The Atari interview discussion thread

[fultonbot]

In case anyone is interested, here is Alan Newman's profile on boardgamegeek.com

[Savetz]

John Crane, RPN Calculator Simulator

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-158-john-crane-rpn-calculator-simulator

John Crane published one Atari program, through Atari Program Exchange: RPN Calculator Simulator. The program first appeared in the Spring 1982 APX catalog, where it was awarded second prize in the business and professional applications category.

John was also one of the founders of the Bay Area Atari Users Group, and did some software evaluation for Atari Program Exchange.

This interview took place on January 31, 2016.

Teaser quote:

"He [steve Wozniak] introduced all of us to his demonstration about his Apple -- what would become the Apple I. I saw his demonstration and I go, 'Oh, that is very cool.'"

"I had what I used to call the bash and bang test. I'd load up the program on an Atari 800 or 1200 or whatever I happend to have at the time, and as the program was running I would just start pounding on the keys at random, just taking my fists and just banging on the keyboard."

[+Ripdubski]

I never cared for the bash and bang test. I preferred the slam test were I slam my forehead into the keyboard repeatedly.

[Savetz]

Bryon Wilcox, Wilcox Company

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-159-bryon-wilcox-wilcox-company

On December 12, 2015, I bought an unusual Atari computer on ebay: it appeared to be a typical 800XL, but where the Atari name would have been, there was a sticker that said "GRAPHICS 1 - The Wilcox Company." Another sticker on the bottom of the computer indicated that the company was based in Washougal, Washington.

When I received the computer, I found that it included a hand-made cartridge that contains a message display program. You can enter a few lines of text, plus the time and date, which are then displayed in large letters on the screen.

I wanted to know more about this computer and the company that created it, so I hunted down Bryon Wilcox. This interview took place on January 27, 2016.

Pictures of the computer and binary dump of the cart: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/248826-dump-of-wilcox-message-display-cart/

[+Stephen]

Not sure how you find all these guys, but I am really enjoying these interviews!

[Savetz]

Chuck Mullally, Mastermatch

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-160-chuck-mullally-mastermatch

Chuck Mullally published one game through Atari Program Exchange: Mastermatch, game similar to the Mastermind board game. Mastermatch was one of the last APX programs to be released: it was first available in the Winter 1983-1984 APX catalog — the final APX catalog. Chuck told me that the game won a $1000 prize from APX, but the catalog — a sparse 8 pages and much smaller than the previous APX catalogs — doesn’t even mention that.

This interview took place on January 31, 2016.

[Shawn Jefferson]

"The C64 was very poor quality"? I've never heard that one.

 

 

What I meant was build quality. The thing was a flimsy piece of junk with all the aesthetic appeal of a Soviet-era apartment building. Jack Tramiel brought that to Atari with the "XE" series.

I have to admit being somewhat jealous of some game graphics on the C64 (Racing Destruction Set was one we played on the C64 instead of the Atari for instance), and especially jealous of it's long support by software developers.

Edited April 17, 2016 by Shawn Jefferson

[Savetz]

Remember the '80s, when we were all going to use computers to balance checkbooks & store recipes? Here's the latter.

 

Edward Lehmann, Recipe Search 'N Save

Edward Lehmann published one Atari program through Atari Program Exchange: Recipe Search 'N Save, which first appeared in the summer 1982 APX catalog. It won third prize in the Personal Finance & Record Keeping category in that catalog.

It was APX catalog number 20114, available on diskette, required 32K, and cost $22.95

This interview took place on February 2, 2016.

Teaser quote:

"The thing is, it didn't work all the time, that's what bugged me. I was selling a defective product."

Edited April 18, 2016 by Savetz

[TheMontezuma]

Kevin, you are incredible

I wish I had a longer distance to commute to be up to date with your interviews.

On the other way, my dog is very happy that we go for a longer walk every day

 

I wondered if the video "Terminal" announced in the interview 84 (Dorsett Educational Systems) was uploaded somewhere?

Edited April 18, 2016 by TheMontezuma

[Savetz]

 

> I wondered if the video "Terminal" announced in the interview 84 (Dorsett Educational Systems) was uploaded somewhere?

 

Not yet. I've asked about getting it several times and will continue to do so.

 

Kevin

[kiwilove]

This should be posted in the other thread about the UK - but I couldn't find it.

