'Plain Box' Atari 2600 Portable.

toplot · Post by **toplot** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 6:07 pm

I couldn't stand not being able to play Breakout on my portable 2600 so today I added a Paddle controller and trigger. The new paddle is on the upper right and the trigger is just below the joystick. I put the paddle there because I didn't have any room to put it anywhere else!

Rick

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 6:10 pm

awesome this looks like a cool portable

*o* · Post by ***o*** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 6:11 pm

lol cool monkey

toplot · Post by **toplot** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:52 pm

Ok I admit it. I can't stop hacking on my Plain Box 2600 so here's the latest addition in the images below. Two brand new joystick ports and port one on the top will also work with a pair of paddles.

One advantage of using a box to put your portable in is when you want to add something you just cut out a place for it. It ain't always pretty but it works.

I think I'd better stop adding things now because as you can see from the side view it's starting to bulge in the middle!

It's getting real crowded in there with wires and stuff.

Rick Murray

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:04 pm

haha sweet you sound like me today i added RCA outputs and inputs to my snes cause i couldnt stand just watching it sit there

EvilnessNMyVeins · Post by **EvilnessNMyVeins** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 9:05 pm

Its a good one, take off the joystick and slide it on a book shelf and no one will ever find it.
And just a suggestion I wonder if the front screws would be better without the washers, just a maybe.

usbcd36 · Post by **usbcd36** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 9:12 pm

Nice portable, but if you added paddle compatibility to the Player 1 port, why not add it to the Player 2 port too?

toplot · Post by **toplot** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 9:46 am

Thanks usbcd36 and EvilnessNMyVeins. I used washers because the cardboard isn't that strong but you've given me an idea. I'll bet bright colored washers wouldn't be that hard to come by or make. Also it might not make a good book but its heavy enough (1 1/2 lbs) to make a good book end!

I never thought I could get 4 people to play so I didn't add paddle support on the second joystick port plus I've just got too many wires in there already. If I add any more it may melt!

Hi Turbo Tax 1.0 -- Isn't that the truth! Once you've got the basic portable working the hacker side of our personalities starts to come through and it's really hard to leave it alone.

Rick

Turbo Tax 1.0 · Post by **Turbo Tax 1.0** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 10:24 am

man there arent to many portable ataris around and just seein this makes me wanna try to build one

well sure as hell this is a fantastic portable with a ton of features

i am curious how mow many and what kind of batteries you used

toplot · Post by **toplot** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 12:20 pm

Thanks Turbo Tax!

I use 6 AA batteries for a total of 9 volts which are just regular batteries not rechargables. I don't use rechargeables because most of the time I'm too busy having fun at home to ever go anywhere so I just use batteries when I want to show off and be cool.

I normally use a Radio Shack 800 mA variable adapter set to 6 volts which also runs everything just fine.

Rick

toplot · Post by **toplot** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 10:59 am

Well, I was perfectly happy with my Plain Box Atari Portable untill
I put in the Star Raiders cart and found that the Video Touch Pad
didn't work in joyport 2. So I added the +5 volt connection to port 2
thinking that all it needed was some power. Nope still no go. Then
I added support for paddles 3 and 4 to port 2 and it worked!
For some reason paddle support is required to get the touch pad
to work - go figure. Then I found out that I couldn't get the
computer attack control or the shields to come up so I had to
add the difficulty switches for ports 1 and 2 which control those
functions. Whew!

So now I figured I'm finally done with this thing, yahoo!! That was
until I put in the Starmaster cart which is a Star Raiders clone and
in some respects even better than the original. In order to bring
up the Galactic Chart you have to toggle the TV Type switch (color
/black&white) so I added that.

Now I think I'm done. Yah sure, at least until I put in another game
cart I haven't played.

Rick

nos_slived · Post by **nos_slived** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 11:05 pm

Damn! That's closing the hotness gap between it and *o*.

*o* · Post by ***o*** » Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:16 am

NEVER!!!

JackFrost22 · Post by **JackFrost22** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 12:36 pm

Cool you used cardboard. I made my Atarip out on cardboard too. Mine fell apart in aday though and I used hockey tape to put it back together.

toplot · Post by **toplot** » Mon Aug 01, 2005 1:05 pm

Hi JackFrost22 -- Yep, I used a cardboard box and then covered it all up
with Pantone self-adhesive paper. My wife is an artist and had a good
supply of this paper in different colors. You can get it from art supply or
drafting stores. The adhesive sticks to cardboard pretty good.

Rick

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