ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

SillyVenture and FujiNet In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: In the tradition of bringing you the latest Atari 8-bit news, we have a couple of very special guests in this episode.  First of all, Bart comes to us literally direct from the fabulous SillyVenture show to give us a rundown, and then Thomas Cherryhomes tells us all about the amazing work going on with FujiNet! REA...

Dennis Zander: Artworx, Hazard Run, Strip Poker   Dennis Zander was one of the founding partners of the software publishing company Artworx. He programmed a number of games and educational titles, including Hazard Run, Rings of the Empire, Monkeymath, Giant Slalom, Intruder Alert!, Monkeynews, and others. He collaborated with Roger Harnish on Artworx popular Strip Poker game. This interview took p...

Bruce May, Unreleased Magic Castle Game In 1982 Bruce May created Magic Castle, a game for the Atari 800 computer. He finished the game but was unable to find a publisher for it, so hardly anyone played it. In October 2019 he sent me scans of his original documents regarding Magic Castle: his design notes, and even rejection letters from the three companies that he submitted the game to: Catalyst...

Wolfgang Burger, President of Atari Bit Byter User Club Wolfgang Burger is the president and a founding member of the Atari Bit Byter User Club, the world's largest user group dedicated to the Atari 8-bit computer. The group was founded in 1985 in Herten, Germany. Today, the group has about 500 members from around the world. The group's quarterly magazine — still produced on an Atari computer — is...

Bruce Irvine, Atari VP of Software Bruce Irvine was Atari's Vice President of Software — heading the company's new computer software division — from September 1980 through approximately July 1982. Among other responsibilities, he oversaw Atari Program Exchange and the opening of Atari "software acquisition centers." After leaving Atari, he co-founded Mindset Corporation with Roger Badertscher. Thi...

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast:  Kevin hobnobs with Atari celebrities at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, Brad and Randy find out they're podcast hosts #2 and #3, respectively, and together we cover 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 scan...

ANTIC Special Episode — Atari 800 series computers: 40 years This is Antic, the Atari 8-bit podcast. I'm Kevin Savetz. On Saturday, October 19, 2019 I had the privilege of taking part in a panel at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. The session was titled "Atari 800 series computers: 40 years." The panelists were Joe Decuir, one of the hardware designers of the Atari 400 and 800; David Crane, who was...

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast:  Kevin comes back from Fujiama with a report and Bill Lange joins us to talk about the David Ahl Collection that he acquired. 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 o...

Andrew and John Lenz: Atari Still in Productive Use in Store It's very difficult these days to find vintage computers still in productive use out in the wild.  Andrew and John Lenz have an Atari 8-bit still in use, at the time of this interview, in the picture framing department at Lenz Arts in Santa Cruz, CA, a store that sells art materials and custom framing services.  The Atari computer has ov...

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast:  We try to catch up after being on hiatus for 2 months by bringing you all the Atari news we could find and we learn a new word in the process. 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 d...

John Anderson: Rally Speedway and Arex John Anderson worked at Adventure International, where he coded several games: Eliminator, Rear Guard, and Sea Dragon for the Apple II, then Rally Speedway and Arex for the Atari 8-bits. This interview took place on May 22, 2019. In it, we discuss Scott Adams and Russ Wetmore,  both of whom I have previously interviewed. List of John's games at Atarimania Joh...

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: We have a special round table episode with Nir Dary, Darren Doyle, Roland Wassenburg, Thomas Cherryhomes joining the usual hosts of ANTIC where we discuss what everyone is up to in the Atari 8-bit world, including the latest shows (VCFSE and VCFE).  It's an Atari mega-show! READY! Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org Atari...

Roy Goldman, Daisy-Dot   Roy Goldman was the creator of Daisy-Dot, a typesetting program for the Atari 8-bit computers which he published from about 1987-1990. There were three versions of Daisy-Dot, the original plus Daisy-Dot II and Daisy-Dot III. The earliest version was freeware, and later versions asked for payment for access to special features.   This interview took place on May 11, 2019. A...

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: Kevin regales us with his exploits in the 10-Line BASIC Contest, we discuss the renewed efforts to show off Midi-Maze on the Atari 8-bits, and the entire staff prepares to be involved in several great shows this year ... READY! Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevin's Book "Terrible Nerd" New Atari b...

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: Bill Lange joins us as a special guest, and he has lots of Atari Pascal news; we have all the Atari news fit to print, and more shows coming in 2019 than you can shake a stick at ... READY! Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevin's Book "Terrible Nerd" New Atari books scans at archive.org ANTIC feedba...

Philip Bouchard - MECC, The Oregon Trail Philip Bouchard spent over 30 years designing computer software, 18 of which were focused on educational software. He was the principal designer for the Apple II games The Oregon Trail and Number Munchers. The Oregon Trail is a computer game originally developed in 1971 and produced by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC) in 1974. The origi...

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: late-breaking up-to-the-minute Atari news, Randy disappears mid-episode, and we hear what Atari was like in Chile... 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 ANTIC...

Stan Gilbert, Tricky Tutorials Hello, and welcome to an interview-only episode of Antic, The Atari 8-bit computer podcast. Stan Gilbert worked for Educational Software (previously known as Santa Cruz Educational Software) in the early 80's and developed several products in the Tricky Tutorial series for the Atari 8-bit computer line.  He later also worked for Apple. This interview took place July...

In this special Holiday episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: Nir Dary regales us with stories about SilliVenture 2018.  We share Atari gift ideas for yourself or others for Christmas.  Plus, all the Atari 8-bit news we could find... READY! Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariArchives.org AtariMagazines.com Kevin's Book "Terrible Nerd" New Atari books scans at archive.org ANTIC f...

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: What we've been up to in the past month PLUS all the Atari 8-bit news we could find... 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 ANTIC Facebook Page AHCS Eaten By a...

George Morrison: Alpha Systems, Atari Software Protection Techniques books   George Morrison was founder of Alpha Systems, a company that produced many hardware and software products for the Atari computers, including The Parrot, and audio digitizer; MagniPrint II, a printing utility; and The Impersonator, hardware for copying cartridge-based programs; and other products. He was author of two book...

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Computer Podcast: Bill Lange guest-hosts with us and tells us all about the recent Atari Party East.  We talk about all the traveling and Atari things we did over the summer. Kevin throws in a mini-interview he did.  And, Jeff Fulton reviews Tempest Elite Plus. Plus, all the Atari 8-bit news we could find... READY! Recurring Links Floppy Days Podcast AtariA...

Bruce Artwick: Flight Simulator II, Night Mission Pinball   Bruce Artwick was co-founder of SubLOGIC, and creator of the best-selling program, Flight Simulator II. FSII was first available for the Apple II, with versions released later for the TRS-80, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, and other platforms. His 1976 master's thesis, A Versatile Computer Generated Dynamic Flight Display, about creating a re...

Jon Williams: Jet Boot Jack, Timeslip   Jon Williams created several programs for the Atari 8-bit computers, including Jet Boot Jack, Timeslip, Atari Cassette Enhancer, and Linkword German.   This interview took place on August 6, 2018.   Jon on AtariAge   Atari Cassette Enhancer on AtariMania   Atarimania's list of Jon's games

Carlos Reyes: Quick Menu, Rent Wars   Carlos Reyes wrote the game Rent Wars for the Atari 8-bit computers for First Star Software, which was never officially released but found its way onto the Internet years later. He also wrote Quick Menu, a 384-byte program that would display a menu of programs on a floppy disk and let the user choose one to run. The program was designed to fit into a floppy's...