Atari XEGS Portable Repair and Rambling
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- Опубліковано 21 лют 2024
- Here's the last project we built on the show! I need to swap the batteries and wax poetic. I kind of want to build more of these so I'm offering this one up for sale. Includes ramblings about Alfred Noble and EV batteries - enjoy!
- Наука та технологія
I still play the hell out of the portable N64. I know it's the bane of your existence but it's still one of the biggest talking points of my game collection..and of course I always give you due credit. Oh also...just wanted to let you know after watching you and owning a book of yours for the past...hmmm...15 years or so? I am now a senior in the electrical engineering program at CSUS, an avid 3D printer, and I work at a retro video game shop doing repairs. You're really a role model of mine.
Awesome! Glad to be an inspiration!
Nice!
It probably wouldn't be a kit, but a design and maybe sell pcb that you can stuff with parts you source yourself (likely from an Atari 800 XL)
Would you be willing to open source the pcb? You could still sell kits, but people could also improve the design, change the layout, etc
Oh yeah it'd be open source I don't give a toss. And I'd sell the PCB at cost. Kits are a PITA, manufacture is worse, I get really triggered by the Commander X16. The process, not the machine. Machine is cool.
It belongs in a museum
We miss you a lot in that type of UA-cam show, Mr. Ben!! I remember me just sit in front of my laptop, at lunch, waiting for the new episode each week!! Take care and have a wonderful life!! Blessings!!
I believe the kids call those batteries "spicy pillows"
Yes! Kits please!
I saw this and it looked so professionally made that I thought it was a forgotten Atari device. That's amazing
The FINAL project returns
Bill Herd, the principle designer of the Commodore 128, and likely one of the world's greatest experts on the Commodore 64 as a result, described the Commodore 64 in this manner: "The Commodore 64 doesn't actually work. It looks like it does, but it doesn't really work.)
There is no better way to start weekend than watching a new video from Ben who hacks.
I think the coolest part of this whole thing is if you look at retro calculators and handheld games from the period this would be from, the bodge wires and everything handmade, it looks just like something that would have been built back then, minus the more modern screen. Nice crafting as always Ben.
Ben, We have been so lonely without you videos. Please upload more we miss you and your videos.
I miss the Ben Heck show. Good times!
The XEGS has a lot of nostalgia for me. I would buy the heck out of a portable XEGS kit (no pun intended). Especially if any of it could be made simpler with CPLDs / GALs (or even if not). This is one of my favorite projects from your channel!
You can actually do quite a lot with emulation on the rp2040, could seriously reduce the cost, complexity, battery consumption of vintage kits, as well as bypass the need to gut other vintage machines for unobtainium parts.
That said, I quite get the desire to use original parts too.
I miss the homebrew stuff from the show, so this was a wonderful blast from the past ❤
Thems some batteries that live up to their name of _"Spicy Pillows"_ (Wade of DankPods)
I suggest using the metal cased ones, as they are more resilient (obviously). Albeit... a little more expensive (also obviously).
*_edit:_*_ hah as I scroll the comments, I'm glad to see others also calling them _"spicy pillows"_ lol_
Granted, the case is one of the polarities, so you'd have to kapton tape them, but all being a worthy tradeoff in my opinion for being less prone to bulging. They CAN, as the cheap replacement battery pack of my mom's old Toshiba tablet, they pillowed up... Whereas the original cells Toshiba sourced never did pillow, as they were understandably a higher quality cell! _(I repurposed the not-bad cells; still using them, too, 10yrs later)_
Given the equipment and the know-how you've got at your disposal now, I'd love to see you put an updated version of this beastie together (with mini 3D printed keycaps)!
My know how (on this topic) hasn't changed much the main boon would be making real circuit boards.
I remember the original video about this--always liked that you gave it XL series case styling, with the chonky beveled case.
His enthusiasm when he plays the game makes me smile.
Thanks for raising my mood with this video, Ben 👍♥️✌️
Thanks for the video, Ben! I have learned so much from your content over the years and always enjoy your general commentary on other things as well. Hope you have an awesome weekend.
damn that thing is amazing you dont know how much I want one of those, grew up with early atari computers.
Absolutely awesome!
The Seven Dark Hearts of the Samurai…I’d watch it.
I accidentally muscle memory'd Killer Instinct with like a 36 move combo. My friend stopped playing
Would absolutely love one of these!
18:20 I flew once with two glass tilt switches in my carry on, I actually knew about what mercury can do to aluminum, and I'm just shocked they allowed it on board with me. I had them double-bagged in a taped up plastic container.
