Mclaneinc Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 (edited) Arghhh Kevin...."I've never heard of that one" re MULTIBOOT!!!! hang your head in shame , no, take him to the gallows!! That alone could have given a 10 mins of juicy stuff, multiboot has a huge historical POV for the Atari... But really enjoyed the podcast, lots of good info and niceties to be had, Jon said to me after he had done the interview that he hoped he didn't come away as a bit Brit but you did us proud good sir... The source code of the games would be very appreciated if it comes out as would that multiboot code as its me who was asking Jon about it initially... Just one little observation Kevin, it could be the Brit in me but sometimes you sound in the interviews like they have just woken you up after a long piece, there's a silence and then a very quiet, "ok, what next" or similar Its not an issue, not everybody likes an over bright super sparkly interviewer (I don't because they sound false) but you sound shall we say "laid back" It works though...Keep 'em coming, great work... Paul.. Edited September 3, 2018 by Mclaneinc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avram Posted September 6, 2018 Share Posted September 6, 2018 Thanks so much for doing this interview, Kevin! I really appreciate hearing the stories behind Timeslip and Jet Boot Jack. Jon - if you read this, I can assure you that your source code to your games will much enjoyed by the Atari community. Regardless, as you have bolstered your original code with expanded comments it would be wonderful to see the documents uploaded to here and/or archive.org. Finally, I cant wait to see what you do with updated versions of Timeslip and Jetbook Jack. Thanks for exploring these titles again! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nojeee Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 Thanks so much for doing this interview, Kevin! I really appreciate hearing the stories behind Timeslip and Jet Boot Jack. Jon - if you read this, I can assure you that your source code to your games will much enjoyed by the Atari community. Regardless, as you have bolstered your original code with expanded comments it would be wonderful to see the documents uploaded to here and/or archive.org. Finally, I cant wait to see what you do with updated versions of Timeslip and Jetbook Jack. Thanks for exploring these titles again! I've no objection to uploading the source code, just rather embarrassed by some of the code . I've just taken another look and there are still large areas devoid of comments so I'd like to spend some time trying to work out what on earth I was doing before uploading. I had to convert all of my source from tokenised Synassembler format to normal .asm files so the screen formatting isn't too good. That said, I will upload them when I've had a chance to make another pass. It's actually quite interesting to see how my programming evolved after Jet Boot Jack. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 Thank you Jon, appreciate all the time and work, don't forget the retirement as well though, the wife won't be pleased if its all programming I can imagine she's eyeing up another room for doing up as we speak Our regards to the good lady as well... Loved the interview, wish it had hit the multiboot more but its a pretty sensitive subject too so maybe best left unspoken in public.. Paul.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Wright Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 Thank you Jon, appreciate all the time and work, don't forget the retirement as well though, the wife won't be pleased if its all programming I can imagine she's eyeing up another room for doing up as we speak Our regards to the good lady as well... Loved the interview, wish it had hit the multiboot more but its a pretty sensitive subject too so maybe best left unspoken in public.. Paul.. Jet Boot Jack was one of the first games I played on an Atari and despite the English Software branding I always assumed it was American in origin due to a) its dazzling mastery of the hardware and b) the name "Jon Williams" had US connotations :-) Ironically, I'm pretty sure the copy of Jet Boot Jack I played came straight from a multiboot menu. So here's another request for elaboration on the creation of Multiboot from Jon himself, and his thoughts on how it was ultimately, erm... "adopted" by fellow Atarians. One of the best ANTIC podcasts I've heard (along with Adam Billyard) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 (edited) Its a tough one, the creation I'd love to hear a bit more about and its subsequent spread around local folk but it has a more deep relation in to the Atari World which is best left be, its nothing to do with Jon directly but it does have a history after its creation.. Again, totally after jon's making of it.. As for Adam, lovely guy, terrible memory...Ask him about his Atari 8bit snooker game Even he forgot about it (it never got properly started anyway on the Atari 8bit) Edited September 7, 2018 by Mclaneinc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Wright Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 Its a tough one, the creation I'd love to hear a bit more about and its subsequent spread around local folk but it has a more deep relation in to the Atari World which is best left be, its nothing to do with Jon directly but it does have a history after its creation.. As for Adam, lovely guy, terrible memory...Ask him about his Atari 8bit snooker game Even he forgot about it (it never got properly started anyway on the Atari 8bit) Haha Paul, hence my hesitant "adoption" remark.. for every Jon.C, Ian.K and their like, there were ten Multiboots :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 (edited) Indeed and they shall we say they came from the most unexpected places...The last place you would expect them to come from...That's where I drop it, some may still be alive or I'd rather not talk too bad of the dead.. I'm still trying to find out all these years who the Sol Negrene character is, he got a few mentions on boot menu's but it seemed it was not in a hex edited way like many users did with Diskey to name it as "their" disk And the good old Rob.C's Never spoke to him but share a modem link for a game with him once....One of the bloke I knew actually knew him somehow...I got Buck Rogers on my trusty hand built Maplin 300baud modem that way.. Heady nice days...Probably best forgotten Edited September 7, 2018 by