• Tag Archives Antic
  • Antic (March 1987)

    antic_vol_5-11_1987-03_inside_atari_corp_page_0001

    Source: Antic Vol 5-11 1987-03

    ANALOG and Antic were the two most popular magazines that covered Atari 8-bit computers. While ANALOG stuck to being mostly 8-bit exclusive throughout its life, Antic moved to covering both the Atari ST and the 8-bit line when the ST was introduced.

    The March 1987 issue includes:

    Features

    • Word Searcher – This type-in program solves word search puzzles for you. All you have to do is type in the letter grid and the words you are looking for.
    • Rainbow Screen Customizer – A routine to make variable colored backgrounds in your own programs.
    • Today’s Victorious Atari Corp. – Praising the release of the Atari ST and XE line of computers, this article paints a rosy picture of Atari’s future. This did not age well.
    • Dvorak Keyboard – This type-in program changes the layout of your keyboard from the standard QWERTY layout to the supposedly faster to type on Dvorak keyboard. It may indeed be faster but I can’t imagine learning a new keyboard layout after learning to type on a QWERTY keyboard. I can type fast enough. To give you an idea how much better it is though, supposedly the fingers of someone who types for a living will move 16 miles a day on a QWERTY keyboard as opposed to only a mile with the Dvorak layout.
    • Page 6 Grab-Bag: Part I – A set of machine language routines that you can use from your BASIC programs to handle joysticks and the keyboard.
    • Wage/Hour Paymaster – A type-in program to help you keep track of your hourly wage totals by week or by year.
    • Multi-Autorun – A type-in program that allows you to load multiple programs at start-up.

    Deparments

    • Editorial – All about ANTIC On-Line, an online version of ANTIC available via CompuServe.
    • I/O Board – Letters from readers this month include topics such as using Atari computers at an MDA telethon, sharing a hard drive between an Atari ST and Atari 8-bit, a correction to Budget dB, obtaining the Atari Developers Kit, the Microline 1025 printer, hints for Ultima IV, Atari 1020 Plotter pens, and more.
    • New Products – New products mentioned this month include Video Vegas, a casino sim; Math Blaster!, Word Attack!, and Spell It! educational software; Guderian, a World War II sim; Stocks and Bonds, an investment game; Warship, a World War II ship combat sim, and more.
    • Game of the Month: Vectron – The play mechanics of this type-in game remind be a bit of Combat for the Atari 2600…at least the game modes in which your shots bounce off of the walls.
    • Starting Out; New Owners Column – This month, learn how to use the various graphics modes of your Atari 8-bit.
    • Product Reviews – Products reviewed this month include the Seikosha SP-1000A printer; Kyan Pascal programming language; Leader Board, the classic golf game; and Vestor, an online investment database subscription service.
    • Users Group of the Month: TACE – TACE is the Temple Area Computer Enthusiasts users group located in central Texas. It has ~400 members approximately most of which are Atari users. They have a BBS that runs on a one-megabyte Atari 520ST with a 20MB hard drive and MichTron BBS Software.
    • Tech Tips – This month, pin-out diagrams for all of the Atari 8-bit ports and connectors are provided.

    ST Resource

    • Using INP and OUT – Learning how to use the INP and OUT commands by creating a terminal program in ST BASIC .
    • ST Puzzler – A type-in program that generates random jigsaw puzzles.
    • ST Reviews – Items reviewed include ST Pool and 8-Ball, two pool games; Timekeeper, a real-time battery backed-up clock; Mean 18, a golf game from Accolade; and MIDI Magic, software that sends MIDI music from disk out the MIDI port of the Atari ST.
    • BASIC Alert – How to create alert boxes in ST BASIC.
    • Starglider – A detailed review of this space combat simulator.
    • Hippo Sound Digitizer – A detailed review of this sound digitizer for the Atari ST.
    • ST New Products – New products listed for the Atari ST this month include: Animator ST, animation software for the ST; Thunder!, an alternative spell-checker for the hearing impaired; NEC CP6 and CP7, 80 and 136 column printers; Dr. T’s Music Software, including the Keyboard Controlled Sequencer, MIDI Recording Studio and The Copyist; Fleet Street Editor, a desktop publishing package; Typesetter Elite; Laserimage 2000, a $3,495 laser printer; LDW BASIC Compiler Version 1.1; and more.

    …and more!


  • Antic (September 1986)

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    Source: Antic – Volume 5, Number 5 – September 1986

    Antic was a magazine for Atari 8-bit computers named after the ANTIC chip which was primarily responsible for the graphics in those machines. For a brief time in part of 1985 and 1986 Antic also covered the Atari ST until an ST specific magazine was published.

    The September 1986 issue focuses on weather and includes:

    Features

    • Weather Maps From Space: For Atari 8-bit and ST computers – While getting satellite and radar images from the internet is trivial today, that wasn’t always the case. However, with this type-in program, a short-wave radio, and a simple interface (instructions to build provided) you could download satellite images in real-time all the way back in 1986.
    • Weather Facsimile Worldwide: From satellites to ships at sea – This article describes how the WEFAX system for distributing weather satellite imagery works and various scenarios in which it is used.
    • Music Studio: Music for 8-bit Ataris and STs – Review and overview of Activision’s Music Studio music composition software available for both 8 and 16-bit Ataris.
    • Build The WEFAX Interface – Instructions for building an interface from your shortwave radio to your 8 or 16 bit Atari computer for the purposes of decoding WEFAX signals.
    • New Owners Column: Lesson 6: Subroutines – Tutorial for using subroutines in BASIC (GOTO and GOSUB), including some type-in examples.
    • WEFAX Decoder – This is the actual type-in program to decode WEFAX signals retrieved using your Atari, short wave radio and interface.
    • BASIC Tracer – This is a BASIC type-in program for Atari 8-bit computers that provides a debugging tool to display the line number of the program currently being executed.
    • Where The Weather Comes From – An inside view of the National Weather Service Forecasting Office in Redwood City, California.
    • Weather Calculator – A type-in program that, along with a thermometer, can convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, find relative humidity, estimate the cloud base and wind chill factor, and predict sunrise and sunset times for any date.

    ST Resource

    • ST WEFAX Decoder – The Atari ST version of the satellite image decoder.
    • The Manager – Review of this relational database management system for the Atari ST.
    • ST Product News – News about new releases for the Atari ST including Financial Cookbook by Electronic Arts (personal finance program), Cards by MichTron (play various card games), STCalc (spreadsheet program), and much more.
    • Megamax – Review of this advanced C compiler for the Atari ST.

    Departments

    • I/O Board – Letters from readers including questions about the COMP command, printing the Atari Fuji symbol, RAMDISK on the 1040ST and more.
    • Product Reviews – Reviews of Atari Planetarium, Microflyte ATC Joystick, MicroLeague Baseball, Star Raiders II, and Compute Your Roots (genealogy software).
    • New Products – New products mentioned include Super Reevekey (utility program for creating custom keypad layouts for the Atari CX85 10-key numeric pad), CRT Magnifier (anti-glare magnifier for CRT monitors), Rite Notch (a device that lets your control write protecting disks with or without the presence of a notch), Checkbook Plus (budgeting software), Stylewriter (printer interface), Action Annex BBS System (to run your own BBS on your Atari 8-bit computer), MIDI Editor (MIDI software for the Atari 130XE), 221 B Baker Street (Sherlock Holmes themed text adventure).

    …and more!