Interview questions for Bill Wilkinson?

[Forrest]

I really enjoyed the interview - brought back a lot of memories. I would not have enjoyed programming on my Atari 800 without Bill's Insight Atari column in Compute magazine. I remember I used that orange BASIC XL cartridge so much, I wore out the contacts (solder plated), and was able to later upgrade to one of the black cartridges with gold plated contacts which still works. Bill got it right with his closing statement in the interview - I have not known any computer as well as the Atari 800 since then - thanks Bill.

[ClausB]

Very interesting comments by Bill! His memory for details is pretty good. I found his calculator work intriguing and am disappointed that the interviewer did not ask the question I posted about BCD. Why not?

 

Bill did briefly comment on Microsoft BASIC even though that question was also not asked. Why not?

 

In general I wish they had discussed more the early work with Atari.

 

[+MrFish]

Finally had a chance to listen to this interview. Thanks to Kevin, and to Bill, especially in light of his medical condition/situation at the time, for doing the interview. Of course OSS is much loved in the Atari community as are the people who worked for the company, and I hope the best for Bill with his health situation and all his indeavors in the future.

 

Bill's "message to the Atari community" pretty much sums up the answer to the question people constantly ask about why people are still interested in programming the 8-bits now.

 

Bill's message:

 

"The reason I loved the Atari 8-Bit machines was that they were so easy to completely understand. Consider that the source codes for the internal OS, DOS, and even BASIC were all available, and of course the hardware schematics were all out in the open.
...
It didn't, and I suppose it still doesn't, take a lifetime of study to grasp how it all works together. Though I have moved on to more modern software, I have never been able to get a feel for the hardware and software interaction as I could with the Atari 8-Bit. So if you still have a love for these little beasts, I completely understand. For me there will always be a soft-spot in my heart for them and the many years I spent with them."

Edited January 15, 2015 by MrFish

[microbry]

Hi, my name is Bryan Wilkinson. I'm one of Bill's two sons.

I grew up with OSS as a big part of my life as a child and teen--I tagged along for many trade shows, I helped assemble and ship out cartridges, manuals, newsletters, etc and cleaned the office in its later years (originally after Shepardson's it was located in our house's newly built extension "office" before it later moved to an actual office off of De Anza above a Chinese restaurant, then later to another one a bit further down the road). I even helped come up with some rough ideas for what became the company logos and some of the ad artwork, for what that's worth (though my mom will argue with me over which ones were her ideas first). Atari computers and the 2600 were a big part of our life and I did all my jr. high/high school papers as well as self-published an amateur anime fanzine using our Atari computers (first the 8-bits and then the ST machines).

I didn't learn that he gave this interview until a couple months ago when my younger brother Eric told me about it. While some of it is a bit technical for me (alas I never really got much into programming myself, though I've been involved in the software and game industry on and off in other capacities), it was pretty nostalgic and literally close to home to hear about those times along with some of the troubles we went through at the end.

It was actually recorded at a dialysis center, not the hospital--but he'd been in and out of those quite a lot the last few years, too. I drove him to and from most of his 4-hour dialysis sessions (though apparently not that one), but it hadn't come up until I asked him about it after listening to it.

I hate to have to share this news, but my dad left us on November 10th. He had been fighting a rare form of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, the last two years, which had severely damaged his bones and had caused many other complications.

In accordance with his wishes, we have donated his body to the University of Washington for scientific research. A memorial service hasn't been decided on just yet, but we expect to arrange something in spring.

We were in the middle of helping him and my mom move to a new house when it happened, so things have been more than a bit chaotic. We've set up the new computer room/office and many of his old surviving OSS things are in there (I'll see if I can get photos once it's cleaned up some more--if someone's still looking for that Writer's Tool manual or such to archive, perhaps I can help some, though it might be a while). I'm hoping later to perhaps see if any might be of interest to an appropriate museum or to the community, but I'll post about that separately later. I shared the interview on my Facebook page (and his--though he rarely ever used Facebook) during his final days.

Thanks for your kind interest and support.

--Bryan (on behalf of the Wilkinson family)

Edited November 28, 2015 by microbry

[Bryan]

I hate to have to share this news, but my dad left us on November 10th. He had been fighting a rare form of multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, the last two years, which had severely damaged his bones and had caused many other complications.

 

 

Hey Bryan,

 

Whenever people celebrate the history of something, it seems only the more 'interesting' stories get told. However, your father's contributions to computing are a big part of where we are today. I'm grateful to have been a student of his and a user of his software.

 

-Bryan

[+MrFish]

Just two weeks ago, I started working on a website I've had in mind for quite a few years, dedicated to programming, dos, word processing and utilities. One of the main reasons I was interested in doing the website was to feature OSS software, and in fact it's been the focus of the content I've added so far. I was just contemplating what graphics to feature for parts of the OSS sections tonight when I read your message Bryan W. It certainly adds a lot more meaning to what I'm doing now, having heard the news of your father's passing.

[FifthPlayer]

Bryan,

 

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. I will forever be grateful to Bill not only for his software but for the way he shared his knowledge via his books and magazine columns. Bill did so much more than write about an 8-bit computer. He inspired future engineers.

Edited November 28, 2015 by FifthPlayer

[Rybags]

Condolensces and thanks for sharing the information, Bryan.

