Atari 2600 Mac Mod 146
XxtraLarGe writes "MyMac.com has videos of a couple of guys modding an Atari 2600 case to a Mac OS X System. The cool thing is, it looks like the 2600 can still play cartridge games too!"
"The great question... which I have not been able to answer... is, `What does woman want?'" -- Sigmund Freud
Coral Cache links (Score:5, Informative)
Article [nyud.net]
Movie 1 [nyud.net]
Movie 2 [nyud.net]
Movie 3 [nyud.net]
Movie 4 [nyud.net]
Re:Coral Cache links (Score:1)
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The hostname specified in the Coralized URL is currently over its hourly quota. Please try back later.
Mirror is
I'm keeping my atari 2600 (Score:4, Funny)
It's still in it's box.
Re:I'm keeping my atari 2600 (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:I'm keeping my atari 2600 (Score:1)
Re:I'm keeping my atari 2600 (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I'm keeping my atari 2600 (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I'm keeping my atari 2600 (Score:1)
Re:I'm keeping my atari 2600 (Score:2)
I got old servers from my Uni. It was a take it or it's trash-time kind of offer.
The good news is that I now have a couple of old sparc machine that make nice little servers (the Sparcstion LX is particularily cute)
The bad news is that an old HP Appollo 300 is a more usefull as a REALLY big paper weigh that as a computer... My old 486 is faster that this monstriosity...
I was worried... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I was worried... (Score:1)
It was specifically stated that they were using an Atari 2600 right in the blurb.
Geez... Oh, and just because you think something is boring doesn't mean the rest of us have to..
Re:I was worried... (Score:2)
Don't blame me, I just wrote it. *shrug*
Re:I was worried... (Score:2)
Re:I was worried... (Score:1)
2) put shell over MacMini
3) Enjoy!
Nice. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Nice. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Nice. (Score:2)
Re:Nice. (Score:1)
Well apple did the same!! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Well apple did the same!! (Score:1)
question about atari 2600 naming (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:question about atari 2600 naming (Score:2, Interesting)
Also the 7800 is 5200 + 2600, even though the 7800 didn't play 5200 games.
Atari console naming (Score:5, Informative)
Atari was known to employ some engineers with a twisted sense of humour and perhaps a history of cracking/phreaking activities (Steve Wozniak for example). Given that they allegedly code-named their products after well-endowed female coworkers it wouldn't surprise me that the original product number was inspired by the frequency in Hz that opened up the telephone system to phreakers.
In any case, I believe there was no real marketing angle to the choice of model numbers apart from simply using multiples of the number 2600 to indicate successive generations--1st gen = 1*2600, 2nd gen = 2*2600, 3rd gen = 3*2600. No compatibilty was impled, as a base 5200 couldn't play 2600 games and a base 7800 couldn't play 5200 games.
Re:Atari console naming (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Atari console naming (Score:3, Informative)
Re:question about atari 2600 naming (Score:1, Informative)
Minor nitpick: the 7800 does play 2600 games. It's the 5200 that doesn't.
Re:question about atari 2600 naming (Score:1)
Re:question about atari 2600 naming (Score:5, Informative)
"In the autumn of 1974, Jobs returned to California and began attending meetings of the "Homebrew Computer Club" with Stephen Wozniak. He took a job at Atari Inc., designing computer games with his friend, Wozniak. During this time period, it was discovered that a slightly modified toy whistle included in every box of Cap'n Crunch cereal was able to reproduce the 2600 Hz supervision tone used by the AT&T long distance telephone system. Jobs and Wozniak went into business briefly in 1974 to build "blue boxes" based on the idea which allowed for free long distance calls.
Which almost links the two together. Were did the catalogue number come from? Did Atari make 2,599 items before they made the 2600? Also, seeing as Jobs and Wozniak liked to hide numbers in their products, like the Apple I's price being $666, I would think that they could have done the same with the Atari VCS. Perhaps only they know the answer to this.
Re:question about atari 2600 naming (Score:3, Informative)
That said, I think its pretty doubtful that Jobs and Woz had influence over the part number designations at Atari. First of all because Woz never worked for Atari. He designed
Re:question about atari 2600 naming (Score:1)
How many did it play?
Re:question about atari 2600 naming (Score:4, Informative)
The Atari 5200 Supersystem was named for its part number in the Atari catalog, CX5200. Following this trend, Atari renamed the VCS the 2600.
