ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Darren Schebek, Envision character set editor Darren Schebek wrote Envision, a character set editor for the Atari 8-bit computers. It was published in Antic magazine’s software catalog in 1986. Envision cost $19.95: “Create giant, multi-screen, 8-way scrolling pictures. Build effortless animations (up to 128 frames at 10 speeds). ENVISION has over 50 commands giving you total control over the Atari’s 6 incredible text modes. On the 130XE, Envision supports 16 simultaneous fonts.” After we conducted this interview, Darren sent me the Envision source code, which is now available at the Internet Archive. Darren later wrote two more games for the Atari: Death By Solitaire and Yahtzee. He worked for Canadian software publisher Distinctive Software, where he wrote the Commodore 64 port of Road Raider (porting it from the Atari ST version), and later worked at Mindspan Technologies where he created the Commodore 64 version of Mondu's Fight Palace. This interview took place on January 30, 2016. Teaser quote: “My dad would come back from work, and he’d visit computer shops and stuff. He’d bring home flyers for different computers. He brought home an Apple // flyer one day, and one day he brought home this Atari 800 flyer. And I’m looking at these two flyers, and I’m comparing these things, like, ‘I don’t get it. There’s no decision to be made here.’” Links Envision source code: https://archive.org/details/AtariEnvisionSourceCode Darren’s web site: http://www.user.dccnet.com/dschebek/envision.htm Darren on AtariAge http://atariage.com/forums/user/37813-darren-schebek/

Jerome Domurat, artist and interface designer Jerome Domurat worked at Atari from November 1981 through July 1986 as an artist and interface designer. He started creating art for the home game systems, including E.T., Krull, and Raiders of the Lost Ark for the Atari 2600; and Jungle Hunt, Pengo, and Baseball for the 5200. He made the transition when Jack Tramiel bought the company: he worked on user interface design for the Atari ST. He also helped design the NEOchrome paint program, and adapted the graphics and animation for the ST version of Star Raiders. Picture of Jerome with Jim Eisenstein and Dave Staugas, March 1985 - http://i.imgur.com/hBIja3X.jpg This interview took place on February 1, 2016. Teaser quote: "User testing with people — like I would just get random people to sit down and go through the system and have them think aloud. I would ask them what they thought this symbol meant or that symbol meant. I mean, you show people a trash can [icon] now and they immediately know that that's 'delete'. But at that point, they thought, 'Oh, it's a can for storing things for later.'"

Alan Henricks, Controller Alan Henricks was Controller at Atari during the Warner Communications era. He was there from 1978 through 1983. This interview took place on November 17, 2015. Teaser quotes: "Had the next generation of technology - the personal computer - succeeded, Atari would be where Apple is today." "The first thing he said to me, looking me in the eyes ... he said, 'I speak to you on fear of my life.' My response was, 'I so don't want to be here.'"

