PCFormat Forum Archive

Hey guys!

So, as you may have noticed, I've been really quiet lately in the modding scene. Things have been really busy, and I ran into some problems with my last project. So now I'm back, and I really plan on modding LOADS this year. I can't promise that that'll be the case, but that's my intention. I've actually already started on a Lian Li PC-V2000 mod for my i7 rig, but that mod still requires some resources.

This mod, however, can start right away!

A few months ago, Anakha posted a thread about a super old Atari 2600 console that he wanted to get rid of. Of course, I snapped it up, and I'd like to publicly thank him Thanks Anakha, I appreciate it so much!

Here's the Atari he sent me:















The Back:





As you can see, the console took a bit of a beating in the post:









The controllers:





Some GAMES!!!





Space Invaders!





So, while trying to get my hands on one of VIA's Pico-ITX motherboards a while ago, i received an email from one of VIA's reps offering me one for a project. How lucky is that! VIA offered to send me one of the boards for a mod project.











I've been lucky enough to be sponsored by another company too. A great bunch over at Logic Supply. This US based company sells an amazing variety of tiny stuffs like the Pico board that i have here. Check them out

Anyway, Logic hooked me up with a 160GB SATA notebook drive, 1GB of So-DIMM RAM, and a fantastic PSU, designed SPECIFICALLY for this motherboard. The PSU is the Serener 120W DC-DC Power Converter. They also sent me a power brick.

Here's the RAM:





The HDD:





The PSU:







Everything!





I put it all next to a Rubik's Cube so that you can get an idea of the size:






So that's the start. The plan is to mod all of that goodness into the Atari, while preserving the look and feel of the Atari. It should be a whole lot of fun There isn't much to this project, it's just a quick small fun project I hope you enjoy it

Big big thanks to my sponsors!

sorry to criticize you Dae, but what is wrong with your photography?
its way too blurry in some pics as the focus area is too small!

other than that, seems interesting! good luck with the mod!

He has probably been playing with large aperture numbers (meaning a very small aperture) which results in a very small focus range.

Has potential

Et, can I make a tiny suggestion for some of your pictures? crank the aperture down one or 2 notches, it will increase the depth of field

PureFire wrote:sorry to criticize you Dae, but what is wrong with your photography?
its way too blurry in some pics as the focus area is too small!

other than that, seems interesting! good luck with the mod!

It's depth of field, its controlled by aperture

Nice Idea dude...

ah forget them Et. I salute your artist endeavours both behind the lens and behind the dremel.

Hahahah!!! A shallow depth of field is what I was after. I wanted to draw the viewer's eyes to certain aspects of the photos

But now that I look at the photos again, I guess a slightly wider aperture would have been a better idea

Monty wrote:He has probably been playing with large aperture numbers (meaning a very small aperture) which results in a very small focus range.

Nope, it's the other way around

@wik: indeed it is. Silly mistake on my part.

ok bla bla who cares about the pics

Sounds like some fun Et!! lol an Atari I can't believe it!! Anywhoo! Good luck and have fun with it!

DAE_JA_VOO wrote:Hahahah!!! A shallow depth of field is what I was after. I wanted to draw the viewer's eyes to certain aspects of the photos

But now that I look at the photos again, I guess a slightly wider aperture would have been a better idea

Lol

Well, when does the surgery begin?

Are the innards still working?

Nope, it doesn't work anymore. I took it apart just now, but I don't want to do too much work because I don't have a decent camera with me I used my girlfriend's SLR to take the first pics, and I don't want to go and take the rest with my point 'n shoot

DAE_JA_VOO wrote:Nope, it doesn't work anymore. I took it apart just now, but I don't want to do too much work because I don't have a decent camera with me I used my girlfriend's SLR to take the first pics, and I don't want to go and take the rest with my point 'n shoot

Damn, I was going to suggest a second mod to put the Atari into a modern enclosure.

Stick with the slr

@ Dae yah wouldn't want to get blamed for taking shoddy pics in your Atari thread ... oh wait!