 

Just viewed the "From Bedrooms to Billions" movie length high quality documentary about how much the English programmers etc made an impact on home computer videogaming. Certainly worthwhile viewing because of who appears in it but in the end it gets to be over the top as to how they self congratulate themselves on what they've done. There's Atari stuff shown in fleeting glimpses but at least you'll get to put a face to certain names. It is informative on the UK scene and goes all through to present day.

 

It would be nice to see something done - that fills in the gap about the Atari side - ie. A8 hardware and games that would complement the above - in whatever media format.

 

Never did think the Dragon computer was a good buy. And I'm probably one of the few who sent a letter to Jeff Minter saying how disappointed I was in buying a copy of Gridrunner - when I was living in the UK.

 

Harvey

[Savetz]

John Powers, Atari Director of Software Development

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-162-john-powers-atari-director-of-software-development

John Powers was co-founder of The Authorship Resource, the company that created all of the software for the CyberVision 2000 computer. From 1980 to 1982 he worked at Atari as Director of Software Development for personal computers. While he was there, he wrote three pieces of software for Atari Program Exchange: Newspaper Route Management Program, Computerized Card File, and Cosmatic Atari Development Package. He was later VP of Research and Development at educational software publisher The Learning Company.

This interview took place on February 2, 2016.

Teaser quotes:

"Because of the Warner connection, coming from the movie business, I think they were under the impression that with a lot of money, we just hire a lot pf people, we can make this work. And it never quite happened."

"My son had a newspaper route. So I said 'You know, there's a lot better way we can do this. I think we can use the Atari 800 to simplify some of this.'"

[Tempest]

I just listened to the interview with Art Prag because I was always so curious about that Astrology title in the APX catalog. I was honestly expecting hear an old hippie mumble about how the Atari was the perfect vessel for determining when the moon was in the seventh house or whatnot (ok, so I don't know anything about Astrology), but was shocked to hear a retired physicist talk about working on satellites and government research. I never suspected the interview would go in that direction, I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Keep up the amazing work!

[Lynxpro]

I just listened to the interview with Art Prag because I was always so curious about that Astrology title in the APX catalog. I was honestly expecting hear an old hippie mumble about how the Atari was the perfect vessel for determining when the moon was in the seventh house or whatnot (ok, so I don't know anything about Astrology), but was shocked to hear a retired physicist talk about working on satellites and government research. I never suspected the interview would go in that direction, I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Keep up the amazing work!

 

Not to go way off-topic but I don't understand why astrology and science are supposedly incompatible. I see no conflict because I find it highly plausible gravity from the planets in our solar system could impact fetal development based upon their alignments and positioning away from Earth and thus that could explain common human behaviors amongst people who developed during the same time period.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Lynxpro

[Chris++]

The doctor's gut had more gravitational influence on you during your birth than the nearest celestial body. There's no contest when it comes to the math involved.

 

 

[Lynxpro]

The doctor's gut had more gravitational influence on you during your birth than the nearest celestial body. There's no contest when it comes to the math involved.

 

 

 

The doctor's gut is only around for a handful of hours at best compared to the exposure to the gravity of the planets over a 9 month gestation.

[rkindig]

Ron Luks, Founder and manager of the Atari Forums on CompuServe

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-163-ron-luks-compuserve-atari-forum-founder

 

Welcome to this interview-only episode of Antic, The Atari 8-bit computer podcast. My name is Randy Kindig. In this show, I’ll be talking with Mr. Ron Luks, a name that you’re probably familiar with if you used your Atari to access the Compuserve Information Service. Ron was founder and manager of the Atari Forums on CompuServe (SIG*Atari, 8-bit Forum, 16-bit Forum (ST), Atari Developers, Atari Vendors, and others.) He also wrote articles for some of the Atari magazines (like ANTIC). I hope you enjoy this interesting glimpse into the online world of Atari back in the 80’s.

I also want to mention that Ron was kind enough to donate an Atari 130XE and a set of cartridges to the show.

This interview was conducted November 18, 2015

Teaser Quotes:

• “And the owner of the store steered me over to the Atari 800 and it was running Star Raiders, ok, and that was all it took”
• “So that’s when I decided I’m going to give Compuserve a try and see what it’s like. I was instantly hooked with the whole online service idea.”
• “At one time the Atari 8-bit forum was the biggest money-making forum on CompuServe.”

