ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

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 What we've been up to 40 Great Flight Simulator Adventures - https://www.flightsimbooks.com/40gfsa/ Atari PILOT Source Code Nir Dary's "Modern Atari 8bit Computer" channel on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmzjD_biYJ5hQf-MoK9Ztcw Atari Macro Assembler with Program Text Editor - http://mixinc.net/atari/amac.htm Atariteca - Giann Velasquez M - "Top seven upgrades for Atari computers" - http://atariteca.blogspot.pe/2016/10/siete-mejores-upgrades-para.html Randy's presentation on modern upgrades at VCFMW 11 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNTiEZl30Fg Ultimate Cart runs by Santosp (Panagiotis Santos) VideoGames Hardware Handbook Volume 2 Revised Edition, 1977 to 2001, The Game Machine Collector's Manual, From the Creators of Retro Gamer News Retrochallenge 2016/10 - http://retrochallenge.net/ Atari headphones article - http://thegadgetflow.com/portfolio/gameon-earphones-atari-roam/ Atari headphones at indiegogo - https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gameon-sure-fit-earphones-studio-thumping-bass-headphones--3#/ Art of Atari hardcover by Tim Lapetino - http://www.amazon.com/dp/1524101036/?tag=ataripodcast-20 Atari Shows "Silly Venture" (http://www.sillyventure.eu/en/ ) November 11-13 (Friday-Sunday) in Gdansk, Poland Feb. 18, 2017 - "Atari Invasion", Marsveen, Holland - http://atari-invasion.nl/ VCF East - March 31 through April 2, 2017 - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/ VCF Zurich, November 19 and 20, 2016 - http://www.vcfe.ch/ ABBUC 2016 hardware contest - http://www.abbuc.de/atari/hardware-ressort/80-hardware/hardwarewettbewerbe/1810-hardwarewettbewerb-2016 ABBUC 2016 software contest - http://www.abbuc.de/atari/software-ressort/81-software/softwarewettbewerbe/1795-software-wettbewerb-2016 Atari SIO plug at thingiverse - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1831769 Atari 8-bit Vs. Arcade - Part 9 - Kieren Hawken - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNDdIlYzVOo New at Archive.org https://archive.org/details/ServiceManualForTheAtari1050DiskDrive https://archive.org/details/AtariFlightSimulatorII https://archive.org/details/APXMankala VCF 1-4 audio - https://archive.org/details/vintagecomputerfederation?sort=-publicdate Also at http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/festival-audiovideo-archive/ Bill's Modern Segment LaResistance website - http://laresistance.pigwa.net/ Crownland (2007, PAL, 128K (e.g., 130XE), final version) Crownland preview (2006, PAL, 64K, WIP; only one level) Crownland review from RGCD Issue #04, December 2007 "Racing the Beam" by MIT Press - https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/racing-beam "Parallax Scrolling" article at Giant Bomb - http://www.giantbomb.com/parallax-scrolling/3015-2915/ "Parallax Scrolling" article at Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax_scrolling "Jump! for the Atari 8-bit family" @ YouTube (Highretrogamelord) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGSTGTks6JI "Shadow of the Beast for 8-bit Atari" @ YouTube (CmdrJJA) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzWEpMl_kro "Amiga Longplay Shadow Of The Beast" @ YouTube (World of Longplays) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiAUZe_kL_Y "Flimbo's Quest Longplay (C64) [50FPS]" @ YouTube (Al82: Retrogaming Longplays & Reviews) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiCxXMquPKs "Parallax Demo" into at Atari 8-bit Forever - http://gury.atari8.info/demos/896.php "Revealing the secrets: A real 2 layer scroll on C64." - http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2922 "Atari Longplay - Crownland" @ YouTube (basicgamelover) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRuhcpSvXdk Feedback Living Computers: Museum + Labs - http://www.livingcomputers.org/

