Mini-ITX PC in an Atari 800 179
tgeller writes "As case mods go, this one's not the weirdest, But it has its own retro charm. Musician and geek Andy Hutson slipped a Mini-ITX motherboard into an Atari 800 case... and used an old cartridge as the mouse! Too bad the original keyboard's not functional." This almost makes me want to tear apart my old Apple //c and see what I can make. Almost.
The Mouse (Score:4, Funny)
Re:The Mouse (Score:1)
I don't care how cool the mod is, there's one less original copy of Star Raiders in the world.
Re:The Mouse (Score:2)
Aren't there Atari emulators out there for the PC? I don't have time to google right now, so any karma whores want to check this out?
Re:The Mouse (Score:3, Informative)
http://atari800.sourceforge.net/
It works pretty well, I used it to play M.U.L.E. and Koronis Rift some time ago....
Re:The Mouse (Score:2)
Re:The Mouse (Score:1)
You know... (Score:1)
If you're dripping in anything while reading Slashdot, it's either geek, foodstuffs, or that other thing.
Anti Theft! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Anti Theft! (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Anti Theft! (Score:1)
Re:Anti Theft! (Score:1)
Another of my friends had decided to solder his autoradio's screws to his car.
He only got the face stolen which made the autoradio look quite ugly (or Geeky, if you enjoy the view of an opened computer case) thus definitely unstealable too.
Oh come on... (Score:4, Insightful)
For old machine cool case mods, surely you'd have to go the OTHER way.
I mean get an old PDP-11, gut it and put boards and extensions everywhere, imagine rebuilding the PSU [usyd.edu.au] as a set of USB access points, or as a beowulf cluster of Mini-ITX systems
Or put an old IBM Mainframe in the basement, wire up the lights and away you go.
Re:Oh come on... (Score:2, Interesting)
People these days have no appreciation for old systems. Its like taking an antique grandfather clock and putting a digital display in it!
Re:Oh come on... (Score:2)
No its like taking an old grandfather clock that doesn't work and putting a smaller clock behind the face.
I've worked on a PDP-11 and it might be old but it certainly wasn't clockwork (didn't work like clockwork either
Re:Oh come on... (Score:2)
Where else would you find a device that worked using (static) magnetic core memory? Ahh, with a paper tape reader...
Re:Oh come on... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Oh come on... (Score:2)
It's a pretty damn easy mod, too - the Pet had an easy-open case, much like the hood of a car. Pop a couple of screws, and the entire top just folds back (complete with bar to hold it up while you work inside!).
Re:Oh come on... (Score:2)
The pictures show that the mini-itx board takes up alost no space at all inside the thing.
Re:Oh come on... (Score:2)
but I did know a guy who built his Atari 1024 STE into a PC box.
Re:Oh come on... (Score:2)
It's running Windows... (Score:4, Funny)
Summary (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry, but I would have been more impressed if he'd restored the Atari 800 to working condition.
Re:Summary (Score:2)
--RJ
Re:Summary (Score:1)
Re:Summary (Score:1)
Re:Summary (Score:2)
Remember, too, the Atari 8-bits had luma/chroma out (as did the VIC-20 and its successors
I used an 800 and an 800XL (with the "Super Video 2" video amplifier fix) with a chroma/luma monitor as my primary computers for a number of years. The display is wonderful. You do lose the artifact
Re:Summary (Score:3, Insightful)
Play games on it? Write some cool programs? If you don't want it, give it away to someone who does.
(Seriously. My parents want to throw it out, since it's in their house right now.)
I know the feeling. Tell them it's a classic and worth a lot of money. Half a lie can't hurt
Don't chuck it though... sheesh!
Re:Summary (Score:2)
Re:Summary (Score:1)
Re:Summary (Score:1)
Re:Summary (Score:2)
The toggle switch was either to disable the extra RAM (to give you back the PIO lines used for bank switching) or to switch between different "compatibility modes". That's the short version of the story...
Re:Summary (Score:2)
Much cooler running the real thing... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Much cooler running the real thing... (Score:1)
Re:Much cooler running the real thing... (Score:1)
Just don't mention it on slashdot - it can barely handle one connection let alone thousands!
Re:Much cooler running the real thing... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Much cooler running the real thing... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Much cooler running the real thing... (Score:5, Funny)
Not anymore, they don't.
Still running (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Much cooler running the real thing... (Score:2)
Re:Much cooler running the real thing... (Score:1)
Can't wait till i can read
That would make an interesting article too, IMHO.
Re:Much cooler running the real thing... (Score:2)
I can't wait for... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I can't wait for... (Score:2)
Incompatible keyboard? (Score:5, Interesting)
Would any of the people that know about hardware care to enlighten me on how hard a keyboard translater would be to build - something that would read the output of the Atari keyboard and spit out equivilent input that the Mini ITX's keyboard controller would understand?
