ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Randy Kindig, Kay Savetz, Brad Arnold
ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

We cover Atari news, reviews, and a special feature each show for the Atari 8-bit line of computers (400/800/XL/XE/XEGS)

  1. HACE 20 MIN

    ANTIC Interview 445 - Vince Cate, The Critical Connection

    Vince Cate, The Critical Connection   In my last interview, I talked with the creator of SIO2PC, which let Atari users use a DOS computer as its disk drive and printer. This interview is with the creator a product which - six years earlier - let Atari users use a CP/M computer as its disk drive and printer (and keyboard.)   Vince Cate owned a company called USS Enterprises, with just one product: The Critical Connection. Critical Connection was a combination of a specialized cable and software for connecting an Atari 8-bit to a computer running CP/M. The long cable had an SIO plug on one end and a 25-pin serial plug on the other, and some chips in the middle, allowing the Atari and CP/M box to communicate at 19,200 bps.   The Critical Connection was released in 1983, six years before SIO2PC. They shared many similar features: with it you could: use an entire CP/M floppy disk as an emulated 600K Atari disk drive, create 92KB CP/M disk files which emulated Atari 90KB disks, and print from the Atari to the CP/M computer's printer. The CP/M machine even acted as a print spooler. You could also use the CP/M machine's keyboard to type on the Atari.   Vince needed to create a file format to store virtual floppy disks on the CP/M machine: the filename extension was .ATR. I don't know positively, but I'm pretty sure it's a different file format from the well-known .ATR format that Nick Kennedy created for SIO2PC six years later... just similar functionality given similar names. Nick Kennedy told me that he had never heard of The Critical Connection.   Here's what Jerry Pournelle wrote about Critical Connection in the September 1983 issue of Byte magazine:   "Vincent Cate continues to improve his Critical Connection. This gadget makes an Atari think a CP/M computer system is a set of disks. The only requirement is that your CP/M system have an RS-232C serial port operating at 19,200 bps. Given that, you needn't buy disks for an Atari; by using The Critical Connection, you can make the Atari believe you have four disks. The really nice part is that you can use 8-inch as well as 5 1/4 -inch disks.   Cate's new software package has automatic installation for a number of CP/M systems, including Kaypro, North Star, Sanyo, CCS, Heath/Zenith, and Morrow. ... Cate's documentation is improved, but it's not what I'd call good. Still, you can puzzle it out, and if you don't want to invest a lot in an Atari system but still want to use disks with it, Cate's Critical Connection is the way to go."   This interview took place on November 20, 2024.   Video version of this interview on YouTube       Vince's web site   Vince in Wikipedia   Critical Connection review in ANALOG magazine 1986-02   CC version 1 in Antic   XL version in Antic   In Byte 1983-09   In Dr. Dobbs Journal 1983-09   Critical Connection at AtariMania   ANTIC Interview 444 - Nick Kennedy, SIO2PC and ATR   Support Kay's interviews on Patreon

    31 min
  2. 15 NOV

    ANTIC Interview 444 - Nick Kennedy, SIO2PC and ATR

    Nick Kennedy, SIO2PC and the ATR File Format   Nick Kennedy is the creator of SIO2PC, the hardware and software combination that allowed Atari 8-bit computer users to use a PC as a peripheral. In 1989, this was unprecedented, a new way to connect the little Atari to the bigger world, to the (relatively) massive storage and speed of a computer running PC-DOS. For the first time, Ataris could use a PC as storage, RAM disk, and printer. Nick also created the .ATR file format, which quickly became the standard for using virtual floppy disks on Atari emulators.   Nick also created 10502PC, a cable that let you connect an Atari floppy drive directly to a PC; and AtariCOM, a less well-known utility that allowed two Atari 8-Bit computers to communicate using the SIO and joystick ports. And, he created Atari-based amateur radio tools: a terminal program for packet radio, and Morse code keyer software, which he and I talked about in detail in our previous interview.   This interview took place on November 1, 2024.   Video version of this interview on YouTube   Nick's web site   Nick's SIO2PC page   Previous interview with Nick about ham radio: ANTIC Interview 441 - Nick Kennedy, Atari Morse Code Keyer   ANTIC Interview 144 - Stephen Lawrow, Mac/65 assembler   Bob Woolley's Review of SIO2PC in Atari Interface Magazine 1991-01   1993 Atari Classics article: SIO2PC: Slave An IBM To Your 8-Bit   The .ATR File Format   ANTIC Interview 441 - Nick Kennedy, Atari Morse Code Keyer   AtariCom software   DAK catalogs   Best Electronics   Mapping the Atari by Ian Chadwick   AtariMax APE and ProSystem   Old Hackers Atari User Group newsletter disks   Nick Kennedy on AtariAge   Support Kay's interviews on Patreon

