ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Donald Dixon, Robotics R&D at Atari Research Donald Dixon worked at Atari Research from 1983 through 1984, under Dr, Alan Kay. There, he worked in robotics research and development, working on a robotic wheelchair. After Atari, Donald worked at Axlon, Nolan Bushnell's toys and consumer robotics company; and Worlds of Wonder, the company most famous for the animatronic bear toy, Teddy Ruxpin. This interview took place on July 27, 2021. Don's web site ANTIC Interview 11 - David Small ANTIC 2013 Chris Crawford interview ANTIC Interview 420 - Brenda Laurel, Atari Research ANTIC Interview 421 - Jim Leiterman, Atari Research Group Video version of this interview

ANTIC Episode 80 - Atari Dunking Booth In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… we discuss the exciting progress being made around the 576NUC+ project, all of the great new Atari projects from the mind of Jason Moore, Kay's awesome series of recent interviews, and we dunk your minds in the deep booth that is 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 Next Without For Intro Atari Ad Slicks, Line Art, Radio Scripts 1983-07-13 - https://archive.org/details/Atari_Ad_Slicks_Line_Art_Radio_Scripts_1983-07-13 What We've Been Up To "How I accidentally archived hundreds of Apple II source code floppies" by Kay at KFest 2021 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFa75CqJw_4 https://archive.org/details/TheMagicRoomDocuments - (https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1416420208172957699?s=20) MyTek's 576NUC+ - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/myteks-576nuc-atari-computer/products/myteks-576nuc-and-internal-fujinet News Atari 2" circle stickers available at the museum and VCF East and VCF West - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-Cl8ZPsxcT3d05krNtuam684_o6QdYAk?usp=sharing, http://www.vcfed.org @atariorbit: wrote up a little bit about the history (so far) of the 576 NUC - https://www.atariorbit.org/2021/07/02/576-nuc-history/ Atari Projects by Jason Moore - http://atariprojects.org/ Allegro is a Polish online e-commerce platform - has lots of Atari upgrades available for purchase - https://allegro.pl/ While ABBUC site being slowly put back together, alternate forum sites are being used: temporary alternative forum at https://www.atari-portal.de/ https://www.forum64.de/index.php?board/161-atari-8bit/ U1MB, Incognito, SIDE2, SIDE3, 1088XEL/XLD Firmware 4.0 Released by FlashJazzCat - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/321394-u1mb-incognito-side2-side3-1088xelxld-firmware-40-released/ SNACK - SNES Atari Controler Kit - Irgwender - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/323171-snack-snes-atari-controler-kit/ https://hackaday.com/2021/07/09/zooming-through-the-mandelbrot-set-on-an-atari/ Tricky Tutorials archive - itaych - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/22905-tricky-tutorials/?do=findComment&comment=4866295 Shows Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people): VCF West August 7 & 8, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival West , The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA VCFSE Aug 20-22 https://gameatl.com/vintage-computing-festival-southeast-8-0-at-sfge/ or http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/ , Atlanta, GA VCF Midwest Sep 11-12 http://vcfmw.org/announce , Elmhurst, IL (Chicago) Fujiama Sep. 12-19, Lengenfeld, Germany, http://fujiama.eu/ VCF East October 8, 9, 10, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival East , Wall, NJ 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 VT100 on the Atari 800/XEP80 - Cathryn Mataga - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8laMyHJbJzw Atari XL -=512KB Rambo - Saberman - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbEGeOR1TGM External 512KB memory expansion (Rambo) for Atari 800XL ISS Tracker on the Atari 800 XL - Retro Computer Paraguay - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-hvt0gLkDY Let's follow the trajectory of the International Space Station from our 8-bit Atari computer equipped with FujiNet. Bill Kendricks's ISS Tracker: http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/fujin... Atari 800XL: Weird Video Issue and Botched Soldering - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8WGrTZXh20 New at