ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Art Walsh, Dynacomp and Artworx   Art Walsh was co-founder of Dynacomp, an early software publisher that created software for many platforms, including many educational and game titles for the Atari 8-bit computer. He later founder Artworx, a software publisher that produced titles including Bridge, Cranston Manor Adventure, Gwendolyn, Hazard Run, Hotel Alien, and Strip Poker.   This interview too...

Kathleen Pitta, De Re Atari   Kathleen Marinell worked at Atari in 1981 or so -- she was Kathleen Pitta at that time. She is one of the contributors to De Re Atari, A Guide to Effective Programming, which was serialized by Byte Magazine in 1981 through 1982, and published by Atari Program Exchange in 1982. Kathleen is credited with Appendix E, which is about the GTIA chip.   This interview took pl...

Matthew Householder, Atari and EPYX   Matthew Householder worked at Atari from 1983 through 1985. There he ported Moon Patrol to the ColecoVision for AtariSoft. Later he worked on the Atari 520ST, where he wrote the line-draw/polygon graphics primitives for the ST port of the GEM operating system. Next he worked at EPYX, from 1985 through 1988, where he produced/created/designed many games includi...

Amy Chen: Touch Typing, Amoeba Debugger, De Re Atari   Amy Liu was an progammer at Atari. Her name was Amy Chen at the time. She wrote Touch Typing, which was released by Atari on cassette in 1980; an unreleased game called Aligator; and Amoeba, a debugger utility that was used internally at Atari to create assembly language games.   This interview took place on May 2, 2017. It in, we talk about P...

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast, Randy and Kevin spar over where the ANTIC corporate headquarters should be, Kevin steps out on the Atari 8 bit and makes us proud in the 10-liner BASIC contest, and Nir Dary brings us the scoop on Wopniak 2017.  Plus all the Atari news we could find this month. READY! Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com...

David Ahl and Betsy Ahl, Creative Computing Magazine   Dave Ahl was the founder and editor-in-chief of Creating Computing Magazine, which was the first personal computer magazine.  Four editors served in the first six years: Dave Ahl, Steve Gray, John Craig, and Ted Nelson. Betsy Staples (now Betsy Ahl) then took over for the rest of its run. Creative Computing was published starting in November 1...

Tom Eckmann, President of Kyan Software   Tom Eckmann was president and co-founder of Kyan Software. Kyan's flagship product was Kyan Pascal, an implementation of the Pascal programming language which was available for the Apple II, Atari 8-bits, and Commodore 64/128 computers.   This interview took place on May 19, 2017.   Teaser quote: "We sneered at Turbo Pascal because it was non-compliant, th...

Bill Bowman, CEO of Spinnaker Software   Bill Bowman was co-founder and CEO of Spinnaker Software, one of the first software companies that focused exclusively on educational software. He was at the company from its founding in 1982 through 1987. Spinnaker's software line-up included Snooper Troops, Delta Drawing, FaceMaker, Adventure Creator, In Search of the Most Amazing Thing, KinderComp, and m...

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast, Kevin wows us with his winners in the NOMAM BASIC 10-liners contest, we discuss the preparations for VCFSE, Nir Dary tells us all about disk drives, and we discuss all the Atari news that's fit to print. READY! Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevin's Book "Terrible Nerd" New Atari books scans at arc...

Rob Zdybel, Atari (Part 2) Hello, Atari fans, and welcome to another interview episode of Antic, The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast.  My name is Randy Kindig.  This interview is a bit different in that it's the second interview with someone that we've interviewed before - Mr. Rob Zdybel.  The reason for this is that Rob worked for Atari so long, and was involved in so many projects, that I felt like...

Chris Byrne, Intern at Atari Ireland   Chris Byrne was an intern at Atari Ireland in 1982, where he programmed a quality lot tracking system on the Atari 800, and on the IBM System/38.   This interview took place on March 20, 2017.

Atawi Fowever!!! In this episode of Antic the Atari 8-bit podcast: Nir Dary talks about the Atari Invasion Show, Tom Raida brings back the programming language segment to talk about Kyan Pascal, we tell you about all the Atari shows going on this year around the world, and in order to head off lawsuits we tell you about all the possible side effects of listening to Antic. READY! Recurring Links Fl...

Peter Shankman, Help A Reporter Out Peter Shankman is a well-known American entrepreneur and author. He was creator of Help A Reporter Out, and author of several business books. He got his start in technology with an Atari 2600 and an Apple ][. This interview took place on March 20, 2017. Teaser quote: "What would you change, if you could go back and talk to your 10-year-old self? I wouldn't chang...

