A few weeks ago I was in Burbak for the Jace Hall show and the episode is now complete. It was a fun interview, very goofy and off-the-wall, which was nice for a change!
Click here to watch the full episode – enjoy!
Tag Archives: benheck
Download original design files from my book
I have uploaded the original Adobe Illustrator design files used to create the projects in my books. Take a look at them by clicking here, they are on the main section of the book page.
You can use these to modify the designs, improve them (hey it was going on 5 years ago) or just to see how my layout evolves for a project. Enjoy…
Benheck.com Podcast Episode 58
Only 6 weeks late, unlike Port Washington!
In this latest late podcast we discuss the “race to the bottom” in entertainment, specifically how TV is turning into a reality dumping ground, movies are dumbed down to death, and the Wii is full of crappy shovelware.
Listen to Benheck.com Podcast Episode 58
2 more Xbox 360 laptops for the having
I have (2) Jasper Xbox 360’s laying around so I figured why not build some more laptops?
Shown above is my new design. It is pretty similar to the Darksiders laptop but has a few changes:
- Grill area will be different (but probably not what’s shown above)
- No camera (what’s the point)
- Volume slider will be integrated into design and not an obvious afterthought like the Darksiders model 🙂
- (2) USB slots (since the camera frees one up)
- Ethernet port + built-in Wifi.
- Possibly smaller power supply (working on that)
If you are interested in this new design please let me know. The planned completion of the 2 new units would be late June, and the cost would be the usual $5000 US. Please no “trade-in” offers, deals, credits, etc, it’s that cost flat. (Unless you have a green 1999 Ford Escort station wagon 5 speed for trade)
In other news I will probably start taking custom work and orders again in May, so stay tuned. Some site enhancements are in the works as well.
9 year anniversary of the original VCSp
Hard to believe it’s been so long… 9 years ago this month I completed my first portable gaming project, the Atari 2600 VCSp.
It was an age before decent digital cameras…
You can read the original story by clicking here. I found some photos of the unit that I don’t believe have been on the site before, you can check them out below.
In other news, I plan to do some site changes to include an easy-to-browse gallery of all my work, more downloadable data and other things. Stay tuned!
Just in time for the Hannah Montana movie…
Live from the Midwest Gaming Classic!
I’ll be here all week – try the veal!
Commodore 64 Original Hardware Laptop
Click photo to super-size it
This project somehow has the distinction of being both the longest and fastest portable electronics project I have ever done. I originally started making a C64 laptop in the fall of 2006, and kept pecking away at it every so often. Finally, a few weeks ago, I said “screw it” and started over.
I redid everything in a week and a half – the shortest project ever. (The previous record hold was the Wii portable at 2 weeks) The goal this time was to make something that looked exactly like a computer from the early 80’s, yet in a new form. Including the color beige and texture.
Luckily the blue in the logo matches the blue SD card. Not to sound like a TLC host or anything, but that sort of stuff is important in design.
Anyway, about the project itself. This is a fully functional Commodore 64 laptop using actual hardware, specifically the C64C motherboard which was one of the last and smallest revisions. It uses a Gamecube power supply in place of the original power brick.
For storage there’s a device called the 1541-III DTV to “emulate” a floppy drive using an SD card. (Click here for more info) The SD card is formatted FAT-32 so you can dump disk images on it using a PC, and read it with the C64 – pretty cool!
For more information, the making-of, pictures and video read the rest of the story below.
I am taking a break for a while because I am pretty tired and burned out from all the portable making this winter and spring. If you are interested in projects, hit me up in a month or so.