Archive.org Kay: Cable Graphic Sciences Info-gen manual - https://archive.org/details/Cable_Graphic_Sciences_Info-gen_manual Ensign Communication Inc Information Display System - Ensign 5000 - https://archive.org/details/Ensign_Communication_Inc_Information_Display_System_-_Ensign_5000 INFOsoft 7000 Quick Start Guide - https://archive.org/details/INFOsoft_7000_Quick_Start_Guide Atari Research Memos on the Subject of Interactive Fantasy - https://archive.org/details/brenda_laurel_atari_memos Unofficial Atari Computer Users Groups 1982-12-01 - https://archive.org/details/Unofficial_Atari_Computer_Users_Groups_1982-12-01 Official Atari Computer Users Groups 1982-12-01 - https://archive.org/details/Official_Atari_Computer_Users_Groups_1982-12-01 texts How To Start an Atari Computer Users Group draft 1: https://archive.org/details/How_To_Start_an_Atari_Computer_Users_Group_draft_1 Atari Computer Users' Group Registration Form and Cover Letter - https://archive.org/details/Atari_Computer_Users_Group_Registration_Form_and_Cover_Letter Atari Ad Slicks, Line Art, Radio Scripts 1983-07-13 - https://archive.org/details/Atari_Ad_Slicks_Line_Art_Radio_Scripts_1983-07-13 Bay Area Atari Users Group newsletters - https://archive.org/search.php?query=Bay+Area+Atari+Users+Group Ornjuce: Atari Computer Association Of Orange County Newsletter Vol 9 No 1 Qtr 11988 - https://archive.org/details/ornjuce-atari-computer-assocation-of-orange-county-newsletter-vol-9-no-1-qtr-11988 Allan: Dal-Ace - Dallas Atari Computer Enthusiasts newsletters - https://archive.org/details/@allan52?query=dal-ace Computer Shopper Atari articles - https://archive.org/details/@allan52?query=computer+shopper New at Github Invenies Verba ("Find the Words") by Bill Kendrick - https://github.com/billkendrick/iverba-2 Sebastian Igielski - ANTY *AJEK COPY - https://github.com/seban-slt/antyajek An Atari BASIC program to render the Sierpinski Triangle on Atari 8-bit computers - https://github.com/as6o/atari8bit_sierpinski KRET - The Mole - https://github.com/GSoftwareDevelopment/Mole

Jim Leiterman, Atari Research Group Jim Leiterman worked at Atari from April 1982 through March 1984 in the research group, under Alan Kay. His various projects included software for Project Puffer, an exercise bike peripheral for the Atari 800; an 8-player Hammurabi game; and an unreleased port of the game Warlords. He created a symbolic disassembler, which he used to port the game Kangaroo from Atari 5200 to the Atari 800. That version of Kangaroo was released by Atari Program Exchange, in the fall 1983 catalog. Prior to Atari, Jim was a programmer at Horizon Simulations, where he worked on Shadow Hawk One, "a futuristic game of spacefaring piracy." This interview took place on July 12, 2021. Be sure to check out Jim's web site where he has posted some photos of the hardware and software that we discussed. This interview at YouTube Jim's Atari page Jim's games at AtariMania "Atari nearly introduced the world to fitness gaming 30 years ago" in Washington Post AtariProtos on Tumbleweeds Horizons Simulations article in Softline Magazine Issue 1.4 Atari concept art sketchbook

Brenda Laurel, Atari Research Dr. Brenda Laurel worked at Atari from 1980 through 1984. She began as software specialist for educational applications then soon became manager of software strategy for the home computer division. In mid-1982, she joined Atari Corporate Research at the Sunnyvale research laboratory, where she worked with Alan Kay. After Atari, she worked at Activision as director of software development. Later she founded Purple Moon, a software company focused on creating games for young girls; and co-founded Telepresence Research, a company focused on first-person media and virtual reality. This interview took place on July 15, 2021. Check the show notes for links to articles she wrote for Atari Connection magazine; her doctoral dissertation, "Toward the Design of a Computer-Based Interactive Fantasy System"; scans of memos on the subject of interactive fantasy that she wrote while at Atari Research; and more. Brenda's web site Brenda's dissertation — Toward the Design of a Computer-Based Interactive Fantasy System Brenda's Atari memos The Renaissance Kid article by Brenda Laurel in Atari Connection Volume 1 Number 1 Atari PILOT with Turtle Graphics article by Brenda Laurel in Atari Connection Volume 1 Number 4 Valley of Genius podcast episode 11: Brenda Laurel at Atari 50 Years of Text Games — 1994: The Playground Brenda Laurel on games for girls Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet This interview at YouTube

