• Tag Archives Atari 800XL

  • Antic (March 1987)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    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!


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  • Enter (September 1984)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment


    enter_issue_10_1984_sep-01

    Enter is a computer magazine that was targeted towards kids and published by Children’s Television Workshop (later Sesame Workshop). What computer loving kid could resist a cover with the Enterprise on it? While it did have some gaming content its emphasis was on education, including programming and general computer use. It covered all of the popular computers of the day that you might find in a home including the Commodore 64, VIC-20, TI-99/4A, TRS-80, Apple II, the Atari 8-bit line, PCs (DOS), Coleco Adam, Timex and possibly others. The September 1984 issue includes:

    Features

    • The Empire’s Computer Secrets – This article is pretty nifty bit of history. Part of it is an interview with Ed Catmull, at the time responsible for many of the computer effects in early Star Trek and Star Wars movies among others. He would later become co-founder of Pixar. In the image below (from this issue of Enter), Ed can be seen showing of some of the computer equipment being used for movie making circa 1984. This article also covers the game coming out of Lucasfilm including Ballblazer and Rescue On Fractalus, both initially developed on Atari 8-bit computers.

    • Rock on the Road – An article about how computers are used to control light shows for various concerts including those of Genesis, Duran Duran, The Police, The Jacksons, ZZ Top, Culture Club, and Van Halen among others. Some specific equipment is covered including Var-Lites which were first used by Genesis.
    • The Write Stuff – An overview of the word processing software available for different computers along with their capabilities. Software covered includes Apple Writer IIe (Apple IIe), Atariwriter (Atari 8-bit computers), Bank Street Writer (Apple, Atari, Commodore 64, DOS), Cut & Paste (Apple IIe, IIc, Atari, Commodore 64, DOS), Easy Script 64 (Commodore 64), Electric Pencil (TRS-80 Models III and IV), Homeword (Apple, Atari, Commodore 64), Leading Edge (DOS), Letter Wizard (Atari), Oniwriter (Commodore 64), Quick Brown Fox (Apple, Atari, Commodore 64, VIC-20, DOS), Smartwriter (Coleco Adam), The Write Stuff (Apple II, DOS), and Wordvision (DOS).
    • Portable Power – An overview of a few of the newer portable computers available at the time. These include the Epson HX-20, NEC 820, Radio Shack Model 100 (I had one of these for a while), and the Olivetti M-10. These weren’t like today’s notebooks. They were typically all in one units with a built-in 4 to 8 line black and white LCD screen above the keyboard.
    • The Making of an Arcade Game – Behind the scenes at Bally Midway factory in Franklin Park, Illinois. This shows the process of assembling a Spy Hunter arcade machine.
    • Contest #4 – A contest involving renaming computer parts in which you could win an Apple IIc.

    Departments

    • Feedback – Readers respond to a previous article about software piracy, a very hot topic at the time.
    • Bits – The news section, this month featuring: the Pac-Van, a mobile arcade that holds 25-30 games that could be rented for birthday parties and such; two students hack the electronic scoreboard at the Rose Bowl; Plaqueman, a new game from Home Computer Software; a sheep shearing robot…and more.
    • Ask Enter – Readers ask about compatibility, how disks work, if games are bad for your TV, and more.
    • Random Access – A high school student complains that while her school does a good job teaching computer programming, that doesn’t mean that you know how to actually use a computer.
    • User Views – Game Reviews
      • The Seven Cities of Gold (Apple II, Commodore 64, Atari) – A graphical adventure game by Electronic Arts that features the exploration of North and South America through 400 years of history.
      • Pitfall II: Lost Caverns (Atari 2600, ColecoVision/Adam, Atari 5200, Atari computers, Commodore 64, DOS) – A sequel to Pitfall. This was an excellent game for the time that I had for my Commodore 64.
      • James Bond: 007 (Atari computers, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Atari 2600) – An action game by Parker Brothers based on scenes from four different Bond films.
      • Gumball (Apple, Atari) – An action/puzzle game in which you must catch different colored gumballs in the correct cart.
      • Bump ‘N’ Jump (Intellivision) – A port of the arcade classic that is part race part destruction derby.
      • Bruce Lee (Commodore 64, Apple II, Atari) – Work your way through the fortress with your martial arts prowess.
      • Zaxxon (Commodore 64) – An excellent conversion of the classic arcade shooter.
      • Boulder Dash (Atari, Commodore 64, DOS) – Somewhat like Dig Dug but with its own unique twists.
    • Software Scanner – Various software reviews.
      • Run for the Money (DOS) – A game in which you have to fix your spaceship but its more about business planning than anything.
      • Peripheral Vision (Commodore 64, Atari, DOS) – Drawing software that works with a light pen.
      • Flight Simulator II (Commodore 64, Apple, Atari) – The original Flight Simulator was written for DOS based machines. The sequel is really an enhanced version of the original for various other 8-bit computers.
      • M-SS-NG L-NKS (Commodore 64, Atari) – An educational fill in the blanks puzzle game featuring classic literature.
      • Coco-Notes (Atari, Commodore 64) – Compose songs by catching notes.
    • Newsbeat – The latest in computer news, featuring the new Commodore 16 and Plus 4; the new Okimate 10 dot-matrix printer; various robots and robot software; new software including Breakdance, Archon II, and more; the Atari 780 Prosystem; the MindLink system; and voice controlled laser discs.
    • Showbeat – Including a preview of a new movie featuring Atari computers, Cloak & Dagger. This movie starred Henry Thomas (Elliot from E.T.). While some will no doubt argue that this was no E.T., it was a movie I loved as a kid and probably had a bigger impact on me.
    • Pacesetters – An article about One on One featuring Larry Bird and Dr. J as well as the 17-year old programmer that wrote it.
    • Connections – Info on a Commodore 64 music contest, BBSes, new Timex hardware and software, and where you might find out of print books.
    • Pencil Crunchers – A maze created with the help of a computer (Apple II) and a computer related crossword puzzle.
    • Next – What’s coming up next month (‘Life On-Line’, ‘Computers Go To College’, and more).

    Programming

    • BASIC Training – Featuring Micro Mind Reader, a type in program that can read your mind for Apple, Adam, Atari, IBM, TRS-80 Color Computer, and Timex Sinclair.
    • BASIC Recommends – A recommendation for a BASIC programming book: ‘More BASIC: A Guide to Intermediate-Level BASIC Programming’

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Apple ][ Atari 8-bit Commodore 64 Computer Arcana DOS TRS-80 📎and tagged

  • Antic (September 1986)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    antic_vol_5-05_1986-09_weather_by_satellite_page_0001

    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!


    📂This entry was posted in Atari 8-bit Atari ST Computer Arcana 📎and tagged