On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: we find a lot of new hardware gadgets for our Atari 8-bit machines, and learn all about Atari-branded printers. 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 Cauzin Softstrip - https://archive.org/details/CauzinSoftstrip TRS-80 Trash Talk - http://www.trs80trashtalk.com MULTI-DASH - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ1qPURr6hU More network games - http://a8.fandal.cz/search.php?search=multilink&butt_details_x=x GameLink II and MultiLink interfaces - http://www.mathyvannisselroy.nl/special%20stuff.htm#multi Tricky Tutorial #5: Player Missile Graphics - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-tricky-tutorial-no--5-player-missile-graphics_28270.html Steve DeFrisco - Antic Interview 123 - http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-123-steve-defrisco-wing-war-hero , http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-wing-war_5777.html breakout PCB - https://www.bitsofthepast.com/?p=833 Interview Discussion Paul Laughton interview transcribed by Kevin Chase - http://computingpioneers.com/index.php/Paul_Laughton Bob Polin interview transcribed by Kevin Chase - http://computingpioneers.com/index.php/Bob_Polin News Atari XEGS Cart-by-Cart Podcast, Episode 1 - http://xegs8bit.com/ ANTIC mention from the latest episode (25) of the Intellivisionaries Podcast - http://intellivisionaries.com/episode-25-zaxxon-space-raid/ Atari 800 XL in your pocket - Nir Dary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKcA6qJGCPw&feature=youtu.be Aric Wilmunder has scanned orig. design docs for The Eidolon, Koronis Rift, Maniac Mansion, Mutiny on Monkey Island - http://wilmunder.com/Arics_World/Games.html SIO2Arduino - Salvador Limones - https://goo.gl/photos/NRHxjX9CQhwjxcUD7 Atari Map Maker - http://atariteca.blogspot.com/2016/02/publican-editor-de-mapas-atari-mapmaker.html 2600-daptor - http://www.2600-daptor.com SIO2PC-USB by Lotharek - http://www.lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=98 and http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sio2PC-USB-for-ATARI-8bit-XL-XE-/172117279342 AtariAge High-Score Club Season 13 update - http://atariage.com/forums/forum/60-8-bit-high-score-club/ Nolan Bushnell in the news - http://www.fastcompany.com/3057518/sxsw/growing-up-bushnell-the-first-family-of-fun And http://www.ibtimes.com/atari-founder-nolan-bushnell-thinks-vr-gaming-will-bring-arcades-back-2336662 XE-LENT Arcade Conversions for the Atari by Kieren Hawkin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsmEwyU1afA Pocket POKEY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7g9ooXsqsc , http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pocket-Pokey-Atari-Pokey-Custom-Chiptune-Midi-Synth-Unit-1-Circuit-Bent-/252319605420 Atari Customized Keychain - http://www.thingiverse.com/make:200934/ - Made by Alexandervonschlinke Upcoming Shows: VCF Southeast 4.0 - April 2 & 3 2016, Roswell, GA - http://vcfed.org/wp/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-southeast-4-0/ VCF East - April 15-17, 2016, InfoAge Science Center, Wall, NJ - http://www.vintagecomputerfederation.org/festivals/vintage-computer-festival-east/ Outline Demoparty - www.outlinedemoparty.nl , FB: https://www.facebook.com/Outline-220083609308/ KansasFest - July 19-24, 2016, Kansas City, MO - 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 - https://www.facebook.com/events/1069851796370777/ VCF West - August 6-7, Mountain View, CA - http://www.vintagecomputerfederation.org/uncategorized/vcf-west-is-back/ Chicago CoCoFest - April 23-24 - http://www.glensideccc.com/cocofest/ VCF midwest — Sep 10-11, Elk Grove Village, IL - http://vcfmw.org/ PRGE Oct 21-23 http://www.retrogamingexpo.com Rapidus 8bit ATARI Turbo CARD ! pre-orders - http://lotharek.pl/product.php?pid=107 new 4MB RAM board - Simius on AtariAge - http://atariage.com/forums/topic/249405-new-4mb-ram-expansion/page-1 SpartaDOS X SuperCart - https://www.bitsofthepast.com/?product=super-spartados-cartridge Edladdin's Supreme 78 controllers - http://edladdin.com/ New at Archive.org https://archive.org/details/atarihistorical the edileon and koronis rift - https://archive.org/details/ComputerGameDesignDOcuments

Richard Leinecker, Your Atari Comes Alive Richard Leinecker is author of the book Your Atari Comes Alive, which was published by Alpha Systems. The book provides instructions for building hardware projects that work with the Atari 8-bit computers, such as event detectors, motion sensors, a light pen, Christmas lights, and networking computers together. The book has been scanned as is available at the Internet Archive. He wrote a followup book called Your Atari ST Comes Alive. He also wrote for Compute!, A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing and ST-Log magazines. This interview took place November 8, 2015. Teaser Quotes "That was my first attempt at any writing of any kind. I didn't necessarily really know a whole lot. ... It was a lot of stumbling around trying to figure out what to do." Links Rick's web site - http://www.rickleinecker.com Your Atari Comes Alive - https://archive.org/details/Your_Atari_Comes_Alive Your Atari 8-Bit Comes Alive - https://archive.org/details/Your_Atari_8_Bit_Comes_Alive Richard's articles in Compute! Magazine - http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/index/index.php?author=Richard+C.+Leinecker

