ANTIC Interview 44 - Joe Decuir, Atari 400/800 Designer - a podcast by Randy Kindig, Kay Savetz, Brad Arnold

Hello, and welcome to another interview edition of Antic, the Atari 8-bit Podcast.  I am Randy Kindig.  I am extremely honored to bring to you today an interview with one of the true pioneers of the personal computer, one of the primary designers of the Atari 400 & 800, Mr. Joe Decuir.  Joe worked closely with Jay Miner, Steve Mayer and others to design a computer in the days when personal computers were just in their infancy.  Joe shares with us the thoughts and reasoning that went into the design of the 400 & 800 and thus brings all of us a little closer to being a part of an amazing time in computer history.  Please enjoy!

 

Teaser Quotes:

 

“we wanted to build the next great game system and we wanted to build a computer”

 

“we were designing for home users not office people”

 

“We don't get to have slots; that drove us crazy”

 

“In retrospect, I wish we had built an 800-series machine with one built-in disk drive that was right on the bus”

 

Links:

 

Portland Retro Gaming Expo PRGE 2013 - Joe Decuir

Further episodes of ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast

Further podcasts by Randy Kindig, Kay Savetz, Brad Arnold

Website of Randy Kindig, Kay Savetz, Brad Arnold