The Atari interview discussion thread

[tschak909]

Heh, Bob talks about the Kansas City Standard...right off the bat... I can elaborate:

 

In 1975, a group of engineers from different companies (Tarbell, SWTPC, etc..), worked with Byte Magazine, and came up with the idea of standardizing the modulation/demodulation characteristics of cassette storage, so that one tape could possibly be read by another (they were directly influenced by the IBM 3740 8" disk format).

 

It specified a tape that ran at the standard consumer speed, with a transmission rate of 300 bits per second, audio frequency-shift-keyed (AFSK) with a 2400hz mark tone, and a 1200hz space tone.

 

When Atari was designing their 410, they were looking very closely at KCS, as well as a competing standard from Processor Technologies called CUTS (Computer Users Tape System), which was a similar format to KCS, but used a slightly different "manchester coding" and other tricks to not only have the KCS compatible 300 baud mode, but a 1200 baud mode... What Atari came up with, sort of split the difference (they were focusing on cheap as possible and reliable as possible).

 

Believe it or not, there was a short time for the next couple of years, where magazines like Byte would print acetate sound pages (flexidiscs) with software on them. This died out quickly because of low interest and the difficulty in obtaining a solid master for duplication...

 

-Thom

[DanBoris]

Hey Dan, it's great to hear from a former JACS member! It's been a long time since I've seen you - you might remember me

I haven't see Bob Whipple in a long time. It's funny mentioning Bob's Beatles collection - I remember Bob showing me part of his collection once.

PM if you want to discuss further. I still stay in touch with Mike Hopkins - you might remember him from JACS.

Forrest

 

Yes, I remember you, good to see you active on these forums. You should talk to Kevin about doing an interview, it would be good to have one with someone who helped run one of the user groups. BTW, do you have any of the JACS newsletters? I scanned the few I had and put them on archive.org, but it would be great to have more if you know anyone who has some.

[Forrest]

 

Yes, I remember you, good to see you active on these forums. You should talk to Kevin about doing an interview, it would be good to have one with someone who helped run one of the user groups. BTW, do you have any of the JACS newsletters? I scanned the few I had and put them on archive.org, but it would be great to have more if you know anyone who has some.

Dan,

I saw the two JACS newsletters on archive.org. Did you scan more?

 

I've kept my JACS newsletters - I'm fairly certain I have them all. I may scan them in the near future - that would be quite a lengthy task. JACS was active for over a decade.

 

Forrest

[DanBoris]

Dan,

I saw the two JACS newsletters on archive.org. Did you scan more?

 

I've kept my JACS newsletters - I'm fairly certain I have them all. I may scan them in the near future - that would be quite a lengthy task. JACS was active for over a decade.

 

Forrest

 

No, those were the only to I had. I would be great to see them all scanned. The two I had were stapled in the corner so it was easy to remove the staple and run them through a sheet feed scanner.

[Savetz]

Gary Furr, AtariWriter Product Manager, Printer Drivers

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-227-gary-furr-atariwriter-product-manager-printer-drivers

Gary Furr was Product Manager for productivity software for the Atari home computer division, where his claim to fame was being the manager for the AtariWriter word processor. He also published a set of AtariWriter printer drivers, which were first published through Atari Program Exchange — the product first appeared in the fall 1983 APX catalog, with support for 10 printers — then was sold directly by Gary, and eventually grew to support about 150 printers. After Atari, he worked at Datasoft.

This interview took place on August 29, 2016.

"I left the meeting, went directly back to my cubicle, called the programmer, and said 'There's been a little hiccup.'"

[Savetz]

Steve Stone, POKEY and ANTIC layout design

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-228-steve-stone-pokey-and-antic-layout-design

Video of this interview:

Steve Stone worked at Atari from 1977 through 1980, where he was a chip layout designer and engineer. He worked on the layout design for the POKEY and ANTIC chips. After Atari, he founded Macro Dienamics, Inc., a chip design firm that worked on custom chips for the Amiga computer.

This interview took place on August 29, 2016.

"The concept of someone flying in from Manhattan for the week, wearing thousand-dollar suits, being chauffeured around the valley and then flying out on the weekends -- was quite a contrast..."

Steve sent me a follow-up email after our interview:

"It was a pleasure speaking with you yesterday. The conversation jarred my memory. There is a few more comments, and some clarification that I would like to add.

I believe I stated that the disk capacity we used for the chip layout was 25-80KB. While it was literally as big as a washing machine, it was 25-80MB.

Also, I may have left out Warren questioning me about what I would put in that secret room. I told him that it should announce that the player had won a prize, and give them a phone number to call to collect.

