Strange Atari 2600 mod on Ebay

[Mr.Smiley]

Hi,

 

I just bought a strangly modded Atari 2600 from ebay Germany and I was wondering if it is a self-made mod and if someone has ever seen or done such a mod?

Description says its a Sunnyvale model with a serial number of 62486.

 

Here are some pictures of the auction:

[iwan-iwanowitsch-goratschin]

This is a nice self made modification.

[Crazy Climber]

I have seen these before, definitely self made.

[Lendorien]

It might be obvious to others but what is the mod supposed to do? Read Eproms?

[jahfish]

these are selfmade roms ... and i suppose the console also came with a cartridge that has a (blue or green) rom socket on one side ... possibly the black thing laying on the console?

 

always nice to have one set of these in your collection, even if they not too special and not highly valuable.

[Silntdoogood]

It might be obvious to others but what is the mod supposed to do? Read Eproms?

Glad I'm not the only one that thought this was a very foreign mod.

 

(Side note: I have the same red joystick, one of the best out there, kudos on the find!)

[Mr.Smiley]

Received the Atari today and I thought the black thing on top of the Atari must be the cartridge in which you insert the roms, but no it was just a cap protecting the "rom slot". Normal Atari cartridges work fine but i can't get the roms to work. The seller told me he bought the Atari with the modification, looks self-made and sloppy. Don't know what the switch above the slot does. Contacted the seller and now i'm waiting for a reply.

 

Took some pictures:

Edited December 11, 2010 by Mr.Smiley

[Mr.Smiley]

After wondering what the little metal stick is, I figured out that you have to pull it up to "lock" the roms. Now it works fine!

[Lendorien]

What a novel thing to have. I wonder how many others did mods like this. I assume someone actually had a rom burner or whatever it's called and copied/pirated games to play them like this...

Edited December 11, 2010 by Lendorien

[jahfish]

that is a sweet mod! nice find!

[nathanallan]

It's nice that the original modder used a silver capped slider switch like the console's normal ones. That is a nice touch. Nice find! Even if it doesn't work now you could make it work

[GreenDayRlz]

Lol, putting the mod in a cart would have been so much less trouble. I wonder why they did it like this? Oh well, still very cool none the less!

[SlowCoder]

I don't get it. It's a slot for self made Roms? Is its purpose different from that of the Harmony cart?

[svenski]

Looks like a cool mod, good find

[Rikkarr]

That's really cool! As long as it doesn't interfere with normal functioning, you pretty much have an Atari 2600+!

[holgibo]

Cool, a very special 2600. An awesome find. On the picture are eproms with two games on it. How can you switch between these games?

[Mr.Smiley]

Cool, a very special 2600. An awesome find. On the picture are eproms with two games on it. How can you switch between these games?

 

Thanks to your question i played a little bit with that switch obove the eprom reader. If i insert an eprom with 2 games on it, i can select between the games depending on the switch. If i slide the switch to the left , it starts the first game and to the right the second. I think its an awesome mod and i'm very happy i found it on ebay.

[jahfish]

it is awesome indeed

 

what did you say was your adress?

[Mr.Smiley]

Fakestreet 123

[jahfish]

Fakestreet 123

 

 

u mean sinnlosstr. 23

[A.J. Franzman]

After wondering what the little metal stick is, I figured out that you have to pull it up to "lock" the roms. Now it works fine!

Although it may work, that's actually backwards-- up is unlock, and down is lock on a standard ZIF socket. The reason it still works is that, when you use it reversed, one of the pair of blade sets that are supposed to grip the chip pins, end up pressing the pins against the plastic dividers instead (you're only getting contact on one side of each pin instead of both, and the pressure that makes the contact is only coming from the springiness of the blades rather than the full locking force -- used backwards, it will be fairly easy to pull or pry the chip out without moving the lever, but used the right way, it should be noticeably much more difficult).