Shared post

Lunduke

News • Science & Tech

Make Computers Fun Again - Linux, UNIX, Alternative Operating Systems, Computer History, and Retro Computing. Also dad jokes.

Interested? Want to learn more about the community?

Show me more content first

Greg Gauthier@Greg_Gauthier

January 06, 2023

#8BitWeek #Atari -- "Hello, World" #3: Atari PILOT

One of the things that kept me going on the computer, as a kid, was the feeling of having some purchase with the thing. The fact that I could make it do things, with just a little bit of effort, was enough to keep me fascinated all day long. Atari tried to capitalise on that in the early days, by aiming their computers at the education market. Both, because it was a good "hook" with parents and teachers, and because it was a guaranteed future customer base.

PILOT is an extremely simple programming language written in 1968 explicitly for teaching programming to children. The language consists of one-letter commands followed by a colon, one command per line, and with a very limited set of commands and operations. Variables are prefixed with $, and labels with a *.

Atari PILOT is unique in that it added a set of commands for graphics and sound using two-letter commands, GR and SO. The graphics system used turtle graphics, with the string following the GR command containing multiple sub-commands like DRAW and TURN. It worked in either immediate mode, or as lines in a program. So, you could get that "instant gratification" hit with the kids, by having them type in graphics or sound commands, and seeing the computer JUST DO IT immediately.

All that said, however, PILOT never really went anywhere. Especially given the fact that BASIC shipped with the early models, and it could be made to do pretty much the same things, with a very similar sort of effort -- and the added advantage, that it was the LINGUA FRANCA of just about every platform at the time.

Anyway, here are some screenshots from the student guide to the Atari port of PILOT. Also, a screenshot of today's "Hello World".

Interested? Want to learn more about the community?

Show me more content first

What else you may like…

Videos

Podcasts

Posts

Articles

Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke

10 hours ago

Xorg Plans Political Moves: Removing 2 Years of Commits from XLibre Dev

Xorg, which has a stated goal of killing itself, plans to re-base on 2 year old code in order to avoid code from XLibre developer. Plus: Moving from "Master" to "Main" branch naming.

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:18:27

Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke

January 20, 2026

IBM Sued for Discrimination. Again.

A 61 year old white man was fired from IBM, yet "a black woman with identical territory, quota, and performance" was not. Plus: IBM & Red Hat are settling lawsuits behind the scenes.

The IBM / Red Hat Leaks: What we've learned so far:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/5515346/the-ibm-red-hat-leaks-what-weve-learned-so-far

$89 Lifetime Lunduke Journal Subscriptions all January:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/89-lifetime-lunduke-journal-subscriptions-c1b

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:12:18

Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke

January 19, 2026

Anti-ICE Activists Mistake Programmers for ICE Agents

A few software engineers were having lunch at a deli in Minneapolis. Leftist activists thought, because they were all white, fit males, that they must be ICE agents. They used Signal to organize a mob.

$89 Lifetime Lunduke Journal Subscriptions all January:
https://lunduke.substack.com/p/89-lifetime-lunduke-journal-subscriptions-c1b

More from The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.com/

00:06:16

Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke

November 22, 2023

The futility of Ad-Blockers

Ads are filling the entirety of the Web -- websites, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc. -- at an increasing rate. Prices for those ad placements are plummeting. Consumers are desperate to use ad-blockers to make the web palatable. Google (and others) are desperate to break and block ad-blockers. All of which results in... more ads and lower pay for creators.

It's a fascinatingly annoying cycle. And there's only one viable way out of it.

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links? Check here:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke

November 21, 2023

openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"

Those in power with openSUSE make it clear they will not allow me anywhere near anything related to the openSUSE project. Ever. For any reason.

Well, that settles that, then! Guess I won't be contributing to openSUSE! 🤣

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links?
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4898317/give-the-gift-of-the-lunduke-journal

Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke

September 13, 2023

"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

This episode is free for all to enjoy and share.

Be sure to subscribe here at Lunduke.Locals.com to get all shows & articles (including interviews with other amazing nerds).