I gave you a brief overview of the chip layout procedure used at that time. Our workload was driven by the schedule of displaying products at the CES. Our work-load had peaks and valleys. In the off-time (the valleys), I was allowed to do whatever I wanted, or do nothing at all. With some tutoring from Warren, and an APL programing book borrowed from Jim Huether, I spent my off-time writing programs to simplify the layout task. My code eliminated the drawing and digitizing phase, as the group became "on-line designers." My programs, then called "gate generators," were close to what is commonly used in chip design today, now called pcells. This is probably more information than you ever wanted to know about chip layout, but I thought it worthy of mentioning. The bottom-line is that, with these programs, we had a distinct edge over most companies that designed chips.

 

I'm really glad that we used Skype for our conversation rather than a phone call. Although, one could argue that if ever there was a FACE best-suited for a phone conversation, I may be it. But watching your expression, at the moment of epiphany, connecting the very old Star Trek game to Star Raiders, was enjoyable to see. I’m pretty sure Doug Neubauer would have got a kick out of that as well."

[gozar]

Steve Stone, POKEY and ANTIC layout design

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-228-steve-stone-pokey-and-antic-layout-design

Video of this interview: https://youtu.be/JhGPasK_RmE

 

Steve Stone worked at Atari from 1977 through 1980, where he was a chip layout designer and engineer. He worked on the layout design for the POKEY and ANTIC chips. After Atari, he founded Macro Dienamics, Inc., a chip design firm that worked on custom chips for the Amiga computer.

 

This interview took place on August 29, 2016.

 

The audio is messed up in this one, sounds like the entire podcast starts playing over the podcast itself.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ijor]

Steve Stone, POKEY and ANTIC layout design

Steve Stone worked at Atari from 1977 through 1980, where he was a chip layout designer and engineer. He worked on the layout design for the POKEY and ANTIC chips.

 

Interesting that, for some reason, there is no signature of his name on either of the chip dies. POKEY has Doug (Neubauer) and Mark (Shieu?) marks. ANTIC, at least rev E, shows "DE" (Joe Decuir?).

 

http://visual6502.org/images/C012294_Pokey/Atari_C012294_POKEY_die_shot_20x_1a_aligned_1600w.jpg

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/172580-antic-decap-and-reverse-engineering/?do=findComment&comment=2138700

Edited September 10, 2016 by ijor

[ilaskey]

The audio is messed up in this one, sounds like the entire podcast starts playing over the podcast itself.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Same here.

[Savetz]

Fixed — if your episode is bad, please re-download it.

 

—Kevin

 

The audio is messed up in this one, sounds like the entire podcast starts playing over the podcast itself.

[Savetz]

Hung Pham, APX Game Show

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-229-hung-pham-apx-game-show

Hung Pham wrote one program for Atari Program Exchange: Game Show, a game based on the Family Feud TV program (although the catalog never says that explicitly.) Game Show was first available in the Winter 1982-1983 APX catalog.

This interview took place on June 10, 2016.

"The reviewer was playing, and pretty soon he turned around -- a crowd of people was standing behind him, looking over his shoulder, trying to play. So, hey! This might have some potential."

[towmater]

I'd be curious to find out when Bard aerie trout (thanks iPad) Bard Ermentrout did a paddle-port based scanner, as it seems to describe one that Charlie Jackson, Dave Duberman, and I wrote up in Antic. I thought we invented the thing, but perhaps I was unwittingly influenced by seeing it somewhere, although in those days there were not a lot of information sources to stumble-upon. I do remember making some amazing fidelity images with it, but in the end the article ended up being an odd bow to Sam Tramiel.

[Savetz]

David Duberman, Antic magazine editor

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-231-david-duberman-antic-magazine-editor

David Duberman was an editor at Antic magazine (one of the two major Atari magazines in the United States). Later he was in customer support at Synapse software, then user group coordinator at Atari during the Tramiel era.

This interview took place on June 17, 2016. In it, we discuss Jim Capparell, whom I previously interviewed.

Teaser quotes:

"We were now in the computer age, so we had to print these weird [ATASCII] characters that were probably never printed in a magazine before."

"They [the Tramiels] would not spend a single penny that didn't absolutely have to be spent."

[Savetz]

Michael Boucher, MECC

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-230-michael-boucher-mecc

Michael Boucher was a programmer at MECC — Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium — from September 1980 through August 1984, where he worked on educational software for the Apple // and Atari 8-bit computers. His projects included Oregon Trail and Odell Lake.

This interview took place on June 14, 2016.

