Ben, I just wanted to drop you a line and tell you how important this device was in my life too. In 1999, I was a sophomore in high school, and loved retro gaming before it was called that. I stumbled on your page back then, and you were still figuring things out. I went out and located a used Atari from the classifieds and started building along with you. I spent my first McDonald's paycheck on an active matrix portable TV and promptly tore it apart which my parents flipped about. It took 2 years of trial and error, but my 2600 portable became my Senior physics project. Fast forward to now,, I'm a successful IT architect, have a family and a great job . If it weren't for this device, and for you, my life path would have been significantly different.
I watched The Ben Heck Show for years and loved it, and now I'm discovering how rambly of a person you are in real life when you're not being editted down into a 20 minute production. I love it, keep up the more personal videos.
Yep... I'm feeling old, 2000 feels like a couple of years ago (PS2 Release Date was 2000) and we're just months till 2020... so when showed thia Atari Video to my 18 year old nephew it's like showing him a treasures from a distance past LOL... PS at least at my age I can Solder a PS2 Mod chip...😉
Games haven’t improved as drastically from 2000 to 2019, compared 1981-2000. Some Dreamcast games are still palatable today, like Crazy Taxi, Street Fighter 3, Dead or Alive 2, Jet Set Radio, Dayton 2000, Sega Rally 2. I remember in 2000, I can’t think of many games from 80s to really impress. Maybe some of the super scaler games from Sega in the Arcades. But early 80s console games were trash. Tetris and Super Mario Bros. being the only exceptions I can think of.
"This has been responsible for so many good things in my life that have happened and it looks like a piece of crap." There is something profound about that statement.
It took me several years of mostly successful builds and repairs before I realized how important it is to have your soldering iron at an appropriate temperature before using it.
HighlandSteam I've been seeing a few videos from this channel in my recommended list and always dismissed as "Meh, it's ben heck", finally clicked on one and very surprised it's nothing like the absolute garbage the show was
Hi Ben, glad to see you doing your thing and as I am probably will be one of the first to comment you might actually see it. Your videos got me interested in Electronics and be more comfortable messing with it for the fun of it.
This was a really good video Ben. I've been following you since you started publishing these Atari builds online. I'm glad you revisited this unit, because I remember first reading about it. On Wisconsin!
This was great! I originally discovered you in an article in the Official UK PS1 magazine about 2003/2004 where they featured your PS1 portable. This inspired me pull apart my PS1 slim as an eight-year-old since my sister tripped over and smashed it anyway. Obviously, I never made my own mini but I've mostly been following you ever since. Keep up the good work!
I found your website back when you had just this portable. Crazy to think it's been that long. Also, it's really inspiring to see you repair things, especially something as important to the retro gaming community as this. Keep these old consoles running!
It was great to see you at MGC Friday night and to talk about MRRF that I had to miss this year. It's awesome to re-visit something that you made years ago. I recently opened again a digital thermometer that I built when I was in grammar school (gulp) almost 50 years ago. It brought back memories. I hand wired the 74XX TTL and display sockets with solid telephone wire. I still remember my Uncle driving me to Newark Electronics on Pulaski in Chicago to pick up the thermistor that I needed at will call.
I remember reading about your VCS-P when I first found your website in the early 2000s when I was in high school. I thought it was so awesome. Nice to see you revisit it again.
This is so cool, Ben. I was a child when I first followed your website, you had those cool build logs that were full of personality. I would read your site, you were doing things like the PlayStation portable (with the deadly exposed spinning disk) and dream about being an electrical engineer myself someday. Here we are, nearly 20 years later and it's come to fruition. Thank you for your inspiration, your openness, and your light-hearted way of teaching. You're the man!
I remember stumbling across this back when you did it, and I was blown away something like this was even possible. And it certainly has inspired me and many people over the years to try this sort of thing out. You should see my first attempt at a mini arcade unit, I'm amazed it didn't catch on fire! =)
I remember when you sat down next to me at CGE 2001 (I was sitting all alone with my two Lynxes out, hoping someone would come play) and whipped out your VCSp. Fun to see it again, basically half a lifetime later!
