+ZuluGula Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Does anyone already make new motherboards for 2600 that fits in original case? I have seen in the past many miniaturized versions of VCS, but I can't find one that is full size and slightly modernized. So if someone would want to design one, what would you like to see on it? I would start the list: Fits 4 switch case New power supply that accepts 5V DC with 5.5mm jack RF delete AV and pause mods with TV connectors on motherboard Optionally AtariVox and some SD card multicart integrated on motherboard. All done with original chips and THM components or THM and SMD mix. With the Chinese pcb manufacturers, the cost of new 9.75 by 5.25 inch motherboard is quite reasonable. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 Do it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Al_Nafuur Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 I really like your idea. But a new case should also be considered, because i don't like the cannibalization of old cartridges and hardware.. I bet a 2600 compatible PCB would be a great improvement (if it fits in) for this cases: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZuluGula Posted January 11, 2020 Author Share Posted January 11, 2020 Ok! Which Atari board revision is considered best? This video is what inspired me to ask this question 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZuluGula Posted January 11, 2020 Author Share Posted January 11, 2020 I don't believe that new case will happen. I am thinking about this as repair or mod kit. You take your existing 2600 and move some chips, switches and sockets to the new motherboard. This will help keep the cost to the minimum. New case would increase it significantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+batari Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 4 hours ago, Al_Nafuur said: I really like your idea. But a new case should also be considered, because i don't like the cannibalization of old cartridges and hardware.. I bet a 2600 compatible PCB would be a great improvement (if it fits in) for this cases: New case or not, most would be cannibalizing old hardware to build these anyway. We can make new boards, cases or whatever but nobody is making new chips and those have to come from somewhere. Best Electronics does have chips but they will only sell you one TIA chip, and it isn't particularly cheap. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZuluGula Posted January 11, 2020 Author Share Posted January 11, 2020 I don't want to cannibalize anything, except for RF modulator. No Atari will die in the process. It's only new pcb, that replaces original one. The only difference would be that it works with more modern power supply (Rpi PS or USB PS) and include some kind of AV mod. You basically get the same thing, only more elegant (no extra pcbs and wires inside) and more reliable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Al_Nafuur Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 There is a Atari 2600 Junior Single Chip variant with TIA, RIOT and 6507 in one 64Pin chip. I would suggest to rebuild this Chip with a small FPGA 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaultheRoman Posted January 11, 2020 Share Posted January 11, 2020 6 minutes ago, Al_Nafuur said: There is a Atari 2600 Junior Single Chip variant with TIA, RIOT and 6507 in one 64Pin chip. I would suggest to rebuild this Chip with a small FPGA That sounds like a wonderful idea and something that I'd like to participate in 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZuluGula Posted January 12, 2020 Author Share Posted January 12, 2020 I'm taking about $6 diy pcb and you are talking about $100 FPGA project. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaultheRoman Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 13 minutes ago, ZuluGula said: I'm taking about $6 diy pcb and you are talking about $100 FPGA project. An FPGA can be as cheap as $10 - $20. What are you talking about, my friend? Besides, FPGA is the future of retrogaming, haven't you heard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Al_Nafuur Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 FPGAs are getting cheaper, but we would need one with about 50 (5V tolerant) GPIOs. The 3 original chips are less than 30$ (PAL) and 41$ (NTSC). It will be difficult to find a FPGA doing the job for this little money. And the original Idea was, to have an improved "repair" kit (without the case) for the 2600, where people can reuse their 6502, TIA and RIOT. A PCB for a all in one FPGA would not save money and not serve the idea. A all in one FPGA would be a nice idea for a new 2600. But the "Retron 77" is something like a new 2600 for 90$.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TankedThomas Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 This is something I considered doing myself, since 2600 boards are old and could be modernised (plus if you're going to recap one and replace some other components, you may as well go ahead and do a whole new board at that point). Closest thing I could find that already exists is Longhorn Engineer's "Project Unity": https://longhornengineer.com/2011/07/19/project-unity/ https://longhornengineer.com/2011/07/19/project-unity-update-yes-it-is-still-alive/ In theory, you could make it... not portable. I've never designed PCB schematics but I figure it shouldn't be too hard to recreate the original since the schematic drawings exist already. I was thinking using donor chips would be a better idea - that this would be for replacing a broken or dying old PCB, or just making something more reliable. Maybe I'll have another look at it eventually, because I need to fix my 2600, but I'm not sure if it is fixable, hence why I had this idea in the first place. I'd rather use original chips instead of an FPGA though (not because I dislike FPGAs, but I'd rather reserve those for a new system, like what Analog has been making). 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chregu Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 I just reverse engineered the 2600Jr PAL schematic and PCB in KiCad. Maybe it is of help. I should receive the first 5 PBCs within the next two weeks. Hopefully they fit well. https://github.com/chregu82/Atari2600Board I'll probably try to get some modifications into this board, maybe even build something more modern. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christo930 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 (edited) On 1/11/2020 at 12:47 PM, Al_Nafuur said: I really like your idea. But a new case should also be considered, because i don't like the cannibalization of old cartridges and hardware.. I bet a 2600 compatible PCB would be a great improvement (if it fits in) for this cases: You can't improve on perfection! Seriously, I love the look of the 2600. All the great switches, the ribbed top and of course, that wonderful wood-grain. There is a Atari 2600 Junior Single Chip variant with TIA, RIOT and 6507 in one 64Pin chip. I would suggest to rebuild this Chip with a small FPGA Aren't we talking a drop-in replacement? Edited December 20, 2020 by christo930 clarification 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christo930 Posted December 20, 2020 Share Posted December 20, 2020 On 1/11/2020 at 5:54 PM, Al_Nafuur said: There is a Atari 2600 Junior Single Chip variant with TIA, RIOT and 6507 in one 64Pin chip. I would suggest to rebuild this Chip with a small FPGA I have a bunch of Atari 2600 consoles with things like physically broken switches or cracked PCBs. Drop in replacement boards would be nice and if you don't need chips, no need to pay for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chregu Posted January 12, 2021 Share Posted January 12, 2021 This is the first replacement board compared to the original one. Not all is perfect yet. I need to move some things a little bit for a perfect fit. Next thing is soldering everything back and check if it works. 9 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamhainTM Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 On 1/12/2021 at 3:52 PM, chregu said: This is the first replacement board compared to the original one. Not all is perfect yet. I need to move some things a little bit for a perfect fit. Next thing is soldering everything back and check if it works. Is that an NTSC or PAL board? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sikor Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 On 1/12/2021 at 9:52 PM, chregu said: This is the first replacement board compared to the original one. Not all is perfect yet. I need to move some things a little bit for a perfect fit. Next thing is soldering everything back and check if it works. Nice. I'll sugesst one modification "must be" for todays: trash TV Modulator and in this place trace some AV mod, best will be that, when we can solder some AV socket instead of RF socket. If will be one this board for sell (in normal price) - I'll get one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chregu Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 1 hour ago, SamhainTM said: Is that an NTSC or PAL board? This is a PAL board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamhainTM Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 48 minutes ago, chregu said: This is a PAL board. It would have helped if I had read up a few comments... sorry about that. Would you mind if I edited your KiCAD drawings to bring in the NTSC board also? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizzard Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 I just found this thread. Cannot we use some "Atari on the chip" circuit which is found on the most of Taiwanese clones from 90s? I think most of them is PAL, so not sure if they can be reworked for NTSC. Also they do not support paddles, so I dont know if it is something in the PCB or just missing wires. They also support cartridges, so we could just remove that RF modulator, add AV mod and add the paddle support. Just an idea, maybe stupid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamhainTM Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 1 minute ago, Wizzard said: I just found this thread. Cannot we use some "Atari on the chip" circuit which is found on the most of Taiwanese clones from 90s? I think most of them is PAL, so not sure if they can be reworked for NTSC. Also they do not support paddles, so I dont know if it is something in the PCB or just missing wires. They also support cartridges, so we could just remove that RF modulator, add AV mod and add the paddle support. Just an idea, maybe stupid Hey, no idea is stupid initially! From what I understand, those clone boards that do not support paddles are missing the potentiometer inputs on the RIOT portion of the chip, so it would need a reworked chipset like the 2600Jr unicorn (single-chip) design. If they are PAL, there isn't an easy conversion to NTSC as two of the TIA pins are repurposed for PAL singles. I'm not an expert, but I've been trying to learn more as I'm planning on building a 2600 rackmount unit for fun. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chregu Posted January 25, 2021 Share Posted January 25, 2021 22 minutes ago, SamhainTM said: It would have helped if I had read up a few comments... sorry about that. Would you mind if I edited your KiCAD drawings to bring in the NTSC board also? Sure, you can use my drawings as a starting point for the NTSC version. It would be nice if the NTSC version is also publically available on github. It would be a completely different thing to use some "atari on a chip" thing. My goal is to build a identical replacement board. If this is done, I'd like to build a more modern version of the board, still using the same chips and layout and case. I probably will change the video output to composite or a combined composite / audio connector and add a pause mod with the now unused channel switch. Another idea is to change the power connector for using a usb power supply. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephenJ Posted April 27, 2021 Share Posted April 27, 2021 Hi chregu, I just found this thread...hopefully this project is still a thing. I have fully functional 2600's. But, because of their advancing years, I'm hesitant to use them on a regular basis. It would be great to have a new drop-in motherboard to use for most of my 2600 gaming. If I may make a suggestion... Please consider adding an s-video output...so that an HDMI adapter, like the Retrotink, could be used for best video quality. Stereo output would be nice too! All the best, Stephen 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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