ANTIC Episode 79 - Basically MyTek and Nir In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… we discuss all the great work that MyTek is doing with Atari hardware (including the 576NUC), Nir Dary surprises all of the hosts with (late/early) Christmas (or birthday) Atari gifts, and Randy gets unmercifully teased about his overuse of the word "basically". 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 Next Without For What We've Been Up To Magic Dump! - http://atariprojects.org/2019/02/12/dump-your-atari-computer-screen-to-printer-or-disk-10-15-mins/ CircuitScribe - https://circuitscribe.com/ Monkey Wrench II - http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-monkey-wrench-ii_17608.html News MyTek's 576NUC+ and internal FujiNet!! - https://thebrewingacademy.com/collections/myteks-576nuc-atari-computer/products/myteks-576nuc-and-internal-fujinet Latest Atari Projects by Jason Moore - http://atariprojects.org/ Upgrade an Atari 400 to Composite Video with the Super Color CPU Card (1-2 hours) Read Creative Computing Magazine (30-60 mins) Read the Book "The Creative Atari" (30-60 mins) Upgrade an Atari 400 to 48K of RAM (1-2 hours) Update the Firmware of Your Ultimate 1MB Upgrade for Atari 8-Bit Computers (5-10 mins) Watch Curt Vendel's Exhibit Presentation at VCF-East (30 mins) Purchase or Download the Atari 8-Bit Programming Reference Book "Mapping the Atari" (5-10 mins) Purchase the Book "Art of Atari" (5-10 mins) - Tim Lapetino Purchase and Install a 64K RAM Upgrade for an Indus GT Floppy Drive (30-60 mins) Run the CP/M Operating System on Your Atari 8-Bit Computer using an Upgraded Indus GT Floppy Drive (30-60 mins) Vice article about Best Electronics - https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kvkx9/dont-piss-off-bradley-the-parts-seller-keeping-atari-machines-alive Randy's interview with Brad (interview #5 from 2014!) - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-5-the-atari-8-bit-podcast-brad-koda-of-best-electronics Brewing Academy stocks Lotharek items - https://twitter.com/BrewingAcademy/status/1383459449692516352?s=20 ABBUC site status - http://abbuc.de Online version of Atari emulator for web browsers: "Good Enough Atari Emulator" is the project of Mariusz "emrk" Kryński (Poland) Article - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2021/06/version-en-linea-de-emulador-atari-para.html Try it at - https://mrk.sed.pl/bevy-atari/dev/#osrom%3D%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fatarionline.pl%2Futils%2F9.%2520ROM-y%2FSystemy%2520operacyjne%2FAtari%2520OS%2520v2%252083.10.05.rom XEP80-II a new beginning - MyTek - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/322186-xep80-ii-a-new-beginning/ SUPDUP terminal emulator Code and discussion - https://github.com/PDP-10/its/pull/2034 More discussion - https://twitter.com/larsbrinkhoff/status/1404700557286203393?s=21 Shows Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people): KansasFest July 23-24 https://www.kansasfest.org ; virtual event VCF West August 7 & 8, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival West , The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA VCFSE Aug 20-22 https://gameatl.com/vintage-computing-festival-southeast-8-0-at-sfge/ or http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/ , Atlanta, GA VCF Midwest Sep 11-12 http://vcfmw.org/announce , Elmhurst, IL (Chicago) Fujiama Sep. 12-19, Lengenfeld, Germany, http://fujiama.eu/ VCF East October 8, 9, 10, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival East , Wall, NJ 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 Atari Dealer Demo by MS-DOS Friends - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psxSm9PeVgA New Games for Your Atari 8-bit (Part 20) - The New Retro Show - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWyiI5LNHSA Massive Atari Software Archive - TOSEC and the Internet Archive by The Atari Geek - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl7FfLuYGTg Original Atari 800 POKEY Chiptune by Cobra Commander for ANTIC Podcast! - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2klUVHRWtyk New at Archive.org 