I loved every minute of this video. It was either a Popular Science or an Electronic Gaming Monthly article that tipped me off to your book about hacking video game consoles, which then led me to joining the BenHeck Forums way back in ‘04 or ‘05. You taught me how to solder and hack electronics, Ben! So glad to finally see the innards of your first big project that inspired so many others throughout the years. I love this format for your videos. Keep it up!
This was great to watch, seeing your newer projects vs this is pretty funny. You've improved greatly in such a short time. Indeed inspiring. I learn a great deal just watching these. Already became better at identifying components.
Ben, I used to make really complex potato guns back then, it's amazing how far "maker" technology has come. I remember etching circuit boards, picking over radio shack for parts. Now we have rapid prototyping circuit boards, 3d print, laser cutters, acrylic cutters, etc. It's a damn good time to be a maker. I'll be honest, I still do soldering and repair type stuff but I need to get some projects going again. I'm currently in the planning phase of consolizing an mvs, so that should scratch the itch. Keep up the good work, here's to another 20 years or "making."
Your journey is so similar to mine. I took my toys apart in the 8os and made them into other things like radio controlled firecracker lighter offers using nicrome wire and those cheap rc cars that only had one button on them. I used to yank the parts Out of my radio shack 150 in one kits to make my own “inventions”. I then got my first computer a Trs-80 coco, then an 800xl. I traded my minibike that I made out of a Briggs and Stratton edger motor for a pinball machine and I used to stash my cash in it. I learned a lot about electro mechanical with that pinball machine and eventually used flipper solonoids to pop my shaved door handles open on my 67 bug in the 80s :) I used to do flash animation and graphic design. I was one of the first developers of photoshop plugins in the 90s. I bought a makerbot kit in 2007 and started my 3D printing journey. Today I have laser cutters and 3D printers and make prototypes as a freelancer. Designing software, hardware, and enclosures for them. I’ve got one fun thing I made back in 2013 online. It’s a 70s rotary phone converted into a cell phone. The “ui” for it is texting to it. You can program names and numbers into it and dial by name using the letters running around the dial (or dial normally using the actual phone numbers) I have a page about the build at www.retrocell.net - anyway, glad you are back on your own doing your own thing. Talk to ya later fellow old skool maker!
When I was in 7th grade I shoveled snow, raked leaves and cut lawns for a year to buy the Casio TV-470 back in 1990s. I think it was around $150 back then. I hooked up so many different things to it. Also by not plugging the cable all the way in on the living room TV, I found out I could broadcast cable channels 2-14 to my room and watch nickelodeon and discovery channel (used to love watching Beyond 2000) :) I did so many stupid experiments with my electronics back then. I also "built" 3 way floor standing speakers out of cardboard and speakers I found in the garbage. Now I work at PCB building facility and make boards for companies like Vitamix and what not.
so cool to hear that "conversation" with yourself separated by all those years... it IS helpful to see what you did then vs what you can do now and think *maybe* there's hope for a very late starter like me
I semi-recently took apart a headphone amp I built when I was a teen and while it still miraculously works it is an absolute train wreck in there. Thank god we can learn from our shortcomings and mistakes.
You got a sub my friend. You remind me of when I first started, except you were a little more ambitious than I was at first. I am not as far as you in your journey into electronics, but its nice to see how someone else use to work what they have progressed into such as yourself. Keep em coming man, really enjoyed your content!
I encountered Ben Heck in all his glory when i ran across this handheld when I randomly found his website back in early 2005 and I was in awe of his work. Life changer :D
I remember this unit and I may have seen it in person at a Gaming Convention in King of Prussia, PA around 17 years ago. They were the days. The best shows ever and great job on that first Atari 2600 handheld.
Nice to see ya Ben. Been watching since The Revision days. Happy to see your still hacking.. You should do something cool with the Nintendo switch! And the playstation vita
I use to read the articals you use to publish online about these at school. Always use to amaze me & I wanted to do it as well. Your Commodore 64 Laptop comes to mind. That was pretty rad.
It's good to see the old Ben back.. I missed watching your old content and what a way to relive the past and restore your original Atari portable.. the only thing that's missing now is the corny intro the very first one I miss it. Smaller, better, portable..lol Back when revision3 was a thing.
