ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

ANTIC Interview 458 - Allan Bushman, Atari archivist

Sun, 21 Jun 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Jun 21, 2026

Allan Bushman, Atari Archivist

If you've ever looked up an Atari computer manual at Internet Archive, chances are you've come across some of Allan Bushman's scans. For well over 13 years, Allan has been uploading scans of Atari-related catalogs, manuals, and books to the archive. Before that, since 1995 or before, Allan contributed to AtariMagazines.com and AtariMania. With a particular emphasis on finding and archiving Atari Program Exchange manuals, Allan has helped save the vast majority of the APX library.

This interview took place on April 19 2026 at Vintage Computer Festival East.

As of this recording, only 10 or so APX manuals have yet to be found and scanned.

Basic Renumber Utility (Renum)

Character Set Editor

Database/Report System

Diskmenu Home Loan Analysis

Reversi/Roman Checkers

Basic Arithmetic (MECC)

Geography (MECC)

Market Place (MECC)

Gossip (unreleased?)

Dragons Quest or a Twist in the Tail (unreleased?)

Allan's scans at Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/@allan52

Computer Shopper magazine Atari Articles: https://archive.org/details/@allan52?query=computer+shopper+atari+articles

Allan on AtariAge: https://forums.atariage.com/profile/187-allan/

ANTIC Interview 457 - Atari at the Science Fair: Lisa Link Melville, Weather Prediction

Sat, 06 Jun 2026 17:11:00 +0000

Atari at the Science Fair: Lisa Link Melville, Weather Prediction

The Herald Times newspaper, April 17 1984: "March 24 proved to be an exciting day for several area students participating in the South Central Indiana Regional Science Fair which was held in Bloomington.

Lisa Link, an Edgewood High School junior, and Maxwell Brothers, a Bloomington North senior, took top honors in the advanced division.

Programming an Atari 800 computer to forecast the weather was Link's project. The computer's entire 48K memory system was needed to develop the long and complicated program which predicts Bloomington's weather with an 88 percent rate of accuracy. Twelve variables are programmed into the computer which then forecasts the weather using such variables including temperature, cloud cover, rainfall, wind speed and barometric pressure.

Link, though not presently enrolled in any science classes at Edgewood, went on to take not only top honors in the Regional Science Fair but also to win certificates of recognition from NASA and the Army as well as second place for best project by the Navy."

An article a month later in The Newark Advocate said: "during a 17-day period in February and March, Miss Link said she accurately forecast the weather on 15 days."

Her project garnered several awards: second place in her division from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Association (which included a prize of $100), an Air Force honorable mention, and honorable mention from the American Meteorological Society.

My interview with Lisa Link Melville took place on May 31 2026.

Video version of this interview: https://youtu.be/nqJV_--YVkM

ANTIC Episode 128 - Stepping in a Pile of 800XLs

Tue, 26 May 2026 15:38:00 +0000

ANTIC Episode 128 - Stepping in a Pile of 800XLs

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… special guest Rob McMullen (Player/Missile Podcast) joins us to talk about all the Atari 8-bit news; such as new and updated emulators, Jumpman level editor, Club Med and the Atari, and a whole lot more!

READY!

Recurring Links

Floppy Days Podcast

AtariArchives.org

AtariMagazines.com

Kay's Book "Terrible Nerd"

New Atari books scans at archive.org

ANTIC feedback at AtariAge

Atari interview discussion thread on AtariAge

Interview index: here

What we've been up to

AltirraSDL - https://github.com/ilmenit/AltirraSDL
Fujisan - https://github.com/pedgarcia/fujisan
Jumpman Reverse Engineering:

https://playermissile.com/jumpman/notes.html
Player Missile Podcast https://playermissile.com/

Audacity AI noise reduction plugin (Windows) - https://github.com/intel/openvino-plugins-ai-audacity
VCF East - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/
VCF Pacific Northwest - https://vcfpnw.org/

Computer Museum Tour - (https://icm.museum/)
Connections Museum in Seattle - (https://www.telcomhistory.org/)

Games Computers Play and Fujinet?

https://forums.atariage.com/topic/132176-games-computers-play-inc-multiplayer-online-game/page/3/#findComment-5831081
Further discussion on fujinet discord https://discord.gg/7MfFTvD

Jumpman Level Editor:

The PowerPad by Chalkboard Inc.:

Review in Creative Computing - https://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v9n10/52_The_legend_of_the_pad_of_.php
Kay's interview with Robert Leyland, who programmed AtariArtist, KoalaPainter, and MicroIllustrator (along with Steve Dompier) - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-450-robert-leyland-atariartist-koalapainter-microillustrator

New & Updated Games

"Drwal": Course 6502 culminates in a full game for Atari 8-bit - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2026/05/drwal-curso-de-6502-culmina-en-un-juego.html
"Tetris VBXE" revolutionizes the classic puzzle on Atari 8-bit - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2026/05/tetris-vbxe-revoluciona-el-puzzle.html
Las Vegas Video Poker by Ditto - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/389522-game-las-vegas-video-poker/
Develop your own Scott Adams style Adventure games by Wrathchild - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/390050-scottfree-adventure-editor-with-atari-interpreter-sources/

New & Updated Software

PocketFuji - Andy Diller - https://www.atariorbit.org/pocketfuji/
CubeDot by Wade Ripkowski - https://unfinishedbitness.info/cubedot/
Also AtariOrbit - https://www.atariorbit.org/2026/05/01/full-ansi-on-atari/
King D/OS - A Modern OS on Retro Hardware - https://www.facebook.com/groups/fujinetusers/posts/4500846133530361/