It was called the Atari VCS until the 5200 came out...and the 7800 is just a continuation of the 2600 mulitples
Yea (Score:4, Funny)
Poor Guys (Score:1, Funny)
Uhhh... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Uhhh... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Uhhh... (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Uhhh... (Score:4, Informative)
Unfortunately, it appears that Enemy Territory never made it to the Mac. But RTCW did. The only game I really miss from my PC is HL2, which doesn't play in Linux either (at least, I can't get it to work)
Re:Uhhh... (Score:1)
Re:Uhhh... (Score:3, Interesting)
Funny, yes... but not strictly accurate [atariage.com]
Obligatory comment (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Obligatory comment (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Flamebait (Score:1)
since it was down the first 2 times i tried (Score:5, Informative)
Building the iAtariMac
What the heck is this? Actually, it is the LONG overdue, been sitting in development hell purgatory, first MacMod.
What is MacMod? An idea and concept that sprung to life in the minds of Tim Robertson and Chad Perry way back in the summer of 2003. The idea? Wouldn't it be cool if there were a video show online that was like a combination of American Chopper and Junkyard Wars, but about Macs?
What? You don't think that is a cool idea? Obviously, we did, so we actually did it. We created a show, named it MacMod, and filmed the whole thing over a six-week period starting October 2003 and finishing December 2003.
The goal? Turning a vintage 1970's Atari 2600 game consol into a Macintosh computer, running the latest and greatest Mac OS X. The catch? Try and keep the Atari looking stock, up to a point.
The problem? Neither Chad nor Tim had ever done anything like this before. Not just "how to build it" but "how to film and present it" were questions they pretty much made up the answers to as they went along.
Firstly, they had to obtain both an Atari 2600 and a Macintosh. The first was easy, Tim already had two Atari 2600's, and they used one of those. The second was not as easy. Neither Tim nor Chad wanted to part with a perfectly good computer to use and, probably, destroy. Neither was confident that the build would be successful, and it was asking too much for either of them to give up a working Macintosh for this show.
The solution? A sponsor! Enter Tekserve! Who is Tekserve? Only one of the best Macintosh resellers in the world, located in New York City, but servicing clients worldwide. They started out as a Mac service company, but have grown well beyond those humble beginnings. Today, they sport over 125 employees!
Tekserve became the silent partner during filming MacMod. Without them, this project could not have happened. It was Tekserve who supplied us with the needed Macintosh to use for this project. Please visit their website today for more information, and be sure to tell them it was MyMac.com who sent you.
This project should have been online a year ago, but it was not meant to be. We ran into many more problems after filming wrapped than we want to go into here. Suffice it to say, we did finish the project, but not alone. Special thanks go to Jim Allard, who was present every day during filming. While you the viewer never see or hear Jim, he was the invisible third man of the show. This would not have happened without him. Tad Scheeler was the talent behind our animated opening, as well as helping film during day two. MacMod would not look the same, or have whatever polish is present, without Tad. Adam Karneboge lent his help in technical matters, as well as providing a part we sorely needed. And Chris Seibold stepped in at the last minute to provide the over-the-top narration the show needed. Without these people, MacMod would never have happened.
Now you can watch, in four parts, the entire build process. There is both a large and small version of each episode. If you are bandwidth challenged, view the smaller one. If you don't mind downloading a large file, enjoy the better detail in the larger ones. And if you would rather have a DVD copy of all four episodes, email us and we can give you more details. (Detail may be posted here in the future if there is enough interest.)
Warning! You will either think this is either really neat, or really stupid. If you think it is stupid, that is Tim and Chad's fault, not those who helped us.
QuickTime is required to view MacMod
Re:since it was down the first 2 times i tried (Score:2)
Re:since it was down the first 2 times i tried (Score:1)
I once had a guy assure me he was read-on for "Hampster-Cornhole" when he wanted access to our SCIF.
-Peter
Re:since it was down the first 2 times i tried (Score:2)
Heh. I think I was read on to that SAP. Reminds me of the smoking area "inside the fence" where our multi-building SCIF was. Smoking had been banned inside the fence by the weirdo installation commander, but those of us who were serious chain smokers never had time to go the half mile to get outside the fence while on duty. We had a corner behind one building with sand filled coffee cans where we'd hide whi
Sweet (Score:4, Funny)
<Napolean>Sweet...</Napolean>
Can it play Duke Nukem Forever too?
Oh, wait...
Re:Sweet (Score:1)
Re:Sweet (Score:2)
Re:Sweet (Score:1)
Re:Sweet (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Sweet (Score:1)
Re:Sweet (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Sweet (Score:2)
Just like the mini-atx guys (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Just like the mini-atx guys (Score:2)
Re:Just like the mini-atx guys (Score:2)
video?? (Score:5, Funny)
i think the submitter should be requested to use past tense ("had") when linking to a video. ;)
Modified Atari "rap commercial" tom the 80's (Score:5, Funny)
"The...twen-ty-six...hun-dred...please-slash-dot-m e!"
