ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: a plethora of news about new atari software and podcasts Randy tells us all about the “other” official  basic, Microsoft BASIC for the Atari and we de-brief about all of the recent interviews. Yoomp will have a great time listening!   Links mentioned in this episode:   Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevins...

Al Alcorn, Atari Employee #3   Welcome to Antic, the Atari 8-bit computer podcast.  I’m Randy Kindig and this is an interview-only episode of Antic.  My guest for this interview was employee #3 at Atari where he created the world's first commercially successful video game: Pong, Mr. Al Alcorn.  Al was a very influential figure in the early Atari and has a lot of great stories to share about those...

William Volk   William Volk wrote three Atari games for Avalon Hill: Conflict 2500, Voyager 1, and Controller. He also wrote Forth Turtle Graphics Plus, a 3-D graphics library for the Forth language that was released by Atari Program Exchange; ValGraphics for Valpar International; and Super Smart Terminal, an 80-column terminal application which -- may have been released by APX? He later went on t...

Jerry Jessop   Jerry Jessop worked at Atari from 1977 through 1985 where he did many jobs - including lead of production repair, customer service supervisor for the Atari 400/800, and he worked with the secret skunkworks group that was creating the Amiga, when it still could have been an Atari product. In this interview he shares great stories, including how he hand-assembled Atari 800s on the pro...

David Cramer - Western Design Center   David Cramer is the VP of Business Development at Western Design Center, the company that still, today, manufacturers and sells the 6502 chip, the CPU that's at the heart of the Atari 800, Apple ][, Commodore 64, and many other classic computers. In fact, the 6502 is used in many modern applications like pacemakers, and it's also available in development kits...

Rich Pasco   Rich Pasco was Manager of VLSI Development where he worked on the FREDDIE memory management chip used in the Atari XL and XE series computers. He worked at Atari from November 1982 through May 1983. He lobbied management to create some products for the Atari 8-bit line -- including a mouse and an 80+ column display system -- which were not developed. Prior to his time at Atari, he was...

ANTIC Episode 20 - Visicalc, Choplifter   LINKS:   Virtual Apple ][ Drop 300 Inches Podcast

Peter Dell, WUDSN and THE!CART Studio   Hello, welcome to another interview-only episode of Antic, the Atari 8-bit podcast.  My name is Randy Kindig and today I’ll be talking with Peter Dell, also known as JAC! on AtariAge.  Peter is the developer of the outstanding WUDSN product for developing Atari 8-bit software and also is the developer of another product called THE!CART Studio, which is used...

W. Sean Hennessy   W. Sean Hennessy worked in the Consumer Electronics Division at Atari from April 1982 through March 1984 where he developed Realsports Tennis for the Atari 800 and 5200, and created the version of Centipede for the Atari 5200, and Pengo for the Atari 800 and 5200. He also worked at The Software Machine, a company that was working to create edutainment software for the Atari and...

Scott Adams - Adventure International   Scott Adams is probably best known for his line of text adventures for early personal computers -- including AdventureLand, Pirate Adventure, Mystery Fun House, and many others. He was also the founder of Adventure International, the company that brought Atari users myraid programs, including Preppie!, Rally Speedway, Whomper Stomper, and lots of others. The...

Michael Katz is a video games industry pioneer. Katz was Marketing Director for New Product Categories at Mattel Toys, where he helped create the portable, hand-held games category with the Auto Race and Mattel Football handheld toys. And he was Vice President of Marketing at Coleco, where he worked on ColecoVision and the Coleco tabletop arcade game line. Then he was president at Epyx, where he o...

Alan Watson was one of the four founding owners of Ozark Softscape, the company that created M.U.L.E. and Seven Cities of Gold for the Atari, both published by Electronic Arts. Ozark also created Cytron Masters which was published by SSI. The company created more games for other platforms, including Heart of Africa, Modem Wars, and Robot Rascals. Alan specialized in interface and graphics code, an...

Kathleen O'Brien worked at Shepardson Microsystems, where she wrote the Atari Assembler Editor cartridge, and wrote the floating point routines in Atari BASIC. (Her husband Paul Laughton wrote the rest of Atari BASIC.) She, along with Bill Wilkinson and Paul Laughton, co-founded Optimized Systems Software, where she wrote much of the book “Atari BASIC Source Book”.   LINKS   Atari BASIC Source Boo...

