• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Take a deep dive into "Instant Graphics," an old protocol for art and animation on plain-text BBSes

Kirkman

New Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2023
Messages
5
Location
Ferguson, MO, USA
View attachment xnet-2.png

If you're tired of reading about the same old retrocomputing stuff, I've got something new for you at Break Into Chat:

Over the past month, I have posted the first four parts of a new multi-part series taking a deep dive into a very niche topic — "Instant Graphics and Sound." It's the result of years of original research, with thousands of words written so far.

I hope you'll enjoy meeting the different personalities involved, and learning about a BBS technology on a platform (Atari ST) that might be unfamiliar to you.

One of those personalities was Larry Mears, who in 198 decided he was fed up with the same four “bland VT-52 colors” offered by the ST bulletin boards he was calling.

A self-described “working man without a degree,” Mears was a shipping clerk for a local bakery, who often downplayed his own coding ability. “I am not an advanced-level programmer,” he once wrote. Still, he enjoyed programming because it exercised his mind. “My job takes care of the old back,” he joked.

After one failed attempt to bring graphics to BBSes, he tried to solve the problem again in 1988, and created "Instant Graphics!"

Though it took some time, others did embrace his protocol. For a brief period people created cool artwork, animation, and interfaces using it. This series tells their stories.

Here are the parts so far:
At least two more parts are coming.
 
Part 5: Point and Click is available now, looking at the interactive menus and BBS door games that IGS' mouse-interaction features made possible starting in late 1990.

Also, I recently got a copy of a cool visual time capsule — a 2½ min. video of Ralph Mariano at his ABCO workshop in 1987. Lots of Atari computers and hardware on display!

mariano.jpg

Mariano and his "Bounty BBS" are discussed in Part 3, and I have added the video near the top of that post.
 
For anyone who missed it at New Years — Mistrigris computer arts and Break Into Chat released "IGNITE," the first-ever all-IGS artpack. It includes nine new images from seven artists, plus eight new animations by me.

You can download the pack here. It includes the original .IG files for use on Atari ST computers, as well as .PNG and .MP4 versions for viewing on modern machines. There are also two .ST floppy disk images you can use to view the art slideshow-style on an ST without needing to install or configure with the IGS software.

Finally, if you'd rather just see all the art without hassling with the artpack, you're in luck! We made a nine-minute YouTube video. Don't miss the last segment, a "Calvin and Hobbes" animation that I'm proud of.

 
Back
Top