Nadav Caine, Mathematic-Tac-Toe Nadav Caine published one program for the Atari computer: Mathematic-Tac-Toe. This educational program first appeared in the winter 1982-1983 APX catalog. This interview took place on March 17, 2017. Teaser quotes: "Look, my game's lousy. I'm embarrassed even to have a conversation about it." "All education is self-education. I don't think teachers put knowledge in...

Bob Woolley, Atari 1200XL hardware hacker Bob Woolley has been upgrading and modifying Atari 8-bit computers — primarily the 1200XL — since it was released. His hardware products include video output improvements, keyboard repairs, built-in CompactFlash cards, a dual-ANTIC computer, and a parallel bus interface for the 1200XL. Bob was editor of Atari Classics magazine from approximately 1994-1997....

Joe Grande, Monkey Up A Tree Joe Grande published one program for the Atari computers: Monkey Up A Tree was published by Atari Program Exchange, and first appeared in the winter 1982-1983 APX catalog.  This interview took place on March 14, 2017. Monkey Up A Tree in the winter 1982 APX catalog

David Lubar, Game Developer (PastFinder) Welcome to another interview episode of Antic the Atari 8-bit computer podcast. David Lubar was a prolific games software developer who worked for Sirius Software, Activision and Absolute and freelanced for several other companies, including Broderbund, Origin Systems, and Imagineering.  He developed games for many different systems, including game consoles...

In this episode of Antic the Atari 8-bit podcast: Bill Kendrick returns with a segment on the Lantronix and BBSing on your Atari, we cover lots of new hardware upgrades, Nir Dary talks about the RAM-Cart 1M, and we have our usual segments on what's new at Archive.org and what's happening in the Atari 8-bit world. READY! Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevin...

Ed Kelly, Edladdin Hello, welcome to a special interview-only episode of Antic, the Atari 8-bit podcast.  My name is Randy Kindig.  This interview is with Ed Kelly of Edladdin.  Edladdin produces a fantastic family of controllers for the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari Flashback, and classic 8-bit computers.  I met Ed at VCF Southeast in 2016 and was so impressed by his controllers that I later boug...

Mark Odendahl, Rush Hour Mark Odendahl was the creator of Rush Hour, a Frogger-like game that appeared in the winter 1983 Atari Program Exchange catalog, the final APX catalog. He also wrote one program for A.N.A.L.O.G. Computing magazine: Number Editor appeared in the January 1989 issue. This interview took place on January 24, 2017. "So I sold one copy of the program, but not through Atari. I so...

In this episode of Antic the Atari 8-bit podcast: Nir Dary talks about all the available memory upgrade options (You need more memory!), we discuss what we've been up to in the Atari world, give you all the Atari 8-bit news that's fit to print, and tell you about our "of-the-month" finds. READY Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevin's Book "Terrible Nerd" Ne...

Steve Gerber, VP of International New Product Development Steve Gerber was head of the Atari Software Acquisition Program. In October 1981, Atari opened its first Regional Software Acquisition Center, managed by Steve, in a 4,000 square-foot location that also housed the Atari Program Exchange (APX). Later Steve was Atari's VP of International New Product Development, in charge of software develop...

Mark Pelczarski, Penguin Software Mark Pelczarski was the founder of Penguin Software — later renamed to Polarware. Penguin published many graphics programs and games for Apple II, Atari 8-bit, and other platforms. The company's programs included Magic Paintbrush, Graphics Magician, Pie Man, Spy's Demise, The Spy Strikes Back, and Transylvania. Mark was editor of Softside Magazine for a time, and...

Sheldon Leemon: Instedit, Circuit Lab, Mapping the Commodore 64 Sheldon Leemon was the creator of Instedit, a character set editor; and Circuit Lab, an electronics learning program that he co-created with with Mark Davids. Both programs were published by Atari Program Exchange. He wrote for several computer magazines, including Softside — where he wrote many reviews, and a game called Outer Space...

Ronald Borta, Roklan Software Ronald Borta was co-founder of JACC, which made educational software under contract for Atari, where he programmed Atari States and Capitals and Atlas of Canada, and other software for the the Atari 400 and 800 computers. He moved to Roklan Software, the company that programmed hundreds of titles for the Atari computers and many other platforms of the time.  Roklan pu...