished AMY music chip and RAINBOW graphics chip.

In this interview we discuss Joel Gluck, whose interview is forthcoming.

This interview took place on November 20, 2015.

"It was a situation where whether you made a good business decision or a bad business decision, more money came in the next quarter."

"Any time a dignitary, any time a rock star came by to tour Atari, they would come and try out the AMY chip."

AtariMania's list of John's software

ANTIC Interview 163 - Ron Luks, Compuserve Atari Forum Founder Apr 22, 2016

Show notes

Ron Luks, Founder and manager of the Atari Forums on CompuServe

Welcome to this interview-only episode of Antic, The Atari 8-bit computer podcast. My name is Randy Kindig. In this show, I’ll be talking with Mr. Ron Luks, a name that you’re probably familiar with if you used your Atari to access the Compuserve Information Service. Ron was founder and manager of the Atari Forums on CompuServe (SIG*Atari, 8-bit Forum, 16-bit Forum (ST), Atari Developers, Atari Vendors, and others.) He also wrote articles for some of the Atari magazines (like ANTIC). I hope you enjoy this interesting glimpse into the online world of Atari back in the 80’s.

I also want to mention that Ron was kind enough to donate an Atari 130XE and a set of cartridges to the show.

This interview was conducted November 18, 2015

Teaser Quotes:

“And the owner of the store steered me over to the Atari 800 and it was running Star Raiders, ok, and that was all it took”
“So that’s when I decided I’m going to give Compuserve a try and see what it’s like. I was instantly hooked with the whole online service idea.”
“At one time the Atari 8-bit forum was the biggest money-making forum on CompuServe.”

Links:

“ANTIC Online”, ANTIC VOL. 4, NO. 9 / JANUARY 1986 - http://www.atarimagazines.com/v4n9/anticonline.html
“THE #1 SYSOP“, ANTIC VOL. 4, NO. 2 / JUNE 1985 - http://www.atarimagazines.com/v4n2/SYSOP.html

ANTIC Interview 162 - John Powers, Atari Director of Software Development Apr 20, 2016

Show notes

John Powers, Atari Director of Software Development

John Powers was co-founder of The Authorship Resource, the company that created all of the software for the CyberVision 2000 computer. From 1980 to 1982 he worked at Atari as Director of Software Development for personal computers. While he was there, he wrote three pieces of software for Atari Program Exchange: Newspaper Route Management Program, Computerized Card File, and Cosmatic Atari Development Package. He was later VP of Research and Development at educational software publisher The Learning Company.

This interview took place on February 2, 2016.

Teaser quotes:

"Because of the Warner connection, coming from the movie business, I think they were under the impression that with a lot of money, we just hire a lot pf people, we can make this work. And it never quite happened."

"My son had a newspaper route. So I said 'You know, there's a lot better way we can do this. I think we can use the Atari 800 to simplify some of this.'"

ANTIC Interview 161 - Edward Lehmann, Recipe Search 'N Save Apr 18, 2016

Show notes

Edward Lehmann, Recipe Search 'N Save

Edward Lehmann published one Atari program through Atari Program Exchange: Recipe Search 'N Save, which first appeared in the summer 1982 APX catalog. It won third prize in the Personal Finance & Record Keeping category in that catalog.

It was APX catalog number 20114, available on diskette, required 32K, and cot $22.95

This interview took place on February 2, 2016.

Teaser quote:

"The thing is, it didn't work all the time, that's what bugged me. I was selling a defective product."

ANTIC Interview 160 - Chuck Mullally, Mastermatch Apr 16, 2016

Show notes

Chuck Mullally, Mastermatch

Chuck Mullally published one game through Atari Program Exchange: Mastermatch, game similar to the Mastermind board game. Mastermatch was one of the last APX programs to be released: it was first available in the Winter 1983-1984 APX catalog — the final APX catalog. Chuck told me that the game won a $1000 prize from APX, but the catalog — a sparse 8 pages and much smaller than the previous APX catalogs — doesn’t even mention that.

This interview took place on January 31, 2016.

LINKS

Chuck’s old web page about Mastermatch

Mastermatch in the Winter 1983-1984 APX catalog: https://archive.org/details/APXCatalogWinter1983

Download Mastermatch from AtariArchives.org: http://www.atariarchives.org/APX/showinfo.php?cat=20259

ANTIC Interview 159 - Bryon Wilcox, Wilcox Company Apr 14, 2016

Show notes

Bryon Wilcox, Wilcox Company

On December 12, 2015, I bought an unusual Atari computer on ebay: it appeared to be a typical 800XL, but where the Atari name would have been, there was a sticker that said "GRAPHICS 1 - The Wilcox Company." Another sticker on the bottom of the computer indicated that the company was based in Washougal, Washington.

When I received the computer, I found that it included a hand-made cartridge that contains a message display program. You can enter a few lines of text, plus the time and date, which are then displayed in large letters on the screen.

I wanted to know more about this computer and the company that created it, so I hunted down Bryon Wilcox. This interview took place on January 27, 2016.

Pictures of the computer and binary dump of the cart: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/248826-dump-of-wilcox-message-display-cart/

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