"In the day" : The 5 Best non-game Programs on Atari 8-bit

[ACML]

I'm not talking about today, but back in the 80's, what are the five best programs ever written for the Atari 8-bit Home Computers. Mine in order:

 

1) Atari BASIC cartridge: I know, many will say Atari BASIC was slow and not compatible with other BASICs, but when you look at what Shepardson did in 8KB, it is utterly amazing. First off, lets roll back to 1979-1982. An Atari 400 or 800 with out a BASIC cartridge, is just a game platform. You add Atari BASIC and now its a computer. Anyone with little knowledge could write a program in BASIC and make it do something. This little cartridge put a lot of power in my hands in 1981. Atari BASIC has powerful graphics and sound features, realtime syntax correction and a decent editor for 1979. Now that is great, but when you consider they did it all in 8KB, this is an outstanding achievement.

 

2) Atariwriter: It came out in 1982. Prior to that, home computers were pretty much for the techy nerdy crowd because you had to code programs to make it do what you needed. Atariwriter made the Home Computer a useful device for just about everyone. Your sister for term papers, your father for letters, just name it. This program probably sold more Ataris than just about any program I can think of (yes, even Star Raiders). It wasn't until Atariwriter that my cousins, sister, younger brother, etc finally decided they needed a home computer. Again, a very powerful capability that hardly anyone had in the early 1980's.

 

3) Syncalc: Yes, Visicalc was already out, but Syncalc just was much better. It took advantage of Atari's strengths in graphics. A spreadsheet in the early 80's was not for everyone, but to me an engineering student, it was fantastic. Like Atari BASIC, a huge force multiplier and allowed me to do analysis that would have taken so long to accomplish by hand, that you would not even attempt.

 

4) OSS Action!: I discovered Action in 1983. I had just taken a class in Pascal programming on an HP3000 mainframe. Wow, Action! was ahead of its time. Great editor, a Pascal, C, ALGOL type language that complied really efficient object code. My brother used to design and sell printer sharing devices using the 6502 and had to write assembly language firmware. He typically used Atari Assembler Editor, but when he was stuck, he'd write the routine in Action!, compile and copy the machine code. On an early 80's home computer, no one had a programming language as powerful as Action!.

 

5) 850 Express: Three letters, BBS. The ability to call a local bulletin board system in the 80's was a new way to expand what you could do with a computer. Before email, before America Online, the ability to connect live with others and share programs was a taste of what we all take for granted today. In 1986, this was mind blowing. I remember the salesman telling me that 1200 baud is the fastest you will ever be able to go on a phone line. I think of the famous quote from Hoover during the Worlds Fair, "Everything worth inventing, has already been invented".

 

Honorable mentions: Micropainter, S.A.M. and Assembler Editor

 

What's your?

 

[+davidcalgary29]

I certainly agree with your list, but would replace 'Atariwriter' with 'Atariwriter+'. I used that for my university courses through to 1992.

 

I also seem to recall spending a huge amount of time with both 'Printshop' and 'The Newsroom'. Both were excellent ports for the A8.

[Dmitry]

Edit: oh I just noticed David also mentioned the Print Shop - well I second it, back then what with everything being paper based, it was some awesome software. I did use First Word on the Atari ST (I used TRS-80 and Scripsit for word processing in the 8bit era) First word was better than scripsit, but that is a different era already.

 

OK, time to pick 5

 

1. The Print Shop

2. Atari Basic

3. NightLight, BBS software

4. Amodem, because I can't remember the one I ended up replacing it with

5. Logo

Edited May 23, 2016 by Dmitry

[Goochman]

Add Atariwriter

[flashjazzcat]

I'm gonna assume you can include disk operating systems:

 

1. SpartaDOS X

2. Turbo BASIC XL

3. TextPro

4. Diasy-Dot II

5. The NewsRoom

 

Basically the above programmes did almost everything I wanted on the Atari in the late Eighties/early Nineties. Everything else, I wrote myself.

[+Larry]

There is a slight issue with this kind of a list. There is a lot of difference between the "first generation" programs from the early 1980's and the later programs from the XL days in the later 1980's and early 1990's.

 

Hence two lists from me.

