ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Mitchell Waite, computer book author and publisher Mitchell Waite is a prolific computer book author and publisher. His first book "Projects in Sight, Sound and Sensation" was published in 1974. He founded the Waite Group in 1977, which published more than 80 titles in the computer programming field. He co-authored Computer Animation Primer (with David Fox) and Your Own Computer (with Michael Pard...

David Duberman, Antic magazine editor David Duberman was an editor at Antic magazine (one of the two major Atari magazines in the United States). Later he was in customer support at Synapse software, then user group coordinator at Atari during the Tramiel era. This interview took place on June 17, 2016. In it, we discuss Jim Capparell, whom I previously interviewed. Teaser quotes: "We were now in...

  Michael Boucher, MECC Michael Boucher was a programmer at MECC — Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium — from September 1980 through August 1984, where he worked on educational software for the Apple // and Atari 8-bit computers. His projects included Oregon Trail and Odell Lake. This interview took place on June 14, 2016. Video of this interview:  https://youtu.be/heuR8_eFFJI Teaser quotes...

Hung Pham, APX Game Show Hung Pham wrote one program for Atari Program Exchange: Game Show, a game based on the Family Feud TV program (although the catalog never says that explicitly.) Game Show was first available in the Winter 1982-1983 APX catalog. This interview took place on June 10, 2016. "The reviewer was playing, and pretty soon he turned around -- a crowd of people was standing behind hi...

Steve Stone, POKEY and ANTIC layout design Steve Stone worked at Atari from 1977 through 1980, where he was a chip layout designer and engineer. He worked on the layout design for the POKEY and ANTIC chips. After Atari, he founded Macro Dienamics, Inc., a chip design firm that worked on custom chips for the Amiga computer. This interview took place on August 29, 2016. Video of this interview: http...

Gary Furr, AtariWriter Product Manager, Printer Drivers Gary Furr was Product Manager for productivity software for the Atari home computer division, where his claim to fame was being the manager for the AtariWriter word processor. He also published a set of AtariWriter printer drivers, which were first published through Atari Program Exchange — the product first appeared in the fall 1983 APX cata...

Bob Frankston, co-developer of Visicalc Bob Frankston was co-developer of Visicalc, with Dan Bricklin, and co-founder of Software Arts, the company that first published Visicalc. Bob was also involved with the Atari 800 port of the program. If you're like to see our talking heads, a video version of this interview is available at the Internet Archive and YouTube, at the links below. This interview...

Brian Johnston: Manager, Atari Home Computer System Software Group Brian Johnston was Manager of Atari's Home Computer System Software Group, where he worked on projects including DOS 3. He worked at Atari from 1978 through 1982, then moved to Fox Video Games where he programmed Atari 2600 games.  This interview took place on August 4, 2016. Teaser quote: "But Atari was poisoned by money,  And in...

Bard Ermentrout, RAMbrandt Bard Ermentrout was the creator of the popular Atari graphics program RAMbrandt. Subtitled "The Atari Design Studio," RAMbrandt was released in 1985 by Antic software. Written in ValForth, it supported joystick, keyboard, Koala Pad, and Atari Touch Tablet for input. He also created an add-on Solid Object Module which allowed users to combine mode 9 geometric primitives t...

In this episode of Antic the Atari 8-bit podcast, we reminisce about Atari Party and KansasFest, we bemoan the fate of the Atari 1200XL, and talk about Nir Dary's one-man traveling Atari show. 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 Atar...

Gigi Bisson, Antic Magazine Gigi Bisson was an editor at Antic Magazine, one of the two major U.S. magazines devoted to Atari 8-bit computers. She was also editor of Antic Online, the magazine's forum on the CompuServe Information Service. This interview took place on August 4, 2016. Teaser quotes: "This indecipherable stuff written by these techie guys would come in and then I would have to massa...

Richard Watts, Macrotronics Richard Watts was a programmer at Macrotronics, a company that was primarily focused on the RM-1000 radio modem, hardware that connected amateur radio receivers to personal computers. The company also created Morse Code Tutor, programmed by Richard, which was published by Atari Program Exchange and first appeared in winter 1982-1983 APX catalog.  Morse Code Tutor cost $...

Gregg Pearlman, ANTIC and STart Magazine Gregg Pearlman was an editor at Antic Magazine and STart Magazine from 1986 through 1989.  Antic magazine was devoted primarily to 8-bit Atari computers, with some emphasis on Atari ST computers. It was published from 1982 to 1990. STart magazine was dedicated primarily to Atari ST computers, with some emphasis on Atari 8-bit computers in later issues. It w...