Rodnay Zaks, Founder of Sybex Books Rodnay Zaks was the founder of computer book publisher Sybex Books, and is author of many classic computer programming books, including 6502 Applications (1979), Programming the 6502, Advanced 6502 Programming, and 6502 Games. He also wrote or co-wrote Programming the Z80, Programming the 6809, Your First Apple II Program, Programming the Apple II in Assembly Language, and other books. This interview took place on October 14, 2016. Rodnay on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodnay_Zaks Teaser quotes: "The first 5,000 books sold out, mail order, within a few days. So it was clear that there was more interest than we anticipated." "She said, 'There is a computer in this machine?' I said 'Yes.' And she went out screaming and never returned."

Thom Graziano, CompuClub Thom Graziano was founder of CompuClub, an Atari mail-order company and retail store based in Massachusetts. The company began in 1983 and closed in 1986. CompuClub ran full-page advertisements in the Atari magazines with the headline "The Greatest Atari of All Time." For a $5 annual membership, you could become a CompuClub member, which got you a subscription to their newsletter and access to their catalog of Atari software at "at least 25% below retail." The company only sold programs for the Atari computers — first, the 8-bits and later, the ST line. This interview took place on October 13, 2016. Teaser quote: "The Department of Defense was sending Atari software to schools all over the world ... I tried to be very up-front and very honest with them." CompuClub newsletters: http://www.digitpress.com/library/newsletters/compuclub/ CompuClub ad CompuClub catalogs

Kris Meier, CompuTalk BBS sysop Kris Meier was sysop of CompuTalk BBS, a popular six-line BBS based in Texas that ran off off six Atari 800 computers. In this interview, I read from the article "CompuTalk: Texas-Sized BBS" by Gregg Pearlman, which ran in the August 1987 issue of Antic magazine. This interview took place on October 6, 2016. In it, we discuss Tom Hudson, whom I previously interviewed. "What? An Atari computer did this? Yeah. An Atari computer did this." CompuTalk: Texas-Sized BBS CompuTalk gets Antic magazine award: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v7n1/awards.html CompuTalk mention in The North Texan, fall 1988: http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc119047/m1/5/ CompuTalk article in Longview News-Journal, July 7, 1985: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/209903449/ Tom Hudson on CompuTalk: http://analog.klanky.com/funstuff.htm Antic interview with Tom Hudson

Brian Lee, Synapse and Broderbund Brian Lee started at clothing retailer The Gap, where he used Atari computers for expense control and store operations. He was Vice President of Product Development at Synapse Software from 1982 through 1985, where he managed the Syn line of business software, and programmed SynTrend. Next he was Director of Acquisition at Br0derbund from 1984 to 1985. This interview took place on September 30, 2016. In it, we discuss Mike Silva, whom I previously interviewed. "So he sat nervously with $30,000 in stacked, bound $100 bills in his jacket pockets, for the entire flight over from Japan." Brian's web site: http://www.brianleeresume.com Filling the GAP article in Antic magazine: http://www.atarimagazines.com/v2n3/fillingthegap.html Mike Silva interview: http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-170-mike-silva-syncalc Inverse ATASCII podcast on SynTrend: https://inverseatascii.info/2016/10/16/s3e02-synapse-syntrend-synstat-syngraph-supplement/

Harry McCracken, Technology Journalist Harry McCracken is a technology journalist — he's technology editor at Fast Company magazine. He cut his teeth on the TRS-80 and Atari 400 computers, including writing for Creative Computing magazine, and creating a game that he wanted to publish with Atari Program Exchange, but didn't finish. This interview took place on September 27, 2016. Harry on Twitter: https://twitter.com/harrymccracken "...fact about the Atari 400 was that it had maybe the worst keyboard in the history of computing. ... Oddly enough I don't remember having trouble with the keyboard, maybe because when you're programming, it is, generally speaking, not about the speed at which you type."