Early:

Dos 2.0s (vs. Dos 1)

Atari Basic

The Monarch ABC Compiler

Atariwriter cart.

The Happy Backup program

 

Later:

MyDos

Atariwriter Plus

Turbo Basic XL/Compiler

Basic XE

Super Archiver

 

This is similar (IMO) to trying to compare the Atari line with the C64. The C64 was 2-3 years later, and there were a lot of changes in IC's in that time.

[Heaven/TQA]

- Turbo Basic XL

- Mac/65

- Makro Ass XE

- Atari Writer

- Dos 2.5

[Marius]

Synassembler

Syncalc

Mac/65

Turbo Basic XL

BBS Express (PRO)

[adam242]

Chipmunk!

[Mclaneinc]

Non Game:

 

Omnimon.....Best 8bit purchase i made in the day (apart from machines)

 

Atariwriter ....as without it most of the printed out game manuals would never have been done as a friends wife called Sue was the lady who loving typed the manuals in for people to print out....Sadly she's passed away a little while ago....

 

Diskey..........Brilliant fun and a hackers tool box..

 

Atari Assembler cart....That and Omnimon got me coding in 6502.

 

Mac65 for making sure I did it better...

[Gunstar]

For me, just being a computer user, and not a programmer back in the day, my list is a bit different. Not in any order necessarily among the 5:

 

With my original Atari 130XE I got in 1985

 

AtariWriter+

This got me through high school in the 80's and even college in the early 90's for all my papers.

 

Rambrandt

I used Rambrandt, and an Atari Touchtablet for all my graphic art.

 

Basic XE

I used this to type in and play all those listed programs in Antic and Analog.

 

Movie Maker

I had lots of fun messing around with this one back in the day.

 

Syncalc+ & Synfile+

Ok, that's two, but I used both in conjunction back then, and still to this day for my small business.

 

The only difference to this list today, using my 512K 1200XL is swapping out Atariwriter+ for FJC's fantastic The Last Word. And I will soon be delving into some of the newer art programs so Rambrandt *may* fall off the list once I get into HIP and TIP art, etc.

Edited May 23, 2016 by Gunstar

[+CharlieChaplin]

Hmmm,

 

in the 80s I only had a data-recorder (the 1010) so any A8 disk-only software was not usable for me... Afaik, I used the following tape-programs the most / quite often:

 

- BL/C: binary load cassette, a sort of gamedos for tapes to load ML fileversions

http://www.atarionline.pl/v01/index.php?ct=utils&sub=5.%20Magnetofon&tg=BLC#BLC

- COS: cassette operating system, another loader for tapes to load ML fileversions

(with a disk drive one used DOS binary load or simply a gamedos)

- "tape copy", used several copy programs to copy from tape to tape (e.g. Tape-Copy 45k, etc.)

- "translator tape" the equivalent program to translator disk, but to load tapes with the OLD-OS

- Atari Basic to load some commercial and some type-in programs in Basic (from various magazines)

 

I used BL/C most often to load hacked, cracked and pirated ML fileversions (*.COM) from tape, ahem.

I never owned a tape speeder nor any kind of turbo tape. Still use my standard + slow 1010 recorder from 1985 (made in Japan, with orange sticker) from time to time...

 

When using the data recorder every day in the 80s, I did avoid using TB XL, since loading TB XL programs was annoying: first use a special TB XL loader program, then load TB XL, then load the TB XL program - this took a very long time, so I always prefered Atari Basic programs back then...

Edited May 23, 2016 by CharlieChaplin

[walter_J64bit]

Print Shop!

Chipmunk! The XF551 is an unhappy drive.

Atariwriter and Atariwriter Plus

Super DOS 5.1 that let me have use of the Qua Format "360k" and have access to the speed of my XF551. I didn't know about Mydos at that time.

Edited May 24, 2016 by walter_J64bit

[kiwilove]

For those who could not afford Atariwriter wordprocessor - the next best thing - and best cheap such program would be Speedwriter - published in Compute! magazine. A pain to type in for a hexadecimal listing - but think it had it's checksum proofreader program to assist with typing it in.

It had excellent on screen presentation. Very clear and readable.

And SpeedCalc would be it's equivalent spreadsheet program - for those who couldn't afford a commercial spreadsheet program as such.

