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Atari 2600 Mac Mod
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!"
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Hmm, their site does not have any images, just movies and mentions that they were already having bandwidth issues before it was posted on slashdot. So you probably want to use the coral cache links below. I managed to get the first three links primed before the story went live.
Article
Movie 1
Movie 2
Movie 3
Movie 4
I mean in a few yours it might be worth something.
It's still in it's box.
I was worried that this was going to be another story about peopel cramming shit into a Mac Mini Case. Not because I think they're desecrating the mini, just because if it becomes a trend, it's an incredibly boring trend to read about.
Finally a Mac for gaming!
air and light and time and space
That's nothing, Apple managed put a G4 mac into a Sonos case!!!
Was the atari 2600 named so because of the captain crunch toy whistles? After all, Steve Jobs worked there in the 70s, and also was one of the ones involved with those blue boxes.
And we just tried to jam 20,000 http requests into their Atari 2600 case. Didn't work.
So, after realizing the 2600 games are no longer being produced, they chose OSX for it's extensive list of titles?
They managed to triple the number of games that their new Mac can play!
MacMod - The Atari 2600 Macintosh
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
#include sig.h
... it looks like the 2600 can still play cartridge games too!
<Napolean>Sweet...</Napolean>
Can it play Duke Nukem Forever too?
Oh, wait...
Proving once again that x86 nerds with too much time are not the only nerds with too much time. There's PPC guys, too.
www.kiwilyrics.com - a wiki for lyrics
i think the submitter should be requested to use past tense ("had") when linking to a video. ;)
"The...twen-ty-six...hun-dred...please-slash-dot-m e!"
Does it have a mouse, or do you move the pointer using one paddle for x and the other for y? That might suck, but you'd have two mouse buttons!
Disclaimer: I didn't read the article.
... then check out Ben Heckendorn's Book that was due to be published this week (the guy behind the portable PS2, Ben Heckendorn).
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 ;-)
-- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
I don't think moding historic computers/consoles is a good idea. Now they are just old and kindof cool, but in several years they will be truly historic and of great value. When most 2600s will be greatly increasing in value the modded ones will be worth much less. After all by then a G5 running Mac OSX won't really be that great. I guess it is ok to do the mod as long as you don't damage the original console and can bring it back to the original condition. But people please don't destroy antique or very soon to be valuable antique hardware. I'd rather see it restored to the way it was brand new in the 70's and 80's!
This sort of thing depresses me.
:-)
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)
The official name of the 2600 was the "Video Computer System" (VCS) and that was indeed the official name until the Atari 5200 came out. However, the catalogue/part number for the VCS was CX2600 right from the start, and that is where the name came from. When the Supersystem was announced/introduced (part #CX5200) the part numbers became official model names probably to emphasise the difference between the two.
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.
Meh, I interviewed Tim about the mod a few days ago. Here is a link: http://macmod.com/content/view/219/
"Tuez-les tous; Dieu reconnaitra les siens."