Antic The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Larry Breakwell, Toronto Atari Programmers Society Larry Breakwell was founder of the Toronto West Atari Computer Support Group, then president of the Toronto Atari Programmers Society, which was the largest Atari user group in Canada. He adapted the Atari version of the book "Academy on Computers Hands-On Atari 400/800 Beginner's Manual" from a version of the book focused on the Commodore PET. These beginners manuals were part of the Academy on Computers, a self-directed learning activity based on "Bits and Bytes", a television program produced by the TVOntario network. This interview took place on May 10, 2018. Academy on Computers Hands-On Atari 400/800 Beginner’s Manual Bits & Bytes TV show

Mike Sandau, Atari-CB Radio Hacking   In the mid-1980s, Mike Sandau and his friend connected their Atari 8-bit computers to their citizens band radios to create a small radio-telephone computer network. Their "DIALOG" project combined the radio hardware with custom software (first in Atari BASIC, then later in Action!) to allow chatting, broadcasting messages, and binary file transfers over the air.   Mike has uploaded the software, source code, and screenshots to the Internet Archive, and placed it in the public domain.    This interview took place on April 26, 2018.   DIALOG screenshots, software, and source code: https://archive.org/details/about_201803

Charlie Kulas: Musical Pilot, UpN Down   Charlie Kulas published Musical Pilot, an educational game, through Atari Program Exchange. Musical Pilot first appeared in the fall 1983 APX catalog, where it was awarded third prize in the Learning category. He later worked at McT (AKA Microcomputer Technologies), a company that was contracted to program games by Sega. There he programmed the game UpN Down for the Atari 8-bit computers.   This interview took place on April 20, 2018.   Musical Pilot in the fall 1983 APX catalog: https://archive.org/stream/APXCatalogFall1983/APX_Catalog_Fall_1983#page/n21/mode/1up/   List of Kulas' software at AtariMania: http://www.atarimania.com/list_games_atari-400-800-xl-xe-kulas-charlie_team_756_8_G.html   Buck Rogers source code: https://archive.org/details/BuckRogers_source   Up N Down source code: https://archive.org/details/UpNDown_source   McT at gdri: http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/McT   How to Build a Working Digital Computer Out of Paperclips: https://www.evilma

Youth Advisory Board: Yoon Park   This is the sixth in a series of episodes featuring interviews with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. This time, I got to talk with Yoon Park.   In 1983, Atari formed a Youth Advisory Board, selecting teenagers from around the United States to share their opinions about computers and video games, test software, and promote Atari's computers at events. The group consisted of kids aged 14 through 18, including Yoon.   Before these interviews, I like to read from an old newspaper or magazine article that mentioned or quoted the Youth Advisory Board member, to give a sense of who that person was then before we hear from them today. All I can guess about Yoon of 1982 was that he was shy. Of the twenty Youth Advisory Board members, Yoon was never quoted or mentioned in the articles that I could find.   This interview took place on May 17, 2018.

Youth Advisory Board: Musa Mustafa   This is the fifth in a series of episodes featuring interviews with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. If you're just joining us: In 1983, Atari formed a Youth Advisory Board, selecting 20 kids, aged 14 though 18, from around the U.S. to share their opinions about computers, test software, and promote Atari's computers at events.    This is an interview with Musa Mustafa, who was one of those kids.    A March 25, 1983 article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel by Loretta Noffsinger said:   "Computers without keyboards, toys that come to life at the sound of a child's voice and programs that shoulder the chores of thank-you letters — that's what the whiz kids see in the future. They envision a computer disguised within a toy to tell youngsters about the workings of the universe and others 'far beyond man’s imagination.' And Atari is listening to them."   Later in the article, Noffsinger wrote: "Musa Mustafa, 15, says he hopes to design an astronomy program to chart the locat

Youth Advisory Board: Robert Allbritton   This is the fourth episode in a series of interviews with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. Robert Allbritton was one of the 20 kids who, in 1983, were accepted into the Youth Advisory Board, a group of teenagers who were able to take a trip to Atari's headquarters in California, enjoy free 1200XL computers, and he even got to work at Atari's booth at the Consumer Electronics Show.   Robert was, and still is, friends with John Dickerson, another Youth Advisory Board member, whom I previously interviewed.     This interview took place on April 24, 2018.   Interview with John Dickerson

Youth Advisory Board: John Dickerson   This is the third episode in a series of interviews with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board. A quick recap: In 1983, Atari formed a Youth Advisory Board, selecting 20 teenagers from around the United States to share their opinions about computers and video games, test software, and promote Atari's computers at events. The group consisted of kids aged 14 through 18, mostly regular kids, some computer geeks, and a couple of celebrities.   This interview is with John Dickerson, who was one of the computer geeks.   There was an article about the Youth Advisory Board in the March 1984 issue of Enter magazine, with a quote from John:   "'We were an added dimension to what they already do,' says 14-year-old John Dickerson. 'Atari's problem is that they don't get close enough to the consumer. We'll bring them a lot closer. But, so far, we haven’t found out which of our decisions they really listened to.'"     This interview took place on April 16, 2018.   If you were a mem

