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Atari 800 XE Laptop

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the because-you-can dept.

Lester Oats writes "Benjamin J. Heckendorn (of Atari VCSp, NES Micro, & PS2p fame) has been at it again! Summary from his site: "Of all the portable videogame devices I've ever built over the years one system has always been my 'Holy Grail' to make - my 'dream portable' if you will. (Yes, even more so than my Neo Geo arcade machine) And now after a couple years of tinkering it is complete! Without further ado - the Atari 800 XE Laptop!""

7 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Ok.. by MindStalker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    But how did he get it to support Dos or the flash drive????

  2. Lucky guy by dada21 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This guy is a lucky builder.

    The Radio Shack LCD he buys just happens to have NiMH batteries in its base.

    The same LCD has a memory socket supplying enough 5V juice to run the 800.

    He cuts a chunk out of the mobo to fit a hard drive that he later cans. The aforementioned NiMH batteries fit perfectly in that space.

    Anyone think his tinfoil "mouse" will fail in short order?

    Great article though. I'd love to make a portable Aquarius (4K) with Utopia. Screw Civ4 Bugs.

  3. What about Atari 800 games? by TheLoneGundam · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Some of the old Atari 800 games ought to be re-released on the GameBoy platform, especially the Micro! Not via emulator, but just recode them. I, for one, would like to see Star Raiders and Star Raiders II for the GBM - it had the essentials: good game play, interesting graphics. And since the chips on the 800 were designed to work in basically a 320 x 240 layout, the graphics ought to be pretty portable without scaling.

  4. Re:Really? by Urchlay · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Was there really a game named BallBlaster???

    Yes.

    Well, actually, Ball Blaster was an early leaked version of Ball Blazer (which was one of the first games Lucas Arts ever released). Ball Blaster was leaked to the Atari BBS scene some months before Ball Blazer was released... it was playable, but lacked the computer player's AI (so it was two-player only). And yes, everyone thought the "Ball Blaster" name was hilarious back then, too...

    More than you really wanted to know, isn't it? :)

  5. Another way by Craig+Davison · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Try this:

    javascript:location.href=location.protocol+'//'+lo cation.host+'.nyud.net:8090'+location.pathname

    Works in Firefox.

    --
    Hands in my pocket
  6. Re:Just in case by The+Lynxpro · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "Slim (compared to an original SIO port) DB25 printer-style port for connecting to disk drives, printers or PC's using an SIO2PC cable."

    And let us not forget that the Atari SIO (serial input output) port is the forerunner of USB. The same engineer who created the SIO port is also the same gentleman who created USB for Intel if I am not mistaken. It was a great idea then, as it is today.

    --
    "Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
  7. Best Advertisement Ever for Hosting Ever!!!! by kwpulliam · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From the link...

    hello /.

    Much as we love our shared hosting solutions, they can't survive a death by slashdotting.

    But, we love Ben so, rather than suspending him for bandwidth abuse, we've quickly moved his site to an empty machine.

    So, head on over to Ben Heckendorn's site (or use the Coral Cache - if it's working). Or, why not stay around and buy some web hosting from us. You know you want to :)

    cLive ;-)

    ps - this is a quick hack, so only the static parts of the site will work - but heck (sic), it's better than a "site suspended" page ;-)