Some ideas about some Atari 8-bit projects.

[+Allan]

There are a lot of talented people here with some of them being excellent programmers creating some amazing software. I'm not much of a programmer myself so I focus on archiving manuals, disks, cassettes, etc. There are a lot of other things Atari 8-bit related that I would like to do but unfortunately my time is mostly focused on the archiving and therefore I never seem to get to do them. I thought maybe I would start a thread to put some ideas out there so that maybe others who are are not programmers but want to contribute to the Atari 8-bit 'scene' might feel inspired to contribute using their own talents but are having a hard time thinking of what to do.

 

1. I would love to see someone make some 'how-to' videos with utility software. DOS's, word processors, graphic programs, the Syn series., etc. Some great programmers that I think never were used to their potential were programs like Desktop Performance Studio by Vitruoso Software, Chromacad, Super 3D Plotter II, the Xlent software series, etc. Also there was a lot of great but complex software published in the magazines that could use some good video tutorials.

 

 

2. Indexing and consolidation of different types of rare software like user group disks, Print Shop disks, music files, etc.

 

3a. Typing in of software from magazines like Compute, Creative Computing, Softside, Family Computing, etc., and Atari books.

 

3b. Compiling of disks that magazines published into one place (making sure all disks are complete and together.) For example there are disk images from some of the major Atari magazines out there but only contain some of the software from the issue.

 

4. Of course any help with scanning of manuals, catalogs, flyers, etc. and archiving of software, especially the really rare stuff like user group magazines and other printed material.

 

5. Checking your own disks collections and making sure any rare commercial and public domain software is backed up onto the Net at a easy to access place.

 

6. Archiving of any late Eighties/early Ninties 8-bit software that was never sold on disks but was distributed as shareware or freeware (a bunch of 8-bit shareware software still needs to be archived in a reliable place(s) before it is lost.) If you look at later newsletters you can find articles on some of these but the programs are hard to find.

 

Of course people are welcome to add more ideas as well but hopefully this will give people some motivation to start one of these things themselves or some variation of them.

 

I was partly inspired to start this thread seeing projects like FujiNet, Atari Projects book/site by scitari and the Antic Podcast and interviews.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

[+davidcalgary29]

Those are great ideas! It’d be great if someone could do something like this:

 

Make a how-to video on a) using an A8 to type a document on b) The Last Word (VBXE 80 col) and c) print a document out on a modern printer or d) a legacy printer, discussing the challenges of getting supplies for it in 2020. There could also be some discussion of the XEP80, since it was ignored by virtually everything when it came out in 1988 but people still seem to be excited by it. The video could/should then be linked to the new user FAQ. I’d do this myself but have no idea how to make a compelling video. I’d probably end up sounding like that guy who unboxes pens on YouTube.

 

I can see videos of people typing in listings of complex ATASCII characters or machine language data sets being strangely compelling in a Bob Ross type of way. Awesome!

[777ismyname]

I’ve got some work done on number 1, though it will be a little while before putting it all together and editing. I have a  game and “studio” room opening up in a few short weeks. When it is ready I will finish up the videos.

 

From the various sources online and from my personal stuff, I think I have a complete collection of ANALOG, Antic, Family Computing, Compute, Compute’s Gazette, and others in PDF format. My collection of software only covers Antic and ANALOG, however. Same as above...when I get this stuff moved into the new game room, I will upload my entire collection of magazines and associated software to Google Drive or similar. 
 

 

[+Allan]

7 hours ago, 777ismyname said:

From the various sources online and from my personal stuff, I think I have a complete collection of ANALOG, Antic, Family Computing, Compute, Compute’s Gazette, and others in PDF format. My collection of software only covers Antic and ANALOG, however. Same as above...when I get this stuff moved into the new game room, I will upload my entire collection of magazines and associated software to Google Drive or similar. 
 

 

Yes, the big Atari and multi-platform magazines have been scanned. You can find them on Atarimania.com, archive.org, and other places on the Net. It's the rare user-group magazines, rare Atari books, etc., that need to be scanned. It is also some of the magazine software that is still not archived in a digital format (ATR., CAS. etc.). 

 

People think they have complete collections of magazine disk images but when they actually look they don't. I've looked into this quit a bit. Many of the disk images are missing or incomplete. For example, you can find a number of collections of Antic disk images in different places. You would think that something as popular as Antic magazine that all the programs would be available on disk images. If you look at most of them you realize that someone deleted all the non-game programs so there are only one or two games on there but the file name of the image suggests it's the whole issue. These have been copied over and over without people actually looking at what's on the disks. Here is an example.

 

https://archive.org/details/a8b_Antic_Magazine_1982_04_Antic

 

Plus the first nine issues were never on disks nor were the last 4-5 issues. That's why I did this:

 

 

 

This is the same problem with ALL the other magazines.

 

If you have any original magazine disks (the physical disks, not disk images you found on the Net) please archive them and upload them.

 

 

[+Allan]

7 hours ago, 777ismyname said:

I’ve got some work done on number 1, though it will be a little while before putting it all together and editing. I have a  game and “studio” room opening up in a few short weeks. When it is ready I will finish up the videos.

 

 

I'm looking forward to seeing them.

[leech]

On 1/5/2020 at 7:39 PM, davidcalgary29 said:

Those are great ideas! It’d be great if someone could do something like this:

 

Make a how-to video on a) using an A8 to type a document on b) The Last Word (VBXE 80 col) and c) print a document out on a modern printer or d) a legacy printer, discussing the challenges of getting supplies for it in 2020. There could also be some discussion of the XEP80, since it was ignored by virtually everything when it came out in 1988 but people still seem to be excited by it. The video could/should then be linked to the new user FAQ. I’d do this myself but have no idea how to make a compelling video. I’d probably end up sounding like that guy who unboxes pens on YouTube.

 

I can see videos of people typing in listings of complex ATASCII characters or machine language data sets being strangely compelling in a Bob Ross type of way. Awesome!

I'm actually working on a lot of this now.  I managed to get The Last Word working with VBXE 80 column and installed on my SIDE 2 hard drive image.  Still working out why I can't get carriage returns to work on the printout.  Also dealing with getting old printer supplies is something I've been looking at.

[+Allan]

Thanks, Leech. I think it's a great opportunity for someone. There are many game videos but not too many videos of other types of software, especially ones that show how to use programs.