I remember seeing a picture of this in a FRENCH magazine dedicated to handheld systems, back in 2000. I never knew back then who made it, or that I would later watch videos made by the same guy, without knowing he was THE guy that made the portable 2600 I had read about so long ago. Small world!
I remember that thing and a lot of the others you built from the benheck forums. That cannot have been nearly 20 years ago! I sometimes wonder if any of the kids that were on that forum went on to do anything - many of them were very clever and smart. I still have one of those Atari portables that I made following your instructions that is housed in a horrible tupperware-ish container. I remember that finding a suitable project box was one of the most difficult parts of those projects. I also have 2 of those little Casio TVs, one of them disassembled, in my large box(es) of unfinished projects that have not been opened in forever. I also have an official Ben Heck PlayStation portable kit (beta) along with instructions and nearly all the parts needed to build it. One day I will do so - maybe this was the inspiration I needed to get on it :)
I think this appearing on Slashdot (or maybe Hackaday if it existed back then) is what got me into this kind of thing. It started the (fortunately brief) era of people hollowing out old game consoles and shoving mini-ITX boards inside them. Hackaday was full of NES cases turned into PCs, which looked great until you opened the cart flap and all the wire poked out :) No 3D printers, no PCBWay and co, even buying junk off eBay was different.
man dont feel bad about how you did the atari you should see some of the haphazard builds ive done man you got me into this electronics thing thank you so much ben keep on ive learned so much along the way from watching your cheesy show
I'm impressed what you managed to do back then with a lot less knowledge, and fewer tools. Granted, from my perspective, having a CNC machine available is an extreme luxury, but still, the end result is impressive even now. I honestly wouldn't know where to start with trying to make cases for anything at all nowadays. At best, a hacksaw and some sheeting of some kind, but really the only easily available material is various types of wood. - even getting acrylic or metal sheeting is quite an ordeal... So yeah, without the tools this kind of project is pretty difficult. And that's to say nothing about dealing with reproducing various kinds of connector, if required...
I was moving some of my old junk and found my copy of ur portableizing consoles book and thought "this is definitely not junk" watching this in 2024🤙 man awsome memories wowee🤓
Oh man, I remember reading the original post on this project at the time. I think it was on classic-gaming.com? It was so inspiring and fun to read. I recall a gag comparison to the newly released GBA flaunting the VCSp's backlight with imagery of both in a cave. It's so rad to see it again!
12:30 - For those who have read "Neuromancer" by William Gibson, but were born after TVs no longer displayed dead channels, THIS is what he described in the first line of the book.
You should buy that tv on eBay, find another Atari, and make the same console with the same components, but with the knowledge you have now. Of course, 3D print and change the case to either be slimmer, or see what kind of stuff you can put inside with the original outer dimensions. Maybe this time you can put the volume and brightness control in the correct places.
Man, this brought back some memories! I spent so many hours on the old forums, back in the early to mid 2000s when Bondo Frankenstein case mods were king and the best options for monitors were pocket TVs and the PSone screen (with LED backlight mod, of course). Port Washington, bickering over how the hell anyone will ever make a Wii portable...
Cool to get a closer modern fidelity look inside, the old pictures don't do it justice. ;) I always kind of hoped public access could have used all those SD-TV channels but the FCC said no, my hope to watch more "Wheel of Fish" is over. :\ Well you're recording the change so no need to hold onto the crappy parts of the past. I really see the modern maker scene as an opportunity to perfect the past since there were a lot of compromises in manufacturing and costs that are a pain to work with now EGs. lack of face buttons, lack of better AV ports, the way logic reduced height resolution(192p/200p/224p), lack of stereo sound, etc. Next project "Ben Heck Sings". :D
Ben, I just wanted to drop you a line and tell you how important this device was in my life too. In 1999, I was a sophomore in high school, and loved retro gaming before it was called that. I stumbled on your page back then, and you were still figuring things out. I went out and located a used Atari from the classifieds and started building along with you. I spent my first McDonald's paycheck on an active matrix portable TV and promptly tore it apart which my parents flipped about. It took 2 years of trial and error, but my 2600 portable became my Senior physics project. Fast forward to now,, I'm a successful IT architect, have a family and a great job . If it weren't for this device, and for you, my life path would have been significantly different.
wow, cool as fuck!