 

For those early into their Atari's - for graphics - Micropainter was the first program to appear, for drawing in Graphics 7.5 mode - a disk based program. When Fun With Art appeared - this was better because it allowed the use of extra colours (but only worked in horizontal bands) - and an excellent feature of this program, was the use of block copy. FWA was a cartridge program - and I was one of those who used it, when it was copied to disk. (ie. disk copy as such). Later Rambrandt appeared - which allowed you to draw in Graphics mode 9 - for those who wanted to draw in 16 shades of the one colour. And Technicolour Dream - for those who wanted unlimited colour choice - but it was a low res mode (or rather med res).

While MovieMaker appeared - it was somewhat slow and clumsy to use - and was only using Graphics Mode 7.

 

The best drawing hardware - would have to be the Atari Touch Tablet - which used a stylus pointer - which was better than say the Atari Light Pen. Both working in standard 4 colour Graphics 7.5 mode. The Atari Light Pen would be for those who prefer drawing on the TV/Monitor screen directly - for me, I didn't prefer that method of drawing.

 

The best programs - would be those which performed the function for which you wanted to use your Atari home computer for.

 

I wanted to draw/design graphics in Antic 4 - using a redefined character set - and the only such character set editor, that would work in this mode - was a simple type in BASIC program published in Byte magazine. One of their few Atari program listings?

And Fontbyter - published in Compute! magazine - was the only program out there, using redefined character sets in which you can assemble playfield graphics with. Later Envision did appear which was a more sophisticated program - which I did not know about back then? And did not get around to trying out, back in the day.

 

Harvey

[+davidcalgary29]

I definitely agree with 'MyDos' and 'Basic XE' as well. Still use 'em!

 

No love for 'Paperclip'? I also have to say that I probably used 'Typo' and 'Typo II' more than any other non-game programs.

[doctor_x]

Without a doubt 1030 express and later SX Express.. BBS's were what made me into what I am today as far as the knowledge i use to do my job..

[+slx]

Letter Perfect

Data Perfect (much faster than SynFile)

SynCalc

Action! (which would have ruled the world had OSS provided a bit more beginner-friendly documentation or at least more examples; I knew BASIC and Assembler before Action! and found the learning curve steep)

 

Lots of stuff tied for fifth place

 

The Monkey Wrench

Atari BASIC (one of the first to include graphics and sound commands)

BASIC XL/XE (oh if Atari had made a deal to make them standard on the XLs)

Diskey

DDT

Mac/65

DOS XL (actually most DOSes - the glory of choosing between 10 or more of them to basically do the same thing in your preferred style)

 

Turbo BASIC XL (fast and free)

 

Ramdisk software

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gesendet von meinem iPhone mit Tapatalk

[ballyalley]

For those who could not afford Atariwriter wordprocessor - the next best thing - and best cheap such program would be Speedwriter - published in Compute! magazine.

 

I think you mean Speedscript. That program was updated numerous times. It was eventually published by Compute! Publications as a stand-alone book (which is available from multiple places, including archive.org):

 

https://archive.org/details/ataribooks-speedscript

 

I remember that the Atari version of Speedscript 3.0 was one of the first "PD" program that I got in the mid-90s from an Atari public domain software house. Compute! used to publish updates and compatible programs for the C64 version of Speedscript. Did they do this on the Atari too?

 

I never had an Atari back in the 80s, but when I got my first Atari in the mid-90s, I think that my most-used programs were:

 