Scott Scheiman: SIO, 850 interface, Telelink I Scott Scheiman worked at Atari for about seven years, where he was part of the 400/800 design team. He worked on the computers' SIO interface, the Atari 850 interface, and the Telelink I communications cartridge. He also wrote the Educational System Master Cartridge software, for use with the Talk & Teach cassette tapes. This interview took place on J...

Kathy Forte, Atari's early applications group Kathy Forte worked at Atari in the applications group for about a year beginning late 1979. She worked on an unreleased relational database application, and for a while spent half of her work time as Atari's puppeteer. This interview took place on April 27, 2016. Teaser quotes: "And it said 'What is the Atari 800?' And I saw ... 'It's game machine! It'...

Lee Actor, Advanced Musicsystem Lee Actor created Advanced Musicsystem, which was published by Atari Program Exchange. It first appeared in the spring 1982 APX catalog, where it won first prize in the Personal Interest and Development category. He also published Jukebox #1, which first appeared in the summer 1982 APX catalog. (There was no followup Jukebox #2.) He was also involved with the MIDI M...

Stacy Goff, Founder of Atari Computer Enthusiasts Stacy Goff was founder of ACE, the Atari Computer Enthusiasts. The group was based in Eugene, Oregon, but grew to more than 50,000 members in 250 chapters in 15 countries. This interview took place on May 6, 2016. In it, we discuss an Atari videotape about users groups, called Keeping In Touch, which is available in the link below. Atari - Keeping...

David Troy, Toad Computers In this episode, I sit down with a long-time Atari dealer back in the 80's and 90's, Mr. David Troy. David ran the Toad BBS from 1984-1988 starting at the age of 12 and then in 1986 as a sophomore in high school, he and partner Ray Mitchell founded a small computer mail order firm specializing in the Atari line of computers.  They shortly moved into a storefront in Sever...

Bill Lapham, Atari Continuation Engineering Bill Lapham was Manager of Continuation Engineering in Atari's consumer division. He worked at Atari from 1980 through 1984. This interview took place on April 25, 2016. "They had an entire booth set up for us. Nobody had ever seen this device. But Atari just went ahead and said, 'OK, we're going to do this.'" "Look, these people are going to die from th...

Ron Hartman, K-Byte Software Ron Hartman was systems coordinator at K-Byte Software, a company that produced four games for the Atari 8-bit computers: Krazy Shootout, Krazy Kriters, Krazy Antics, and K-Star Patrol, as well as K-DOS, an alternative disk operating system. The company also programmed games for CBS Software. K-Byte Software was a division of Koltanbar Engineering, an engineering compa...

Mitch Balsam: NY Atari Research Lab Mitch Balsam was hired at Atari to work as a game programmer for the Atari 2600, and worked on an unreleased game called Electric Yoyo. Later, at Atari Research in New York, he worked on more unreleased products including The Graduate, an add-on computer keyboard component for the Atari 2600; and a buildable robot toy. At Scholastic, he developed educational sof...

Wes Newell, Newell Industries Wes Newell was founder of Newell Industries, a company that produced a number of popular hardware upgrades for the Atari 8-bit computers. Products included Fastchip, which sped up floating point routines by 300%; Omniview, which provided 80-column text output; and RAMrod, which provided memory upgrades and enhanced ROMs; and Omnimon, a hardware monitor. Wes was also a...

John Reese, Tronix CEO John Reese was the founder and CEO of Tronix, the software company that produced two games for the Atari 8-bit computers: Kid Grid (in 1982) Juice! (in 1983.) The company also produced other games for Commodore computers, including Sidewinder, Deadly Skies, and Gold Fever! for the VIC-20; and Suicide Strike for the Commodore 64. John was simultaneously founder and CEO of Mon...

Gregor Novak, Math*UFO and Ringmaster Gregor Novak is the author of two educational games which were published by Atari Program Exchange: Math*UFO and Ringmaster. Math*UFO first appeared in the fall 1982 APX catalog, where it won second prize in the education category. ("A mysterious spaceship floats to the top of the screen. Is it a Martian? No, it's MATH*UFO flashing you number drills! MATH*UFO...

Volker Multhopp, DSEMBLER Volker Multhopp wrote DSEMBLER, which was sold by Atari Program Exchange and was first available in the winter 1981 APX catalog.  This interview took place on March 21, 2016. DSEMBLER in the winter 1981 APX catalog