Mclaneinc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Wright Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 Aw, c'mon :-) This is all ancient history, isn't it? I know that a multitude of illicit things made their way out of a certain Railway Terrace in Slough circa mid-80s, just as it's surely common knowledge that so many who had a vested interest in commercial success were nevertheless involved in nefarious pursuits at the time. I trust we're not at cross-purposes here! I can remember Rob.C getting a mention in Atari User as a potential hardware pirate (Ultimon?) and Les Ellingham banning adverts for certain soft/hardware products in Page 6 (only to backtrack when the revenue started to dry up.) What I didn't realise at the time is for all the Jon.C, Rob.C, Ian.K and Multiboot disks, the aforementioned were merely responsible for the menu system used by the wider community. I always assumed that a Rob.C menu (for example) meant he was responsible for the dodgy gear on show. Not so. Same with Multiboot which I think carried an unfortunate credit for its author. I could easily have circulated a disk full of binaries I'd compiled using any one of these menus credited to the menu author... I don't think these chaps were anywhere near as prolific as history would suggest. At least in the ST era, the Was Not Was menus (Rob.C again?) made it plain who was responsible :-) Sorry for the outpouring; the subject fascinates me. I respect the fact you know way more than you're prepared to divulge - here's a man who can certainly keep a secret - but it's all so, so, so long ago... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nojeee Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 Multiboot genuinely began life as a way to group my personal games onto a single disk. When I first started with my 800 back in 1981 most games were unprotected and were a single load from disk or cassette. I had already been delving into the operating system to create A.C.E. (Atari Cassette Enhancer) so knew how a game booted and took control of the hardware. I wrote a small menu program that would allow me to copy multiples games onto a single disk and this evolved into Multiboot. I had a few friends locally who were into the A8 scene and handed out copies to them and that's almost all there is to it ... honest guv! The code did have an update to Multiboot XL to fix a problem that came with the updated O.S. - I also added the ability to update an original Multiboot disk to an XL version. It was many years later that I found out that Multiboot had traveled far and wide. I'm sure I remember being in that place you mentioned in Slough when somebody asked if I had anything to do with Multiboot ... they thought it had come from the U.S. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Wright Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 (edited) Thanks, Jon. What an absolute pleasure to hear from you! As a youngster, my first experience of Atari was courtesy of a school friend whose father was a notorious pirate and my friend received all of his "hand me downs". He had disk upon disk filled with Multiboot-driven commercial game compilations. I was young and naive but knew something was fishy! A few months later I got my own 800XL with 1010 cassette recorder on the promise that he'd copy me these disk games to tape thanks to Multiboot. It never came to pass, but I'll always remember the name. Edit: I should add that, bereft of anything hooky, I eventually owned Jet Boot Jack several times over thanks to buying the first few Atari Smash Hits tapes :-) As said earlier, I was convinced that JBJ was American in origin due to its gloss - the loader, the title screen and music, "Let it Rock!", etc. Did you consciously make it in the style of a US game? I know you said you felt isolated at the time, but did you feel you were competing against other UK coders such as Steven Riding/Tim Huntingdon? Did you have to travel to Manchester often to show off updates or was it all done by post/modem? Anyway, thanks for being part of my childhood. I'll end by linking to this rare archive piece of you playing a classical number on the ill-fated Atari EGS (Electronic Guitar System): Edited September 7, 2018 by Mark Wright 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted September 7, 2018 Author Share Posted September 7, 2018 Bruce Artwick: Flight Simulator II, Night Mission Pinball http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-366-bruce-artwick-flight-simulator-ii-night-mission-pinball-bruce-artwick-was-co-founder-of-sublogic-and-creator-of-the-best-selling-program-flight-simulator-ii-fsii-was-first-available-for-the-apple-ii-with-versions-released-later-for-the Bruce Artwick was co-founder of SubLOGIC, and creator of the best-selling program, Flight Simulator II. FSII was first available for the Apple II, with versions released later for the TRS-80, Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, and other platforms. His 1976 master's thesis, A Versatile Computer Generated Dynamic Flight Display, about creating a real-time flight simulator on the PDP-11, provided some of the early research for his flight simulation software. Bruce was also creator of Night Mission Pinball, a popular pinball game that was available for Apple II, Atari 8-bit, C64, and DOS computers. This interview took place on August 7, 2018. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 I'm about to listen, but part of me in my head is screaming, "DID YOU ASK HIM ABOUT AIRFIGHT ON PLATO?!" -Thom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nojeee Posted September 8, 2018 Share Posted September 8, 2018 Thanks, Jon. What an absolute pleasure to hear from you! As a youngster, my first experience of Atari was courtesy of a school friend whose father was a notorious pirate and my friend received all of his "hand me downs". He had disk upon disk filled with Multiboot-driven commercial game compilations. I was young and naive but knew something was fishy! A few months later I got my own 800XL with 1010 cassette recorder on the promise that he'd copy me these disk games to tape thanks to Multiboot. It never came to pass, but I'll always remember the name. Edit: I should add that, bereft of anything hooky, I eventually owned Jet Boot Jack several times over thanks to buying the first few Atari Smash Hits tapes :-) As said earlier, I was convinced that JBJ was American in origin due to its gloss - the loader, the title screen and music, "Let it Rock!", etc. Did you consciously make it in the style of a US game? I know you said you felt