ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

By: Randy Kindig Kay Savetz Brad Arnold
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  • Summary

  • Retrocomputing podcast about the Atari 8-bit line of personal computers
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Politics & Government
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Episodes
  • ANTIC Interview 444 - Nick Kennedy, SIO2PC and ATR

    ANTIC Interview 444 - Nick Kennedy, SIO2PC and ATR
    Nov 15 2024
    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
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    54 mins
  • ANTIC Interview 443 - Rick Reaser, Current Notes Magazine

    ANTIC Interview 443 - Rick Reaser, Current Notes Magazine
    Nov 8 2024
    Rick Reaser, Current Notes Magazine's 8-bit Editor Rick Reaser was the 8-bit Editor of Current Notes Magazine, a popular magazine dedicated to the Atari computers. He began in 1992, and wrote a column called 8-Bit Tidbits. Rick used his Atari 8-bit computer exclusively through his college years and for programming for grad school. He was also president of P3ACE - Pikes Peak Poke Atari Computer Enthusiasts - a user group serving the Colorado Springs area. This interview took place on February 11, 2023. Video version of this interview at YouTube P3ACE newsletters Rick's "Atari Revolution" quote Current Notes at Internet Archive The Current Notes issue Kay received from Rick Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth Rick's letter to Antic Magazine Volume 7 Number 11 "My kids love Talking Toddle" Support Kay's interviews on Patreon
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    51 mins
  • ANTIC Interview 442 - Bob Stein, Atari Research

    ANTIC Interview 442 - Bob Stein, Atari Research
    Nov 1 2024
    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)
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    57 mins

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