There's a lot of really cool looking old gear out there (well, specifically, under the desk here) with built in keyboards that would make pretty nifty little machines for those of us who want to relive the days of sitting crosslegged on the loungeroom floor 3 inches from the TV screen tapping stuff into a machine like that, but with all mod cons...
Re:Incompatible keyboard? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Incompatible keyboard? (Score:2, Informative)
PS2 keyboard schematics do exist, i.e. in the techref manual of an IBM brand machine you could find the schematics. Then it's just a matter of translating switch contacts to switch contacts with a lot of #30 wire wrap and fitting it all in the old case
Re:Incompatible keyboard? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Incompatible keyboard? (Score:2, Informative)
POKEY (Score:5, Informative)
In order to make the keyboard compatible with a PC, you would need a microcontroller that scanned the row/column matrix and then generated the serial data stream that a PC's 8042 keyboard controller wanted to see.
Not really a very difficult task for a hardware guy - a PIC would probably do quite nicely.
I wonder if the guy was able to use the interior potmetal shield of the Atari - the 800 was designed back when "Class B computing device" MEANT something - Atari took no chance that the computer would fail to pass FCC regulations. The 800 was the quietest (in the RF sense of the word) computer I'd ever seen - ANYTHING that could generate RF was on the inside of a eight-of-an-inch thick metal box.
But using a Star Raiders cart as a mouse?!?!
BLASPHEMER! SINNER! YOU SHALL BURN IN HELLFIRE ETERNAL!
Re:Incompatible keyboard? (Score:2)
Re:Incompatible keyboard? (Score:2)
But hey, that's just me taking the easy way out and NOT getting that Electrical engineering degree...
Re:Incompatible keyboard? (Score:2)
Re:Incompatible keyboard? (Score:2, Funny)
Wow, you mean I wasn't the only one?!
Re:Incompatible keyboard? (Score:2)
I was wondering when you two would finally meet!
Re:Incompatible keyboard? (Score:3, Informative)
Therefore, it would be dirt easy to take appart an old PS2 keyboard, rip off the microcontroller inside and solder the proper "wires" to it so that when a button is pressed on the Atari keyboard, the microcontroller "knows" which letter has been pressed.
The only "hic" her
Re:Incompatible keyboard? (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, the guy who molested a Commodore SX-64 on the same site did just that. See http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/sx64/ for details - including how he even stealthed all the ports. The day my trusty, still functional C64 dies I might do the same... but for now, I'm more tempted about trying to squuese a MiniITX board into my PSX which died last christmas...
Ah. Now I see the reason for this ... (Score:2)
Some things never change
(btw. the Atari hack ist of course *much* cooler than the C64
Bye egghat.
Re:Ah. Now I see the reason for this ... (Score:2)
Re:Incompatible keyboard? (Score:2)
A friend used this approach to build a MAME cab by connecting a joystick and buttons where the cursor and ALT/SHIFT/CTRL/5/6/1/2 keys should be.
--
Re:Incompatible keyboard? (Score:2)
The biggest problem using the keyboard with a PC is that it's just Not The Same as a 101-key PC layout. There are keys on the Atari that aren't on a PC keyboard, and there are plenty of keys on a PC keyboard that would be tricky to represent on the Atari keyboard... Not that it would be impossible t
Great Job. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Great Job. (Score:2)
Lazy (Score:3, Informative)
Full points for style (Score:3, Interesting)
My only question is usability.
Re:Full points for style (Score:2)
Other mod ideas... (Score:3, Interesting)
- mod a C64 disk drive to hold a full PC, with HDD, and talking IEE844 correctly to the C64.
- mod a C64 printer to become a network interface, allowing the vital print-to-slashdot function
- mod a game cartidge to hold a PC running Linux, then allow the original system to act as a console for the Linux box
Just modding hardware is skillfull, but modding software is true art.
Re:Other mod ideas... (Score:2)
The mind boggles...
nostalgic (Score:2)
Not only Atari 800 (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.mini-itx.com [mini-itx.com]
I had (Score:3, Funny)
Load SCRAM into the cassette drive, and go ride the BMX bike (with mag rims!) around for 45 minutes while it loaded, return and scram the core
Seriously though, has anyone considered putting a PC into *gasp* a PC chassis?
Why want? (Score:5, Interesting)
Why not just keep your old Apple IIc and spend the five bucks or whatever buying one on ebay? There are tons of "classic" computers on ebay that you can get for rediculously low prices (well, considering...) A while ago I almost got a lot of five sparc ipx's for $20. The winning bid was something like $25. Stuff like that is up there all the time.
Of course, I have some sort of weird ethical qualms with gutting old machines. Someone else usually has to throw them out. Why not try this mod on a nice toaster or even a cuisinart (double props if the thing still works without ruining the mobo)
just my two cents (adjusted for inflation)
Re:Why want? (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/toasterpc/
Re:Why want? (Score:1, Funny)
geiss (Score:2)
Forget dremples, Geiss 2 [nullsoft.com] just came out. Thanks for the heads up.
