ANTIC Episode 122 - Atypical Kay

In this episode of ANTIC The Atari 8-Bit Computer Podcast… we introduce a new format for the news, there's lots of archiving going on, new software and hardware for our favorite 8-bits, and we find out Kay is atypical…

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 

ANTIC Facebook Page 

AHCS 

Eaten By a Grue 

Next Without For 

 

What we've been up to

• Via Mark Knudsen: 2" binder of "August 1987":

• • Atari newsletter time capsule 1987-08 - https://archive.org/details/antc_Atari_newsletter_time_capsule_1987-08/ 

  • And individual newsletters - https://archive.org/details/@savetz?query=identifier%3Aantc_*1987-08 

• scanning Harry Stewart material:

• • Here's his obit - https://www.mercurynews.com/obituaries/harry-stewart-san-jose-ca/

  • https://archive.org/details/stx_MicroTec_6500_Relocatable_Macro_Assembler_Manual 

  • https://archive.org/details/Bruce_Sherwood_Articles_about_Speech_Synthesis 

  • https://archive.org/details/Atari_Speech_Handler_Preliminary_Specification_1983-03-31 

  • https://archive.org/details/Steve_Bristow_memo_on_Atari_810_drive_manual_1981-02-22 

  • https://archive.org/details/atari-810-model-810-rear-board-schematic 

  • https://archive.org/details/Atari_810_disk_controller_firmware_memo_1980-12-22 

  • https://archive.org/details/Atari_810_Disk_Drive_Peripheral_Device_Description_preliminary_release 

  • https://archive.org/details/Atari_810_Disk_Drive_Controller_Program_Report_1980-11-18 

• Atari Usenet groups on IA (so far, more to come):

• • https://archive.org/details/net_micro_atari 

  • https://archive.org/details/net_micro_atari8 

  • https://archive.org/details/net_micro_atari16 

  • https://archive.org/details/comp_sys_atari 

  • https://archive.org/details/comp_sys_atari_announce 

  • https://archive.org/details/comp_sources_atari_st 

• Allan and Kay continuing work to archive all APX programs. Still need:

• • Missing (any version) manuals:

  • • Algicalc

    • Basic Arithmetic

    • Basic Renumber Utility (Renum)

    • Character Set Editor

    • Database/Report System

    • Deep Blue C

    • Disk Menu

    • Dragons Quest or a twist in the tail

    • Geography

    • Gossip. (?)

    • Home Loan Analysis

    • Market Place

    • Reversi

  • Missing programs (some have other versions other than APX):

  • • Basic Utility for Renumbering Programs BURP

    • Calculator

    • Earth Science

    • Geography (both lists)

    • Home Loan Analysis (both lists)

    • Instructional Computing Demonstration

    • Market Place (both lists)

    • Variable Changer

  • Spreadsheet of APX archiving progress 

• Atari poster - https://www.redbubble.com/i/poster/BASIC-Programmers-Guide-from-1981-by-ChoccyHobNob/39504539.LVTDI?asc=u&c=1128814-wall-art&ref=work_collections_grid 

• Tricky Tutorial #7 from Kevin Lund - https://www.atarimania.com/documents/Tricky-Tutorial-7-Disk-Utilities.pdf 

News

• New and Updated Games:

• • FujiLlama:

  • • https://www.atariorbit.org/2025/09/26/fujilama-is-a-new-multiplayer-game/ 

    • https://forums.atariage.com/topic/384764-a-new-fuji-net-game-fuji-llama-coming-soon/ 

    • https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/266083/llama 

  • New Italian text adventures for the Atari 8-bit:

  • • https://www.atariteca.net.pe/2025/10/nuevas-aventuras-de-texto-italianas.html 

    • Wild West - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/385434-wild-west-text-adventure-released/ 

    • Tin Star - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/385435-tin-star-text-adventure-released/ 

    • Desperados - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/385436-desperados-text-adventure-released/ 

• New & Updated Software:

• • https://forums.atariage.com/topic/234684-atari-8-bit-software-preservation-initiative/page/113/#findComment-5735315 

  • Atari OS ROM collection - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/201133-os-source-code-all-revisions/page/6/#findComment-5730231 

  • Mark "atarimac" Grebe updated Atari800MacX to 6.1.0 - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/385276-atari800macx-61-released/ 