Bruce Campbell, APX Character Fun Bruce Campbell is the author of Character Fun, an educational game which was published by Atari Program Exchange. It appeared in the winter 1983 APX catalog — the final APX catalog. This interview took place on September 22, 2016. Shortly after we did this interview, Bruce sent me scans of the source code printout for Character Fun, it's now online at archive.org. Character Fun source code: https://archive.org/details/AtariCharacterFunSourceCode Character Fun the the winter 1983 APX catalog Character Fun at AtariMania

Ed Stewart and Ray Lyons, APX Letterman Ed Stewart and Ray Lyons co-wrote Letterman, an educational word game that was first available in the winter 1982-1983 Atari Program Exchange catalog. Ed also wrote two articles for Antic magazine: "Hokey Pokey Interrupts" - on using POKEY timers in assembly language - and "Talk Is Cheap", a 1-bit audio digitizer. Ed also had two articles in Compute!'s Second Book of Atari: Memory Test and Back Up Your Machine Language Programs With BASIC. This interview took place on September 15, 2016. The first voice you'll hear is Ed's. "They played that thing for days. They would love to try and stump each other by typing in their own word, primarily." After the interview, Ray emailed me this update: "There's one fact I wished I had included--and I'll tell you just in case you find it useful: This would have probably been early in the 2nd year of the sale of Letterman via the APX. Atari contacted us and asked us to sign some legal documents giving them permission to port Letterman to a ROM for one of their game platforms. My recall is that it was for the 2600. But I'm wondering if they were announcing a new model. Or maybe it was an updated 2600 with a keyboard added? Sorry for this lapse. Anyway, they said they needed educational software to demo this on the new device at a trade show in New York City that year. The Toy Fair I think it was. We never did hear back from Atari about whether they actually carried through or not. If I run across any paperwork about this, I'll send it to you." Letterman in the winter 1982-1983 APX catalog Letterman at AtariMania Antic magazine articles by Ed Stewart Compute!'s Second Book of Atari: http://www.atariarchives.org/c2ba/ Blog Post by Ray Lyons: https://libperformance.com/2009/03/05/technology-20/

Russ Walter, Secret Guide to Computers Russ Walter is the author of Secret Guide to Computers & Tricky Living, a book that he has been publishing and updating since 1972. It is currently in its 32nd edition; he's working on the 33rd now. The book has evolved with technology and time — the current versions cover modern machines like Windows, Android, and iOS. The early editions covered then-modern machines like the Atari 800, TRS-80, Commodore 64, and Apple //. In addition to the book, Russ provides a free technical support phone number, which he invites people to call at any time, day or night. (My copy of the book, from 1987, says right on the cover: "Call 24 hours: he's usually in and sleeps only lightly.") Though the phone number has changed, some 30 years later, that is still a feature that he offers. This interview took place on September 15, 2016. "The craziest call that I got was a girl, sounded like she was 7th or 8th grade or something ... wanted to know how to attract her boyfriend to her." Secret Guide web site: http://SecretFun.com

