Atari 7800 expansion port question..

[eightbit]

I recently picked up a second Atari 7800 system (mainly because it came with a lot of games) and went down my usual process of cleaning it. I opened the console to compress air it out and so on. Now, the side of the console where the expansion port should be does not have an opening. I was expecting to see no expansion port on the board like my other model, but this one DOES have the port....just no opening on the case to access it! Why would they do this?

[Curt Vendel]

There were several models, the originals that had the expansion port, the laters that just had the footprint, but no connector for the expansion port and the final versions with no expansion port at all. Same with the plastics, there was the opening on the originals, then the later plastics you could just barely make out where the opening had been closed off, but could just make out the outline.

 

The Tramiels had no intention of ever doing any kind of expansions on the 7800 so they just dropped the expansion port from the original design.

 

 

Curt

[eightbit]

So I am guessing that they probably had the "new" cases created (with no connector hole) before they completely ran through the old boards, because like I said, this board does have the connector (not just the footprint) but if it ever comes to use one day I'd have to cut a whole in the side of the casing to reach it Thanks for the info!