isolated at the time, but did you feel you were competing against other UK coders such as Steven Riding/Tim Huntingdon? Did you have to travel to Manchester often to show off updates or was it all done by post/modem? Anyway, thanks for being part of my childhood. I'll end by linking to this rare archive piece of you playing a classical number on the ill-fated Atari EGS (Electronic Guitar System): Thanks for the kind words. I didn't consciously write the game in a U.S. style although I'm sure all of the great games around at the time had an influence on me. I visited English Software a few times in Manchester but mainly to hassle for payment . It was about a 10 hour round trip and I'd go up and back in a very long day! All demos and updates were sent by post and very few failed to get there. Interestingly, many years later while working on PS1 games we would FedEx builds to Disney in LA as transferring by modem took so long and was so unreliable. Things are certainly different now. I really wish that was me playing Cavatina (one of my favourite pieces) ... I did go on to write the Star Wars theme though . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abbotkinneydude Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Kevin- Did you ever hear back from Bryan Talbot regarding his other discs beyond Cartoonist? The interview was a treasure trove of unreleased material. Thank you for bringing this to the light of day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted September 14, 2018 Author Share Posted September 14, 2018 Kevin- Did you ever hear back from Bryan Talbot regarding his other discs beyond Cartoonist? The interview was a treasure trove of unreleased material. Thank you for bringing this to the light of day. He sent me some scans on CD-ROM which I am still digging though. No software yet — though I think he'll get to it in time. I just asked him again, we'll see what happens. Kevin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avram Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 Kevin - did Robert Jaeger ever send you his disks? The skiing game sounds interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 Kevin - did Robert Jaeger ever send you his disks? The skiing game sounds interesting. Robert is super busy with important real-life stuff, and isn't able to get to the disks for a while. But he hasn't forgotten about them, and I intend to ask him about it again in a few months. Kevin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avram Posted October 12, 2018 Share Posted October 12, 2018 Thanks Kevin. I've been binging on your interviews and you manage to locate all kinds of unreleased software, and I'm concerned that it'll fall by the wayside. But it looks like you're on top of it so I'm excited to see what gets released when it's ready! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted October 23, 2018 Author Share Posted October 23, 2018 George Morrison: Alpha Systems, Atari Software Protection Techniques books http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-367-george-morrison-alpha-systems-atari-software-protection-techniques-books George Morrison was founder of Alpha Systems, a company that produced many hardware and software products for the Atari computers, including The Parrot, an audio digitizer; MagniPrint II, a printing utility; and The Impersonator, hardware for copying cartridge-based programs; and other products. He was author of two books — Atari Software Protection Techniques and Advanced Atari Protection Techniques. This interview took place on October 16, 2018. In it, we discuss Ed Stewart and Richard Leinecker, both of whom I have previously interviewed. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Stephen Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 George Morrison: Alpha Systems, Atari Software Protection Techniques books http://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-367-george-morrison-alpha-systems-atari-software-protection-techniques-books George Morrison was founder of Alpha Systems, a company that produced many hardware and software products for the Atari computers, including The Parrot, an audio digitizer; MagniPrint II, a printing utility; and The Impersonator, hardware for copying cartridge-based programs; and other products. He was author of two books — Atari Software Protection Techniques and Advanced Atari Protection Techniques. This interview took place on October 16, 2018. In it, we discuss Ed Stewart and Richard Leinecker, both of whom I have previously interviewed. Sweet - I met him at a local show quite a few years back. I had his two books out among all my Atari stuff. He came up to me, showed me his driver's license as he was introducing himself (thought that was funny but I guess he really wanted me to know it was him). So I had him autograph my two books. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 (edited) Have you interviewed this guy yet? I just stumbled upon him on Facebook. Steve Maguire - Facebook He worked for Valpar and was the principle developer of valForth. Edited October 24, 2018 by MrFish 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ijor Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 George Morrison was founder of Alpha Systems, a company that produced many hardware and software products for the Atari computers, including The Parrot, an audio digitizer; MagniPrint II, a printing utility; and The Impersonator, hardware for copying cartridge-based programs; and other products. He was author of two books — Atari Software Protection Techniques and Advanced Atari Protection Techniques. Wow, great interview. It would be great if he still has the source of any of the software they published. Btw, for all the hackers here, the most popular title they published was probably Scanalyzer. Really such a great tool. It would be fabulous if he has the source. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savetz Posted October 24, 2018 Author Share Posted October 24, 2018 Have you interviewed this guy yet? I just stumbled upon him on Facebook. Steve Maguire - Facebook He worked for Valpar and was the principle developer of valForth. Great find. I'll see what I can do. I'm on interview hiatus right now, but this might be too good to pass up. -Kevin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotty Posted October 24, 2018 Share Posted October 24, 2018 (edited) Deleted Edited October 24, 2018 by scotty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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