Sunmark's Mini 2600: Where Can I Buy One??

[Jagasian]

Somebody needs to make new 2600s from scratch with a real wood carved case, such that it is shaped like the traditional 2600, but made out of wood instead of plastic. That would look even better than the real thing.

[Great Hierophant]

As to the design shown in the first picture I have three issues with it.

First, why do the controller ports seem to point towards the back? One of the Atari's few design flaws (not fixed with the Jr.) was that the controllers plugged into the back rather than in the front like most consoles since then. Having the ports on the back wastes cable space and makes for unsightly wires going above or around the console.

Second, the switches seem small an are bunched together. You could very easily accidentally hit the power button while reaching for the B&W button, or the select button for the reset button. A good design of the 2600 was that there was ample space to use buttons.

Third, the design lacks symmetry. An Atari always had three or two switches evenly spaced on a side of the cartridge slot, which was in the middle of the console. The controller ports were also evenly spaced on the back, even with the difficulty switches.

[keilbaca]

As to the design shown in the first picture I have three issues with it.  

First, why do the controller ports seem to point towards the back?  One of the Atari's few design flaws (not fixed with the Jr.) was that the controllers plugged into the back rather than in the front like most consoles since then.  Having the ports on the back wastes cable space and makes for unsightly wires going above or around the console.  

Second, the switches seem small an are bunched together.  You could very easily accidentally hit the power button while reaching for the B&W button, or the select button for the reset button.  A good design of the 2600 was that there was ample space to use buttons.  

Third, the design lacks symmetry.  An Atari always had three or two switches  evenly spaced on a side of the cartridge slot, which was in the middle of the console.  The controller ports were also evenly spaced on the back, even with the difficulty switches.

 

The only front port Atari is the Sears video arcade II.

 

As in regard with the switches, don't forget, they're just switches. You can easily add wires and move them to wherever you would like. I think its a very nice design, and looks to be very promising. Besides, shouldn't be hard to reverse the cartridge slot then flip the board so the ports are in front... you can do whatever you want with a soldering iron

[Great Hierophant]

At the very least I would place the Power and B&W switches on the other side of the cartridge port, as they should be. The cartridge connector should really be in the middle and the controller ports spaced equally from the middle. I would have the difficulty switches face the same direction as the controller ports (out not up). The left difficulty switch would be to the left of the left controller port and the right difficulty switch would be to the right of the right controller port. I would have this facing the front of the machine, so maybe a counterweight would be needed to prevent it from tipping over when a Supercharger would be used. This zipped text file in ASCII art shows what I think a casing for this mini-2600 should look like.

mini_2600_casing.zip

[mos6507]

Somebody needs to make new 2600s from scratch with a real wood carved case, such that it is shaped like the traditional 2600, but made out of wood instead of plastic.  That would look even better than the real thing.

 

I don't think it would need to look like the original 2600.

 

I'd rather have it look more like a real-wood 2700 and have touch-switches on it with LEDs.

[mos6507]

This zipped text file in ASCII art shows what I think a casing for this mini-2600 should look like.

 

I still think the most ergonomic switch design is to have six switches on the face of the console, not to put the A/B switches behind or in front of the unit.

[Great Hierophant]

It may be very well on a full-size unit, but on a mini unit space is at a premium. If you put a difficulty switch on each side of the cartridge slot, as is traditional, you may have a tough time accessing them when you use an oversized cart like the Supercharger. There is more room on the front face for them.

[mos6507]

It may be very well on a full-size unit, but on a mini unit space is at a premium.  If you put a difficulty switch on each side of the cartridge slot, as is traditional, you may have a tough time accessing them when you use an oversized cart like the Supercharger.  There is more room on the front face for them.

 

Then maybe a mini 2600 should be shaped like a wider cartridge so when you plug it in you just lay the cart down flat with the label facing up. That way it doesn't really matter how long the cart is. The case wouldn't need to be much taller than a cart and wouldn't need to be ultra-stable. The 2600 board itself wouldn't have to be much longer than a standard cartridge.

[Godzilla]

Wow. this is awesome! I can't wait to buy this. but, yes, please make the switches useable by normal people with non-midget hands! a mini case of the original big sexy with front joystick ports would be awesome!~