ryanmercer Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Hnnnghhhh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariNerd Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Following previous builds, it will likely be a stock-standard rebuild of an A8 - a Basic Unit of Atari, one could say and a smidge bit bigger than the size of one of those specialized Intel boards. I'm sure if he released it, some of our more clever tinkerers could optimize and crunch it down to that, if some crazy desire was there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 (edited) I still think these project can turn in to Frankenstein things, good intentions turn in to taking the hardware and making it not compatible with the old hardware which sort of sinks it FOR ME, making a mini Atari is great but apart from adding HDMI as screens are non scart / lower end connections any more which makes sense although an option for a scart output from some sort of connector would be nice for the old folk who like CRT advantages would be nice. What would be good would be an add on board that allows older hardware to be used but can be removed if you just want to use flash drives / mini / micro USB to keep the size down. Although that in itself may sound a tad Frankenstein I think taking away the history of its add ons while some still work would be a poor taste thing....Having an add on board is size adage but at least keeps it as the kids say "real".. As always, my thoughts only... Paul.. Edited July 18, 2018 by Mclaneinc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Thag Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 I'd be happy if someone just did something along the lines of an Atari 8-bit version of the Retron 77. Basically a small, modern HDMI capable clone that can use real carts/peripherals, but which doesn't cost hundreds of dollars. It'll never happen, not enough demand, but that would be cool. These custom builds are really neat, but way outside my resources. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 I'd be happy if someone just did something along the lines of an Atari 8-bit version of the Retron 77. Retron 77 just contains modern hardware running an emulator (Stella). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Who's Ben Hecks? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tezz Posted July 18, 2018 Author Share Posted July 18, 2018 Who's Ben Hecks? I'm glad somebody noticed the grammatical typo. I posted the title quickly from my phone that day. Can admin edit the title please to add the apostrophe 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 I'm glad somebody noticed the grammatical typo. I posted the title quickly from my phone that day. Can admin edit the title please to add the apostrophe An impeccable reaction, if I may say. Many don't react so well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 I'd be happy if someone just did something along the lines of an Atari 8-bit version of the Retron 77. Basically a small, modern HDMI capable clone that can use real carts/peripherals, but which doesn't cost hundreds of dollars. It'll never happen, not enough demand, but that would be cool. These custom builds are really neat, but way outside my resources. Retron 77 just contains modern hardware running an emulator (Stella). Yep, and it can't even use all the carts or peripherals. The cartridge interface is a rom-reader so plenty of bankswitching schemes don't work. Pitfall II with it's DPC chip don't work, modern Harmony Carts and homebrews on Melody boards don't either. I gather the roms can be loaded through the SD card but still, it's a limitation. I gather Driving Controllers and Trak-Balls don't work either - not sure if that's a limit of the controller interface they built, or if can be addressed in their "glue" firmware sitting between the hardware and the version of Stella they're using. Anyway, the closest equivalent is an RPi running Atari800. Though Avery recently published his first test builds of Altirra for ARMx64 … I expect it requires a pretty powerful processor (in terms of ARM chips anyway). Tiny, low powered, can be made portable without a lot of trouble, and with the right interface, can even use vintage controllers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 An impeccable reaction, if I may say. Many don't react so well. I'm sorry, i'm still in a troglodyte mental state and yet to evolve enough to grammar check...I blame my parents, Ugg and Dugg.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 See Dr V, that's the Frankenstein thing I mentioned a few posts back....Its an Atari but its not fully......Bit freaky... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 A good part of what Ben Heck is doing is the wow factor of taking the original Atari chips and building up an A8 from scratch, similar to what he did with his point to point wiring of an Atari 2600 some time ago. So substituting an off the shelf modern device would not have the same effect he is likely after. It's a cool project, and I'm fascinated to see his final approach, as in will this be exact copy of an existing A8 circuit, or will he improvise and simplify the glue logic. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80s_Atari_Guy Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 (edited) Exactly, mytek. That Piman crap didn't bother me because we have the ability to skip that part. The meat of the video was the project itself, and it seems a bit petty to whine about piman. Looking forward to part 2. Edited July 19, 2018 by 80s_Atari_Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrbrevin Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 interesting to see that the Freddie chip was intended to combine many of the glue logic chips and some other functions into one package. primarily it saved costs. i believe sinclair also did this in their 8bit computers - resulting in the "ULA" chip. it will likely be standard procedure for skilled designers and an easy way to get a 'golden handshake' from the boss hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 I forgot about him using the Freddie chip. Yes that in itself gets rid of a lot of glue . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tschak909 Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 I was the patron for his second portable A8. Still have it, but it needs some rebuild work, as the hot glue has come apart in places. -Thom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tezz Posted July 19, 2018 Author Share Posted July 19, 2018 A good part of what Ben Heck is doing is the wow factor of taking the original Atari chips and building up an A8 from scratch, similar to what he did with his point to point wiring of an Atari 2600 some time ago. So substituting an off the shelf modern device would not have the same effect he is likely after. It's a cool project, and I'm fascinated to see his final approach, as in will this be exact copy of an existing A8 circuit, or will he improvise and simplify the glue logic. It will be interesting to see what Ben comes up with as he has simplified the glue logic with other builds. interesting to see that the Freddie chip was intended to combine many of the glue logic chips and some other functions into one package. primarily it saved costs. i believe sinclair also did this in their 8bit computers - resulting in the "ULA" chip. Indeed, the issue 5 and 6 of the original rubber key Spectrum removed six decoder/multiplexer chips being replaced with a Mullard ULA type ZX8401 and a 74LS04 hex inverter provided the six inverters required for the new neater design. The 6C001-7 ULA chip that arrived with the issue 4 onwards was also improved and works in most of the original earlier models. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLund1 Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 I was amazed that he seems to be building a complete A8 from memory from the viewer's POV. I'm sure he edited out any time he spent looking things up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Thag Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Retron 77 just contains modern hardware running an emulator (Stella). Which would be just fine with me. It'd be nice to have a cheap, functional unit that played carts on an HDMI TV without all the mods, add-ons, converters etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tezz Posted July 20, 2018 Author Share Posted July 20, 2018 Here's part 2 ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV1lacUcZk8 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benheck Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 Was going to post about this build but there was a topic already! For more details and high-res photos check out my site: https://www.benheck.com/atari-800-handheld/ I'd love to continue working on this concept. Ideally it should be an 800XL with modern SRAM and all the glue logic done with a small CPLD (cheaper version of an FPGA) This would avoid the need for the Freddie chip and simply use the common main IC's. A lot more could be added if I was getting real PCB's made but our show is (was) always on a rushed schedule so with a 2 week time limit was faster to make them in-house. Curious to hear your thoughts and ideas! 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xrbrevin Posted July 20, 2018 Share Posted July 20, 2018 a space-saving alternative to the myIDE?: https://github.com/rossumur/littleatari810 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Downloaded part 2 for later viewing... Please tell me that thing isn't the portable XL - it looks like some cheap ripoff of a Speak & Spell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mytek Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 Was going to post about this build but there was a topic already! For more details and high-res photos check out my site: https://www.benheck.com/atari-800-handheld/ I'd love to continue working on this concept. Ideally it should be an 800XL with modern SRAM and all the glue logic done with a small CPLD (cheaper version of an FPGA) This would avoid the need for the Freddie chip and simply use the common main IC's. A lot more could be added if I was getting real PCB's made but our show is (was) always on a rushed schedule so with a 2 week time limit was faster to make them in-house. Curious to hear your thoughts and ideas! Ben check out my 1088XEL project to see a way to use SRAM without the need for a CPLD or Freddie, and very little glue logic. I'm also working on a new project that will substitute a Clock Oscillator IC at 4X the required frequency followed by a 74HCT74 divide by 4 circuit to get it to what we need. This is the same as what Freddie does internally. BTW, I love the way your portable turned out . And one last thing... ALLPCB.com would have turned around professionally made boards for you in 1 week or less for very little money. I use them all the time with great success. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flashjazzcat Posted July 21, 2018 Share Posted July 21, 2018 The fade-in 1088XEL boot screen would have looked good on this... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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