The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the 520ST, saw limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first personal computer with a bitmapped color GUI, using a version of Digital Research's GEM from February 1985.
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800 and manufactured until 1992. All of the machines in the family are technically similar and differ primarily in packaging. They are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU running at 1.79 MHz, and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips. This architecture enabled graphics and sound more advanced than contemporary machines, and gaming was a major draw. First-person space combat simulator Star Raiders is considered the platform's killer app. The systems launched with plug-and-play peripherals using the Atari SIO serial bus, an early analog of USB.
Star Raiders is a first-person space combat simulator for the Atari 8-bit family of computers. It was written by Doug Neubauer, an Atari employee, and released as a cartridge by Atari in 1979. The game is considered the platform's killer app. It was later ported to the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Atari ST.
Brian Moriarty is an American video game developer who authored three of the original Infocom interactive fiction titles, Wishbringer (1985), Trinity (1986), and Beyond Zork (1987), as well as Loom (1990) for LucasArts.
Compute!, often stylized as COMPUTE!, was an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's PET Gazette, one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET computer. In its 1980s heyday Compute! covered all major platforms, and several single-platform spinoffs of the magazine were launched. The most successful of these was Compute!'s Gazette, which catered to VIC-20 and Commodore 64 computer users.
Softporn Adventure is a comedic, adult-oriented text adventure game produced for the Apple II in 1981. The game was created by Charles Benton and released by On-Line Systems, later renamed Sierra On-Line. Years later, Softporn Adventure inspired the Leisure Suit Larry series of adult-oriented video games, and the first entry in that series, 1987's Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, was a nearly direct graphical adaptation of Softporn Adventure. Another graphical version was released as Las Vegas for various Japanese computers in 1986 by Starcraft.
Optimized Systems Software (OSS) was a company that produced disk operating systems, programming languages with integrated development environments, and applications primarily for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. OSS was best known for their enhanced versions of Atari BASIC and the MAC/65 assembler, both of which are much faster than Atari's products, and the Action! programming language. OSS also sold some products for the Apple II.
Michael Wayne Morrison is an American author, software developer, and toy inventor. He is best known for his books on topics including Internet design and development, mobile device usage, and game programming.
Antic was a magazine devoted to the Atari 8-bit family of home computers and later the Atari ST. It was named after the ANTIC chip which provides 2D graphics in the computers. The magazine was published from April 1982 until June/July 1990. Antic printed type-in programs, reviews, and tutorials, among other articles. Each issue contained one type-in game as "Game of the Month."
ANALOG Computing was an American computer magazine devoted to Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, ANALOG printed multiple programs in each issue for users to type in. The magazine had a reputation for listings of machine language games–much smoother than those written in Atari BASIC—and which were uncommon in competing magazines. Such games were accompanied by the assembly language source code. ANALOG also sold commercial games, two books of type-in software, and access to a custom bulletin-board system.
Dan Rahmel is an American author best known for his work relating to Visual Basic and database servers. Rahmel first began work as a writer for various magazines including DBMS, American Programmer, and Internet Advisor. He co-authored his first book Interfacing to the PowerPC Microprocessor in 1995 and began writing steadily about the programming and database development fields.
Spy's Demise is an action game written by Alan Zeldin for the Apple II, published by Penguin Software in 1982. It was ported to the Atari, Commodore 64, Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, and Vector-06c. The game contained a puzzle which could be solved for a Spy's Demise T-Shirt. According to Antic magazine in June 1984, only four people had solved it. The game was followed by a 1983 sequel, The Spy Strikes Back.
Herbert Schildt is an American computing author, programmer and musician. He has written books about various programming languages. He was also a founding member of the progressive rock band Starcastle.
Solo Flight is a third-person flight simulator written by Sid Meier for the Atari 8-bit family and published by MicroProse in 1983. It includes a game mode called Mail Pilot.
Many pieces of software were available for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. Software was sold both by Atari, Inc. and third parties. Atari also distributed software through the Atari Program Exchange from 1981 to 1984. After APX folded, many titles were picked up by Antic Software.
Mike Cohn is one of the contributors to the Scrum software development method. He is one of the founders of the Scrum Alliance
This article deals with programming languages used in the Amiga line of computers, running the AmigaOS operating system and its derivatives AROS and MorphOS. It is a split of the main article Amiga software. See also related articles Amiga productivity software, Amiga music software, Amiga Internet and communications software and Amiga support and maintenance software for other information regarding software that runs on Amiga.
Tom Hudson is an American computer programmer best known for co-creating the 3D modeling and animation package 3D Studio as well as creating its precursor, CAD-3D for the Atari ST. He began his career as a technical editor and video game programmer for Atari 8-bit family magazine ANALOG Computing, where he wrote his first 3D rendering program.
Bristles is a video game written by Fernando Herrera for the Atari 8-bit family and published by the company he cofounded, First Star Software, in 1983. It was ported to the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and Exidy's Max-A-Flex arcade system. In Bristles, the player uses ladders and elevators to move Peter the Painter through a cutaway view of a house to paint all the walls.
