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About to start my Portable Atari 2600 project...


Crazy Climber

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Hello

I am going to give this Atari Portable 2600 thing a try. I got the Ben Heck book and am going to start hacking stuff next week. I would say the great advantage I have is that I run/program CNC machinery, specifically the 3 axis CNC router that Heck mentions in page 96 of his book. I pretty much use these every day and I have an unlimited supply of nice painted composite material that we usually just scrap for a whopping 4 cents a pound!! I really have been dying to find a use for this stuff, I hate just throwing it away. I think that plus the fact that portable TV's are basically getting phased out with the whole digital signal thing should bring the entire cost of the project down considerably which is a great motivator. I would say the price was always the main factor that stopped me from trying this, I would hate to spend hundreds and end up never finishing the project. The first system I will just use Heck's default design but I would like to try making my own unique designs as well. The actual hacking of everything looks pretty time consuming, I am hoping to have it done within one months time but who knows. I will post updates with pics etc.. as the project progresses, anybody else want to give this a try with me? It would be great to have a few people to bounce ideas off and I could help you out with the CNC cases. Let me know, otherwise expect some updates here soon. Talk to you later :)

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Just scored a TV for $2, going to pick it up now.....I hope it is compatible :?

 

$2? Thats awesome. Where did you get that deal?

Craigslist. This is how the conversation went on pick up.

Lady selling TV - "what are you going to do with this TV, you can't use it anymore you know?"

Me - "Make a portable Atari 2600"

Lady selling the TV - "A porta what?"

Here is a pic of it, looks like it should work just fine.

post-9102-1238865661_thumb.jpg

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Just scored a TV for $2, going to pick it up now.....I hope it is compatible :?

 

$2? Thats awesome. Where did you get that deal?

Craigslist. This is how the conversation went on pick up.

Lady selling TV - "what are you going to do with this TV, you can't use it anymore you know?"

Me - "Make a portable Atari 2600"

Lady selling the TV - "A porta what?"

Here is a pic of it, looks like it should work just fine.

post-9102-1238865661_thumb.jpg

 

:lol: Nice score!

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Hello

I am going to give this Atari Portable 2600 thing a try. I got the Ben Heck book and am going to start hacking stuff next week. I would say the great advantage I have is that I run/program CNC machinery, specifically the 3 axis CNC router that Heck mentions in page 96 of his book. I pretty much use these every day and I have an unlimited supply of nice painted composite material that we usually just scrap for a whopping 4 cents a pound!! I really have been dying to find a use for this stuff, I hate just throwing it away. I think that plus the fact that portable TV's are basically getting phased out with the whole digital signal thing should bring the entire cost of the project down considerably which is a great motivator. I would say the price was always the main factor that stopped me from trying this, I would hate to spend hundreds and end up never finishing the project. The first system I will just use Heck's default design but I would like to try making my own unique designs as well. The actual hacking of everything looks pretty time consuming, I am hoping to have it done within one months time but who knows. I will post updates with pics etc.. as the project progresses, anybody else want to give this a try with me? It would be great to have a few people to bounce ideas off and I could help you out with the CNC cases. Let me know, otherwise expect some updates here soon. Talk to you later :)

 

:thumbsup: Cant wait to see the results!!

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Just scored a TV for $2, going to pick it up now.....I hope it is compatible :?

$2? Thats awesome. Where did you get that deal?

Craigslist. This is how the conversation went on pick up.

Lady selling TV - "what are you going to do with this TV, you can't use it anymore you know?"

Me - "Make a portable Atari 2600"

Lady selling the TV - "A porta what?"

Here is a pic of it, looks like it should work just fine.

Heh, $2 is great. I think mine cost ~$30. The board mods might be a bit different than the EV-680, but it probably has the same/similar light bulb that you can replace with white LEDs.

--Selgus

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Well, did about 5 hours of reading the book tonight at work. Not very impressed with the black and white diagram the book has that is supposedly highlighted to show what leads need to be removed for the white LED mod of the casio LCD screen....maybe I am getting older and my vision is lesser but I don't see anything highlighted. Guess I will have to ask around the Heck forums, hope I don't look to noobish :D

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Well, did about 5 hours of reading the book tonight at work. Not very impressed with the black and white diagram the book has that is supposedly highlighted to show what leads need to be removed for the white LED mod of the casio LCD screen....maybe I am getting older and my vision is lesser but I don't see anything highlighted. Guess I will have to ask around the Heck forums, hope I don't look to noobish :D

 

 

Thats what scared me away from completing mine...amon other things :ponder:

Good luck on yours, cant wait to see it!

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Are you going to use a flashback 2 or an old 2600? The flashback is the smallest 2600 right?

 

I saw one of those small color-LCD-games. It would be nice if the guts could be replaced with flashback hardware...

You can't use a FB2 for this specific project, it needs to be a 4-switch Atari 2600 for all the hookups.

--Selgus

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You can't use a FB2 for this specific project, it needs to be a 4-switch Atari 2600 for all the hookups.

--Selgus

 

One can solder a 26 (or 24?) pin connector to the flashback board and BAM! Insta atari.

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You can't use a FB2 for this specific project, it needs to be a 4-switch Atari 2600 for all the hookups.

--Selgus

 

One can solder a 26 (or 24?) pin connector to the flashback board and BAM! Insta atari.

 

No, not really. There is no spot for a connector on the FB2 board, but solder pads that have the proper connections to wire a cart port to it. It takes more like a few hours, not instant at all.

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Are you going to use a flashback 2 or an old 2600? The flashback is the smallest 2600 right?

 

I saw one of those small color-LCD-games. It would be nice if the guts could be replaced with flashback hardware...

4 switch atari 2600, you can cut the board down to a 4x4 square with a little modification of course ;)

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Go on Ben's website. There are color pictures there. It is still hard to see the highlighting. There is a new way to connect the video also.

 

Good luck.

Well after a little more investigating I more or less understand which parts need to be removed now so knowing the exact leads isnt as important. I am not looking forward to the white LED mod portion of this, looks a little easier on a PSX screen, might go that route if I get stuck :ponder:

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Well after a little more investigating I more or less understand which parts need to be removed now so knowing the exact leads isnt as important. I am not looking forward to the white LED mod portion of this, looks a little easier on a PSX screen, might go that route if I get stuck :ponder:

It's not as bad as it looks, just don't rush it and be careful when cutting to get the bulb out. Remember with this mod, you save a lot on your battery load. :)

--Selgus

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