 

Also thanks to your dad and all those at OSS - they helped to shape the Atari 8-bit into what it was. A computer is just switches and wires without software to give it some personality.

And OSS were juggernauts in their field, equal to the likes of others such as Synapse, Broderbund, Sierra Online, Activision, Datasoft and Lucasfilm (among others).

[Mclaneinc]

Our hearts are with you Bryan and the rest of the Wilkinson family, your father is a national treasure to us and will not be forgotten, we hope it gives you some comfort that he was loved by a great many people outside of his own family.

 

I have a saying I use for my mother who passed in 2001, they are never gone as long as you remember them...

 

Take care...

 

Paul.

[Tezz]

Very sad to hear the news about Bill passing away. The books and magazine articles that Bill wrote were excellent and full of enthusiasm. The inspiration that Bill and others gave through their work made a difference to our lives in computing. We nursed my grandfather a couple of years ago through multiple myeloma, it's really rough to go through. Best wishes to his family.

[GoodByteXL]

My condolences and thank you for your notes.

Your father's writings on Atari issues got me hooked on my XL until today using OSS products. Just finished a small tool in BASIC XL when I read the sad news.

@MrFish
A non-gaming website with A8 stuff - I'd love to see this coming true. Feel free to acquire OSS stuff from my homepage, if it might fit your plans.

[ricortes]

The world is a poorer place without your father in it Bryan. A little blander, less honest, less altruistic, and not quite as smart. One of my favorite Atari memories is him at a user group meeting holding court where he dispensed pearls of wisdom and opinions. For me his greatest gift was as a teacher of all things programming. I've never heard or read anyone else that had the ability to explain things so clearly.

[fujidude]

How very sad. I'll always fondly remember early in my home computer days reading Compute! magazine and Bill's column there. And of course all the other wonderful things he had a part in too. I always thought his ability to "teach" through his writings was very good. He contributed so much to the Atari community and I'm sure we will all miss him.

[Mclaneinc]

Its sweet that in a pre internet normal world those of us from the day knew of Bill like he was a close friend even though we may have never met or spoken personally to him. You could just see what Bill had done for every one and learn thanks to his dedication and knowledge.

 

 

The gift of knowledge, one of the greatest gifts you can give......

 

Thank you Bill....RIP

[Kyle22]

Hi Bryan, so sorry to hear about your dad. He was an Atari God.

 

My sincere condolences.

 

-Kyle

[thorfdbg]

Sorry to hear that Bill passed away. He defined very much how I perceived Atari, and his works contributed in a major way to my own life. Things would have went quite different if Oss and its products would not have existed. I spend a great deal of time with Atari Basic (first) and Mac/65 later. I more or less grew up with these two programs.

 

R.I.P. Bill!

[+MacRorie]

Condolences to the Wilkinson family. He definitely left a legacy in his children: both carbon and silicon-based!

[flashjazzcat]

Very sad news. RIP Bill.

[Mathy]

Hello Bryan

 

I'm sorry to hear that. Your father was is one of our heros.

 

Sincerely

 

Mathy

[+MrFish]

@MrFish

A non-gaming website with A8 stuff - I'd love to see this coming true. Feel free to acquire OSS stuff from my homepage, if it might fit your plans.

 

It will take a while to get the content together, but I should have something up in the next few months.

 

I hadn't seen your website before. Thanks for the offer. I'll let you know if there's anything I can use.

[microbry]

Thank you, everyone.

Lately I've been thinking I should set up some Atari emulation on my machines. I already do some emulation of vintage game consoles, but for some reason never returned much to the Atari scene, even though a lot of my favorites are from that era. Now I'm here, I'll have to look into that a bit more. More relevant to this, I'd particularly like to track down--if possible--the "Pico Adventure" that my parents wrote together that I think was included with one of the Basic (XL maybe?) toolkits.

I would consider doing it with hardware, but as far as I can tell, the only piece of vintage hardware left in my dad's collection is our old 800, which is missing (as far as I have found) its power adapter and peripherals. The 800 is definitlely special, but I remember using the XL and XE hardware very fondly as well as the ST. If I knew he was going to toss that equipment (years back), I definitely would have stepped in and hung onto some of it. That said, emulation's awfully conveninent since I can put that on whatever. I remember he was pretty gobsmacked when I told him about the emulators that existed for the Sony PSP.

[luckybuck]

Dear Bryan,

My condolences.

Has send you a personal message, please see at the top of the site.

Saying all in one sentence:

The 'Kennedy' of Atari has left us.

There are those, who are not replaceable, Bill was one of them!

But his work will go on forever.

Bill will left a hole in my heart, but I will never, ever forget him.

Deeply concerned.

Edited November 29, 2015 by luckybuck

[fujidude]

Hello Bryan. I'm very sorry for you loss, which of course is even greater than it is for us in the Atari Community. I think I found the program you were after and am uploading it on a disk image here for you.

 

Regards

pico_adventure.atr

 

[microbry]

Hello Bryan. I'm very sorry for you loss, which of course is even greater than it is for us in the Atari Community. I think I found the program you were after and am uploading it on a disk image here for you.

 

Regards

pico_adventure.atr

 

Thank you, I really appreciate it. I'll definitely get going on the emulation soon, then.

[+Stephen]

Sorry to hear this. My condolences to your family.