ANTIC Episode 131 - Brad’s 30K Brain
ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast
ANTIC Episode 131 - Brad’s 30K Brain In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… we discuss the newly announced THE ATARI800XL and give our opinions, we talk about Hamster power, and Brad now has only 30K for his brain, plus a whole lot more! READY! Recurring Links Interview index: What we’ve been up to FujiGrid - Newsbytes - Updated , , VCF Midwest - Jeri Ellsworth - 1027 printer ribbon - Atari BBS - Thom and Fujinet team - Jason Moore - ...
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ANTIC Interview 466 - John Victor, Program Design Inc.
ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast
John Victor, Program Design Inc. John Victor was founder and president of Program Design Inc., one of the earliest publishers of educational software. Based in Greenwich CT, PDI created dozens of educational software titles and a few not-so-educational games for Atari 8-bit, Commodore PET and 64, TRS-80, Apple II, and Texas Instruments computers. Software marketed by PDI included Moonbase IO, Sammy the Sea Serpent, and Preparing for the SAT (which was probably the first SAT prep software for any home computer). PDI also created "An Invitation to Programming", the casette-based...
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ANTIC Interview 465 - Vince Wu, The Learning Phone (Atari PLATO Terminal)
ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast
Vince Wu, The Learning Phone (Atari PLATO Terminal) Vince Wu worked at Atari for about two and a half years. He was the programmer of The Learning Phone, the PLATO terminal for Atari 8-bit computers. Before that, he worked with PLATO at the University of Illinois, then in California for Control Data Corporation. PLATO was the first generalized computer-assisted instruction system, a groundbreaking graphical client-server computer system aimed at education. To assist in this interview, I was joined by Thomas Cherryhomes and Michael Sternberg, who were on a road trip to a Vintage...
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ANTIC Interview 464 - Walt Klappert, Atari Advanced Development Group
ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast
Walt Klappert, Atari Advanced Development Group/WCI Labs Walt Klappert worked at Atari's Advanced Development Group/WCI Labs in New York, and later at Take One Enterprises in California. He worked with Nancy and Steve Mayer on a variety of projects with a concentration on creating software for girls. He is credited as Director of "Fisher Price Dance Fantasy", a dance choreography game for small children. He also worked on a system for authoring CD+G, an enhancement to the compact disc spec that allowed graphics and lyrics to be displayed synchronized with music. This interview took place on...
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ANTIC Episode 130 - The Tongue-Twister Episode
ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast
ANTIC Episode 130 - The Tongue-Twister Episode In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… We trip all over our own tongues trying to bring you all the news fit to print in the Atari 8-bit computer world… READY! Recurring Links Interview index: What we’ve been up to Diskmenu manual - 30th anniversary of Classic Computer Magazine Archive - : Discussion - Atari Yahoo Groups archives: Atari Usenet group archive additions - MPP MicroportXL board manual -...
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ANTIC Interview 463 - Steve Bryson, game programmer
ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast
Steve Bryson, game programmer Steve Bryson was a programmer for EPYX and The Connelley Group, where he ported many games to various 8-bit systems. He ported Dragonriders of Pern, an action/strategy game based on the Anne McCaffrey novels, to Atari and Commodore 64. He ported Jumpman to the Apple II, and Lower Reaches of Apshai, Upper Reaches of Apshai, and Temple of Ra to the C64. This interview took place on August 5, 2026. Video version of this interview: Steve's personal web site: Randy Glover, Jumpman interview: Tom Zimmerman, AMY chip interview: Jon Freeman, Freefall...
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ANTIC Interview 462 - Bob Fraser, APX Insomnia, Supersort, De Re Atari
ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast
Bob Fraser, APX Insomnia, Supersort, De Re Atari Bob Fraser worked at Atari for four years: he worked on the early CX70 light pen, helped write the specs for an unreleased database manager for the Atari 8-bits. and later moved into Atari's Games Design Research Group under Alan Kay, where he experimented with 3-D graphics. He wrote a chapter of De Re Atari — chapter 7, all about sound — and two applications that were published by Atari Program Exchange: Supersort, a data sorting routine; and Insomnia, a sound editor. Supersort was APX catalog number 20030, and was for sale starting...
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ANTIC Interview 461 - James W. Burley, APX Data Base/Report System
ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast
James W. Burley, APX Data Base/Report System James W. Burley is the programmer of Data Base/Report System, which was sold by Atari Program Exchange beginning with the Summer 1982 APX catalog. It was catalog number 20134 with a price of $22.95. APX sold it for about a year, through the Summer 1983 catalog. APX awarded Data Base/Report System first prize for new software in the "Business & Professional Applications/Personal Finance & Record Keeping" category: for that, James was awarded an Atari Star plaque and $2000 prize. (He received the plaque, but says he never received the...
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ANTIC Interview 460 - Tim Jenkins, Cheating at Roulette
ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast
Tim Jenkins, Cheating at Roulette with an Atari Computer Tim Jenkins is the author of several humorous memoirs: "Missions Accomplished: And some funny business along the way", "More Missions Accomplished: And a lot more funny business", and "Business Missions Accomplished: Silly travel tales on the corporate dime". I wanted to talk to Tim about one chapter in his 2018 book More Missions Accomplished: the chapter is titled "Gaming the System" and it tells the tale of him trying to cheat a roulette using his Atari 800 computer. A brief excerpt from that chapter: "Las Vegas — 1989. Shortly...