Long story short, I'm an orphan now.
Yes, YES!!! Portable Atari 8 bit kits! I'm in for one...or more :)
That is so cool, ive never seen this before.
Thank you for showing some Atari 8-bit love!! My favorite computer. Actually pretty powerful & well engineered.
Upgrades would be Stereo Dual POKEYS & 1 megabyte of RAM, SpartaDOS X, and VBXE.
I bought Mastertronic's NINJA and after making a backup copy, I sector edited the Room Text to Romanized Japanese descriptions. 😊
Oh, that is so cool!
Perspective is an interesting thing:
It seems Ben was so busy when building this portable that he has little love for it. On the other hand this was one of my favourite builds.
I'd absolutely love to buy it, but I expect it's worth a good deal more than I can afford... or should I admit my other half would be happy about?
My congratulations to the lucky soul who does buy it. Yes, it would be great if you did an updated version.
I think it's one of the best things I ever built. But it could be done better.
Hey man, Mrs. Winchester provided a home for a lot of needy ghosts.
Ben is the first person I've seen actually age millineals appropriately lol. Most ascertain we weren't even born until 93.
Fun fact- Michael Criton used to write for Creative Computing magazine
I’d totally be interested in buying one of your handheld projects! You’ve been such an inspiration for me! I sadly don’t have anywhere near enough to pay what this is worth. :(
For Jerrasic Park, I was informed most dinosaurs have a tertiary nervous system. This allows them to continue moving at full speed even after their head is completed removed. They had one counter, the LAW system makes sure they can't move by simply disassembling the dinosaur.
It would be super cool if you made a kit and had a video of you assembling one of them, but it would be even better if you perfected this design! Made it even more portable! Easier to swap batteries, and using a different type of SD card + loader.
The Atari 800 was a pretty nifty little system!
Hey Ben, ive watched your show since like day 1. you inspired a generation bro!!! would luv to see some more pinball builds. or a new PS5 rugged laptop build.
Faster and stronger :)
novel by Michael Crichton "The Andromeda Strain" was his, 1969 , his first under his own name
Let's goooooo!!!
Ayy there he is!
I booked up rooms for MRRF this year and I was able to get into the Holiday Inn Express for less than last year. Good luck finding rooms ...
I'm kinda leaning towards skipping it this year.
Nobel's family did not get blown up. His brother was killed from the explosive while working in one of the Nobel factories (his father's I think) but not his whole family, his mother and father died naturally. Equally, Nobel actually found soaking Nitroglycerin into diatomaceous earth, not clay, as a method of desensitising it. Nobel was also better known for designing safety fuse and time delayed detonators/blasting caps for the mining industry. Equally, the trope that he set up the peace prizes through some sort of guilt from his creation is also questionable as little evidence exists that suggested he felt that way.
There is some pressure point (something underneeth is poking on it) at the back of the display when you use the controls. I love to see some kits of such devices. There was another handheld, the Atari 2600 (junior), that was an amazing design!
I noticed the same thing, the screen had a spot that kept poking out. I would own one for sure I have fond memories of my 800xl.
Fun story about the name "Nobel".. my uncle was approached by a fellow student back in the sixties (because he trusted my uncles opinion) that was supposed to make a speech around Alfred Nobel and asked about how to pronounce the name.. "is it 'Noble' or 'No-bell' ?!" and since my uncle was in that mood he said dead panned 'it is Noble'. So when the guy was starting his speech with "I will make a speech about Alfred Noooble" the teacher just yelled "WHAT!? You dont even know how to pronounce his name properly?! Get out!" and threw him out of the classroom. But! I also got to hear that later on in another incident a couple of years later my uncle was punced so hard right in the face by this student that just water came out of his nose. :)
One thing I hated about the last few Ben Heck Shows and then with the Element 14 content was the useless time constraints and resulting bad compromises. I much rather watch 2 episodes of one project than one episodes with a way worse result because the self set time limit was in the way.. That is a problem with a lot of the "maker content" especially when it comes from the US and it gets worse the more "professional" the content is. That is also why I really like the content on this channel now- the competitive TV-show shenanigans are missing.
Yeah at that time 20 minutes was the sweet spot for YT videos. And any time you do a multiple part project the views decline per episode. That's why now when I make videos they're as long as I want.
Hmm ,I hadn't thought of the Adafruit power boost, my pocket C64 has power issues, it resets if the volume is turned up too high, other wise it works fine,
and yes, you inspired it with this build, lol.though I took a while to build it.