You go man! Sounds like a great time
This video is legitimately inspiring. Thanks for the portrait of the hacker as a young man, Ben.
agreed
the original word 'Artist' could probably fit as well too.
I watched The Ben Heck Show for years and loved it, and now I'm discovering how rambly of a person you are in real life when you're not being editted down into a 20 minute production. I love it, keep up the more personal videos.
2000 was 19 years ago, which is tricky for this 40 year old to grasp. But the fact that the same time period prior to that was 1981 blows my mind.
Ed Jones stop it Ed you are making me Torschlusspanik
You and me both, Mr Jones.
Yep... I'm feeling old, 2000 feels like a couple of years ago (PS2 Release Date was 2000) and we're just months till 2020... so when showed thia Atari
Video to my 18 year old nephew it's like showing him a treasures from a distance past LOL... PS at least at my age I can Solder a PS2 Mod chip...😉
Games haven’t improved as drastically from 2000 to 2019, compared 1981-2000. Some Dreamcast games are still palatable today, like Crazy Taxi, Street Fighter 3, Dead or Alive 2, Jet Set Radio, Dayton 2000, Sega Rally 2. I remember in 2000, I can’t think of many games from 80s to really impress. Maybe some of the super scaler games from Sega in the Arcades. But early 80s console games were trash. Tetris and Super Mario Bros. being the only exceptions I can think of.
"This has been responsible for so many good things in my life that have happened and it looks like a piece of crap."
There is something profound about that statement.
I feel like this quote should be framed on a wall in my house 🤔
"We can rebuild it, smaller, better, portable." - Ben Heck
*portable-er
"I don't wanna try to erase the past... but I still want the past to work..." 🤣
I could watch Ben Heck hardware post mortems and refurbs all day long, more pretty please.
It took me several years of mostly successful builds and repairs before I realized how important it is to have your soldering iron at an appropriate temperature before using it.
I like how the cartridge becomes a nice sunshade for the screen. :)
Just found your channel and started smiling. Ben Heck as he was before the show went silly. Wonderful and thank you for keeping going by yourself.
HighlandSteam I've been seeing a few videos from this channel in my recommended list and always dismissed as "Meh, it's ben heck", finally clicked on one and very surprised it's nothing like the absolute garbage the show was
Looking forward to the 2039 version of this.
"you mean i DIDN'T use micro-atomic, self-charging energy cells for this?! oh wait..."
It's still not nearly as bad as that "tablet" eevblog did a tear down of a few years ago.
Oh fuck, that thing. That tablet was "special"
Ben is awesome - shows interesting projects and tells a story the whole time. I am so glad you stuck around making videos after leaving E14. :D
"I used the same gauge wire for everything?!"
I didn't even know you could tag people in videos. I feel so called out 😂
Hi Ben, glad to see you doing your thing and as I am probably will be one of the first to comment you might actually see it. Your videos got me interested in Electronics and be more comfortable messing with it for the fun of it.
It's great to see the new content. Have missed your videos, always love the vids. Have been following you for at least a decade now lol.
The like count was at 555, so I must have great timing.
I guess not many people will get the pun XD
haha like the 555 timer.
NE one could've done it.
IC what you did there.
I'm old enough to remember when you were doing this as it happened. Now I feel even more old. Damn.
Wait, I would watch "The Jeri Ellsworth Show"! :D I'm currently rewatching a lot of TBHS and this fits the nostalgia very well :)
Man, awesome to see the guts of the portable I remember seeing on the Ben Heck Forums back in like 2002-2005. Really crazy!
This was a really good video Ben. I've been following you since you started publishing these Atari builds online. I'm glad you revisited this unit, because I remember first reading about it. On Wisconsin!
This may actually better than the Ben Heck Show in terms of learning. Thank you!
This was great! I originally discovered you in an article in the Official UK PS1 magazine about 2003/2004 where they featured your PS1 portable. This inspired me pull apart my PS1 slim as an eight-year-old since my sister tripped over and smashed it anyway. Obviously, I never made my own mini but I've mostly been following you ever since. Keep up the good work!
I found your website back when you had just this portable. Crazy to think it's been that long.
Also, it's really inspiring to see you repair things, especially something as important to the retro gaming community as this. Keep these old consoles running!
