Back in the glory days of computers, machines like the Commodore-64 and the Atari 400/800 ruled the market. Telecommunication was in its infancy. Users whizzed along with their 300 baud modems, with only an elite few able to afford those "high-priced" 1200 and 2400bps modems.
At such low speeds, and even lower resolution screens, there was not much in the way of the graphic appeal that is so common today. But with just a little creativity and immagination, many were able to produce some rather impressive displays (for their time). One of the most admired forms of online artisry were "Atascii Movies". (aka "Break Messages")
"Atascii", which is a (m)acronym that stood for "Atari Ascii", was the unique default character set of Atari 8-bit computers. The Commodore Vic-20 and 64 also had their own set of graphics characters, but what made the Atari so special was that cursor movements could also be embedded in your text, similar to the ANSI effects many PC users see today.
If you still have an old Atari 400/800/XL/XE computer (and a way of transporting these files to it), you can download and view these examples with it. If you do not have an old 8-bit Atari at your disposal, Emulators, Inc. (formerly known as Branch Always Software) sells an 8-bit Atari emulator (a free demo version is also available) that runs on any 32-bit PC, called "PC-Xformer". You can also find an Atari ST version there by the same author called (what else) "ST-Xformer".
Another (freeware) version for the PC called XL-it by Markus Geitzen is also available at his web site.
For Macintosh 68K and PowerMac users, there is the Raindow Atari 400/800/XL/XE emulator by Chris Lam. (Free Mac & Win95 demo versions are available.)
Both the "Rainbow" and "XL-it" emulators require the Atari 8-bit ROMs in file form. The required OS support files are available here for download if needed. (THESE FILES ARE THE PROPERTY OF ATARI CORP AND MAY NOT BE RESOLD!)
I had hoped to have an online Java based viewer for these files, but I just don't have the time and have received conflicting recommendations on the best way to impliment it. (Anyone interested in tackling this job for me?)
In the meantime, here are a few you can download and view off-line:
(Due to the constraints of HTML, I am forced to post these files in ZIP format. Most Web browsers do not recognize the ARC file format.)
Here is a small program written by me to display your atascii files. Includes docs. Written in 8-bit Atari BASIC (ie: requires a 400/800/XL/XE or emulator to run). Files load terribly slow, but it's 100% guarenteed to work on all emulators.
A nice program written in 8-bit Atari BASIC (ie: requires a 400/800/XL/XE or emulator) was gratiously donated by one Bruce Willard to display the files you download. Files load much faster, but program may not work with all emulators.
You can quickly grab ALL of these movies (including Showwer.Zip) in three SS/SD "virtual disks" with AtariDOS already on them (No need to transfer each file):
What Are Atascii Movies?
