ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Mike Silva, Syncalc Mike Silva worked at Synapse, where he wrote the Syncalc spreadsheet application. In this interview we talk about Ihor Woloseko, whom I previously interviewed. This interview took place on February 11, 2016. Teaser quotes: "If I had put out a game ... it would have sold a few thousand copies and that would been it. So I just got dumb lucky by being talked into writing a spreads...

Richard Lindgren, APX financial software Richard Lindgren published two programs in Atari Program Exchange. Real Estate Cash Flow Analysis first appeared in the winter 1983 APX catalog, where it won first prize in the business and professional applications category. Strategic Financial Ratio Analysis was first available in the summer 1983 catalog, where it took second prize in the home management...

Marcin Sochacki, SIO2BT Marcin Sochacki, also known as Montezuma on AtariAge, is originally from Poland and currently lives in Germany.   In recent years he developed theSIO2BT, or SIO to Bluetooth for the Atari computer line.  This hardware allows you to connect your Atari to your modern computer,tablet, or smartphone to share files.  Mar-TEEN also developed the NVC (Next Valid Character) softwar...

Al Casper: Counter, My Spelling Easel, Equestrian Al Casper published three programs with Atari Program Exchange. His first, Counter, was first available in the fall 1982 APX catalog. It won first prize in the learning category in that catalog. Counter was also released in a French language version by Atari France. Next was My Spelling Easel, which was first available in the spring 1983 catalog, a...

Michael Crick, Frogmaster Michael Crick created the game Frogmaster, which was published for the Atari computers by Atari Program Exchange. It first appeared in the summer 1982 APX catalog, where it won first prize in the entertainment category. Michael later made a version of Frogmaster for the Commodore 64. He created two other C64 games: Break Street (a break dancing game), and Go For the Gold...

On this episode of Antic the Atari 8-bit podcast, we venture out into the big scary world — both Randy and I went to VCF SouthEast, and Kevin went to the museum. The winners of the 2016 10-line BASIC programming contest are announced, and Bill Kendrick drops knowledge about the demo scene. Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevin's Book "Terrible Nerd" New Ata...

Yakov Epelboim: Pushky and Devilator Yakov Epelboim is a Russian immigrant who published two programs for the Atari 8-bit computers. Pushky (which I learned is the Russian word for "cannons") was published by Atari Program Exchange, and first appeared in the Winter 1982-1983 APX catalog for $22.95. He also wrote Devilator, which he self-published as Zebra Company. Both programs were written in mac...

John Palevich: Dandy and Deep Blue C Compiler John Palevich wrote several programs which were published by Atari Program Exchange: the Chameleon CRT Terminal Emulator; Mantis Boot Tape Development System; Deep Blue C Compiler and its source code on a product called Deep Blue Secrets; and Dandy, a graphical dungeon crawl game that is famously the inspiration for the arcade classic, Gauntlet. He lat...

Ron Luks, Founder and manager of the Atari Forums on CompuServe Welcome to this interview-only episode of Antic, The Atari 8-bit computer podcast.  My name is Randy Kindig.  In this show, I’ll be talking with Mr. Ron Luks, a name that you’re probably familiar with if you used your Atari to access the Compuserve Information Service.   Ron was founder and manager of the Atari Forums on CompuServe (S...

John Powers, Atari Director of Software Development John Powers was co-founder of The Authorship Resource, the company that created all of the software for the CyberVision 2000 computer. From 1980 to 1982 he worked at Atari as Director of Software Development for personal computers. While he was there, he wrote three pieces of software for Atari Program Exchange: Newspaper Route Management Program...

Edward Lehmann, Recipe Search 'N Save Edward Lehmann published one Atari program through Atari Program Exchange: Recipe Search 'N Save, which first appeared in the summer 1982 APX catalog. It won third prize in the Personal Finance & Record Keeping category in that catalog.  It was APX catalog number 20114, available on diskette, required 32K, and cot $22.95 This interview took place on February 2...

Chuck Mullally, Mastermatch Chuck Mullally published one game through Atari Program Exchange: Mastermatch, game similar to the Mastermind board game. Mastermatch was one of the last APX programs to be released: it was first available in the Winter 1983-1984 APX catalog — the final APX catalog. Chuck told me that the game won a $1000 prize from APX, but the catalog — a sparse 8 pages and much small...

Bryon Wilcox, Wilcox Company On December 12, 2015, I bought an unusual Atari computer on ebay: it appeared to be a typical 800XL, but where the Atari name would have been, there was a sticker that said "GRAPHICS 1 - The Wilcox Company." Another sticker on the bottom of the computer indicated that the company was based in Washougal, Washington. When I received the computer, I found that it included...

John Crane, RPN Calculator Simulator John Crane published one Atari program, through Atari Program Exchange: RPN Calculator Simulator. The program first appeared in the Spring 1982 APX catalog, where it was awarded second prize in the business and professional applications category.  John was also one of the founders of the Bay Area Atari Users Group, and did some software evaluation for Atari Pro...

Alan Newman: Domination, Tutti Frutti, Hotel Alien Alan Newman published several programs for the Atari 8-bit computers: Domination, a Hamurabi-style management game, was published by Atari Program Exchange. It first appeared in the Fall 1981 catalog, where it won first prize in the entertainment category. Next he created Tutti Frutti, an arcade-style game that was published by Adventure Internati...

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 Atar...

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 us...

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 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 w...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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.  S...