Re:Modified Atari "rap commercial" FROM the 80's (Score:2)
Re:Modified Atari "rap commercial" FROM the 80's (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Modified Atari "rap commercial" FROM the 80's (Score:1)
Mouse or Paddles? (Score:5, Funny)
Disclaimer: I didn't read the article.
Re:Mouse or Paddles? (Score:3, Funny)
Since the modded 2600 is using Mac hardware internally, the paddles probably ended up looking like this [thinkgeek.com]...
Re:Mouse or Paddles? (Score:2)
Re:Mouse or Paddles? (Score:3, Informative)
Warning, polemics ;-) [Re:Mouse or Paddles?] (Score:2)
-- Nuggets [mynuggets.net]: Your free SMS search engine for the UK
If you're *really* into this stuff.. (Score:4, Insightful)
... then check out Ben Heckendorn's Book [amazon.com] that was due to be published this week (the guy behind the portable PS2 [slashdot.org], Ben Heckendorn [benheck.com]).
Surprised no-one on /. has reviewed it yet :) Time to hassle Ben for a review copy...
cLive ;-)
disclaimer - I work for company that hosts his web site (so I must be a masochist by inviting slashdot visitors ;-)
Wow (Score:2, Funny)
Oh, gee. What an original concept.
Re:Wow (Score:1)
I on the other hand have done something completely original. I cut two holes in the side of my case and put FANS there! The amount of extra cooling my AMD K6-2 300 overclocked to 366MHz gets is unbelievable. I'm thinking next I might even spray paint the case!
Too Late - been done (Score:2)
Re:Too Late - been done (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Too Late - been done (Score:1)
Re:Too Late - been done (Score:2)
Invensys was pushing RFID tags about 4-5 years ago for food products as part of their smart kitchen appliances...
Very long 4 episodes (Score:1, Insightful)
Historic consoles (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Historic consoles (Score:2, Insightful)
As it stands, it was a system comprised of off the shelf parts. I would speculate that in the future just the empty shell alone would be fetch as much as a complete working unit, considering the shell was the only original part of the unit. Also with the two different shell types, Atari and the Sears "Telegames" with fake woodgrain, one might be worth a bit more than the other. Not including the
Re:Historic consoles (Score:1)
> When most 2600s will be greatly increasing in value the modded ones will be worth much less.
Dude, we're talking about a 4 switch 2600 here. While not quite a-dime-a-dozen I'm sure you can pick up at least one for a dime. The chances of these becoming rare and desirable in our lifetimes are ludicrously low.
depressing. (Score:5, Funny)
The only thing that keeps me going is that some day one of these people is going to put a PC board into something like a Vax or a Sun 1/2, and then all the aincient bearded ones will descend on them and murder them all and use their entrails to grease an old Fujitsu Eagle (Look it up).
Then you could argue there lifes wont have gone to waste.
(Note for those of you with no sense of humor, i am Joking but only mostly)
Re:depressing. (Score:2)
I'm not going to post a link. If someone doesn't know what it was, either STFU or google it. n00bs.
Re:depressing. (Score:2)
Besides no matter how nasty it is, at least it hasnt got got a PC in it.
Re:depressing. (Score:2)
Re:depressing. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:depressing. (Score:2)
Fujitsu breaks through the $10,000 barrier with the new Eagle blah blah blah.
Yeah, I remember the Eagle. Something like 80lbs, and what, 200Meg?
When our Pyramid tech came onsite to replace one, I wondered why he needed a hand truck to move a disk drive up from his car, and I REALLY wondered why he needed my help to get it into the rack.
Great! (Score:2, Funny)
5200 River Raid. (Score:2)
That was my favorite out of all of the Activision titles. Pitfall was ok, but I'd always go left because I could do the right direction jumping onto the crocs for some reason.
The important question (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The important question (Score:2)
WOW (Score:2, Informative)
btw, http://www.pbfixit.com/Guide/?p=Pismo*00 [pbfixit.com] is a nice place with good pics and step by step instructions for taking Apple Laptops apart... it has already helped me twice this year...
Interview (Score:3, Informative)
Netbsd (Score:2, Funny)
WHOA. (Score:2)
I shall file this in my "No Shit" folder.
Great. Now I can play Chuck (Score:2)
Is working with Mac hardware really that hard? (Score:2)
Re:This is a childish waste of time (Score:2)
Re:This is a childish waste of time (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:This is a childish waste of time (Score:2)
I'm going to gut a Mac G5 tower and put the innards into the biggest KFC family-size chicken bucket available. Just for the sheer Hack Value!
How cool is that gonna be?
It'll be a bit stinky, but should work ok.
Now what to I do with the G5 enclosure?
Re:This is a childish waste of time (Score:1)