Atari releasing Flashback 2 Portable

usinoh · Post by **usinoh** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 12:56 pm

Curt Vendel has posted the the following on the atariage forums over the last several months, Curt Vendel was one of the creators of the Atari Flaskback and The Atari Flaskback 2

FB2 Portable

Still spec'ing this out, but the general spec's (again - this is initial spec's, do NOT hold me to these)

2.5" TFT
USB connection (Mount of a storage drive - so PC, MAC, Linux could all access)
looking into power via batteries & include external AC socket - not going LiON or the like - too expensive.
Around $39.99 price range
1 player joypad & fire button
micro 20 pin connector for hackers to create their own FB2 portable to Atari joysticks/paddles/trackball dongle's - information on connector spec & part# would be provided so that dongles can be made - this will also allow 2 player capabilites and allow the system to be mod'd more easily.

Looking into bringing the cart pins up to an an edge connector so that micro-formfactor type cards could be done by the h/w hacking community, though it really may not be needed since games will be easily d/l'd into the onboard storage and menu selected.

Going this route vs. just making another FB2 with the added USB connector seems to be the better route since it would give players the ability to have a 2600 on the go and now the USB connectivity, just plug it in, load it up with your favorite games and take it with you.

FB2 Portable handheld with 2.5" TFT and a USB connection to a PC to d/l games into it.

The idea is to make it a standard USB HID so it would be recognized on Win/OSX/Linux systems.

There will be a connector on the side to allow (with the use of a dongle) to hook player 1 and 2 controllers to the unit, so paddles, trackballs and keypads would be able to be hooked up to it.

2 player capability is a nice wishlist idea, perhaps some talented programmers could use the player 2 ports from each Fb2 Portable to send signals back and forth to allow some basic connectivity.

we're hanging a USB mass storage device and connecting it into the cartridge lines, so the lines will be there, whether there will be enough space to include the contact points, we'll have to see.

Right now the only planned expansion will be the ability to use 2600 controllers on the unit for Player 1 and 2 through a micro-connector on the unit. We'll release the spec's and part# for a connector for hardware hackers can build and possibly sell plug in dongles to use external controllers. Games will all come through the USB interface, so really a cartridge slot is moot. Plus with TV Out, essentially for anyone who wants to mount the electronics into a different case, the system could essentially be turned into a console if someone wanted, though why anyone would want to change a portable into a console... well....

It'll be a chipset put onto the main PCB, we're hoping to work with some off the shelf devices, but if they don't work as planned I've been working the engineers on a custom design that would be brought to an ASIC and implemented. We'll know which way we're headed in about 2 weeks or so.

Bottom line is to give the end user a transparent way of bringing their games onto the device so that adding/removing games is as easy as adding/removing files from a disk.

Last thing obviously is cost, and with a target price of $39.99 believe it or not a lot has to be taken into consideration, even 1 additional dollar in cost can end up pushing the street price to $44.99 and I'd like to keep the retail price under $40

atari2600a · Post by **atari2600a** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 1:02 pm

I've actually PM'd Curt a few times on the vintage-computer forums, not about this though. Hope it's as good as it sounds!

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Wed Mar 28, 2007 2:31 pm

I am buying this!

Edutainment · Post by **Edutainment** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 9:07 am

Does this mean no one's going to make any more VCSp's?

Awesome though, I WANT!

jeroen · Post by **jeroen** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 10:17 am

There better be a pal version this time!!!!!!!

lifeisbetterwithketchup · Post by **lifeisbetterwithketchup** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 10:20 am

Under $40!!!

I'll take a few.

atari2600a · Post by **atari2600a** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 12:58 pm

What difference does it make? You can just download the NTSC versions...

dudex77 · Post by **dudex77** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 1:42 pm

holy crap that is awesome im sure the homebrew scene for the atari will explode with games if this actually gets made

jedi knight · Post by **jedi knight** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 5:00 pm

Can't wait for that to be released! And speaking of atari homebrew, does anyone know what happened to the Homestar Runner RPG?

Dragnerok X · Post by **Dragnerok X** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 5:10 pm

Just to let you all know. More info @...

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.ph ... opic=96356

Jongamer · Post by **Jongamer** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 5:49 pm

Edutainment wrote:Does this mean no one's going to make any more VCSp's?

Awesome though, I WANT!

lol bye bye to Ben's $300 dollar Atari VCSp, hello $40 portable.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Sat Mar 31, 2007 7:09 pm

I think it just might change from hand-built VCSp to modded pre-built VCSp. I'm sure that Ben will want to do things like LEDs, bigger screen, or if the paddle sucks mod that.

Tromoly4130 · Post by **Tromoly4130** » Fri May 18, 2007 10:55 am

This is really really cool.

However, I will still *attempt to* finish my VCSp just for the satisfaction of taking a console and turning it into a portable. There's just something really cool about playing the VCS on original hardware with original cartridges while on the go.

I still may get one of these to experiment with, but I'm not giving up my future-VCSp for it.

Just my $0.02.

Thegamer3000 · Post by **Thegamer3000** » Thu May 31, 2007 1:49 pm

Oh man! I think i'm going to get rid of my atari project!

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Sun Jun 03, 2007 6:21 pm

will it be backlit?