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New Atari PC Computer?


Curt Vendel

  

151 members have voted

  1. 1. Which case would you want a modern PC to be made into?

    • Atari 800XL
      90
    • Atari 65/130XE Case
      20
    • Atari ST (520/1040 style) case
      41

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  • 2 years later...

Well, after examining physical dimensions and heights, it may be a VERY tight squeeze to get a PC board into the 800XL case, of course going with the 1200/1400 case would be much easier, the cartridge port could be replaced with a DVD/CDROM and the function keys could be expanded for a full F1-12.

 

 

Another idea is an XL styled desktop type box with an XL styled PC keyboard... something along these lines...

 

 

 

attachicon.gifAtari PC Concept-1.jpg

 

Curt

Wow ok. WHat is that box clearly a question no one is asking....

 

 

That box your joysticks and a keyboard to match the box looking like a xl with direct boot to altirra and locked that altirra is the OS would be amazing

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Nothing wrong with a necropost every so often. I remember seeing something about that Commodore computer a number of years ago. Is it still being sold?

Are you referring to Commodore USA's C64x? There is an Italian company called Amibyte that may still have some left when they bought CUSA's stock last year. CUSA went under sometime last year and have stopped making them.

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Are you referring to Commodore USA's C64x? There is an Italian company called Amibyte that may still have some left when they bought CUSA's stock last year. CUSA went under sometime last year and have stopped making them.

 

It looks like they have one left. The prices they show were just as brutal as the defunct Commodore name holder. I would think there'd be a small market for classic-style cases and matching keyboards that interfaced with something like a Raspberry Pi, but none of these projects can really sell for more than $150 max and sell worth a damn I would think. I kind of like the approach of the Kickstarter for the ZX Spectrum Bluetooth keyboard, i.e., just make it a simple, authentic looking interface to a modern machine. It also didn't cost much relatively speaking, either. That's probably the "safest," most logical approach. After all, I can't imagine very many people wanting modern PC guts in a classic computer form factor. Things have evolved a great deal since then. They were exactly bastions of ergonomics in many ways, and they certainly weren't designed around the way we compute today.

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I think a 1200XL likeness would work best.

 

LEDs are required for caps lock etc. The F-key row can be provided with minimal deviation from the original look. The size is close to right.

 

I'd put 520ST (original) up next. Although it's questionable if you'd want the numeric keypad on a fully integrated PC.

 

But TBH, I'd not buy a retro-look PC in a hurry. An ideal situation might be something that can take small form-factor motherboards provided by the customer.

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I voted for the ST because I got to have a full size keyboard with a num pad... :)

 

There was a thread about this on Atari-Forum a couple years ago (can't find link) where people were putting PC boards in ST cases. Only issue was using an Aurdino to use the ST keyboard for USB and even then it still doesn't have all the keys from a PC keyboard.

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  • 6 years later...

I voted for the 800XL.  I'm actually starting to work on a project to put a pc in both a ST case and a 800XL.  I have a Celeron mini pc that will easily fit in the ST case.  Just have to make the keyboard decoder so it keeps the original look.  Not sure what I'll put in the disk drive spot.  

I have an idea for the 800XL also.  If a mini pc won't fit in the case (keeping the existing keyboard) I'll put the pc into a dead 1050 disk drive that I have.  Doing some research shows that a mini-STX motherboard would fit in this drive case.  Hope to start the ST project first and then the XL.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Considering the age of this thread, I would imagine that this project has been dropped.  However, considering the success of the 2nd ZX Spectrum Next Kickstarter run, the expansion of THEC64 with a mini and full-size (with THEVIC20 coming out soon, which I pre-ordered), perhaps this product has a little more merit now.  But, again, considering the amount of emulation options out there, not sure how much a product like this is really needed. 

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