57 Atari Computer Enthusiasts newsletters 1982-1987 via Dale Lutz - https://archive.org/details/@savetz?query=atari+computer+enthusiasts+newsletter Allan Bushman - https://archive.org/details/@allan52?query=dal-ace Richwood Software's The Gladiator manual - https://archive.org/details/gladiator-the-richwood-software/mode/2up Bill Lange - Creative Computing Software Thorn EMI - https://archive.org/details/creative-computing-software-disk-jacket New at Github https://github.com/kenjennings/Atari-1nvader https://github.com/bhall408/atari800-touchpad-keyboard-controller https://github.com/GSoftwareDevelopment/SFX-Tracker https://github.com/pkali/feudal-economy https://github.com/dgreefhorst/fujinews Listener Feedback Bits & Bytes and the Academy on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/bitsandbytestvo End of Show Music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2klUVHRWtyk Original Atari 800 POKEY Chiptune by Cobra Commander

Bob Elfstrom, The Magic Room Interview and research by Kay Savetz. From 1982 through 1984, Atari ran summer computer camps at several locations around the United States. I covered the Atari camps extensively in a special episode in 2015. Now it's summer 2021, and we're going back to camp! That first year of the computer camps, in 1982, Atari commissioned a film about its summer camps, about the kids and teachers who were there, about the process of learning about computers, about kids challenging themselves, and about making friends at summer camp. Atari commissioned filmmaker Bob Elfstrom and his partner Lucy Hilmer to make the film. They shot the 26-minute film at the University of California, San Diego campus in 1982. It would be titled The Magic Room and was released the next year. There are many scenes in the computer lab: we see close-ups of kids concentrating, thinking about the logic of their programming projects. Their faces light up as they solve their problem. There's an adorable scene with a robotic, computer controlled turtle running across the floor, racing an actual turtle. There's kids riding horses at magic hour, and singing by the campfire, and finally an epic pillow fight, with feathers flying everywhere in the dorm hallways. The end credits were made with an Atari 800, naturally. This interview is with the filmmaker, Bob Elfstrom. (Lucy Hilmer was unavailable for an interview.) Bob has a long list of film credits to his name. He is known for his work on Johnny Cash! The Man, His World, His Music (1969), and Mysteries of the Sea (1980) -- his IMDB page lists scores of credits. It's easy to watch The Magic Room (and you should!). It's available at YouTube and Internet Archive. My interview with Bob took place on June 17 and June 25, 2021. Watch The Magic Room The Magic Room Trailer The Magic Room Production Documents ANTIC Special Episode - Atari Summer Camp ANTIC Interview 412 - Linda (Gordon) Brownstein, Atari VP Special Projects Bob's site Bob in IMDB Lucy Hilmer's site Lucy in IMDB Magic Room credits:Robert Elfstrom Productions Executive Producer: Linda S. Gordon Executive Consultant: Lauren Dunbar Produced and Directed by: Robert Elfstrom and Lucy Hilmer Edited by: Michael Chandler Associate Producer: Gloria S. Borders Music by: Sasha Matson Written by: Lucy Hilmer and Michael Chandler Production Advisor: Richard Pugh Sound: Agamemnon Andrianos Additional Sound: Nelson Stoll Production Manager: Kathleen Andrianos Special Assistant Caroline Pugh Special Thanks: Raymond E. Kassar, Robert A. Kahn, Wayne Harvey, Ted M. Kahn Head computer instructor: Richard Pugh Instructor: Karen Okagaki Computer Campers: Maria Smith, Candace Shockley, Margaret Aiken, Enrique Rios, J. J. Kreideweiss, Vincent Cook, Jim Dillon, Leendert Mulder, Rick Crosby, Brent McDonald, Barry Champagne