Art Prag: Mapware, Starware, and Astrology Art Prag, along with Harry Koons, published three programs with Atari Program Exchange: Mapware, Starware, and Astrology. Harry Koons died in 2005. Mapware first appeared in the fall 1981 APX catalog, where it won second place in the personal interest and development category. “With the MAPWARE programs you can create a wide variety of high-resolution world maps. MAPWARE already contains 9,000 pairs of geographic coordinates for locating main land masses and islands on Earth. These maps are useful for such applications as games and simulations, tracking satellites, pointing amateur radio antennas, and teaching geography and cartography.” The program came on two disks and cost $20.95. Starware first appeared in the spring 1982 APX catalog, on disk for $17.95. “With STARWARE you can explore the heavens by way of your Atari home computer. STARWARE displays the stars on your TV screen ... Its 900 star coordinates accurately locate all the constellations in both hemispheres.” Astrology first appeared in the summer 1982 catalog, a program for creating astrological charts. “With ASTROLOGY, the mysteries of the zodiac, planetary positioning, natal charts, and rising signs will unfold in your very own living room.” It cost $22.95. This interview took place on January 30, 2016.

Jeff Johannigman Jeff Johannigman published his first two computer programs through Atari Program Exchange: Rabbotz and Snark Hunt. He went on to program the Atari ports of Mask of the Sun and Serpent's Star for Br0derbund, then worked on Relax for Synapse, GI Joe for EPYX, copy protection for Electronic Arts, and was producer of Master of Orion, published by MicroProse. Jeff is also one of the co-founders of the Game Developers Conference. This interview took place on January 30, 2016. Teaser quotes: "So the next day, an email goes out to everybody in the company. 'No more Atari ST software, period.' So, somebody has no realization that he totally sabotaged the Electronic Arts support for Atari ST with one phone call." “[Dan Bunten] also gave me one of the best pieces of advice about game design back then. He said that what's important in making a good game is not what you put in; its what you keep out." Links: AtariMania's list of Jeff's Atari games - http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_atari-400-800-xl-xe-johannigman-jeff_team_659_8_G.html

Leigh Zeitz, Epson Connection book Leigh Zeitz wrote the book The Epson Connection: Atari Edition, about using your Atari 8-bit computer with Epson printers; as well as a version of the book for the Commodore 64. This interview took place on November 8, 2015. Teaser quotes: "IBM came out and said: 'Well guess what? As of next month we're not going to be creating any more IBM PCjrs.'" "'Uh, Leigh, I probably don't even need to make this phone call, but we don’t need your book.'" Links: Epson Connection at Archive.org - https://archive.org/details/The_Epson_Connection_Atari_Edition Epson Connection at AtariArchives.org - http://www.atariarchives.org/epson/ Lee's blog - http://drzreflects.com

David Johnson, Popeye David Johnson co-created the Atari 400/800/5200 version of Popeye, which was released by Parker Brothers. This interview took place on November 9, 2015. Teaser quote "That was my first work experience. I really enjoyed it. We were doing like 60, 70 hours a week."

Steve Baker: Defender, Stargate Steve Baker is well-known in the Atari world as having done the 400/800 and 5200 conversions of Defender. He also did ports of Stargate for the 5200 and the 400/800. Additionally, he developed Miniature Golf and Microgammon SB for the 400/800 and 5200, and Reversi and Gomuku for the 400/800. He worked for Apple from 1980 to 1982, then for Atari from 82 to 84. Steve also wrote games for the Apple II, the Atari 2600, the Intellivision, and the Commodore 64. This interview took place on November 1, 2015. Links: Interview with 2600 Connection - http://www.2600connection.com/interviews/steve_baker/interview_steve_baker.html Defender video at YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiB_DttmN3Y Defender at AtariMania - http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-defender_1561.html Stargate for the 400/800 Video (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI1iILhB9Dg