Hey man, I cant wait to see what you do with it and I know my grandfather would be really keen to see what gets done . Is it possible for you to see why it died? I figured it was all the sea salt making it rust but never did get the time to trouble shoot. And like I said dont worry about the shipping cost its all yours .

/subscribes to thread...

Anakha56 wrote:Hey man, I cant wait to see what you do with it and I know my grandfather would be really keen to see what gets done .

I really hope he enjoys this project

Anakha56 wrote:Is it possible for you to see why it died? I figured it was all the sea salt making it rust but never did get the time to trouble shoot.

Like I mentioned over PM last night, my intention is not to get this thing working again. In fact, I'm about to hack up one of the PCBs It probably died from just being so old (33 years!)

Anakha56 wrote:And like I said dont worry about the shipping cost its all yours .

Thanks so much dude

Anakha56 wrote:/subscribes to thread...

Alrighty! Update time! Today the modding will start

I opened up the console to see what's going on inside there. Man, it's so big, for so little hardware.













The switch PCB:







This, I assume, is where the actual processing takes place. I don't know why it's in such a hardcore enclosure









Open:







Just for fun, I placed the Pico next to the Atari board:







Some fun facts about the hardware differences between the Atari and the Pico.

Processor speed:
Pico: 1Ghz
Atari: 1.19Mhz. Yes, ladies, Mhz.
That makes the Pico's chip 860 times faster (theoretically, of course, if Mhz is the only factor).

Memory:
Pico: This one's packing 1GB.
Atari: 128B. Yes, that's 128 Bytes. The Pico has 8 MILLION times that much RAM.



Anyway, this is where the fun starts:







I have an awesome idea for the mod, but I need to do some actual modding first before I know if I'll be able to pull it off or not

Enjoy!
Ett

Another quick update

I started working on the Switch PCB. I decided to cut off all the excess stuff:







And ended up with this:





But I soon realised that there was still too much stuff in there that I don't need. So I ended up chopping it all away:







After that, I ended up deciding to make new PCBs altogether. Hahahha. I've started with that. I should be done with those soon

Teddy paid me a visit too, while I was working

Haha silly puppy does he not realize that there is serious work going on? And he brought a friend! Very silly puppy .

Thanks for the comparison pics looks awesome! .

I love the the PIC by PIC update ....... NICE

he is so cute!! (the dog)

LOL it really looks like something out of a 1980's sci-fi movie I can imagine people flicking switches saying things like going into hyper-speed with very bad outfits, graphic and sound effects! (the Atari)

thanks for the update!

Hahhaha! Glad you guys are enjoying it

Okay, so I have an update for you. This isn't quite an Atari related update, but something exciting nonetheless! I had a meeting the guys from Dremel this morning, as well as *the other local gaming magazine* *cough*NAG*cough*. I am now officially sponsored by Dremel, by the looks of things I'll be meeting with them again soon to specify what tools I need There's another project behind that though, but that's a story for another thread

Anyway, Dremel gave me something small this morning already





I know, right?! They handed me this and I had no idea what to expect Opened up:





Clamps! And a SpeedClic system! Awesome!











Those are some of the most awesome clamps I've ever used. Man, I love Dremel equipment so much

And then the SpeedClic system. I actually didn't have one of these yet, so this was a great surprise.







Instead of having to undo a screw every time you want to change something, you just press the dark piece down. This opens up the whole mechanism and allows you to change fittings. Awesome hey? Here I've fitted the Diamond cutting wheel:





They gave me quite a few different fittings:







So big, BIG thanks to Dremel for hooking me up! I really appreciate it guys!

Better update your Sponsors

Hahhahaa, I will Thanks man!

I also keep thinking we should create a motivational with that dog's pic in it - he looks like he is saying something extraordinary
Very intelligent pup

Dremel!? Can you say Jealous? Cause thats what I am...

Nice idea for the Atari mod man. Just, what are you going to do about that broken off piece?