In this episode of Antic the Atari 8-bit podcast, we visit vintage computer festivals and upgrade our systems. We fail to spend thousands of dollars on rare new hardware. 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 What we've been up to Paul Westphal at Eight Bit Fix - http://www.eightbitfix.com VCFMW 11- http://vcfmw.org Suburban Chicago Atarians (SCAT) - http://www.scatarians.org/ Randy's Presentation at VCFMW11 on Modern Upgrades for Vintage Computers Edladdin controllers - http://www.edladdin.com/ TransKey II for XEGS - http://ataribits.weebly.com/transkey-ii.html Ultimate Cart runs by Santosp (Panagiotis Santos) Ultimate Cart run by MacRorie Atlanta Maker Faire. Oct 1 & 2 - http://atlanta.makerfaire.com/ Dial-A-Grue - https://dial-a-grue.com VCF West XI -- Paul Laughton — Mainframes to micros and beyond Harry Stewart stuff: Atari WSFN - An Introduction - draft Atari WSFN Manual Draft Atari Diagnostic Cartridge Evaluation Memo FORTH Assembler For 6502 Microprocessor Fig-FORTH Glossary Atari Calculator Cartridge Specification Atari BASIC BNF - Backus–Naur Form Atari BASIC Known Problems Memo Atari DOS Manual Outline and Draft Overview Of Atari DOS Version 2.4+ Atari MEDIT draft manual Atari Music Composer draft manual Atari Star Raiders draft manual Atari Assembler Editor draft manual Colleen Calculator - Atari 8-bit - source code Colleen Floating Point Routines Atari 800 iTalk II voice synthesis Demonstration Yokoonomatopea - Benjamin Biolay Atari 800/iTalk II unboxing - https://youtu.be/XY6gM5QAOtk News Atari 1090 XL Expansion System Prototype WITH COVER for 800XL 600XL for sale on eBay - http://www.ebay.com/itm/291849042910 Atari 1400XL Rare Vintage Computer on eBay - http://www.ebay.com/itm/322227321151 Silicon Valley History - http://www.SiliconValleyHistory.com OSS BASIC XE, Mac/65 and Integer BASIC source code released into the public domain OSS-D-Day part 1-BASIC XE V4.2-cart&source now in PD OSS-D-Day part 2-MAC/65 >1.02-cart&source now in PD OSS-D-Day part 3-Integer Basic & source code now in PD Atari Blast! Game released - for 8-bits and 5200 Video Download Excel Magazine Issue #2 - Robert Stuart - http://www.excel-retro-mag.co.uk ABBUC Software competition 2016 AtariAge ABBUC Full list of submitted games at AtariOnline.pl (Google translated) Retrochallenge 2016/10 Atari800MacX is not compatible with SIerra — sound doesn't work Altirra 2.8 Wine port for macOS Sierra ComputeHer (Michelle Sternberger, half of 8-bit Weapon) released a new Chiptune album called "BLIPTASTIC!" - https://computeher.bandcamp.com/album/bliptastic Master List Of Missing / Undumped Software Jumpman Reverse Engineering Notes - http://www.playermissile.com/jumpman/ Level Editor in Omnivore http://playermissile.com/omnivore Jumpman Level Design contest Video demoing how to use the level editor - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_KhNS8nk70 Retro Asylum Podcast New videos put up by Nir Dary: 1050 upgraded with Mega Speedy Backing up carts onto disk - https://youtu.be/Ham1-4lKBJ4 Ultimate Cart - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUjxAX0sHLI Vintage is the new Old with Paulo Garcia - http://vintageisthenewold.com New at Archive.org Salesperson's Guide Portland Atari Club Computer News February 1990 https://archive.org/details/AtariHomeComputersCatalog Atari In-Store Demonstration Cartridge Instruction Guide BBS Express K-DOS Cartridge for Atari 8-bit Computers MPP Smart Terminal source code MPP Microfiler - Atari - Source Code MPP Microfiler - Commodore 64 - Source Code 21 new issues of Twin City Atari Interest Group newsletter Atari Character Fun Source Code Text Wizard manual Diggerbonk manual APX Space Chase manual The Write File manual AtariWriter Plus Full-Size Manual VCF — Paul Laughton — Mainframes To Micros And Beyond Atari and the Business of Video Games: Crash Course Games #4 - https://archive.org/details/youtube-r8gHnuv7U_o The Video Game Crash of 1983: Crash Course Games #6 - https://archive.org/details/youtube-x4F_sZiAl7s Games Crash Course Videos https://archive.org/details/Page6-Issue11982 Atari 130XE Schematics Of the Month Book- A.N.A.L.O.G. An Atari 8-bit Extra Websiste- Ken's Classics, not been updated in awhile, but some interesting utilities for programmers - http://atari.kensclassics.org/a8programming.html Feedback Game Grumps - https://www.youtube.com/user/GameGrumps End of Show Music Blog entry Better Blues - MIDI Computer Blues V3