Oh man, this takes me back 20 years to when I was a 20'ish hardware hacker and 8bit nerd.. and even the shoutout to Jeri.. man, memory lane.
It was great to see you at MGC Friday night and to talk about MRRF that I had to miss this year. It's awesome to re-visit something that you made years ago. I recently opened again a digital thermometer that I built when I was in grammar school (gulp) almost 50 years ago. It brought back memories. I hand wired the 74XX TTL and display sockets with solid telephone wire. I still remember my Uncle driving me to Newark Electronics on Pulaski in Chicago to pick up the thermistor that I needed at will call.
I remember reading about your VCS-P when I first found your website in the early 2000s when I was in high school. I thought it was so awesome. Nice to see you revisit it again.
I remember the first time I saw this thing, and I was blown away.
I'm still blown away. Good work Ben. You did good.
This is so cool, Ben. I was a child when I first followed your website, you had those cool build logs that were full of personality. I would read your site, you were doing things like the PlayStation portable (with the deadly exposed spinning disk) and dream about being an electrical engineer myself someday. Here we are, nearly 20 years later and it's come to fruition. Thank you for your inspiration, your openness, and your light-hearted way of teaching. You're the man!
How have I missed this channel?!?! I loved your videos from TBHS and was sad to see you go. So glad to have you back!
I remember stumbling across this back when you did it, and I was blown away something like this was even possible. And it certainly has inspired me and many people over the years to try this sort of thing out. You should see my first attempt at a mini arcade unit, I'm amazed it didn't catch on fire! =)
Whenever I feel inadequate when hacking up electronics in the future, I will remember young Ben, and then the today's Ben he blossomed into
This was the build that got me interested in your work. Love your past works in making consoles into portables.
I remember when you sat down next to me at CGE 2001 (I was sitting all alone with my two Lynxes out, hoping someone would come play) and whipped out your VCSp. Fun to see it again, basically half a lifetime later!
I loved every minute of this video. It was either a Popular Science or an Electronic Gaming Monthly article that tipped me off to your book about hacking video game consoles, which then led me to joining the BenHeck Forums way back in ‘04 or ‘05. You taught me how to solder and hack electronics, Ben! So glad to finally see the innards of your first big project that inspired so many others throughout the years. I love this format for your videos. Keep it up!
This was great to watch, seeing your newer projects vs this is pretty funny. You've improved greatly in such a short time. Indeed inspiring. I learn a great deal just watching these. Already became better at identifying components.
If Ben Heck used to solder like that, don't ever be discouraged!
I remembering reading your old website all those years ago. So cool to see this again. Hope to get to meet you Saturday!
Amazing build and thank you for restoring your hand held Atari 2600 console. Hopefully you'll do more real soon and enjoy your content.
Ben, I used to make really complex potato guns back then, it's amazing how far "maker" technology has come. I remember etching circuit boards, picking over radio shack for parts. Now we have rapid prototyping circuit boards, 3d print, laser cutters, acrylic cutters, etc. It's a damn good time to be a maker. I'll be honest, I still do soldering and repair type stuff but I need to get some projects going again. I'm currently in the planning phase of consolizing an mvs, so that should scratch the itch. Keep up the good work, here's to another 20 years or "making."
Your journey is so similar to mine. I took my toys apart in the 8os and made them into other things like radio controlled firecracker lighter offers using nicrome wire and those cheap rc cars that only had one button on them. I used to yank the parts
Out of my radio shack 150 in one kits to make my own “inventions”. I then got my first computer a Trs-80 coco, then an 800xl. I traded my minibike that I made out of a Briggs and Stratton edger motor for a pinball machine and I used to stash my cash in it. I learned a lot about electro mechanical with that pinball machine and eventually used flipper solonoids to pop my shaved door handles open on my 67 bug in the 80s :) I used to do flash animation and graphic design. I was one of the first developers of photoshop plugins in the 90s. I bought a makerbot kit in 2007 and started my 3D printing journey. Today I have laser cutters and 3D printers and make prototypes as a freelancer. Designing software, hardware, and enclosures for them. I’ve got one fun thing I made back in 2013 online. It’s a 70s rotary phone converted into a cell phone. The “ui” for it is texting to it. You can program names and numbers into it and dial by name using the letters running around the dial (or dial normally using the actual phone numbers) I have a page about the build at www.retrocell.net - anyway, glad you are back on your own doing your own thing. Talk to ya later fellow old skool maker!
