Atari 7800 Portable

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Polish Don
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Atari 7800 Portable

Post by Polish Don »

Hi !

I'm new here, but I do own one of Ben's 2600 portables.

My question is if Ben can make a Jaguar, Wii, PS2 portable, what is the problem making the 7800 Portable ? If it can't be cut down (i.e. like the Jaguar) can't the 7800 be left intact and made portable that way ? :?:

Is there a technical issue that prevent it ?
jeroen
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Post by jeroen »

Euhm......I believe the motherboard was HUGE. Meaning it would be EXTREMELY big.
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Post by Jongamer »

I think is Entirly possible, just not in Bens case (Trust me hes not the best portablizer, way better than Ill ever be though) Ive Seen NES Portables that are just Franken Cases and you calling the 7800 big? lol and what about BEN's Xpod. I think Ben just thinks that IF the Optical drive is to thick, or the Motherboard is to big (Claims 7800, but look at Xbox holy hell might as well call it a computer)

Hey I wouldnt dought that if you talk about it a lot, somone will eventually decide to build it. Only thing that could get in your Way of a Portable is what Video Signal It outputs and how much power it sucks up.
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Post by jeroen »

Well. I meant I heard it was big.
Retromaster
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Post by Retromaster »

the 7800 was filled with ics and not very shrinkable.
It would be hard to get a 7800p that isn't huge.
and he probably won't be doing a ps2 or wii or xbox again anytime soon...
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timmeh87
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Post by timmeh87 »

im sure it wouldnt be that hard to recreate on a new board. its probably a pretty simple circuit
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Sparkfist
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Post by Sparkfist »

Best thing for you if you want a 7800 portable is to use a Atari PC, likely at least an XL series, but an XEGS (Ben used) would be best. These should be backwards compatible with the 2600 and 7800.

And yest the 7800 is HUGE! It measures about 2.5 x 1.5, and thats feet, yes feet. The best thing that could be done for it would be like what Ben did when making the 360p, which is that he made it easier to move around and built-in what options for add-ons there where.
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Post by Gump-in-space »

I thought the 5200 was the huge one and the 7800 was smaller.
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Post by Sparkfist »

Gump-in-space wrote:I thought the 5200 was the huge one and the 7800 was smaller.
They both are quite big. At least the 5200 was thinned down when Kevin Horton made a custom PCB for the chips. The 7800 uses a large number of chips, and unlike the 2600 there isn't a section you can cut out that has most of the usable stuff on it.

If you look in the Atari forum, there was a member that asked if there was a way to slim down a 7800. There are pictures in that thread. Look at them and see just how big the beast is.
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Polish Don
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Post by Polish Don »

Ok,

What LCD screen could be adapted to fit a 7800 ?
Retromaster
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Post by Retromaster »

a screen that takes in component, composite, or RGB, or stuff like that.
NOTE: this is only if the 7800 has av jacks, meaning it outputs composite.
I don't know if it uses a rf box or not. if it does not have av jacks but only an rf box, you need to do a composite video mod.
TFT screens are suitable, such as casio pocket tvs and ps1 screens.
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Post by SpongeBuell »

Retromaster wrote:a screen that takes in component, composite, or RGB, or stuff like that.
NOTE: this is only if the 7800 has av jacks, meaning it outputs composite.
I don't know if it uses a rf box or not. if it does not have av jacks but only an rf box, you need to do a composite video mod.
TFT screens are suitable, such as casio pocket tvs and ps1 screens.
Actually, component and RGB would be worthless. Most screens take composite, but the 7800 doesn't output that on its own, you'll need to mod it. There are some instructions out there if you google it. The only other way to do it is get a pocket tv.
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Retromaster
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Post by Retromaster »

...please listen to spongebuel, as he is a genius :P ....
you can find more info on composite modding a 2600 here-
http://benheck.com/book/support/Atari2600VidMod.htm

however, this how to was for the 2600...it could help you a little on a 7800......
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