Teaser quotes:

"I had the honor of working with the finest group of dropouts I have ever had the pleasure of associating with."

"...Fairly sophisticated bit of code. And happily, nobody told us that it was hard, and being high school students, we didn't have the experience to know it was difficult. So we just did it."

Video of this interview:

[Savetz]

Mitchell Waite, computer book author and publisher

Mitchell Waite is a prolific computer book author and publisher. His first book "Projects in Sight, Sound and Sensation" was published in 1974. He founded the Waite Group in 1977, which published more than 80 titles in the computer programming field. He co-authored Computer Animation Primer (with David Fox) and Your Own Computer (with Michael Pardee), the 8086/8088 Microprocessor Primer with Christopher Morgan, CP/M Bible, and wrote, co-wrote, or published dozens of other computer books.

This interview took place on June 16, 2016.

Teaser quote: "'I don't even have an office yet,' you know? And he said 'Well you better get one.' And I said, 'But I don't even have a corporation.' He said, 'You better start one.'"

Video version of this interview:

[Savetz]

Alison Woods, Atari Graphic Designer

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-233-alison-woods-atari-graphic-designer

Alison Woods was a graphic designer at Atari from 1982 to 1984. She designed the packaging for the computer versions of Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, Pole Position, Robotron, Food Fight, and other products. Later, she was Vice President and Creative Director at Kidsoft, a CD-ROM based software magazine for kids.

This interview took place on May 26, 2016.

Teaser quotes:

"I wanted to have an exploding robot on the front of the package, and that was deemed too violent."

"One guy said to the other guy, 'See? I told you not to pay 'em!' I'm thinking, 'Oh my god, what am I dealing with here?'"

[Savetz]

Steve Robinson: Diggerbonk and Bean Machine

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-234-steve-robinson-diggerbonk-and-bean-machine

Steve Robinson is the author of two games that were published by Atari Program Exchange: Diggerbonk and Bean Machine. Diggerbonk was first available in the spring 1983 APX catalog. Bean Machine first appeared in the summer 1983 APX catalog, where it won third prize in the Entertainment category.

This interview took place on June 13, 2016. A video version of this interview is available.

In it, we talk about Jack Palevich whom I previously interviewed.

Teaser quote: "When they first published the game, they took the wrong version. I sent them the wrong version, not knowing that it had a bug in it. And — I got third prize anyway."

[Savetz]

@Macrorie — Marlin Bates, R-Time 8 Replacement Cartridge

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-235-marlin-bates-r-time-8-replacement-cartridge

In 1986, ICD released the R-Time 8, a real-time clock cartridge for the Atari 8-bit computers. One reason this is an intersting cartridge is that it has a pass-through port: you can plug another cartridge into it, then plug the R-Time 8 into the Atari. In 2016, Marlin Bates created the R-Time 8 Replacement Cartridge, a workalike cart. On June 7, 2016, we talked about that project. Marlin is better known to people on the AtariAge forums as @MacRorie. During this interview, we talk about Romox — I previously interviewed the CEO of Romox, Tim McGuinness.

Teaser quote: "You don't know enough to not do it, and by the time you're halfway in you go 'Oh, I guess I gotta do it now.'"

 

Video of this interview:

[Savetz]

Dan Rohr, Three R Math software

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-236-dan-rohr-three-r-math-software

Dan Rohr was the author of three educational programs which were published by Atari Program Exchange. Three R Math System first appeared in the summer 1982 APX catalog, where it won second prize in the education category. The Three R Math Classroom Kit was available in the spring 1983 APX catalog, where it won third prize in the education category. Finally, the Three R Math Home System was first available in the summer 1983 APX catalog.

This interview took place on June 13, 2016.

"Fortunately, the person that rejected it took the time to critique all of his objections that he had to it. And I said, 'Hmm, this person has never been in a classroom.'"

[Android8675]

In 1986, ICD released the R-Time 8, a real-time clock cartridge for the Atari 8-bit computers. One reason this is an intersting cartridge is that it has a pass-through port: you can plug another cartridge into it, then plug the R-Time 8 into the Atari. In 2016, Marlin Bates created the R-Time 8 Replacement Cartridge, a workalike cart. On June 7, 2016, we talked about that project. Marlin is better known to people on the AtariAge forums as @MacRorie. During this interview, we talk about Romox — I previously interviewed the CEO of Romox, Tim McGuinness.

