Feb 1, 2020
Craig Hickman, Atari Photography Software and Security
System
Craig Hickman was featured in the June 1982 edition of Atari
Connection magazine for his photography software tools. "Craig has
developed two programs written in Atari BASIC for use in his
darkroom. One of the programs times the negative’s development, and
the other monitors and times enlargements and the making of the
positive prints." His Developing program could store up to 30 film
processing combinations. "Once the film is developed into a
negative, you are ready to use Craig's Enlarger/Timer program to
make a positive print." The Atari 400 was connected to the enlarger
with relays: the computer would turn the enlarger on and off at
precise intervals for making photographic prints.
Craig also rigged up an apartment security system using his Atari
400, which he wrote about in an article on his web site. He wrote:
"I designed a home surveillance system for our apartment in Seattle
that used little magnetic switches from Radio Shack. It displayed a
representation of our apartment on the screen and showed when a
door or window was open. It worked so well I expanded the system to
include little tilt switches placed on bushes outside the windows.
This also worked fine until one windy night when I was away from
home and it set off the alarm every few minutes. The next day my
wife told me to dismantle it."
Later, Craig created the popular program Kid Pix for the early
Macintosh computer.
This interview took place on January 29, 2020. See the show notes
for links to Craig's web site and YouTube channel, and the Atari
Connection magazine article.
Craig's
web site
Craig's darkroom timer in Atari Connection Magazine
Craig's
YouTube channel