1. MyDOS 4.5 - Allowed me to use disks drives to the best of their ability. I loved the RAM disk on my upgraded 256K Atari 800XL.
2. Bobterm 1.21 - Allowed me to use my 850 and a null modem cable to download Atari 8-bit programs from FTP sites (the programs were first downloaded to my Windows PC). Oh, how I loved the Y modem batch protocol. Super handy! I used an Atari SX212 (SIO And parallel) to login GEnie. I (mostly) missed the BBS days, but I did manage to catch the tail end of it before it faded away.
3. Atari BASIC - Okay, this was built into my 800XL, so I'm not sure if it counts... but I certainly used BASIC quite a lot. I didn't write my own programs, but there is just so much Atari software written in BASIC that the computer would be the same computer without it.
4. Lake Almanor Public Domain disk - Before I discovered FTP sites, I used to order lots of programs from this PD software house in California. The Atari home computer was new to me, so I learned about most software from the disk catalog (which included program descriptions). Plus, the disk was free (or practically free: it cost a dollar).
5. ROM Cartridges - I bought my first Atari computer for a few reasons, one of them was that I could get cartridges for around a buck a piece at nearly any Goodwill or thrift store. Sure, these cartridge weren't as common as Atari 2600 cartridges-- but I found a few different ones a week. I had many, many cartridges (probably over 100) before I trimmed down my collection in the early 2000s. I think I probably had 10 copies of Centipede, Atari BASIC and many others. I guess my best cartridge find was a small plastic bag of fifteen or twenty cartridges for $6. One of those carts was Bounty Bob Strikes Back! What a game!

I was a really late Atari bloomer. I'm just glad that I found the Atari 8-bit line of computers at all... otherwise, the C64 (which I grew up using in the 80s) would probably still be my favorite 8-bit computer.

 

Adam

[flashjazzcat]

I think you mean Speedscript. That program was updated numerous times.

And SpeedScript eventually became TextPro (in around 1986). Mike Collins and Ronnie Riche took SpeedScript, added Macros, SpartaDOS folder support and made various other improvements. TextPro went through several iterations too until (IIRC) version 5.0X.

[JoSch]

For me it was just:

DOS 2.5

Atari Basic Rev B

Turbo Basic XL

Atari Writer

[bbking67]

I'm going with the following:

 

SpartaDOS (I favored 3.2 over X back in the day)

Bobterm

BBS Express Pro!

First XLent Word Processor

Action!

[R4ngerM4n]

My preferred German stuff back in the day:

 

1) Loader and tools for the Turbotape hardware mod by the Chaotic Hacker ... that setup saved soooo much time (600 B/s default, modded XC12 with software up to 6000 B/s).

2) Atmas II Macro-Assembler by Peter Finzel - lightning fast and very comfortable

3) S.A.M. program package by Harald Binner (published in German mag Atarimagazin, not the speech synthie by Tronix) - in particular the graphics editor/painting program blew my mind, full DLI support and pulldown menu driven!

4) Music utility Softsynth (published in German mag Happy Computer) - just wow at its time!

5) Bibosoft sector copier

Edited May 26, 2016 by R4ngerM4n

[+David_P]

BobTerm

Mac65

Atariwriter

DiskCommunicator 3.2

DOS XL

[bbking67]

So a couple of posts back I put Bobterm down, but that really came out late in the game (and it was awesome). In a way Bobterm was a spiritual successor to The Express telecommunications software by Keith Ledbetter. My first exposure was the 1030 Express! product, though I am not certain what version came out first. I later used the 850 Express with my faster modems (on my Multi I/O serial interface). I think there were various other versions of Express (MPP Express, etc.) There was also a commercial cartridge version which I never owned or used.

 

This product was amazingly well done in it's day. The menus were well thought out and it was one of the programs that introduced me to telecommunications (which I made a career out of). I loved the way that during Xmodem transfers it showed visually the data as it downloaded. Express is a sentimental favorite for me.

 

So eventually I switched to Bobterm. The thing with Bobterm is that it was very familiar territory--it seemed modeled after Express in many ways and it expanded the feature set. So Bobterm ultimately was better, but I think it came out after 1985.

[ggn]

There was so few Atari software here that I was forced to code a lot of custom stuff on my own (or type stuff from Atari User) using Atari Basic, so that definitely gets a place in my list.

 

Other than this...

 

Does Mini Office II count as 1 or 6 entries? I only used the Word processor, spreadsheet and graphics mostly. Database, mail merge and comms (this one was written in Action! too) never got any use from me due to lack of use cases and modem. Weird that nobody mentioned this package yet, I think it was pretty good.

 

Also had Rambrandt but no "exotic" input hardware so I had to make do with using the joystick .

 

Used US Sector Copy II for all the naughty stuff that took place inside the ΕΛΚΑΤ building (the Atari distributors here in Athens)

 

Finally, Rob.C's raster menu selector (who knew I'd end up in one of the groups he was in 15-20 years later ).

Edited May 26, 2016 by ggn