I've never heard of this atari back to school pak, is it an actual programming tool for the atari or what? Anyone know anything about it? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0362626125

It appears to be a package of several games and a BASIC cart.

Here's what AtariAge has to say about it:

http://www.atariage.com/software_page.h ... wareID=841

It's an interesting piece of video game history, but the BASIC programming cartridge is pretty much useless for everything over "Hello World!". Apparently it can handle a maximum of 9 lines of code. Yes. nine. I think they made it because someone complained that the Video Computer System couldn't be called a "computer" unless it had BASIC.

Actually, that's not right...as it supposedly is of Atari's Video Chess. Programmer Warren Robinett already had the idea of attempting an interpreter on the machine before Atari started looking for cartridge games to utilize the keyboard controllers - to make their purchase more appealing to the public...and subsequently (potentially) boost sales of keyboard-controlled games already in the catalog. BASIC Programming was a perfect candidate. Programmers in those early days were not under any kind of schedule to begin or complete a project. Regardless of how limited the resources are for the interpreter, it's still a pretty good achievement for the time.

http://toadstool.net/games/adventure/interview4.htm