Albert Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 http://freehosting.rbftp.org/hardwarehacks/Sean of Sean's Hardware Hacks has built his own Atari 2600 portable, dubbed the Atari-X, inspired by Ben Heckendorn's VCSp. Sean's project demonstrates what someone can put together without access to a million dollar industrial computerized router, and features two joystick ports, two difficulty switches, thumbpad, paddle, A/V output, metallic paint job and a 3" LCD display. For all the details about the project including photos, please visit Sean's Hardware Hacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsoper Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Great looking portable Sean, nice job. Those bastards are tough to make aren't they? Mine also took two years off and on. I just got a webpage and was hoping to do a full launch in a week, but people can look at the rough stuff now if they want. After all supporting troops is great, but supporting fellow portablelizers is good too. http://www94.pair.com/jsoper/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mitchell Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 Great looking stuff! Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad2600 Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 I just wish that I could build something like this. I have little technical know how but I did take a course in basic electronics in High School. If I remembered just enough about transitors and resistors and so forth, I could probably do it. I don't know about the Atari-X though. I kinda like Ben Heckedorn's designs but one thing that I don't think Ben has(??) is External video output, right? Overall, it looks so cool. I wonder if systems like the 5200 and 7800 could ever be portable or not. I dunno. It is a nice design though. I would like to try myself someday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 *drool* That thing is sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted February 28, 2003 Share Posted February 28, 2003 That is truly a thing of beauty. You really outdid yourself with that one!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seandelta99 Posted March 1, 2003 Share Posted March 1, 2003 Hi everyone. This is Sean. Thanks for starting this thread Al and for posting the news about my project. It's great to hear everyone's comments. I'll try to answer any questions that I can. If anyone has any ideas for improvements please let me know. Hey jsoper, your portable is TRULY amazing! I'll be sure to give you a nice link on my site tonight for sure. Obviously, my portable Atari was never meant to really top Ben's beautiful VCSp. I just decided to try to tackle his project in my own way with common tools. Let's face it, very few people have access to the kinds of professional tools and CAD programs that Ben does. I had to fit my Atari board into a standard store bought enclosure. That has it's drawbacks. You are stuck building your portable into something that is almost certainly going to be the wrong size in at least a couple dimensions. Another drawback is that you are also forced into constructing the thing by filling the box starting at the bottom and building one layer on top of another until the box is full. You really have to plan ahead. When I got to the top I was barely able to close the lid and unfortunately the 3" LCD TV I used gobbled up a precious 1/8" on both sides that I needed for batteries. I could have taken the TV back to Radio Shack but I think I had probably voided it's warranty by that point. I have to say, playing on a portable Atari 2600 is a whole new experience. Some games I hated before are actually quite enjoyable on this thing. And some games which were way too easy are now very hard. Well, thanks again for the kind remarks. I'll talk more later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanilla_coke Posted March 1, 2003 Share Posted March 1, 2003 Sean, the Atari-X looks great, and you clearly put a lot of work into it, but PLEASE quit calling it a portable. People resented Nintendo for claiming that the Virtual Boy was portable, but at least it could run off of batteries. As soon as something is chained to a wall by a power cord, it is no longer portable. The term "handheld" fits much better. Kepone, the VCSp has had an A/V output jack since the second revision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liquid_sky Posted March 1, 2003 Share Posted March 1, 2003 you can lug around a gasoline generator, therefore making it not chained to a wall. thus, it is portable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted March 1, 2003 Share Posted March 1, 2003 Sean, the Atari-X looks great, and you clearly put a lot of work into it, but PLEASE quit calling it a portable. People resented Nintendo for claiming that the Virtual Boy was portable, but at least it could run off of batteries. As soon as something is chained to a wall by a power cord, it is no longer portable. The term "handheld" fits much better. Kepone, the VCSp has had an A/V output jack since the second revision. All you have to do is velcro a camcorder battery underneith and it's still a portable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seandelta99 Posted March 1, 2003 Share Posted March 1, 2003 My handheld can run off batteries. All it takes is 4 AA's and a nine volt. If I am on the move and I have a gaming emergency I can always velcro my two $1 Radio Shack battery holders onto the back. I guess I should take another photo to prove my point. Even Ben's cool new VCSp uses an external pack that clips on in the rear. http://www.classicgaming.com/VCSp/VCSpModels.htm#VCSp I could also power my handheld with a camcorder battery or 6 AA's if I changed one wire back, but I get some distortion in the video output when I do that. The TV seems to want more then the +5V that the Atari's 7805 voltage regulator puts out. I actually talked to Ben today about that problem. He said if I replaced the flourescent bulb in the LCD with 2 white LED's The TV would use only about 250mA rather then 600-700mA. I am sure jsoper has some other ideas that would work judging from his web-site. Of course another way is just to buy a smaller TV. I hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanilla_coke Posted March 2, 2003 Share Posted March 2, 2003 Liquid_sky: Funny comment, but I never claimed things without a cord were guaranteed to be portable. Sean: I interpreted your quote from the article "Too bad there wasn't enough room inside the Atari-X for all the batteries! " as "in theory it could run on batteries, but housing and wiring for them was not included in the Atari-X, so it must be plugged in at all times" Other than the reference to the battery consumption of a stock RCA portable tv, no other references to, or pictures of, batteries were included in your article. Hence, I assumed it was more of a fun size reduction project (like the PSOne), or an intermediatery step between a stock Atari 2600 and a portable, not an actual portable. I've been a fan of Ben's work for a long time (since the original VCSp), and finding someone else working on an Atari portable struck me as interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing future revisions of the Atari-X. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seandelta99 Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 Just to let you know, the Atari-X is probably the last "REAL" Atari 2600 I will hack. I got what I wanted out of this project. If you guys want to know what I am doing next then check my web-site. I updated it today. The main reason I put the photo's of my Atari online was to encourage other Atari 2600 fans to try Ben's VCSp project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPIKE Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 cool portable! it's great to see a different portable made from more accessible parts. i have been researching a bit on doing this myself. i have noticed though that some people that have followed Ben's 4x4 hack/cut-up of the 2600 motherboard complaining about the unit not working. of course this could be people that have chopped it up too much but........ downloaded the rev. 5 info but there was nothing worth using in it. all it has is a bunch of diagrams and images for the casing. not much help. i just want more pointers before i run off and attack the 2600 with a dremel. anybody have any other pointers????? more of a step by step by step by step....................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtboy69 Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 i wonder if i supplied everything needed would someone build me one of these i would really want one i'm just not that handy with building stuff hell i failed grade nine shop class Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted March 3, 2003 Share Posted March 3, 2003 I think for a brief time Ben or one of the other VCS portable makers would do one for $150 if you sent them an already working VCS they could hack up for parts, but stopped taking orders due to a lack of time and excessive demand. Actually I'm pretty sure of it because somebody in marketplace was selling a used one they bought that wasn't working any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariDude Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 That is one really nice portable. I wish I had the technical skills to build such an item but I don't. I would be willing to pay to have one assembled for me but I don't know if Sean would be willing to do so or have sufficient enough time since he would probably get bombarded with offers to have them built for other people. Nice job sean! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z28in82 Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 Sean she is a beauty, I must applaud your workmanship, and skill. Hopefully I could find the time and possible patience someday to attempt to customize a machine as lovly as yours. You are an inspiration to us all, even those of us who aren't as good as you :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seandelta99 Posted March 4, 2003 Share Posted March 4, 2003 Thanks. Maybe the reason my Atari works is that I didn't follow Ben's 4"x4" Atari board hack (I did my major hacking well before he put that article online). I was VERY conservative with the Atari-X. Ben would pitch tons of stuff that I didn't. 1) I started by doing Ben's composite video hack. From there I was on my own. 2) I chopped off the RF modulator and a few things going to and from it because they obviously didn't serve a purpose anymore. 3) At this point all I did was chop and re-attach stuff into a more compact form so it would all fit into a smaller box. Nothing else got pitched. I have absolutely no background in electronics (although I have enjoyed ripping stuff up for years). I didn't have a clue why this capacitor is here and that resistor is there on my Atari board. So, I just decided to keep them. 95% of what I did was simply "hack and re-attach." Real simple stuff. But, I am a patient person and I do pay attention to detail. Another reason why people may have trouble with Ben's project is that they don't use a Multimeter to triple check all the connections (before and after). I'm not a rocket scientist but hacking up hardware without a Multimeter is just plain crazy. A pocket size Multimeter only costs $25 bucks. I think other people CAN do this project also, but they really need to start with smaller projects and work up (that's the purpose of my web-site). If a person just jumps head first into this project without having some previous "hack and re-attach" knowledge they will surely drown. Q: How do you eat an Elephant? A: One small bite at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPIKE Posted March 6, 2003 Share Posted March 6, 2003 could you post a more detailed description or pictures of your hack. i did look over your site quite a bit but maybe if there were more step by step instructions. what to do and what not to do. i have done a fair share of hacking but cutting up that main board gets into some very alien territory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maibock Posted March 7, 2003 Share Posted March 7, 2003 Hmm, I'm getting a "Page can not be found" error Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyranthraxus Posted March 7, 2003 Share Posted March 7, 2003 Hey did your web host shut down your site? It wouldn't load up for me but since you are on a free site I suspect all the people wanting to check out your new toy might have used up your bandwidth. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonasrs Posted March 7, 2003 Share Posted March 7, 2003 anyone heard from Kevin Horton or Ben Heckendorn lately???.....They had some ok looking portables,all the info I found on them was dated July of 2001...I myself am attempting an Atari-X-esque portable myself...it is difficult, though not impossible....Sean did a BEAUTIFUL job on his! (his portable was my direct inspiration)....and I do have a few questions that I will try to get answered through future posts,...it's great that we have a place to turn to,...Thank you to AtariAge...especially Albert, for being ever so helpful on all my requests over the last 6 months or so,.... -=Jonas R. Schommer=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonasrs Posted March 9, 2003 Share Posted March 9, 2003 to do it,..all you need is a sharp box cutter that has a locking blade,...and just do it,....I did. I just took the outer case off and exposed the circuit board,...then, there, at my kitchen table,looking down on this PCB that hasn't been touched by human hand since 1978, and...I just did it,....following the instructions to the LETTER!!! I figured, "well, they did it,...and it works,...I'll just follow their instructions,...what could possibly go wrong?" I'm waiting for the Casio 2.3" TV that I bought off of Ebay to arrive so I can finish up,...I'm also waiting for some 1K potentiometers from Radio Shack Online to arrive, so that I can hook up the aux A/V outs, and a 500K potentiometer for the "thumb-paddle"....this is going to be interesting,....I'll definitely keep the Forum posted on my progress..... -=Jonas R. Schommer=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seandelta99 Posted March 12, 2003 Share Posted March 12, 2003 Sorry for the delay. I had some serious server problems this week. My new web-site is: http://www.seanshardwarehacks.com My last site seems to have imploded from the BILLIONS of Atari 2600 fans that visited. Anyway, I know that my photo's and of my portable Atari left a lot to be desired but I will go into far more detail over each and every little thing eventually. This week I started going into detail about paddles. Next time it will be joysticks and then making your own circuit boards. So stay tuned. A lot more information is on the way. I also plan on making a FAQ's. Just e-mail your questions at delta99@techemail.com. Eventually I should be able to get them all answered. Have a good one, Sean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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