When I was in 7th grade I shoveled snow, raked leaves and cut lawns for a year to buy the Casio TV-470 back in 1990s. I think it was around $150 back then. I hooked up so many different things to it. Also by not plugging the cable all the way in on the living room TV, I found out I could broadcast cable channels 2-14 to my room and watch nickelodeon and discovery channel (used to love watching Beyond 2000) :) I did so many stupid experiments with my electronics back then. I also "built" 3 way floor standing speakers out of cardboard and speakers I found in the garbage. Now I work at PCB building facility and make boards for companies like Vitamix and what not.
What a difference a little wiring cleanup makes! (6:19 Before, 28:36 After) Nice retrospective, thanks.
I cannot even describe how much joy this video gave me. Thank you Ben! Don't ever stop tinkering.
so cool to hear that "conversation" with yourself separated by all those years... it IS helpful to see what you did then vs what you can do now and think *maybe* there's hope for a very late starter like me
Thanks for this, Ben. I discovered you when this portable first hit the news and you've been an inspiring joy to follow ever since. 20 more years!
I think Ben has officially developed a case of spring fever. NO SPRINGS! *whistle*
Can't wait for 19 years later when you open this again, and curse out 2019 Ben for this job.
I keep watching this vid 1 year later and is still fascinating and inspiring.
I remember this. Man, I was making things in acrylic back then too that horrible screw sound takes me back. Great video Sir!
I semi-recently took apart a headphone amp I built when I was a teen and while it still miraculously works it is an absolute train wreck in there. Thank god we can learn from our shortcomings and mistakes.
Man, I remember reading about this thing on Slashdot.
I remember when you made this, I was trying to figure out a way to do the same thing at the time. So cool to see it revisited this much later.
The sad thing of this video is that 2000 is 19 years ago.
Thanks. Your vids are alway inspiring!
"Oh FFS, they DID put the brightness control at the bottom." 😂
"If it's inside this unit - it's ok" - I LIKE YOUR LOGIC!
I've been following you since you made this, Ben. Everything you do, I'm delighted, surprised, and proud of you.
You got a sub my friend. You remind me of when I first started, except you were a little more ambitious than I was at first. I am not as far as you in your journey into electronics, but its nice to see how someone else use to work what they have progressed into such as yourself.
Keep em coming man, really enjoyed your content!
I encountered Ben Heck in all his glory when i ran across this handheld when I randomly found his website back in early 2005 and I was in awe of his work. Life changer :D
I remember this unit and I may have seen it in person at a Gaming Convention in King of Prussia, PA around 17 years ago. They were the days. The best shows ever and great job on that first Atari 2600 handheld.
Nice to see ya Ben. Been watching since The Revision days. Happy to see your still hacking.. You should do something cool with the Nintendo switch! And the playstation vita
A portable Nintendo Switch? You madman!
*IN THE YEAR 2000, BEN HECKENDORN BUILT HIS FIRST MOD*
I so cool seeing you realise how much you've learnt since then
I use to read the articals you use to publish online about these at school. Always use to amaze me & I wanted to do it as well. Your Commodore 64 Laptop comes to mind. That was pretty rad.
Ben Heck, you're a large part of why I got into portable electronics consoles and screens and sound systems and custom retro consoles (as a hobby)
I do remember stumbling upon your website in 2003 and thinking this was freakin awesome.
It's good to see the old Ben back.. I missed watching your old content and what a way to relive the past and restore your original Atari portable.. the only thing that's missing now is the corny intro the very first one I miss it. Smaller, better, portable..lol Back when revision3 was a thing.
We all start somewhere, you inspired my love for making things
Thank you for keeping up woth the videos. It will inspire some folks to keep on making and impreoving their skills.
When I've seen that ribbon cable I was praying for replacing it with something nicer looking.
If it works don't fix it
"The Atari dies after an hour or so."
So you're saying it could be played longer than the Game Gear.
with the proper screen mod, the Game Gear can easily outperform (out of 6xAAs) some modern portables any day of the week.
