Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hp-pcd!hpspkla!champagn
From: champagn@hpspkla.HP.COM (Robert R. Champagne)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: ANTIC
Message-ID: <3490005@hpspkla.HP.COM>
Date: 29 Mar 89 17:45:53 GMT
References: <890328.23104678.028665@SFA.CP6>
Organization: Hewlett Packard Company, Spokane, Wa.
Lines: 9

>     Just being curious, does anyone know of the significance of the word
> "ANTIC" when dealing with computers, specifically Atari?

	The Atari 8-bit has a "co-processor" known as the ANTIC chip, which
is the heart of it's display system. It has it's own (limited) instruction
set (commonly known as a "display list"), can "steal" cycles from the
6502 at odd intervals (read: DMA), and has a provision for generating what
are now known as "sprites" (termed "player/missles" for this machine).