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Modern Retro computing
Sebby writes "This is pretty neat - the folks over at retrosystem rebuild old computers/consoles with new guts inside. They have Amiga 1000, Atari 2600, and also NES systems, with lots of options for configuration. If they only made a Sinclair ZX81 with the same specs, I'd be sold!" I mean, who wouldn't want a PC in an
NES box ;)
Putting a PC into an Xbox case! Oh, wait..
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
it's up up down down left right left right b a start
being used for security purposes. Who's gonna steal an original NES? I don't think they've acquired antique status, yet... Other than that, why the hell would you want to do this?
I use an old 8088 case for my machine, it's nice because it has a hood like a car. It has two large buttons on the side to open it - no screws! It's built like a tank AND it was free.
Okay, I'll admit this is pretty cool. But a Celeron in an A1000? Why not a 2 gig P4?
Totally lame, let's ruin all these charming machines to turn them into regular pcs, whee.
:P
:P
I'd rather play games on an atari 2600 than using windows
For the amiga, i think they are not aware that amigas can be upgraded.
These are all old systems not many ppl use anymore but i think it's like putting a toyota corolla frame under the body of an antique car, it just doesn't feel good
I've been wanting to do this for a while now. I had the idea to take an old IBM XT and build it into a pentium 75 around 1996/97, someone beat me to it online. I finally have it up though. The whole thing is black. It's very sexy. Has the original 5.25 face plates with working LED's hiding the main drives behind.
:)
My next project has already been started. It's a Commodore 64 conversion. I'm still working on finding a board that will fit in it. I have a pentium 2 board that fits lengthwise in the case, but I'd kind of like something a little more current, preferably with a flip-chip type architecture, rather than the slot chip it has now. I don't want to have to cut a ractangle for the top of the chip to stick out of
I just picked up a mini-itx board for a mp3/divx player in my car. These things are really tiny. I saw one project where they stuffed one of these boards into a playstation, old sparcstations, and lots of other strange places. Not a gaming board, but those are starting to happen too - take a look at the small Shuttle boards that have a bit more kick (and heat) to them.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
I want a PDA built into a slide rule ... even usable when the batteries die.
Such a shame there is no CDROM for my^H^Htheir Amiga. But I'll still buy it, because it has firewire, and I happen to have an external IDE firewire box, so I can run a CDRW externally. Amiga did almost all expansion externally anyways, so this is great!
I really recommend these external firewire IDE drive bays by ADSTech, they're so useful when I go out on a service call with my laptop and this portable drive bay, I can do things like drive imaging and software backup at lightning speeds for my clients. They're a geek's best friend.
Now I can use it to emulate my old A2000 that was surrounded by bizarre periphirals back in the day!
Bork!
Has anyone noticed this guys favorite word is "SUPERCHARGED" Each description of the individual product has this word at least four times!
It would make for more interesting descriptions if they broke out with the old thesaurus!
How about working on emulators so the tons of old game cartridges you see at flea markets and swaps can be used again.
The hardware of an Atari2600 or an original Nintendo system were only fairly or moderately impressive when they were state of the art. However, the programming involved to eek every ounce of performance out of the hardware is simply gorgeous. Yeah, the graphics sucked, and were made worse when you pumped it through a modulator and rf generator to display it on channel 3, but impressive nevertheless.
It's fun to play these games because they programmers didn't have unlimited memory for use nor to store the finished result.
Programming can be fun again. Film at 11.
"We are patenting this process of customizing old computer and game console cabinets to be Windows, Linux or other contemporary operating systems based on x86 systems. Contact us if you are interested in licensing from us."
Is it just me, or does anyone else find this a bit disturbing?
I think the NES/Atari Boxes look great, but I'm curious as to how well they do airflow-wise with a 800Mhz processor inside??
I seem to recall my those systems could get a little warm just playing their cartridges.
Cool idea, though.
I had one of these little beasts. I cannot imagine who thought those chicklet keyboards would be a good idea...
;).
My key memory of it was actually writing programs that used all of the 4k + 64k RAM expander
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
turning a VAX into a keg dispenser with webmonitoring
or maybe just a bar or how about a fridge
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
Anyone wanna put an Atari 2600 in a PC case?
It's just for the sake of cosmic karma balance.
[PowerPoint] is a tool for capitalist presentation
Go to largish network parties Case modders have been doing this for years.
(Server is slow, please be patient)
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I don't understand why someone just doesn't do this mod themselves.
Their pricing is quite expensive @ $999-1099+
I'd recommend getting a mini ITX form factor motherboard like VIA's eden. (Go check the specs on the motherboards vs. the console boxes because I'm not sure if they'll fit exactly)
So for ~$150 for the motherboard
~$60 for the VIA CPU
~$5-10 for an old NES / Atari system
~Old PC Components
You'd have a pretty decent setup. (Not to mention you'd be saving around $700!)