Youth Advisory Board: Anneke Wyman   This is the second episode in a series of interviews with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board.    In 1982-1983, Atari invited 20 kids, aged 14-18, to be on its new Youth Advisory Board. Atari was looking for well-rounded, computer-literate kids, with equal representation of sexes and a mix of ethnic groups. Anneke Wyman (now Anneke Wyman de Boer) was one of those kids.   A wire service article about the Youth Advisory Board, by Kathy Holub, ran in several newspapers around March 25, 1983. Here's an excerpt from that story:   "The fat world of corporate perks isn't just for executives anymore. On Sunday, 14-year-old Anneke Wyman of New York flew to San Francisco on a prepaid plane ticket to dine out on pizza and attend her first corporate board meeting. ...   "As members of Atari Inc.’s new Youth Advisory Board, they got the sort of pampering reserved for top corporate clients, including a private movie screening, a tour of San Francisco and all the food they could eat

Youth Advisory Board: Kerrie Holton and Tina Bartschat   This is the first in a series of episodes featuring interviews with the kids of Atari's Youth Advisory Board.    In 1983, Atari formed a Youth Advisory Board, selecting 20 teenagers from around the United States to share their opinions, test new software, and promote Atari's computers at trade shows.   The group consisted primarily of regular kids - some computer geeks, but most well-rounded teenagers. The group also included a couple of celebrities: Todd Bridges, the actor who played Willis in the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes; and Matthew Labyorteaux, the actor who played Albert on the show Little House on the Prairie, then Richie Adler on the adventure show Whiz Kids.   The first (and I believe only) meeting of the Youth Advisory Board took place in March 1983 at Atari's headquarters in Sunnyvale, California. Was Atari genuinely doing in-depth market research into the opinions of teenagers? Or was the Youth Advisory Board a publicity stunt? Maybe it was a

Hal Segal, Association of Time-Sharing Users   Hal Segal was founder and president of the Association of Time-Sharing Users, and the Association of Small Computer Users, and several other groups dedicated to early computer systems. The Association of Time-Sharing Users was formed in 1974: it published a newsletter, which Hal wrote, as well as directories of terminals, applications, database management systems, and so on. Group members held meetings in various cities around the United States.   Hal is also author of the books How to Select Your Small Computer Without Frustration and How to Manage Your Small Computer Without Frustration, which were published in 1982 and 1983 by Prentice-Hall.   This interview took place January 9, 2018. A video version of this interview is also available.   Video version of this interview   Computer Terminals Directory — Association of Time-Sharing Users   About Hal   Background in ComputerWorld magazine

Steve Englehart, Atari Advanced Games Group   Steve Englehart worked in the Advanced Games Group of Atari, where he developed ideas for new computer games. He was the designer of E.T. Phone Home!, Final Legacy, and Garfield for the Atari 8-bit machines, and worked on several unfinished games. He wrote the manual for Eastern Front: 1941.   This interview took place on November 17, 2017. A video version of this interview is available.   Video version of this interview   Steve's web site   ANTIC Interview 67 - Ted Richards, Atari Connection Magazine

Jack Smyth, The Learning Company and Add-On Software   Jack Smyth was the first CEO of The Learning Company, the educational software publisher best known for Reader Rabbit and Rocky's Boots. He was also involved with Add-On Software, a company that sold CP/M software for several computer platforms, including the Atari 8-bit line. The company built a hardware card, for use with the Atari 1090XL peripheral expansion box, that would have added CP/M functionality to Atari computers. That device was never sold, or at least was not widely available.    This interview took place on March 8, 2018. After the interview, Jack sent me anl Add-On Software CP/M catalog (primarily focused on the Apple II) which I have scanned and uploaded to Internet Archive.    Teaser quote: "I took my 5-year-old daughter with me to see how my daughter liked the software. ... Well my daughter loved it, and so I bought the company."   Add-On Software catalog   Add-On Software CP/M flyer   1984 InfoWorld article interviewing Smyth   1983

Bryan Talbot, APX Cartoonist   Bryan Talbot published one program for the Atari computer: Cartoonist, which was published by Atari Program Exchange. It first appeared in the fall 1983 APX catalog, where it was awarded first prize in the systems/telecommunications category.   This interview took place on December 8, 2017.   "I was just trying to contemplate what to do, and finally — I'd been going to all the missionary classes and I did the thing that they taught us to do. I just knelt down on the floor and I grabbed my 810 drive, and I prayed that God would fix my drive."   Cartoonist in the fall 1983 APX catalog   Cartoonist Manual and Disk Image