Rick Trow, Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow This is the second interview episode about Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow. Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow was a school assembly, sponsored by Atari, that played at hundreds of middle schools and high schools throughout the United States in 1983 and 1984. In the previous interview episode, I interviewed one of the show's presenters and the filmmaker. In this episode, my interview with Rick Trow. Rick Trow was the president of Rick Trow Productions, the company that created the Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow show -- as well as more than 40 other school assemblies and other productions over the years. Mr. Trow wrote the script for the 40-minute show, which combined two synchronized films with a live actor to teach computer basics to young people. This interview took place on June 5, 2021. ANTIC Interview 417 - Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow The Career Game Rick Trow Productions Employee Newsletters 1983 "Taking the Show on the Road" in Personal Computing September 1983 Atari Brings Multimedia Computer Show To Schools in AtariAge v2n1

ANTIC Episode 78 - The Extremely Elderly Computer Geeks Club In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… We discuss lots of new things you can do with your FujiNet, the differences in FujiNet versions, the Old Computer Geeks Club, and other recent 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 Next Without For What We've Been Up To Interesting conversation with Mike Albaugh - https://twitter.com/KaySavetz/status/1388206215356829696?s=20 2013 Mike Albaugh interview: https://archive.org/details/MikeAlbaughInterview Brian Manning - Academy on Computers tapes and newsletters https://archive.org/details/@savetz?query=academy+on+computers TIARA - The Internet Archive Research Assistant - https://github.com/savetz/tiara News FujiNet - Astronomy Pic of the Day (APOD) - http://www.newbreedsoftware.com/fujinet-apod/?fbclid=IwAR3gDo6hV8Sgx4fPgcfE-5s0n26Rpe7jD_3O8V-vbAVPbFx5yq2gEzBoLYc by Bill Kendrick Latest Atari Projects - http://atariprojects.org/ Purchase and Assemble a SpartaDOS X Cartridge (15-30 mins) Explore Demoscene Demos (15-30 mins) Explore ANALOG Computing Magazine (30-60 mins) Purchase a 3D Printed Case for your SIO2PC (10-15 mins) Michael Darland died - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-394-michael-darland-microperipheral-corporation-and-sofcast and John Skruch, Atarisoft: https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-299-john-skruch-atarisoft https://www.facebook.com/john.skruch Personalized dust covers for the Atari XL series. - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/320047-personalized-dust-covers-for-the-atari-xl-series/ - nowy80 Dust covers for 1200XL users - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/318555-good-news-for-1200xl-lovers-new-dust-covers - "papa*nannysfunstuff" Kilobyte Magazine - Jason Worley - https://archive.org/details/@kilobyte_magazine Atari XE PCB Remake Pre-Order Thread - https://atariage.com/forums/topic/319881-atari-xe-remake-pre-order-thread/ Sokoban 2021 http://a8.fandal.cz/detail.php?files_id=8029 Old Computer Geeks Club (OCGC) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/atari8bitcomputers/permalink/3918610088176468/ - Monthly meeting Shows Upcoming Shows where you might see Atari computers (or Atari people): KansasFest July 23-24 https://www.kansasfest.org ; virtual event VCF West August 7 & 8, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival West , The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA VCFSE Aug 20-22 https://gameatl.com/vintage-computing-festival-southeast-8-0-at-sfge/ or http://southernfriedgameroomexpo.com/ , Atlanta, GA VCF Midwest Sep 11-12 http://vcfmw.org/announce , Elmhurst, IL (Chicago) Fujiama Sep. 12-19, Lengenfeld, Germany, http://fujiama.eu/ VCF East October 8, 9, 10, 2021: Vintage Computer Festival East , Wall, NJ 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 Spectrum, Commodore, and Atari emulators for Android - IT Guy in Action - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX9sj8OoK2Y&t=0s 3D rendering of 800, 810 drive, and Amdek monitor by EmuRetro - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCA5UshDfpY How I built my modern Atari XL computer by GeSpy Build Stuff - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fbeg5dx5CE Atari 800XL: Sophia 2 DVI video upgrade - by Mr. Lurch's Things - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQyNmJtPrBQ&t=1s Dead Atari 800XL: Fix and Extreme Restoration by FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-IEetUJB1w Atari Fujinet inside a 1030 Modem by Doug Venner - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcmxCWUO2GE New at Archive.org The "Archives of CSS(tm)" can be found at https://archive.org/details/@cs_stuttgart by DjayBee (Joachim)