If you need some motivation look at Project Jellybean:
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=120
The computers in the article are just glorified case mods. When you plug a modern keyboard monitor and mouse into those old cases and boot Windows 2000, you totally lack the retro look and feel. The coolest artifacts from the old days are green-screen monitors and heavy, loud keyboards. They are what create the retro look-and-feel that we remember from the old days.
In middle school, we had these Apple IIe computers with green-screen monitors that tilted up and down in a stationary case. Those were sweet. At the time, we had a computer at home with a color screen (CGA graphics, baby). Even though the CGA screen was technically superior to the Apple's, I thought the Apple monitor was way cooler. Now I have a 19 inch Viewsonic monitor and its infinitely more useful than the old Apple screen -- but the Apple monitor is still cooler.
Likewise, I miss those big-ass keyboards that click when you type. These flimsy, wussy keyboards that come with modern PCs are terrible! My favorite keyboard was an old IBM AT keyboard from 1984. My dad found it at work, and I used it for several years. The keys are covered with plastic caps, which are what the letters are printed on -- if you want remap your keyboard to Dvorak, you can reposition the printed letters by removing and rearranging the little caps. Pretty sweet. I had to retire it when, while moving from one dorm room to another, I broke off some of the caps that cover the keys. I've still got it in my closet, though.
I guess my point is that, while this is a cool idea, it's somewhat misguided. Creating a retro look and feel is much more important than having a retro case, which you're just going to shove under your desk anyway. And to have the retro look-and-feel, you need cool-looking screens and clicky keyboards.
Steve
I really don't see who is going to buy this stuff. I do this for fun, but anyone old enough to have actually USED one of these machines is probably capable of doing this themselves and saving a lot of money.
Yes, I know we always talk about trying to get linux to run on an older computer, but gutting the case and replacing the innards is cheating. :)
As far as appeal goes, consider you're intentionally purchasing a machine with limited upgrade options. In order to minimize the footprint, the boards won't have many PCI slots, and its debatable if they could be used anyway in that case. While old computer cases can probably be picked up for free, or very very cheap, there's still the labor cost of adapting them to fit modern components. That's going to jack the price a bit, not to mention a power supply will still be required, which is typically a good percentage of the case cost.
Of course, people buying one of these are probably doing it for the novelty purposes and not because they're concerned about cost or usability.
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
(bowel is slow, please be patient and don't pop a vein)
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This is not cool at all. Those heretics
should be exiled to Siberia!
I would rather get a console system inside a PC case. This way it would look like I'm furiously coding while playing old school galaga.
Good luck with them getting a patent on this "invention", people have been shoe horning new things into old since time began.. look at old cars with new engines.. besides this is an "idea" which I always thought was different from an "invention".
How about a TI99/4A? Just make that and Parsec 2002 and I can die a happy geek.
Duffman can never die! Only the actors who play him!
Armchair moderation:
How was that trolling? He wasn't trying to start a fight, he was exposing beauty.
Comment on the photo:
Splendid. Come post that on my site if you wish. And check out those spiff textads!
The NES case would be cool if they would dump the keyboard and use the original controllers (linux-parallel port)
Hitler's in the fridge.
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these things!
The thing about gutting an NES that bugs me is that it's no longer an NES, it's just a cool case.
I think that they can do better than this. How about a mini-itx board, a laptop hard drive, and an NES-on-a-chip connected to the cartridge and controller ports? If you want to make it come up as a computer, flick a switch, and video output comes out of the PC video card.
There should be just barely enough space in the original US NES case to pull this off, although it would certainly be tough to do.
Raptor
"Procrastination is great. It gives me a lot more time to do things that I'm never going to do."
Maybe I can fit this with some kind of Passive PCI plane, and add multiple Single-board computers...
HMMMMmmmmmmm....
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Aren't they going to offer the huge mainframes of yesteryear with modern guts?
Sure, Grandma isn't senile anymore, ever since the brain transplant. And so what if 98% of her body has been replaced with prosthetics at one point or another? Why, she now has a IQ of 200 and is an Olympic contender, and lord knows thats all that really matters. ;P
So I'm a pervert. Welcome to the Internet.
This won't fly, prior art can be found in this comment and this comment.
Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
They only have inside pictures for the Amiga case. Well duh, big deal there are plenty of low profile commercial cases already out there. Nothing interesting to see there.
I was really disapointed that there were no photo galleries for the Atari and NES cases. I mean for all we know those are just mockups and there are no pc parts inside.
You also got to be kidding me with those systems specs. What brand of cpu is it? What speed is the Hard drive? What kind of Ram is that? What video card is in there and how much ram does it have? What type of warranty does it have?
There is no way I would drop $1,200 with so little info, especially via Paypal.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
Please bump the CPU up to atleast a 68020 and but Debian or something on it, BUT dont put a new mobo in it and call it an Amiga 1000! Those people should be shot! It's like loading a Linux distro and only putting VMware on it running Win 2K but still calling it Linux!!!
This SIG pulled due to lack of funding. (This damn war is costing too much!)