 

Wanted to say I enjoyed listening to this interview today on the way to work, and I wanted to suggest to anyone who might not have their 8-bits setup to get to TCP/IP BBSs to try out SyncTerm (available for Win/Mac/Linux). This terminal has a nice ATASCII mode making it easier to get to Hotel Bates or any other ATASCII BBS without the need for a Lantronix, or maybe an SIO2XXX via APE or some other R: Handler software.

 

Syncterm

 

[+mytek]

@Macrorie — Marlin Bates, R-Time 8 Replacement Cartridge

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-235-marlin-bates-r-time-8-replacement-cartridge

In 1986, ICD released the R-Time 8, a real-time clock cartridge for the Atari 8-bit computers. One reason this is an intersting cartridge is that it has a pass-through port: you can plug another cartridge into it, then plug the R-Time 8 into the Atari. In 2016, Marlin Bates created the R-Time 8 Replacement Cartridge, a workalike cart. On June 7, 2016, we talked about that project. Marlin is better known to people on the AtariAge forums as @MacRorie. During this interview, we talk about Romox — I previously interviewed the CEO of Romox, Tim McGuinness.

 

 

I really enjoyed this interview. Such a remarkable individual. And I now feel like I have met the guy that was so inspirational in my quest to create a new version of TransKey. Because I really do believe that if I hadn't done it myself, Marlin certainly would have on his own, just like he did with the R-Time 8 Replacement Cartridge.

 

- Michael

[Savetz]

Bob Graves, Gridiron Glory

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-237-bob-graves-gridiron-glory

Bob Graves co-wrote Gridiron Glory, a football game which was published by Atari Program Exchange. The game first appeared in the winter 1982-1983 APX catalog. His co-author was Mike Drury, who was unavailable for an interview. Bob and Mike created two other Atari computer programs: Asteroid Artist and Ramblin Gamblin, which were published by their own company, MicroMate Software.

This interview took place on June 14, 2016.

"We'd go to the state library and look up historial records for the different football teams and how they did under certain circumstances. ... We'd come up with tables that would be cross-referenced when different plays were called."

[Savetz]

Bob Smith: Video Pinball; Imagic co-founder; Sleazy Adventure

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-238-bob-smith-video-pinball-imagic-co-founder-sleazy-adventure

Bob Smith worked at Atari, where he created Video Pinball for the Atari 2600. He also wrote two programs for the Atari 8-bit which were sold by Atari Program Exchange: Sound Editor and Sleazy Adventure, which both appeared in the inaugural APX catalog, fall 1981. He left Atari to co-found the game developer Imagic, where he programmed Riddle of the Sphinx, Dragonfire, Moonsweeper, and other games. Then he went on to work on games at Bally, Electronic Arts, and Accolade.

This interview took place on June 24, 2016.

Teaser quote: "I have two kids, no degree. I walked in to Atari and said, "I've written a game and sold it. ... Wanna hire me?' And Dennis Koble did."

[+sramirez2008]

 

Bob Smith: Video Pinball; Imagic co-founder; Sleazy Adventure

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-238-bob-smith-video-pinball-imagic-co-founder-sleazy-adventure

Bob Smith worked at Atari, where he created Video Pinball for the Atari 2600. He also wrote two programs for the Atari 8-bit which were sold by Atari Program Exchange: Sound Editor and Sleazy Adventure, which both appeared in the inaugural APX catalog, fall 1981. He left Atari to co-found the game developer Imagic, where he programmed Riddle of the Sphinx, Dragonfire, Moonsweeper, and other games. Then he went on to work on games at Bally, Electronic Arts, and Accolade.

This interview took place on June 24, 2016.

Teaser quote: "I have two kids, no degree. I walked in to Atari and said, "I've written a game and sold it. ... Wanna hire me?' And Dennis Koble did."

 

 

That teaser quote is classic!

 

Excellent podcast. -- Thank you.

[Savetz]

Dewitt Robbeloth, AKA Robert Dewitt, Editor of Antic magazine

http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-239-dewitt-robbeloth-aka-robert-dewitt-editor-of-antic-magazine

Dewitt Robbeloth, who went by the pen name Robert Dewitt, was editor of Antic magazine, STart magazine, and the short-lived II Computing magazine. He also freelanced for InfoWorld and other computer magazines. He was the editor the book "The Best of Antic Volume 1," published by Antic Publishing.

This interview took place on July 14 and 15, 2016. In it, we discuss Jim Capparell, whom I previously interviewed.

Teaser quotes:

"The bathroom flooded. So someone had the bright idea, since we were giving the paper away ... they decided to take our magazine and put it on the floor of the bathroom so it would sop up the water."

"I had to go up and sit at the big table. I had to keep my back to the wall so that nobody would see that my pants were split open."