Hi, everyone, and welcome to another interview-only edition of Antic, the Atari 8-bit computer podcast.  I am Randy Kindig and I will be your host for this interview.  This interview is one that I’ve hinted at on earlier Antic shows and one that I’m very excited to bring to you as it covers a modern upgrade to the Atari 8-bit line.  Dan Winslow and Mark Dusko have been involved in the Atari 8-bit...

Larry Liberty - Atari 5200 Focus Tester   Larry Liberty had what many kids in the '80s would have considered a dream job: focus tester for Atari 5200 games. He tested Space Dungeon and Vanguard when he was around 12 years old. Larry tells Kevin all about it in this short interview.   LINKS Play Space Dungeon in your browser   Play Vanguard in your browser

On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: Brad gets mad about Kevin’s swap meet finds We discuss the release of source code for Action!, BASIC XL, and Star Raiders ROB (Player/Missile Podcast) fills us in about Atari emulation on the Android Brad gives a technical overview of the Atari 400 and 800 machines Randy tells you everything you ever wanted to know about Atari BASIC but was afraid...

Lee Pappas was co-founder of A.N.A.L.O.G Magazine, which was the first magazine about Atari computers, and (along with Antic) one of the big two Atari magazines in the United States. LINKS Picture of Lee with Crash Dive original art Lee Pappas on Twitter Lee Pappas' A.N.A.L.O.G. photo archive Newspaper scans of early interviews with the founders Mike DesChenes interview at Player Missile Podcast A...

Gardner Pomper was president and co-founder of Games Computers Play. Games Computers Play was almost certainly the first graphical online service (except for maybe PLATO, depending on how you're counting). It was devoted exclusively to interactive, multi-player games, and it was only for Atari computers. You probably didn't get a chance to use Games Computers Play -- it only managed to get about 1...

Hello, welcome to this interview-only episode of Antic, the Atari 8-bit podcast.  I am Randy Kindig, one of the hosts of the podcast, and this interview is with Sal Esquivel, also known as KJMANN on AtariAge.  Sal has been very involved in the Atari community and owns a company by the name of Atlantis Games Group out of Portland, Oregon that produces software for the 8-bits.  That software include...

This is a different sort of interview. Kevin talked to three old friends reminiscing about their Atari days. Those friends are Dean Wittmann, Max Derhak and Dean Derhak (Max and Dean are brothers.)   These guys were best friends, Atari pals living in Salt Lake City, Utah area going to Atari computer club meetings, cracking programs, and running a BBS.   This interview was conducted on September 27...

Sometimes fun to talk to CEOs, and sometimes fun to talk to the people in the trenches. This is an interview from the trenches. Kent Smith was an Atari customer  service/technical support rep for the Atari 400/800 from 1982-1984. I interviewed him on September 19, 2014 via Skype.   The videotape that he mentions at the end of the interview -- you'll want to watch that too, for a look at life in so...

Hello and welcome to Antic the Atari 8-bit podcast.  My name is Randy Kindig and this is a special interview-only episode of Antic.  This interview is with Chuck Peavey, who worked on games for the Atari 8-bit computer like Blue Max, Lode Runner, Fight Night, One on One Basketball, Panther, Ace of Aces, and Dark Chamber.  We had a great conversation about his days programming the Atari and I hope...

Ihor Wolosenko was co-founder of Synapse software, the company that brought us SynFile and SynCalc, and an amazing list of games including Blue Max, Zeppelin, Fort Apocalypse, Alley Cat and Shamus. And Nautilus, and Rainbow Walker, and Protector II, and others. Kevin interviewed Ihor on December 23, 2014.   LINKS Scans of Synapse art Can a Computer Make You Cry (EA ad)

On this episode of ANTIC the atari 8-bit podcast: We debrief on the current state of atari retail Kevin delves into the best and worst Atari 8-bit magazines We learn how to stuff a raspberry pi into a miniature, 3-D printed 800XL We try -- and fail to -- avoid becoming bird food   Links mentioned in this episode:   Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevins Boo...

Hello, and welcome to this interview-only episode of Antic, the Atari 8-bit computer podcast.  My name is Randy Kindig and I’ll be conducting the interview for this show.  The interview is with Paul Westphal, a much more recent Atari vendor than Brad Koda, Bruce Carso, or Lance Rinquist that I’ve recently interviewed. Paul not only offers some hardware and software but also offers service, which i...