Dwight Johnson, Lake County Atari Computer Enthusiasts   Dwight Johnson was founder of Lake County Atari Computer Enthusiasts, a users group based in Waukegan, IL. He started the group in April 1983. The group still exists today as a general PC computer users group, and is now called Lake County Area Computer Enthusiasts.   This interview took place on April 12, 2018.   Lake County Area Computer Enthusiasts

Colin Hume, Computer War   Colin Hume worked at Thorn EMI for about a year, where he programmed one game for the Atari 8-bit computers: Computer War. Computer War was based on the 1983 movie War Games.   Thomas Cherryhomes joined us to ask Colin some questions of his own.   This interview took place on April 12, 2018.   "Of course it was so totally different. There was no specification, no one ever checked through your code. There was no documentation. There was no maintenance."   Computer War at AtariMania   Colin's web site

Matthew McGinley, Elite Personal Accountant   Matthew McGinley was the creator and publisher of Elite Personal Accountant, financial management software for the Atari computer. He released it in mid-1985 after working on it for several years.   The review of Elite Personal Accountant by Stephen Roquemore in Antic magazine said, "This new program from a small company has just about every capability built into it that anyone could dream up. And the manual is one of the finest I have ever encountered. ... Elite Personal Accountant will handle 79 categories divided into income, expense, asset, and liability groups. As many as nine credit cards are handled separately, but counted as liabilities. There are 17 different transaction codes available. The reporting capabilities go well beyond the competition, with an option that allows you (within limits) to design your own reports."   I found Matthew through an eBay listing, where he is selling the source code disks, printouts, and development notes.   This interview

Cynde Moya, Collections Manager at Living Computers: Museum + Labs   Cynde Moya is Collections Manager at Living Computers: Museum + Labs. Located in Seattle, Washington, Living Computers is a computer museum that provides hands-on experiences using computers ranging from micros to mainframes. (Last time I was there, there was a Xerox Alto, an Apple I, and yes, an Atari 400 with a number of game carts, plus big iron like a Control Data 6500 and DEC PDP-10 - all those machines and more usable by visitors.)   As Collections Manager, Cynde takes care of the museum's collection, and catalogs it.   This interview took place on April 9, 2018.   “It's definitely not all glory when you're cleaning dead rats out of an old computer."   Cynde on Twitter   Living Computers Museum + Labs

Mike Matthews, Alien Group Voice Box   That voice you just heard in an Alien Group Voice Box II connected to an Atari 800.   Voice Box was a external speech synthesizer box for the Atari 400 and 800. Voice Box, and its successor Voice Box II, was marketed by "The Alien Group" starting in July 1982. The device used the Votrax SC-01A speech synthesizer chip to add speech and singing to the Atari. Versions were also available for the Commodore 64 and Apple II computers.   The Alien Group was actually an offshoot of Electro-Harmonix. Electro-Harmonix was founded by rhythm and blues keyboard player Mike Matthews in 1968. The company is still is business today, and is well-regarded for its guitar pedals and other musicians' gear.   For more background on The Alien Group and Voice Box, I recommend reading Bill Lange's blog post "Atari Says Its First Word."   This interview with Mike Matthews took place on November 13, 2017.   ***   One more thing: I talked with Scott Matthews, Mike's son. He told me in email:   "My

Winchell Chung, Avalon Hill games   Winchell Chung worked at Avalon Hill computer games, where he was the Atari 8-bit computer programmer. He worked on Nuke War, B-1 Nuclear Bomber, Free Trader, Paris in Danger, and Vorrak. His best known game is probably Gulf Strike.   This interview took place on April 10, 2018.   "A good game with lousy graphics doesn't sell, but a lousy game with great graphics will."   Atarimania's list of Winchell's games   Winchell on Twitter   Atomic Rockets

This is ANTIC, the Atari 8-bit podcast. I’m Kevin Savetz.   I love old computers. If you’ve been listening to this podcast for a while, you knew that already. I also love musical theater. So when I found out about Bits & Bytes, a 1983 musical about computers — well, that’s right in my wheelhouse.    Bits & Bytes was an educational touring production, created by South Coast Repertory Theater, a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California. It was a 45-minute musical show, aimed at school kids, that was performed at elementary schools across Southern California from January through June of 1983. More than 60,000 children saw the show.   The story is about Happy, a naive girl who goes into a computer store for the first time, wondering if a computer can “solve all her problems and make her truly happy.” Morton B. Norton, a pushy, overzealous computer salesman, tries to sell her a computer, with the help of wacky sidekicks, Bits and Bytes. Through speech and song, the team teaches Happy