Behind the Vagabond



    Taking a bite out of Ataris.

What you see up there is the board for my next Atari (as of 10-12-00), which I have already named "Vagabond". Luckily I can pick any name I want since I don't have to guess if it'll be a boy or a girl. "It's An Atari!" As for the Vagabond thing, I don't know what Rod Stewart and his Vagabond heart will think of all this, but, oh, well. 

Design philosophy on the Vagabond - smaller, better, cooler.

 There were some things about the 2600 VCSp that I thought could have been better. The biggest (irony!) thing was the size. The Atari 2600 VCSp is small, sure, but not "throw in your pocket" small. I have a small camcorder case that I bought to carry the VCSp in, but I'd prefer to have it on me at ALL times. Since I live in Wisconsin, it's convenient to carry useful items in your jacket such as booze, jumper cables and Popsicle sticks. I used to carry around my Neo Geo Pocket until I realized it might be worth money someday. (since they have been discontinued).

The main circuit board used for Vagabond is none other than an Atari 2600 Junior. The truth is out.

I have had several emails suggesting I use of those models. So I picked a few up. The first one was a one-chip model. They consolidated all 3 chips into 1.  I thought, "Great, this will be easy to micro-nize!" I experimented with that board for a while. Getting video off it is very different than the other model Ataris, and I still haven't figured it out (as of 10-12-00). It kinda comes through, but not really. My original intention was to de-solder the chip and insert it onto a completely custom designed by me circuit board that would fit snugly. I tested all the circuits and pin outs of the chip, and got them all figured out except for video. However, by that time I had managed to fry the Atari. Since the one-chip models are hard to find, work on that idea came to a halt. HOWEVER! I do have my custom circuit board 90% designed, and if I ever get my hands on another 1-chip Atari 2600 Junior board, I can figure the rest out.

What does this mean to you? Well, if I can just transplant one chip into a board to make a portable Atari, that would eliminate all the hacking, re-wiring and testing. Also, people trying to build a portable Atari could just take my circuit board designs, etch a board of their own, drill some holes, and plop the chip in, and have a super small working Atari.

BUT! This won't happen until I find another 1-chip Atari 2600 Junior to finish my experiments. (I feel like Dr. Frankenstein). So, if anyone has any for sale or trade, please let me know! It'll help us all! Thanks!

The Vagabond will use a 3-chip Atari 2600 Junior board, (most of it) shown below:

As you can see in this picture, I have already removed the RF modulator portion of the circuit board. (lower right) It's a little trickier than sawing that same side off of a 4-switch Atari, since there are more resistors and an IC on that part of the board in the 2600 Junior model.

Take a look at this. These are the resistors that are near the chips on the 2600 Junior. As you can see, I have attached some of the necessary resistors that were 'orphaned' when I sawed off the RF modulator. They look askew and asunder, but they are attached in such a way to complete the circuits and keep the thing running. And none of them are higher up than the chips, so the total height of the board is quite thin (1/4 inch) whereas the original VCSp's board was closer to 3/4 inch. The 6502 processor chip on the 2600 Junior was socketed. I desoldered the socket and resoldered the 6502 chip directly to the board and saved about 1/8 of an inch by doing that. I have also discovered that the 'big black potentiometer' that I use for the video feed can be replaced by a 22-ohm resistor, so that saved space as well...