  • Paulo Garcia continues his fantastic work on the FujiSan emulator (based on Atari800 emulator with emphasis on UI). - https://github.com/pedgarcia/fujisan/releases/tag/v1.0.5 

  • Eric Carr updates the VSCode Extension for FastBASIC - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/351055-fastbasic-debugger-extension-for-vscode/ 

• Publications

• • Atari Insights October issue - https://ataribasics.com/newsletter-hub/ 

  • Compute's Gazette October issue - https://www.computesgazette.com 

  • ABBUC Magazine Special Mag 56 available in English (downloadable) for members - https://abbuc.de/download/abbuc-sondermagazin-56-papierbeilage-englisch/ 

  • Old School Gamer #48 - https://shop.oldschoolgamer.com/products/osg-issue-48-september-2025 

• New & Updated Hardware

• • Atari 1027 printer belt by Jeri Ellsworth - https://bsky.app/profile/jeriellsworth.bsky.social/post/3m3ojeg7x6c2e 

  • New 1:1 1000dpi Replica of Atari XE Motherboard in production - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/383379-new-11-1000dpi-replica-of-atari-xe-motherboard-%E2%80%93-interest-check/page/7/ 

  • New 1:1 1000dpi Replica of Atari 600XL Motherboard – Interest Check - Piotr D. Kaczorowski - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/384709-new-11-1000dpi-replica-of-atari-600xl-motherboard-%E2%80%93-interest-check/ 

• Contests

• • ABBUC Software Competition:

  • • https://forums.atariage.com/topic/381593-abbuc-software-contest-2025 

    • Video of the 13 games from the contest run on real hardware (Philsan) - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/381593-abbuc-software-contest-2025/page/5/#findComment-5735942 

  • ABBUC Hardware Competition - https://forums.atariage.com/topic/381594-abbuc-hardware-contest-2025/ 

  • ATASCII Compo 2025:

  • • https://atariscne.org/news/index.php/atascii-compo-2025-is-running 

    • https://logiker.com/ATASCII 

• Other

• • https://tedium.co/2025/10/20/computers-fcc-rf-interference-history/

  • Atari 8-bit calendar (from Atariteca on Facebook):

  • • Article - https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17NVFQ4pA8/ 

    • Ordering - https://www.facebook.com/martin.grundy.94 

Upcoming Shows

2025

• Atari Party 2025 - Nov. 22, 2025 (noon to 4) - Quakertown, PA Train Station - http://atariparty.org/ 

2026

• Vintage Computer Festival Montreal - Jan. 24-25, 2026 - Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC - https://vcfed.org/vcf-montreal/ 

• Vintage Electronics Expo - Jan. 31, 2026 - Oakland Expo Center, Waterford, MI - https://www.thevee.org/ 

• Vintage Computer Festival SoCal - February 14-15, 2026 - Hotel Fera Events Center, Orange, CA - vcfsocal.com 

• Indy Classic Computer and Video Game Expo - March 20-22 - Wyndham Indianapolis Airport Hotel, Indianapolis, IN - https://indyclassic.org/ 

• VCF East - April 17-19 2026 - InfoAge Science and History Museums, Wall, NJ - https://vcfed.org/events/vintage-computer-festival-east/ 

• Midwest Gaming Classic - April 24-26 - Baird Center, Milwaukee, WI - https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/ 

• 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/ 

• Southern Fried Gaming Expo - July 31-Aug 2, 2026 - Atlanta, GA - https://gameatl.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

• A Brilliant Failure: The Atari 400 & 800 Story - Little Car - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcUt0GCk-YI 

• Atari Now! October 2025 News and Home brew for all Atari systems - Steve & Jeff Fulton - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMhNSFx6gyg 

New at Archive.org 

• Allan: https://archive.org/details/@allan52 :

• • https://archive.org/details/math-mission-apx-ver-3

  • https://www.oconnormortuary.com/obituaries/david-paul-kosmal/ 

  • https://archive.org/details/wordgo-apx-ver-3

  • https://archive.org/details/atari-xl-product-line-fact-sheets

• https://archive.org/details/@archivingisimportant :

• • I Heart Atari newsletters french - https://archive.org/details/atarinews_1 

• https://archive.org/details/@ted_skrecky 

New at GitHub

• https://github.com/illuminated-g/atari_asm_moon 

Feedback

• https://oldbytes.space/@fluidlogic/115248639418865349