    54 min
  3. 1 NOV

    ANTIC Interview 442 - Bob Stein, Atari Research

    Bob Stein, Atari’s Encyclopedia Project   Bob Stein worked at Atari Research for 18 months beginning in 1981. He was hired by Alan Kay. He worked almost exclusively on an encyclopedia project, a potential collaboration between Atari and Encyclopaedia Britannica that never went anywhere.   I learned about Bob after he uploaded an item called The Atari Drawings to Internet Archive. It's a collection of nine colorful pencil drawings, drawn in 1982 by Disney animator Glen Keane. The drawings depict futuristic scenarios where people use a computerized encyclopedia to get information: for instance, "An earthquake wakes a couple in the middle of the night. The Intelligent Encyclopedia, connected to an online service, informs them of the severity of the earthquake and makes safety tips readily available." and "A mother and her children looking into a tidepool in Laguna ask the Intelligent Encyclopedia about the plants and animals that they see."   Bob described the collection of art in his introduction to the document:   "In 1982 executives from Warner, Inc., Atari's parent company, were scheduled to visit the Research Lab where the Encyclopedia Project was located. Brenda Laurel and I came up with these scenarios to give the execs a sense of what we were working toward. The drawings were made by Disney animator, Glen Keane.   When you look at these, remember they were made 16 years before Google and 12 years before Yahoo, even 8 years before the earliest web-based search engines.   That said, one of the most interesting things about these scenarios as seen today, is that with the exception of the image of the architect and the teacher none of them indicated any inkling that the most important element of the web to come was that it would bring people into contact with each other. What we see here is almost entirely people accessing content from a central server, no sense that we would be communicating with each other or uploading our own contributions to the collective culture. My own explanation for this lapse focuses on the print-era mentality that saw readers purely as consumers of content."   Bob saved and scanned a large number of materials from his time at Atari, and uploaded them to Internet Archive. In addition to the scans of Keane's Atari Drawings, the documents include memos about the encyclopedia project and a transcript of a 1982 seminar for Atari Research featuring Charles Van Doren. Check the show notes for those links.   After Atari, Bob was co-founder of The Criterion Collection, which restores and distributes important classic films; and co-founder of The Voyager Company, the first commercial multimedia CD-ROM publisher. In 2004, he co-founded The Institute for the Future of the Book, a think tank "investigating the evolution of discourse as it shifts from printed pages to networked screens."   This interview took place December 16, 2023.   Video version of this interview at YouTube   The Atari Drawings   ANTIC Interview 420 - Brenda Laurel, Atari Research   Whither The Encyclopedia Project - Atari Encyclopedia Project memos   Back to the Future -- In honor of Encyclopedia Britannica giving up its print edition (Wayback machine)   Stein Kay Atari Memos Pt 1   Stein Kay Atari Memos Pt 2   Exchange With Steve Weyer And J. David Bolter 1983   Hadley Letter 1980-12-01   Atari...Ifugao Question Journal, Michael Naimark   CVD Atari Seminar 20 December 1982   Encyclopedia And The Intellectual Tools Of The Future . . . November 1981   Bob Stein Archives at Stanford   The Digital Antiquarian — Bob Stein and Voyager   Charles Van Doren in Wikipedia   Bob Stein wants to change how people think about the book (2010)

    57 min
  4. 27 OCT

    ANTIC Episode 111 - Is Kay Really Funny, or is it Just a Courtesy Snicker?