"Please remember to look away every 15 minutes."
Jackypc.com (Score:3, Informative)
This website is the reference french-speaking site for moding PC.
Here you can see it [jackypc.com] (it is a 600)
Re:Jackypc.com (Score:2)
The Atari-inspired PC case, external DVD drive and LCD box and all, is really classy. Like something from an alternate universe...
You should all check it out. Click "Page Suivante" a few times.
Oh the memories! (Score:1)
Link-o-Rama! (Score:1)
On an on-topic note, as a person who's a bit of a NES-aholic I'd I've always wanted to toss a modern computer into an old NES casing. It'd look a thousand times cooler than those crappy windows case modders put in their computers (literal windows, although I suppose the Redmond option would be as as crappy). Plus it'd make those long nights in front of NASM trying to get something to work in FCEU a bit more tolerable.
I'd also
Sad (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Sad (Score:2, Interesting)
The mod community can take the old and forgotten and breathe new life into it. Do you really think we would have the nostalgic pleasure of remembering old systems like the Atari 800 without mods like this?
They don't make the front page of
Re:Sad (Score:1)
Re:Sad (Score:1)
Don't use an Apple IIc (Score:3, Interesting)
My current plans are to put it into a wood box I purchased at a local artsy fartsy store, which will have plenty of room for a slot loading DVD drive, but will still need a laptop hard drive and the smaller power supply. DivX player, here I come!
-Ryan
use cherrycorp keyboard! (Score:1, Informative)
Re:use cherrycorp keyboard! (Score:2)
Here's to Happy Hacking [yahoo.com]
TI-99/4A case mod2 (Score:2)
I think with some creative use with the Dremel, I could re-use the power switch, put in the hard drive/power LEDs where the card ones were, and improvise on the cards in back.
It would truly be a 1980s-lookin' PC>
Re:TI-99/4A case mod2 (Score:2)
IIRC it had lots of metal plating and fake wood grain on the outside. Sweet. And the cable used to hook it to the console was like a big black python. You could have beat someone to death with it, I'm sure.
The top came off like the hood of a car, and the cards were the size of a book.
I had almost all of
Re:TI-99/4A case mod2 (Score:2)
Beautiful shades of silver though.
The 5.25 drive bays would be perfect for a CD-ROM, providedyou don't mind it sideways. Back in the way, it used the same floppy drives as IBM compatibles.
Anyone can put a PC into an atari .... (Score:3, Insightful)
macpacks are way to go (Score:3, Interesting)
NOOOOOOOOOO! (Score:5, Interesting)
The 800 is one of the very best of the Atari 8-bit line. Funky seventies industrial design, lovely keyboard, great video and audio quality out of the box (Atari boogered the video and audio amplifiers on the XL and XE models)...
They're built like tanks, too. Remember, the MSRP for them in 1979 was something like $2000. In 1979 dollars. 1/4" and 1/8" aluminum shielding in there to pass the old FCC regs from before Apple paid off the FCC to get the Apple II series passed... We used to joke that the 800 could probably survive the EMP from the inevitable nuclear war that was going to happen in the eighties...
About the only "case mod" I could understand on an 800 is gluing the Star Raiders cartridge into the slot, and even then, I'd use a 400 for that...
I loved my 800 ... :) (Score:2, Informative)
The long nights I spent poking display list interrupts into the 1536 memory block, and making the 8k Atari basic do things it wasn't meant to do. Good old 6502 assembly language. My first tape drive. My first floppy drive. A geek's first love.
Any chance you still have the Micr
Re:I loved my 800 ... :) (Score:2)
Originally, MS BASIC was sold on floppy disk. It used the most godawful copy-protection scheme I ever saw on the Ataris---it must have used the whole 88K of the floppy to load 12-16k of program in a bizarre overlaying scheme designed to obfuscate the program on the disk. Took FOREVER to boot up, which pretty much made it unusable.
Atari fre
Re:I loved my 800 ... :) (Score:2)
Re:I loved my 800 ... :) (Score:2)
And remember, you need a real 800 (or a 400 upgraded to 48K) to play M.U.L.E. with FOUR PLAYERS, as God intended it...
Re:NOOOOOOOOOO! (Score:2, Interesting)
Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky enough to o
Re:NOOOOOOOOOO! (Score:2)
But honestly, if you don't like the 800 keyboard, you probably use a $15 PC keyboard today and would hate a real Model M or Northgate Omnikey...
That said, I've finally become sufficiently used to my laptop's keyboard that a Model M feels weird.
*Yawn* (Score:3, Interesting)
Now the Telefunken 2003 [mini-itx.com]... a 45 year old radio upgraded to Internet Radio... that's a nice hack with unique artistic appeal!!
Re:Request for help (Score:2)