How do I fit an ATX motherboard into my SYM-1 single board computer? It's just a bare board with hex pad and six digit LED display. Or my Bigboard II. It's a bare circuit board too.
Oh, that's right. Those are REAL retro computers, not the plastic-cased mass-market junk that came afterwards.
why are all bored suburban white kids now putting these gawdy huge spoilers on their rice rockets?
You do know that under 100 you're really just looking like a friggin' moron, and the suburban equivalent of the cowboy who jacks his truck up with some awful 6" lift or whatever.....just take my advice
DON'T !!!
According to a gy in our company who deals with patents, if you apply 3 times to the US patenet office you will probably get the patent not matter its demerits. Of course the patent office gets three times the fee this way.
I had a bad floppy drive in a 1000 once...talk about Proprietary hardware...
Hmm, cool idea... put 3-4 gaming system in one tower case, and use something like a DigitalDoc or other device to turn them on a off, and another thing to switch the video (modified KVM switch?).
I am sure that you could rip apart a Gamecube, PS2, and an Xbox and fit them all in one system with a 400-600 watt power supply(modified) (or just use the ones that the systems came with). I have s Supermicro S-760 case that I know would fit the guys of all of them.
That would be quite a system to show off, better yet, rackmount it in a 4U case... or even better make 1U rack products of each of the systems, with supercool looking faceplates, with an LCD on each to show the game name, or something about the system status at least.... Now that would be cool to have in the server room...
Tibbon
tibbon.com
I'm assuming that's the same Kermit Woodall of SIDPlayer fame? For the C64-challenged, SIDPlayer was pretty much the 80's equivalent of WinAmp. Amazing what you could do with 3 voices. I always wondered what he'd been up to...
Is to yank the guts from an old TRS-80 Model III, replace the display with an old 13" CRT, and install a basic PC into it... Would look hella funny at a LAN party, IMO...
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
It's already been done but also included a PS2, NES, Gamecube, Xbox and a huge gaming pc in one box. it's awesome. Check it out here
I think they ought to go even farther. How about using a TRS-80 Model 2 with dual 5" floppy disk drives and NO hard drive? I remember being just stunned, back in 1984, after shelling out what was big bucks for me to buy a 300 bps modem, at all the info and games available at my local BBS. A few years later, it turned out that my favorite MD BBS, called Network East, went down for good cuz the Owner/SysAdmin had stolen all his servers from Uncle Sam. (FEMA HQ in Washington, DC, no less.) Walked right out the front door with them, one at a time. Later on, so did he, with the FBI leading him out. There are good ole days and not-so-good ole days.
MadDad32
Likewise, I miss those big-ass keyboards that click when you type. These flimsy, wussy keyboards that come with modern PCs are terrible! My favorite keyboard was an old IBM AT keyboard from 1984.
Check your local university's surplus department. I know here at OU, we have a decent surplus department with lots of old stuff for sale. (Anybody need a VAX? There's one down there.) Among other things, they have a large bin (i.e. large hotel laundry bin) full of keyboards, many of them IBM PS/2 (the computer PS/2, not just the 6-pin mini-DIN connector) models. About eight pounds apiece, nearly indestructable (very handy when you can't find that last bug, get pissed, throw the keyboard across the room...), and great feel. You'd be surprised what turns up at University Surplus.
"Make it ten--I am only a poor corrupt official."
--Captain Louis Renault (Claude Rains), Casablanca
I got an Acros (Acer's line of "business" PCs) 486sx-25 in 1993, that came with a keyboard I still use today. I wish I had a 104-key layout, but I like the size, sound, and feel so much that I'll probably just do without. The keyboard was apparently made by Smith-Cornoa and OEM-ed to Acer/Acros, but when I wrote to Smith Corona asking if they still made such keyboards they replied that I would have to "contact Acer about that old system." Thanks for the help....
IN TEH FUCHAR, LITERSY WLIL EB OPSHANAL!!!!!111
I have one; I'm trying to find a Mac motherboard + processor for it to build my own Mac but no luck so far. If I can't make it happen then I'll get hold of an AMB board & processor and build an uber Linux b0xen! w00t!!
I have a Commodore Super Pet I have been eyeing as a new home for an Athlon. Kick the existing monitor out of it and either replace it with a modern CRT or with an LCD monitor. Just imagine showing up at the local LAN party with one of these!
Someone -is- trying to make new Amigas.
http://www.amiga.com
Trying to recall things from many years ago. We had a Model 1 -- standard was a casette drive, floppys were available but expensive. Base system cost about Can$1000.
Model II wasn't very popular. It had 8" drives built in, made for business.
Model III was popular. Two built in 5-1/4" drives, single case with integrated Green Monitor.
Model IV was the last of their Z80 machines, I believe. It was intended to run CP/M, but everyone ran TRSDOS on it just like the model III. It still didn't have a hard drive as standard, but you could get a 15 Meg hard drive for about the price of the computer!