    ANTIC Episode 111 - “Is Kay Really Funny, or is it Just a Courtesy Snicker?” In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… We go over the ABBUC Software Contest winners, we cover PRGE, Kay accelerates his interview publishing schedule, and we ask the question: Is Kay really funny, or are Randy’s snickers simply courtesy?  You decide … READY! Recurring Links  Floppy Days Podcast  AtariArchives.org  AtariMagazines.com  Kay’s Book “Terrible Nerd”  New Atari books scans at archive.org  ANTIC feedback at AtariAge  Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge  Interview index: here  ANTIC Facebook Page  AHCS  Eaten By a Grue  Next Without For  What we’ve been up to PRGE - https://www.retrogamingexpo.com/  Priming the Pump: How TRS-80 Enthusiasts Helped Spark the PC Revolution by David and Theresa Welsh - https://amzn.to/40l4vv1 (sponsored link)  Recent Interviews ANTIC Interview 439 - Making Modern Atari Hardware  ANTIC Interview 440 - Ed Sabo, UltraBASIC  ANTIC Interview 441 - Nick Kennedy, Atari Morse Code Keyer  News ABBUC 2024 Software Contest: https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2024/10/ruff-in-trouble-ganador-del-abbuc-2024.html  https://abbuc.de/2024/10/ergebnis-abbuc-softwarewettbewerb-2024-result-abbuc-software-competition-2024/  ABBUC Magazines -  https://abbuc.de  4th ATASCII Compo 2024 - Presentation Pre-Launch for Clear Case for 800XL has begun: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seethruit/injection-molded-clear-case-for-atari-800xl-computer/ https://forums.atariage.com/topic/373926-pre-launch-for-clear-case-for-800xl-has-begun/  Bouncy World Server Available - https://www.atariorbit.org/2024/09/27/bouncy-world-server-available/  Replacement cartridge slot - Screaming at the Radio - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/373896-replacement-cartridge-slot/  Mastertronic Collectors Archive - Atari (8-Bit) Mastertronic Checklist - https://mastertronic.co.uk/atari-mastertronic-checklist/  Upcoming Shows Retro Computer Festival 2024 - November 9-10 - Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, England - https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/72253/Retro-Computer-Festival-2024-Saturday-9th-November/  Silly Venture WE (Winter Edition) - Dec. 5-8 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2024-we  Event page on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub  YouTube Videos Atari XL/XE -=Go! Tony Go!=- - Saberman RetroNews - Atari XL/XE -=Go! Tony Go!=-  LIVE from PRGE 2024 Day 1: AtariAge New Releases & WIP - ZeroPage Homebrew - LIVE from PRGE 2024 Day 1: AtariAge New Releases & WIP (FIXED!)  Videos of the ABBUC winners, such as: Atari XL/XE -=Eat Me!=- ABBUC Software Contest 2024 - Saberman RetroNews - Atari XL/XE -=Eat Me!=- ABBUC Software Contest 2024  1K Rainbox - Saberman RetroNews - Atari XL/XE -=1K RainBox=- ABBUC Software Contest 2024  My Atari 800 prints out the news and weather every morning! - Sascha Segan - My Atari 800 prints out the news and weather every morning! New at Archive.org  https://archive.org/details/horten-computer-welt-11-85-preise/ https://archive.org/details/brace-bits-vol-3-no-1/BraceBits%20vol1%20no4/ https://archive.org/details/@allan52?query=portland Github https://github.com/marktmiller/atari-8-bit-forth-projects/tree/main/fig-forth1.1/FP%20library https://github.com/ivop/saprtools