Edited April 23, 2016 by rkindig

[Savetz]

John Palevich: Dandy and Deep Blue C Compiler

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-164-john-palevich-dandy-and-deep-blue-c-compiler

John Palevich wrote several programs which were published by Atari Program Exchange: the Chameleon CRT Terminal Emulator; Mantis Boot Tape Development System; Deep Blue C Compiler and its source code on a product called Deep Blue Secrets; and Dandy, a graphical dungeon crawl game that is famously the inspiration for the arcade classic, Gauntlet.

He later worked in the advanced projects division at Atari, working on Atari's unfinished Eva computer project, as well as the unfinished AMY music chip and RAINBOW graphics chip.

In this interview we discuss Joel Gluck, whose interview is forthcoming.

This interview took place on November 20, 2015.

"It was a situation where whether you made a good business decision or a bad business decision, more money came in the next quarter."

"Any time a dignitary, any time a rock star came by to tour Atari, they would come and try out the AMY chip."

[Savetz]

Yakov Epelboim: Pushky and Devilator

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-165-yakov-epelboim-pushky-and-devilator

Yakov Epelboim is a Russian immigrant who published two programs for the Atari 8-bit computers. Pushky (which I learned is the Russian word for "cannons") was published by Atari Program Exchange, and first appeared in the Winter 1982-1983 APX catalog for $22.95. He also wrote Devilator, which he self-published as Zebra Company. Both programs were written in machine language, and both are unusual games, a little off the beaten track from other games of the era. The APX catalog said: "Pushky is in a class by itself in terms of game format. At least, we have nothing else like it at APX."

Yakov is joined in this interview by his wife Olga, who added color commentary and translation help.

This interview took place February 5, 2016.

Teaser quote:

"Then I did couple more programs, games, and send them to Atari. And they wrote me, 'Everything fine. We will take them, but you should change this and this, add music.' I did everything, send them, but in this time they were bankrupt."

[Savetz]

Arthur Leyenberger (Atari columnist whom I interviewed) sent me two mystery boxes of Atari computer things. I had no idea what was inside — so made an unboxing video so we can be surprised by their contents together.

 

[ijor]

I am probably biased towards the technical people ...

 

 

 

According to a 1987 article in Antic magazine, "Tom Harker started ICD in his basement in Rockford, Illinois, with Mike Gustafson, who then lived in Minneapolis. The company was incorporated in 1984, with Harker as president and Gustafson as vice president in charge of development."

 

I would love to see an interview with Mike Gustafson. He was the mastermind behind all those great ICD products. Also the developer of The Chip and The Archiver before they founded ICD.

 

Another nice one would be Richards Adams (brother of Scott Adams), owner of Happy Computers. I know he used to maintain a very low profile, but probably things changed by now.

[Savetz]

Michael Crick, Frogmaster

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-166-michael-crick-frogmaster

Michael Crick created the game Frogmaster, which was published for the Atari computers by Atari Program Exchange. It first appeared in the summer 1982 APX catalog, where it won first prize in the entertainment category. Michael later made a version of Frogmaster for the Commodore 64. He created two other C64 games: Break Street (a break dancing game), and Go For the Gold (an Olympics style game) as well as TERSE, a programming language for the C64.

Frogmaster cost $22.95 and was APX catalog number 20131. A Spanish version of Frogmaster was also released by APX, Amansarranas - APX catalog number 20252.

This interview took place on February 3, 2016.

Teaser quote:

"The truth was, it wasn't really a very fun game. I mean, it was an interesting scientific exercise."

[Savetz]

 

I would love to see an interview with Mike Gustafson. He was the mastermind behind all those great ICD products. Also the developer of The Chip and The Archiver before they founded ICD.

 

Another nice one would be Richards Adams (brother of Scott Adams), owner of Happy Computers. I know he used to maintain a very low profile, but probably things changed by now.

 

Gustafson: I'm working on it, will continue to do so.

 

Adams: We've been in contact for more than a year. He still is a low-profile kind of guy. I'm doing what I can.

 

-Kevin

[Bryan]

I hope Kevin gets more interviews done before he joins ZZ Top!

[+Allan]

I hope Kevin gets more interviews done before he joins ZZ Top!

Too late!!

 

Well, it was fun while it lasted. Maybe we'll hear some new music though.

 

Allan