ANTIC Interview 417 - Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow Interviews and research by Kay Savetz Imagine this. It's 1983 or 1984. You're drudging through yet another day of middle school or high school. But today, there's a surprise, a break from the monotony. The teacher tells your class to put away their stuff and go to the gym, or the cafeteria, or the auditorium. Today, there will be an assembly. As you and your class -- and all the other classes -- get settled in the uncomfortable folding chairs, or the bleachers, or even the floor, you take in the scene: two large projection screens. Some speakers and audio equipment you haven't seen before. One of your peers is getting ready to run a spotlight. Then, this enthusiastic person -- older than you but really not by much -- explains why you're here. Today, at this assembly, you're going to learn about computers. The lights go down, the spotlight comes up on that energetic host, and you realize this is a different sort of school assembly than you've seen before. Two projectors come on, lighting those two big screens -- it's a synchronized wide-screen movie. The presenter -- that not-much-older-than-you person -- talks to the screens, interacting with the movie and talking to the audience too. It's kind of corny, but your peers seem interested so you keep watching. The show discusses the basics of computer operation, and how computers work differently than the human brain. There's a scene where the computers talk in voices like people. There's a section about robots, and a part where Suzanne Ciani shows how she makes music using computers. It touches on computer art, and the social implications of computers in the world. 40 minutes later, the show is over, and it's back to class. You learned a few things about computers, and talk about the assembly with your friends at lunch. Maybe you'll ask your parents for a computer for your birthday. This scenario played out more or less exactly that way for more than a million middle school and high school students in 1983 and 1984. The assembly was called "Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow" and it was financed by Atari. According to a 1983 article in InfoWorld: "Atari has a fleet of ... people traveling around the country giving the Atari multimedia presentation 'Expressway to Tomorrow' to a minimum of 500 people per performance at high-school assemblies." (Full disclosure, the article claimed "Atari has a fleet of 700 people" putting on the show, but I can't believe that number is accurate. More likely the number was closer to 7.) The traveling show would visit 2,000 schools in 1983, and was booked a year in advance. With the required minimum attendance of 500 students per show, that's a million kids. More than a million kids saw this assembly. that year. The September 1983 issue of Personal Computing magazine said: "Since January 1983, nine separate touring units have crisscrossed the United States, presenting the show to nearly 1,400 public and private schools — a total of 1.2 million students to date. Touring begins again this September after the summer break, and will run through December 1984." In reality, I believe the show ended by mid-1984. According to that article: "The show is a lively one, with the host on stage for the entire presentation. Several film projectors are going at once, filling two huge screens with fast-moving shots. Music is constant throughout. The host is busy either talking to the audience or interacting with characters on screen. ...The program aims to give people [a] feeling of comfort about computing. The show focuses on the many applications of computers today, from storing recipes to teaching a language, to tutoring." What survives of this show today? Not much that I know about so far. We don't have the film or the script. Audio tapes were available to help the presenters learn their lines. Informational packets were produced for teachers to hand out after the assembly. So far, I haven't been able to find anyone who has any of those things. (If you do, contact me!) What I do have is two interviews: memories of that project by one of the performers who went from school to school running the assembly, and the filmmaker. Before we get to the interviews, I want to give some background about the business of producing school assemblies. It turns out that school assemblies are a big business. Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow was one of many shows put on by Rick Trow Productions of Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. These shows were often sponsored by corporations, designed to educate kids, but also to get them excited about whatever it was they wanted to promote: taking pictures with Kodak cameras. Going skiing. Buying new music. According to an article in the Boston Globe from 1972 -- this is 11 years before the Atari show, but some of the few hard stats I could find -- Rick Trow Productions staged 7,000 assemblies in 1971, maintained 23 touring companies offering 16 different shows to schools. They put on educational assemblies that promoted products and services from companies that wanted to reach the "youth market" -- CBS Radio, Air France, Eastman Kodak, and others. Its multimedia productions also included titles such as "The Black Experience", "Environment: Challenge to Action", and "The History of Rock and Roll". At the time, according to the article, the company charged a school just $80 per assembly. But by the time of the Atari show in 1983, the company seemed to have changed its business model to offer the shows to schools for free; earning their money entirely from the companies whose products its shows promoted. The companies got access to an audience of young people who might become eager to buy their product (or to ask their parents to get it.) The schools got free access to (hopefully) an educationally worthwhile presentation that would broaden their students' horizons. A classified advertisement by Rick Trow Productions seeking presenters stated that in the early 1980s, presenters could expect to receive a salary of $100 per week during rehearsal period, and $500 per week for salary and expenses while on tour. My first interview is with Veronica Wiseman, who was one of the presenters who traveled from school to school putting on the Atari show. Her name at the time was Ronnie Anastasio. Veronica did three "tours" of Expressway to Tomorrow, from January 1983 through April 1984. (interview) Next, my interview with Dr. Chuck Sterin, the filmmaker. (interview) The interview with Veronica Wiseman took place on October 23, 2020. The interview with Chuck Sterin took place on June 5, 2020. Thanks to Chuck Sterin and Veronica Wiseman, and to Tom Bregatta, Bob Barto, and Frank Darby, who were also presenters who provided background information for this episode. If you remember seeing Computers: Expressway to Tomorrow at a school assembly, I'd love to hear your recollections. If you happen to have any of the materials, such as the script, practice tapes, or the film, please contact me. Check the show notes for links to magazine articles about the show, as well as scans of material that Veronica Wiseman saved, including Rick Trow Productions employee newsletters, a large collection of thank-you and feedback letters from many schools where she presented, and her photographs from that time. Veronica Wiseman's collection of letters from schools Rick Trow Productions Employee Newsletters 1983 Veronica's photo album New Educational Film Show Charts Future Computer Careers for Students in Atari Connection v3n1 Atari Brings Multimedia Computer Show To Schools in AtariAge v2n1 Spring CUE Conference article in Infoworld v5n4 "Taking the Show on the Road" in Personal Computing September 1983

Bob Evans, Capital Children's Museum administrator This is the fourth in our series of interviews about the Atari computers at the Capital Children's Museum. Bob Evans wore many hats at the museum: he was director of special exhibits, where he worked on the museum's exhibit on the history of human communication, which used several computers, both public-facing and behind the scenes. He was administrator of Superboots, the museum's software publishing lab -- it published the computer art program PAINT! but no other software. Bob was administrator of The Future Center, the museum's public computer lab, and administrator of the museum's summer computer camp for disadvantaged youth. This interview took place on April 22, 2021. ANTIC Interview 391 - Tracy Frey, Atari Birthday Girl ANTIC Interview 410 - Ann Lewin-Benham, Director of Capital Children's Museum ANTIC Interview 415 - Peter Hirshberg, CCM computer center director