    57 min
  5. 26 OCT

    ANTIC Interview 441 - Nick Kennedy, Atari Morse Code Keyer

    Nick Kennedy, Atari Morse Code Keyer   I was adding a batch of ham radio newsletters to the Internet Archive's Digital Library of Amateur Radio And Communications, and I noticed the word "Atari" on one of the pages.   In the September 2019 issue of Solid Copy, the newsletter of The CW Operators Club, Nick Kennedy had written: "Few hams who are both CW [morse code] enthusiasts and programmers of microcontrollers have been able to resist trying their hand at a keyer or two. I’ve done several in the past 30+ years, starting with one for the 6502 in an Atari 800 and on through PICs, AVRs and now...the Arduino."   So I contacted Nick, amateur radio call sign WA5BDU, to find out what his Atari project was all about.   First, a tiny bit of ham radio background: Morse code, that language of dots and dashes, can be sent over the radio waves using a Morse code key. Even if you know nothing about ham radio, I bet you picture a basic Morse code key: when tap the little lever, it makes an electrical connection that makes a sound. That's called a straight key. Avid Morse code enthusiasts may prefer a fancier "paddle" key: with two levers, one for short beeps and one for longer ones. A keyer is a device that is connected between the paddle key and the radio: it allows the sender to control timing of the transmitted signals, and other factors.   Nick's software, WA5BDU Computer Keyer, turned his Atari computer into a keyer. He wired his Morse code paddle and his ham radio to joystick port 2. As he sent a message using his paddle, the Atari interpreted the signal, adjusted it as necessary, displayed the outgoing message on the screen, and sent the signal to the radio. Or, Nick could simply type on the Atari's keyboard to send Morse code messages, skipping the paddle key altogether.   Nick sent me the keyer program and source code — as well as a packet radio terminal program that he wrote, and a tank game written by his brother. Check the show notes for links to all of those.   Our interview took place on January 21, 2023.   Video version of this interview   Keyer software and source code at Internet Archive   Ham Terminal software (with source code) at Internet Archive   Various amateur radio software for for Atari 8-bit   Nick interviewed by the QSO Today podcast in 2015   Nick's keyer article in Solid Copy   Nick's web site   Ad Astra magazine   Pat Kennedy's tank game   Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications   Support Kay's interviews on Patreon

    36 min
  6. 18 OCT

    ANTIC Interview 440 - Ed Sabo, UltraBASIC

    Ed Sabo, UltraBASIC   Ed Sabo, with the help of his dad, founded UltraBASIC, a company that produced software for Atari 8-bit computers. UltraBASIC's software for the Atari 8-bits, which was all programmed by Ed, were:    Tank Math: "a tutored math exercise plus a bonus roman numeral quiz" FunSpeller: "use your own words or the fifteen word-sets included" SuperFrogs: "the 7 game arcade with over 10,000 variations” … and  Track Stack: a program launcher, "stack up to 15 machine language programs on the track stack disk"   Ed also created some unpublished software, including a bulletin board system and RC Total, a program to track results of radio controlled car races. The company also operated a commercial coin op route, with video games, pinball machines, jukeboxes, and so on.   Ed's UltraBASIC company still exists. Today, the company specializes in transmission rebuilds, custom headers, and other repairs for classic and custom cars.   This interview took place on August 8, 2023.   Video version of this interview (youtube): https://youtu.be/OXcW1Pm4DQ8   Tank Math: https://archive.org/details/tank-math-ultra-basic/   Super Frogs: https://archive.org/details/super-frogs-ultra-basic/   Funspeller: https://archive.org/details/superfrogs-funspeller-ultra-basic/   Track Stack: https://archive.org/details/TrackStackUltraBasic/   List of Ultrabasic games at Atarimania   Ultrabasic, Inc.: http://ultrabasic.net   M.U.L.E. Online: https://puzzud.itch.io/mule-online   FujiNet: https://fujinet.online   Support Kay's interviews on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/savetz

    35 min
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We cover Atari news, reviews, and a special feature each show for the Atari 8-bit line of computers (400/800/XL/XE/XEGS)

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