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ANTIC Interview 459 - Mike Lorenzen: Atari Program-Text Editor, Pitfall II
ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast
Mike Lorenzen: Atari Program-Text Editor, Pitfall II Mike Lorenzen worked at Atari, Activision, and Accolade, creating games for the Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, and Commodore 64 computers. At Atari, Mike coded Golf and Circus Atari for the Atari 2600. For the 8-bit computers, he wrote MEDIT (which he told me stands for Mike’s EDITor.) Atari got a lot of mileage from MEDIT, using versions of that text editor in several products: first, in Atari Program-Text Editor (which was bundled with Atari's Macro Assembler), and in two Atari Program Exchange products: APX 20075, Atari Program-Text Editor;...
info_outlineANTIC Episode 127 - Brad’s 76K Brain
In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… we turn the podcast into more of a multi-media experience, we cover a LOT of new and updated utility software for the Atari 8-bit, and Kay accuses Brad of having a 76K brain!
READY!
Recurring Links
New Atari books scans at archive.org
Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge
Interview index: here
What we’ve been up to
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pokey stream player - https://github.com/ilmenit/pokey-stream-player
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Fujisan with FastBASIC - https://github.com/pedgarcia/fujisan/
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This Week in Retro episode 262 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q_ODmzynsM
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Atari lightbox - techdungeon.xyz
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Indy Classic Expo - https://www.indyclassic.org
New & Updated Games
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Dodger - Captain Crumble:
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Atariage discussion - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/389334-new-game-release-dodger/
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Atariteca review - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2026/04/dodger-rescata-una-idea-de-1994-para.html
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Drwal:
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Learning series by Larek - https://www.youtube.com/@larek/streams
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Download game - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gW7_TZLzpjZNejN58lvpehFVrD7kn1gt/view
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AI powers new games for Atari: "Doom 2D" and "Space Invaders" - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2026/03/ia-impulsa-nuevos-juegos-para-atari.html
New & Updated Software
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FujiNetChat, a new IRC client for Atari 8-bit computers with FujiNet - Urchlay:
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TNFS: zapp.opensourcerers.net (new test builds will appear here often)
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WWW: https://slackware.uk/~urchlay/src/fnchat-20260315-0540.xex
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Fuji Do Reports - Wade (Ripduski):
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FujiNet Go 800: atari800 emulator + FujiNet on modern Android devices - Mozzwald - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/389252-fujinet-go-800-atari800-emulator-fujinet-on-modern-android-devices/
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Lenka Project - A Full 65C816 SDX Modern Retro Atari Virtual Machine - Piotr D. Kaczorowski - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/389274-lenka-project-a-full-65c816-sdx-modern-retro-atari-virtual-machine/
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AltirraSDL — Bringing Altirra to macOS, Linux, and Android - ilmenit - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/389385-altirrasdl-%E2%80%94-bringing-altirra-to-macos-linux-and-android/
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VSCode FastBASIC extension with FujiSan update - Eric Carr & Paulo Garcia - https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ericcarr.fastbasic-debugger
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APOD Viewer for VBXE by Stephen - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/389397-apod-viewer-for-vbxe/
Publications
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The April issue of Atari Insights is now out - https://atariprojects.org/
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March issue of Compute’s Gazette - https://www.computesgazette.com
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Flop 69 disk magazine - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/389213-disk-magazine-flop-69-has-been-released/
New & Updated Hardware
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Lotharek’s new video mod for XL/XE, Gtia2RGB - https://lotharek.pl/productdetail.php?id=435
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Ape Warp XL/XE 32-in-1 OS Switcher - https://www.8bitclassics.com/product/atari-xlxe-ape-warp-os-32-in-1-switchless-upgrade-module/?srsltid=AfmBOoq3AiO4yASJsDiuXdQMIncO3DDeze2XZlEdoFz-qFppn6W_vmgY
Contests
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BASIC 10-Liner:
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Atariteca write-up - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2026/04/tenbirmam-y-arkanoid-lideraron-el-basic.html
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Every Atari 8-Bit Game from the BASIC 10 Liner Contest 2026! - Zero Page Homebrew - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evEmg-F43oc
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BASIC 10-Liner site - https://bunsen.itch.io/
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Compilation Disk 2026 (Atari 8-Bit) by Vitoco - https://bunsen.itch.io/compilation-disk-2026-atari-8-bit-by-vitoco
Other
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Atari Computer Camps - The Rise and Fall of Atari Computer Camps by The Retroist - https://www.retroist.com/p/atari-computer-camps (substack)
Upcoming Computer Shows
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VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
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Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/
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VCF Europe - May 1-3 - Munich, Germany - https://vcfe.org/E/
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Vintage Computer Festival Pacific Northwest 2026 - May 2-3 - Tukwila Community Center, South Tukwila, WA - https://vcfpnw.org
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VCF Southwest - May 29-31, 2026 - Westin Dallas Ft. Worth Airport - https://www.vcfsw.org/
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Retrofest 2026 - May 30-31 - Steam Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, UK - https://retrofest.uk/
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Vintage Computer Festival GB 2026 - June 19-21 - Leigh, Wigan, United Kingdom - https://www.facebook.com/events/25457837877216829/
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Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 20 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html
YouTube Videos
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FujiNet Turbo 2000 Cassette Loading - Thom Cherryhomes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMmfI-WLUpY
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Why the Atari 800XL blows the doors off the Commodore 64 - Hans Campbell - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=494e0WVxIQ8
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New video of Atario platform engine for Atari 8-bit computers - Eric Carr - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewPlgEyWLlQ
Commercial
New at Github
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JAM (Just Atari Model) Release - Marak Spanel - https://github.com/marspa73/atarijam
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VBXE Web Browser with image support - w1k:
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[A]tari [E]ight-bit [M]ulti-[T]ool - aemt https://github.com/idunmore/aemt
Feedback
- project to add FastBASIC syntax highlighting to Neovim - https://github.com/feoh/fastbasic_neovim_syntax