This episode features Silent Butler, originally released in 1985 by Atari.  It was developed by Silent Butler Software.  It was programmed by Ted A. Goldstone.

Podcast: Download

Box and Supplement Scans

Scan of the front of the box (notice the report date on the cover):

 

Scan of the back of the box:

 

Silent Butler in Action

Boot

Five screens complete the boot process.  Boot with a 130XE to eliminate program disk swaps:

 

Date Verification

 

Initial Setup

First setup checking:

 

Now setup savings:

 

Now select printer:

 

Bookmark One – Daily Activity

Ready?  The start of bookmark one:

 

2 – Change to Savings & Checking

 

3 – Reminders

 

4 – Fixed Bills

 

5 – Savings Accounts

 

6 – Checking Acounts

 

7 – Other Bills

 

8 – Reminders

 

9 – Current Bills

 

Review?  Answering Y walks through the steps of Bookmark One again:

 

Bookmark Two – Reporting

The start of bookmark two:

 

2 – Reconcile Checkbooks

 

3 – Savings Account Review

 

4 – Checking Account Review

 

5 – Account Review

 

6 – Tax Summary

 

7 – Print Special Summaries

 

8 – Change Printer

 

Review?  Answering Y walks through the steps of Bookmark Two again:

 

Program End

 

Errors

If the process is terminated early and you return you are greeted then asked if you want to continue or start at the beginning:

 

Printer error.  From this point on it remembers there is no printer attached:

 

Files

The program disk is both copy protected and uses a hidden VTOC.  The record disk uses a hidden VTOC as well.

 

Printing

I could not get any print routines to work either in emulation or with real hardware.

 

Instructions

There is not much in the 20 page manual.  You don’t really need it anyway as the program guides you the entire time.

 

Show Links:

• AtariAge: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/239405-silent-butler-second-disk-image/
• Atari Mania: http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-silent-butler_s21043.html
• AtariWiki: https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Atari%20Silent%20Butler
• Michael Current Atari History: http://mcurrent.name/atarihistory/tramel_technology.html
• Omnivore Program thread (AtariAge): http://atariage.com/forums/topic/248581-omnivore-the-atari-8-bit-binary-editor/
• Getaway! Map thread (AtariAge): http://atariage.com/forums/topic/248591-new-maps-for-getaway/

 

 

Intro music is an excerpt from a chip tune by Wizwars named 8 Bit Raceway.  It is used under Creative Common license Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States.