Barry 6502gs@Barry6502gs

4 hours ago

Do you know what happens in the "Grok" Server Rooms a hundred or a thousand miles away?
🤔
Below, a Grok Instance was asked:
My Windows 11 fails to launch Notepad and other simple Apps. Give me detailed instructions to make Windows 11 perform with an efficient use of memory and processing resources when applications are in use. I'd also like my personal data to remain secure and private.
😵 💀 😬
https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-11/windows-11-apps-like-notepad-arent-loading-what-is-error-code-0x803f8001-and-how-d

Rincewind23@Rincewind23

11 hours ago

For the nerds: How to put a backdoor in your compiler, Ken Thomson style 🙂 For the social credit points: Hail Rust!

leebase@leebase

14 hours ago

Advancing My Webblog by Regressing

I'm advancing my personal health blog by regressing to static pages. Regression? Yes. I'm advancing by retreating :p

I haven't been a web coder in a LONG time. I came in the wave AFTER websites were handcoded in pearl, but long before javascript. I coded pages in HTML and then with ColdFusion. Yes, I'm ancient. Web sites were built by hand coding and that was a road block for publishing.

Then came CMS - content management systems. These were a godsend. Technical users would install and configure and content creators would log in, type in their ariticles and hit publish. It was quite the innovation. I hosted sites using phpNuke, Durpal and other dinosaurs. BTW, I still think the forum software of that era are a LOT better than what we have here on Locals. I like threaded discussions, but I digress.

However, adding a database, application server and the rest of the CMS made content sites both more expensive and much more fragile. Sql injection attacks and ...

Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke

January 16, 2026

Lunduke Journal Week In Review - Jan 16th, 2025

Whew! It’s been another wild week for Tech News!

Here’s a crazy stat for ya:

We are currently 16 days into 2026, and The Lunduke Journal has already recorded 19 shows (17 of which have been published on every platform, and 2 others to be published this weekend everywhere… but are already available via the MP4 download page). And that’s with taking New Year’s Day off (and getting the flu this week).

It’s a heck of a lot of Tech News, to be sure.

Lunduke’s Top Stories for the Week

If you only have time to watch a few of shows, I recommend these 3 as being the most interesting (or important… or just… strange) from the last week:

In other words: A pretty gosh-darned crazy week for Linux.

(Those links are to Lunduke.Substack.com, but you can watch all of those shows on any other platform. As always.)

Other Tidbits of Awesomeness

A few other notes on this, most excellent, Friday!

The Lunduke Journal started publishing to TikTok this week. Why? Who knows! Because we can!
If you are a subscriber you can get access to the MP4 download pages (as well as the official forum) by following instructions on the Perks Page.
Reminder: Lifetime Subscriptions are only $89 this month.
So, you know, you want one of those.

And, with that, I leave you with a screenshot of the MP4 listing of the shows so far in 2026. Bonkers.

-Lunduke

Read full Article

Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke

January 14, 2026

Lunduke's Lifetime Subscriber Wall 3 is almost full!

Holy moly.

This afternoon I sat down to update the 3rd Lunduke Journal Lifetime Subscriber wall — adding in all of you who sent in requests over the last week or so.

And, boy howdy, were there a lot of you! So many, in fact, that the 3rd Lifetime Wall only has room for around 6 or 7 more names (depending on the name lengths)! That’s crazy!

If you want to make it onto “The Lunduke Journal Lifetime Subscriber” Wall number 3… send me an email (bryan at lunduke.com) with the way you would like your name to be displayed.

Or, if you’re not already a Lifetime Subscriber, remedy that for $89. (Which, you know, is a pretty gosh darned good value.) … Then send me that email requesting to be added to the wall.

Once Wall 3 is full, we’ll start in on Wall number 4 (that’s nuts). At the current rate, I expect Wall 4 to debut this week.

And, as always, thank you for your support. Whatever kind of subscription you have, it is deeply appreciated. Monthly, Yearly, or Lifetime. All are amazing. You make The Lunduke Journal possible.

You rule.

-Lunduke

Read full Article

Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke

January 13, 2026

Lunduke Out Sick Tomorrow

I’ve got the flu (or something else yucky) and need to take the day off tomorrow.

But I don’t really have a normal “boss” to email. Heck, all of you are sort of like my collective boss.

So I’m emailing you:

Boss, *cough cough* Lunduke is out sick tomorrow.

Which means no new shows on Wednesday. Hoping to rest up and be back with new shows on Thursday.

If you’ve missed any shows over the last few weeks, now’s a good chance to catch up.

And feel free to grab one of those fancy-shmancy $89 Lifetime Subscriptions while you’re at it. That won’t make my flu go away any faster… but it definitely won’t hurt.

Unrelated note: Buying stock in Nyquil might not be a bad idea. I think I’m about to increase their profits.

-Lunduke

Read full Article

Available on mobile and TV devices

Advancing My Webblog by Regressing

Lunduke’s Top Stories for the Week

Other Tidbits of Awesomeness

The Lunduke Journal of Technology

Subscribing to & Supporting The Lunduke Journal