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 February 1987 cover | |
| First issue | April 1982 |
|---|---|
| Final issue | June/July 1990 |
| Company | Antic Publishing |
| ISSN | 0745-2527 |
Antic was a printmagazine devoted toAtari 8-bit computers and later theAtari ST. It was named after theANTIC chip in the 8-bit line which, in concert withCTIA or GTIA, generates the display. The magazine was published byAntic Publishing from April 1982 until June/July 1990.[1]Antic printedtype-in programs (usually inAtari BASIC), reviews, and tutorials, among other articles. Each issue contained one type-in game as "Game of the Month." In 1986,STart magazine was spun off to exclusively cover theAtari ST line.[2]
Its main rival in the United States wasANALOG Computing, another long-lived magazine devoted to the Atari 8-bit line. Multi-system magazinesCOMPUTE! andFamily Computing also served Atari 8-bit owners with type-in programs.
Starting in 1984, the catalog forAntic Software was bound into issues ofAntic.
NASA programmer Jim Capparell was an early Atari 8-bit computer owner. He quit his job on 15 January 1982 to found a magazine covering the 8-bit systems.On-Line Systems,Broderbund, andSynapse Software agreed to purchase advertising in the new publication, and Capparell's staff distributed the first issue of 30 pages at the March 1982West Coast Computer Faire. The first issue ofAntic was published in April 1982. While it began as a bimonthly magazine, within a year it had gone monthly.[3]
By Christmas 1983 the magazine was 148 pages, but in 1984 Antic saw advertising sales drop by 50% in 90 days. TheAntic Software catalog, bound into each issue, containedpublic domain software, re-released products from theAtari Program Exchange after it folded, and original titles. It helped the company avoid bankruptcy, and in 1985 it startedII Computing for theApple II.[3]
In 1984, after theAtari Program Exchange was closed byAtari, Inc., Antic started selling former APX games and application software under the nameAPX Classics from Antic and solicited new submissions asAntic Software. The Antic Software catalog was bound into issues of the magazine.[4]
In 1985Antic beganST Resource, a section of the magazine devoted to theAtari ST line.[3] In 1986 it beganSTart magazine for the computer. The daughter magazine would outlive its parent by about a year. WhenAntic ended, it continued as a section ofSTart, appearing in six more issues. A magazine for theAmiga, the primary competitor of the Atari ST, was published from 1989 until 1991 under the nameAntic's Amiga Plus.[5]
The last issue ofAntic was June–July 1990. All told, 88 issues and a "Best of" book were published.
A utility calledTYPO ("Type Your Program Once," a play ontypographical error) was used to verify that programs were typed in correctly that generated set of check-sums for different portions of the lines of code, but it didn't help users find exactly which line had the error.TYPO was later succeeded byTYPO II, a smaller, faster program that generates achecksum two letter code for eachAtari BASIC line entered in a program. By comparing each line's checksum with that printed in the magazine, the reader could be sure they typed the BASIC source correctly before entering the next line of code.
Versions ofTYPO were also published and used (with permission) byPage 6.ANALOG Computing also used a two-letter checksum code for their type-in programs they offered and was interoperable withAntic'sTYPO II.