Google Drive (GDRIVE) Protocol Adapter for All FujiNets! - Thom Cherryhomes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCQFKOVu7rA
AltirraSDL - ilmenit - pre-release version available for download -

AltirraSDL Lobby - Play Atari Games Together Online - ilmenit - https://lobby.atari.org.pl
Altirra autosuggest feature - Altirra 4.50 Test10:

AtariAge discussion of Altirra - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/387055-altirra-440-released/page/6/#findComment-5835606
Altirra test version - https://www.virtualdub.org/beta/Altirra-4.50-test10.zip
AtariAge discussion of AltirraSDL - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/389385-altirrasdl-%E2%80%94-bringing-altirra-to-macos-linux-and-android/page/12/#findComment-5835770

One of Retro Dev's Most Powerful Tools Now Runs Entirely in Your Browser:

AI trained with Atari BASIC:

Atariteca - https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2026/04/polonia-ia-entrenada-con-atari-basic.html
NotebookLM with Atari BASIC - https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/caaad1ba-ba64-4e49-b602-143f6c12ff92
AtariOnline forum discussion - https://atarionline.pl/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=8182&page=1#Item_0

Publications

May issue of Atari Insights newsletter - https://ataribasics.com/
April issue of Compute's Gazette - https://www.computesgazette.com
Omnibus podcast ep about Nolan Bushnell - https://www.omnibusproject.com/episodes/nolan-bushnell-entry-167ma1323
AtariProjects - https://www.atariprojects.org

The Company That Calls Itself Atari

https://www.timeextension.com/news/2026/05/new-atari-trademark-application-hints-at-hardware-refresh-for-mr-ts-favourite-home-computer
Amiga A1200 is delayed until December, 2026:

Atari buys rights to Wizardry - https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/atari-just-bought-the-rights-to-the-big-daddy-of-pc-rpgs-and-a-reissue-campaign-is-afoot/

New & Updated Hardware

XYAB Joystick Controller Pad (via Bill Kendrick) - review by Stone Age Gamer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP3498i5pHI

Other

Virtual OS Museum - https://virtualosmuseum.org
When Club Med Met Atari - The Retroist:

https://www.retroist.com/p/when-club-med-met-atari
Kay's interview with Linda Brownstein - https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-412-linda-brownstein-atari-vp-special-projects

SMARTWATCH BAND from Atari - https://atari.com/products/my-play-watch-arcade-smartwatch-band
New Atari sales and service option - A8Renegade:

Upcoming Shows

VCF Southwest - May 29-31, 2026 - Westin Dallas Ft. Worth Airport - https://www.vcfsw.org/
Retrofest 2026 - May 30-31 - Steam Museum of the Great Western Railway, Swindon, UK - https://retrofest.uk/
CORGSCON - Columbus Ohio Retro Gaming Society - June 6-7 - Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, OH - https://www.corgscon.com/
Chilliwack & Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo - June 20 - New Westminster, BC, Canada - https://www.vancouvergamingexpo.com/index.html
Silly Venture SE (Summer Edition) - July 30-Aug. 2 - Gdansk, Poland - https://www.demoparty.net/silly-venture/silly-venture-2026-se
Southern Fried Gaming Expo and VCF Southeast - July 31-Aug 2, 2026 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.com/
Long Island Retro Gaming Expo - August 7-9, 2026 - Cradle of Aviation, Garden City, NY - https://liretro.com/
Fujiama - August 26-30 - Lengenfeld, Germany - http://atarixle.ddns.net/fuji/2026
Event page on Floppy Days Website - https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSeLsg4hf5KZKtpxwUQgacCIsqeIdQeZniq3yE881wOCCYskpLVs5OO1PZLqRRF2t5fUUiaKByqQrgA/pub

YouTube Videos

Inside a 1979 Computer (Atari 800 Teardown) - We Fix Stupid Computers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t05Vg9u_5g
Atari 800 Full Reassembly (1979) | Inside a Classic 8-Bit Computer - We Fix Stupid Computers - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqK7w7rIhDE
Proper Atari 800 HDMI video and audio - FlashJazzCat - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiqO6leRrDc
(short) FujiNet Go 800 for Android - Thom Cherryhomes - https://www.youtube.com/shorts/W0u9arc11z8
FISH- awesome app for your Atari 8 Bit FujiNet - gorgh Agenda - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVCSh3cJGxE

New at Github

Port of the BBC Micro REVS Disk Version to the Atari 8-Bits:

Very Good Atari Remote - https://github.com/tjh1976/VGAR
https://github.com/akosela/darkzil
https://github.com/owen-rp2a03/atari_antic_switch
https://github.com/peterkaczorowski/SAVO
Atari 8-bit implementation of Dave Plummer's PDP-11 implementation of the original "ATTN/11 - Paper Tape Is All You Need" - https://github.com/paul-d-carlson/atari-is-all-you-need
Multi-Layer Perceptron that runs on an Atari 8-bit computer. Ported from XORTRAN by Damien Boureille" - https://github.com/paul-d-carlson/atari-mlp
Implementation of a Hopfield network for the Atari 8 bit computer:

ANTIC Episode 127 - Brad's 76K Brain

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:13:00 +0000

ANTIC 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!