I was thinking of how that keyboard used for this project would be cool to use it for the upcoming The400 Mini to put underneath that non working keyboard cover.
No it wouldn't be useful to do any typing on Atariwriter but it's more useful for pressing buttons for games like Star Raiders w/o have to drag out a big external keyboard.
Just a silly thought..
Why the 400? Also minis with fake keyboards are dumb.
Congo River, yo
When Alfred Nobels brother died, a french newspaper ran the headline "The merchant of death is dead!" mistaking the brothers, and this made Alfred scared for his legacy. He wasn't so much so sad for what is invention had done, more his reputation. This lead up to the Nobel Prize'.
Wait what? I thought I had seen all the Ben Hack show episodes, but I haven't seen this one! I need to watch that.
I didn't have an 800 back in the 80s, I was a C64 kid. My friend had an 800 XL and we always sorta ridiculed it. But.... when you are older you can admit that it's actually a great system. The palette is better than the C64, sound is not bad at all and I spend some time watching demos and it's a capable machine. And since it has the same CPU as the C64 it was very easy for me to program assembly on it too and really love the pretty high level API like Player Missile sprites.
Oh and Ben, I am up to ordering a kit!
I cant find it 😢
@@imperator4973 neither can I, that would explain why I also didn't see it
ua-cam.com/video/Uiw8LISBVj4/v-deo.html
I wouldn't mind a kit, I was planning on using one of my two Atari 8-bit systems to build an 1088XEL, I wasn't planning on taking apart my XEGS though, but maybe I could buy a kit that had the leftover parts.
Darkness of the 7 samurai hearts could be more interesting IMO having each have to overcome their own problems before they can successfully help the village.
At the start of the first Jurassic Park movie he did shout shoot her. Sucks that Muldoon's crew were not willing to follow orders. nope their friend getting the gate wasn't worth saving.
There's a lot of gun weirdness in JP1 like when you hear Grant fire off a bunch of shotgun rounds as fast as a pistol and then the bullet holes in the glass look like 9mm
@@BenHeckHacks that was two shotgun shells into the ballistic sounder. its what they loaded up and stood on before turning on the tv screen to see the ground penetrating sonar image of the Velosoraptor.
@@SpokavrielNo I mean near the end the scene with the Unix system. When Grant and Salder are holding the door closed.
@@BenHeckHacksoh yeah Hammond really didnt like that. "After careful consideration we have decided not to endorse your park." "So have I"
Remember when there was a Ben Heck Show. With great content every week, a Pinball machine rivalry and even a portable Xbox?
Pepperidge Farm Remembers.
Not one, but TWO spicy pillows!!!
yes kit please
Hi Ben, what are the chances of making something like this portable Atari using one of the various Commodore 64/SX64 motherboards?
Yeah, those pillows look pretty spicy.
If you want to part with it, I could be interested !!
You got some spicy pillows.
Hi Ben, I really like the idea of a kit or even a parts list along with a Heck designed PCB and 3D print files. It would be cool to have a few episodes of you designing all the different parts and then a build video. Happy to buy the custom PCB from you or to pay you some how. Maybe one of the parts stores can have a Ben Heck project page where we can buy all the parts and you get a cut?
14 when watched Jurrasic Park. Thankfully saw movie first, not sure how as had read some of his other stuff before.
Liked the movie, but if I had read the book I would have hated it due to the changes.
Edit: I don't know, a cool house vs Nobel Prize? It's a close call, especially nowadays. ; p
Damnit Ben.. I want one. I dont care what Mr Atari says. Hes always chasing me off the sidewalk with a shovel!!!
It would be funny to add a Parallel Bus connector to a future version of it and then connect it to the modern re-creation of the unreleased 1090XL Expansion Chassis. One of the modern 1090 PCBs - with expansion cards - was shown at VCF SoCal just a few days ago. Also, props on playing Mastertronic’s Ninja [aka “Ninja Mission” on the Atari ST and the Amiga]. I wonder if the 8-Bit version allows you to cut off body parts when the computer physically gets hot like the ST version did.
Another story from Uncle Ben.
That thing is so cool and it runs excellently, but I'm sure it's going to go for more than I can afford at the moment, which is probably less than the postage to the UK....😅
maybe redo such 8bit "all in one" pocket computer using a cheap Tang-FPGA board at its heart ?
it would then be able to become a C64/PET/VIC20/TRS80/MSX/800XL/CPC664/ORIC/Spectrum/AppleII just by software changing of its FPGA core (or put a more expensive DE10-Nano board inside that already has all the necessary cores available under Mister-FPGA and more up to the PSX,N64,Saturn consoles)
You should watch the old movie "The Naked Jungle". Similar to what you describe only not... and it has ants...
