Maybe somebody can help?

TheReverendObskure · Post by **TheReverendObskure** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 2:00 am

Yes, I'm a newbie in the sense that I've never posted before. Yes, I've researched this quite a bit over the last month or so, no I haven't found the information that I'm looking for, which is why I'm posting.

I've decided that, rather than making a portable atari, I'd like to make the atari that I have smaller (lack of space on the entertainment center being the overriding factor in this decision, plus I thought redesigning the case would be a good excercise of my design skills).

So, I decided to cut the board down (I have a 4 switch, rev 12 I believe), do the composite hack and redesign the case.

However, I've got two sticking points:

A) I'm planning on running this thing from a wallwart, but I'm not going to be powering an LCD screen, does anybody have any idea what the power requirments for a 4x4 board minus the LCD screen are?

and

2) I understand that the filter caps that are attached to the controller ports are for the paddle type controllers, I have both the paddle controllers and the joysticks and am planning on remounting the controller ports to the front of the console, does anybody have any tips for this? Should I just duplicate the section of board that the ports are already on, and mount them to that? Could the caps be mounted inside the the paddle housing?

Any help or pointers that anybody could offer would be greatly appreciated, and I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm rambling...I'm tired and my back's gone out..AGAIN!!

Ehh..as soon as my project is done, I'll post pictures if you guys want.. I haven't documented the intial stages (and probably won't take pictures until it's all done) because I'm not doing anything new, really...just making it smaller and sticking it into a slimmer case.

Thanks again!

JackFrost22 · Post by **JackFrost22** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 4:43 am

1. Just use the stick wall wart that will be fine (it takes 5-600mah i thknk though)
2. Whoa try to get a schematic and rebuild the conroller ports completly

Post by **SpongeBuell** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 7:44 am

1. It shouldn't be more than 500mA, since that's what the original Atari power supply gave.

2. look at the scematic on AtariAge or the 2600 section of PoD and rebuild the controller port itself. Most pins on the controller will go right to a certain pin on a chip. When you look at the schematic, and wonder which chip is which, it goes as follows: Cart slot on top (for orientation, you won't need this when wiring) then the RIOT chip (for paddle fire buttons, and joystick directions) then the 6507 (or 6502? you won't need to do anything with it) than the Stella/TIA on the bottom (paddles, joystick fire buttons)

I'm sure you have already, but take a look at The Portables of DOOM! for lots of information. I did something similar, though I made a handheld. I still gotta load it on, but there is a thread about it on the second page of this forum.

TheReverendObskure · Post by **TheReverendObskure** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 12:09 pm

Hey, thanks a lot for the help.

I kinda figured that I would end up having to rebuild the ports, it's no biggie. I'm looking at this whole project as an educational experience, and I didn't pay a whohle lot for the atari and it's associated components (I found it a second hand store for less than five bux).

SpongeBuell: I have tried to access the portables of doom site, but can't ever get to it. My browser always times out, which annoys me, as it prevents me from using a valuable source of information that I need.

Oh yah, and before anybody suggests it, I can't buy Ben's book yet...things are way too tight around here, fiscally speaking.

Like I said, I really really appreciate the pointers and tips!

THANKS!

PS, I just realised that my initial post might've sounded...assholish, I apologize.

HK-47 · Post by **HK-47** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:18 pm

Ah. Dont worry.

Also, the thing about PoD is that id dosnt work for some people. Either use a proxy like www.proxify.com , or use the mirror. Its a bit out of date, but it should be fine: http://doomportables.freeserverhost.net/

Post by **Sparkfist** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:18 pm

Dont know if you've check the Howto thats a sticky at the top of this forum. Theres that and read the thread in the book forum about using a proxy server to access Doomportables.

HK-47 · Post by **HK-47** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:38 pm

Sparkfist wrote:Dont know if you've check the Howto thats a sticky at the top of this forum. Theres that and read the thread in the book forum about using a proxy server to access Doomportables.

You do know gannon deleted the thread, right? He didnt mean to but he did.

Post by **gannon** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 1:43 pm

HK-47 wrote:
Sparkfist wrote:Dont know if you've check the Howto thats a sticky at the top of this forum. Theres that and read the thread in the book forum about using a proxy server to access Doomportables.
You do know gannon deleted the thread, right? He didnt mean to but he did.

shh!! A ghost did it.... I swear!

Post by **Sparkfist** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 2:49 pm

Then dont be lazy just post what the proxy server addresses were here then or make a new (closed) thread that has them listed.

TheReverendObskure · Post by **TheReverendObskure** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 11:59 pm

HK: thanks for the heads up about the proxy thing, will try it in a bit

Sparkfist: I've read the howto from front to back numerous times, it's one of the things that made me decide to do this. Out of any one site that I've been to, in search of information, this one seems to be sort of a "one stop shopping" center for hacking game consoles,which is incredibly nifty.

Now that most of the variables in the project have been identified, the only one left seems to be the ETA on the final product...this is probably going to take me awhile, hopefully it will get farther than my iPod customization did..which didn't ever get far...at all, in fact..except on the drawing board..so it goes.