I am doing another workshop at MGC 2022. Same project as in November, the “gameBadge”
To sign up please visit this link: https://www.midwestgamingclassic.com/event/ben-heck-make-a-gamebadge/
Some tools will be supplied but attendees are recommended to bring as many of their own tools as possible, including but not limited to:
See you there!
I’m taking some time off and getting projects done. Any new controller orders from now until September 11th 2021 will be built in the order they are received the week of September 13th 2021.
I will also be attending the Vintage Computer Festival Midwest during this time, stop by and say hi!
Finally got them priced and listed on the site! They are based on the wired Hori Mini Pad.
I’m doing a “build your own single board computer” workshop at the Midwest Gaming Classic 2020 in downtown Milwaukee this April.
The design is based on the classic Z80 (which they still manufacture believe it or not) and is quite small, only 3 x 3″. It has an expansion port, build-in OLED screen, Atmel MCU as screen driver/USB serial port converter and an SD card adapter for loading BIN, HEX and saving files or doing RAM dumps.
This workshop is meant to teach how memory addressing works and you also get to take home the sweet computer you build! Basic soldering skills will be helpful and there’s also a decent amount of surface mount (fairly large parts to make it do-able) so tips and tricks on how to work with that are also part of the experience.
Sign up using the links below! (limited to 25 spots)
Here are the YouTube videos I’ve made discussing the design process. Once the design has been verified it will be posted to my Github if you can’t make it to the workshop but want to order your own copy of the PCB.
It’s time for a Star Wars Holiday Special as we discuss:
Enjoy!
When I first starting buying Atari 2600 consoles for modding purposes back in 2000 (right after my website became famous) I was lucky enough that my first Atari 2600 Junior had the ultra-rare “single chip” variant inside.
Of course this was “portablization catnip” for me so I desoldered it and tried to make a custom PCB. My skills at the time weren’t up to task and I feared the chip dead. Had I know then how rare it was (I’ve never found another since) I probably wouldn’t have tried but can’t change that now.
Flash forward to fall of 2018 and I come across the project in a junk box while moving out of the Ben Heck Show shop. Decided to give it another go and I have help this time – my friend Parker Dillmann has an intact single-chip 2600 Junior so we can cross reference to it.
I documented this near-year-long process in the video below. You can also click here for the full photo gallery with notes.
Parker, Chris Kraft and I discuss all the games we played in 2019, including but not limited to:
It’s a long episode, sit back and enjoy!