I miss Felix. He was the kewlest.
If I can ever get him to make a follow up video I will. He roams around a lot. The rest of us still all live east side of Madison.
That's why the best way to do batteries is as a monolithic unit. Less need for control circuits.
Yup and that's why EV batteries cost a fortune. VS a metal tank that holds a liquid. Suck it hippies.
@@BenHeckHacks Indeed, though I still wish ZPM's were real.
Akfred Nobel was shocked when a false report of his death led to the publication of the obituary headlines "The Merchant of Death is Dead." The Winchester rifle was actually invented by an engineer named Henry, the Winchester was a few relatively minor improvements on the Henry Rifle.
I'm sure this original would be out of my price range but I'd be interested in a kit.
Excellent!!!!!! How can I purchase this?
Deffo should reprint that casing(!)
8:06 spicy boys
10:56 lol this is intense, jab it, jab it
interesting I thought the body was some weird custom plastic but it's 3D printed with some coating on it
Yup many coats of Krylon to give it a bumpy texture. It was still curing weeks after we filmed the episode. You could smell it.
Hey Ben can I run basic on a raspberry PI ?
Looks like your PCB is putting pressure on the middle of the LCD when you press the D-Pad. Would love a schematic of this so I can make one. 😎
23:51 LOL, I thought you were tea-bagging him.
Hope you make it to MRRF this year. I know it's blasphemy but the show would do a lot better in attendance if at a different midwest location.
quite epic try to recreate XL look; internals are also cool )); memories;
it prototype look, but clean look of potential to see it a fully finished porotuct 🙂
The batteries are supposed to do that. It protects the PCB from drops.
While I would love to own a Ben Heck original, I couldn't justify the expense right now. However if you do sell PCB (and STLs for the case?) I'd definitely buy it to build my own.
Pokey was just double the channels of the 2600? Someone has totally missed the Polish music scene of the Atari 8bit and the ASMA project lol!
did you left by yourself the show?
I cant find that episode 😢
ua-cam.com/video/Uiw8LISBVj4/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/eV1lacUcZk8/v-deo.html
Ah... Good Old THBS
Holy moly, who cuts onions , i got all teary here😥
I'd be suspicious why those original batteries ballooned up. It was seldom used. What could have caused it? Were the batteries defective or are those Adafruit boards not charging up the batteries correctly?
Yeah LiPo's do not like being uncharged, and so after six years they get puffy
@@SkylerLinuxI did not know that. Thanks. And yeah, better it goes to a home that would use it. I very rarely if ever retro game. For me the build is the fun.
Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown
if you ever consider building more of these you might consider an upgrade in the form of fujinet device
Ben I may give you couple of lessons on making PCDs if you wont get mad at me :)
The spicy pillows
2:07 classic game room reference?
Ben's on a mission to reference EVERYTHING!
I've never been first to view a video, fun.
here in Canada, to send anything with lithium batteries to the USA, we have to use a service that is called Expedited, which basically the package travels by land. nonetheless, if you do end up selling that thing, you could always take the batteries out, I'm pretty sure 98% of your followers own a soldering iron and have basic electronic skills
Weird seeing analog video coming from something like that nowadays.
I just googled how old I was when Jurassic Park came out. I was exactly 10….
Ben, have you considered making a portable Atari 5200?
No but I have wanted to make an updated analog controller with an LCD to replace the keypad inserts.
10:32 If you're going to do kits, kits of overly expensive retro computers and consoles is the way to go.
I've said this multiple times, right back to the Ben Heck show when you were trying to make a product with the hot glue gun or kit pinball machine, I would really *like* to buy an electronics kit / project from you. Genuinely I would like to send you a sum of money for an electronics *thing* that I then assemble based on a video.
In this case however, a project that involves taking chips from a fairly hard to find *thing* is probably a non-starter for me.
What about an enbiggened version of your Game Badge? I'm thinking a kit that I can buy from you with off the shelf non-unobtanium parts, solder myself and have a Ben Heck branded *thing*. Then we can 3D print out own cases here.
It is a fair chunk of work but my gut tells me you would be able to shift a couple of hundred kits.
I am making a bigger version of the Gamebadge in the future with an ILI screen and 8 bit DMA. Hopefully for MGC 2025 if I can carve out enough time.
@@BenHeckHacks oh cool!