I remember seeing a picture of this in a FRENCH magazine dedicated to handheld systems, back in 2000. I never knew back then who made it, or that I would later watch videos made by the same guy, without knowing he was THE guy that made the portable 2600 I had read about so long ago. Small world!
You are a visionary Ben. And it is obvious that you have learnt more by the way you improved the original design of the 2600p.
You are my hero! Thank you for sharing so much of your time and talent with us in such an entertaining way!
Correction: You did open it once before, when you built an improved version utilizing the skills you learned on your old show.
Still a great video.
Interesting how he didn't mention that
I remember that thing and a lot of the others you built from the benheck forums. That cannot have been nearly 20 years ago! I sometimes wonder if any of the kids that were on that forum went on to do anything - many of them were very clever and smart. I still have one of those Atari portables that I made following your instructions that is housed in a horrible tupperware-ish container. I remember that finding a suitable project box was one of the most difficult parts of those projects. I also have 2 of those little Casio TVs, one of them disassembled, in my large box(es) of unfinished projects that have not been opened in forever. I also have an official Ben Heck PlayStation portable kit (beta) along with instructions and nearly all the parts needed to build it. One day I will do so - maybe this was the inspiration I needed to get on it :)
Have great memories of Wisconsin Dells from when I was a kid.
Oh, how We miss your videos Ben!! Please keep them coming!
I think this appearing on Slashdot (or maybe Hackaday if it existed back then) is what got me into this kind of thing.
It started the (fortunately brief) era of people hollowing out old game consoles and shoving mini-ITX boards inside them. Hackaday was full of NES cases turned into PCs, which looked great until you opened the cart flap and all the wire poked out :)
No 3D printers, no PCBWay and co, even buying junk off eBay was different.
I remember coming across this in about 2003 or so - it's be(e)n a Heck of a ride so far. Nice to see it revisited :)
man dont feel bad about how you did the atari you should see some of the haphazard builds ive done man you got me into this electronics thing thank you so much ben keep on ive learned so much along the way from watching your cheesy show
I'm impressed what you managed to do back then with a lot less knowledge, and fewer tools.
Granted, from my perspective, having a CNC machine available is an extreme luxury, but still, the end result is impressive even now.
I honestly wouldn't know where to start with trying to make cases for anything at all nowadays. At best, a hacksaw and some sheeting of some kind, but really the only easily available material is various types of wood. - even getting acrylic or metal sheeting is quite an ordeal...
So yeah, without the tools this kind of project is pretty difficult.
And that's to say nothing about dealing with reproducing various kinds of connector, if required...
This is almost as gloriously 80's nerdy as The Last Starfighter.... :o)
Nice to see you've learned a lot from the old days using rib-in strips and hotglue
From No Doubt to Macho Man to Edward D Wood Jr in 1 sentence. Truly impressive.
_'I wish I could go back in time and slap myself"_ - Don't we all?
I was moving some of my old junk and found my copy of ur portableizing consoles book and thought "this is definitely not junk" watching this in 2024🤙 man awsome memories wowee🤓
Oh man, I remember reading the original post on this project at the time. I think it was on classic-gaming.com? It was so inspiring and fun to read. I recall a gag comparison to the newly released GBA flaunting the VCSp's backlight with imagery of both in a cave. It's so rad to see it again!
would love to see a new build of a 2600 using modern parts to see how much more low profile you can get it.
Great video I first was introduced to this project when I picked up your book when it first come out. Too fun.
Came across this video by accident, ending up finding my twin. Excellent Video !
I still have the original short video of you making this somewhere on my PC. It blew my mind in high school, when I found it around 2003.
12:30 - For those who have read "Neuromancer" by William Gibson, but were born after TVs no longer displayed dead channels, THIS is what he described in the first line of the book.
You should buy that tv on eBay, find another Atari, and make the same console with the same components, but with the knowledge you have now. Of course, 3D print and change the case to either be slimmer, or see what kind of stuff you can put inside with the original outer dimensions. Maybe this time you can put the volume and brightness control in the correct places.
Ben, promise us that you will NEVER die.
Man, this brought back some memories! I spent so many hours on the old forums, back in the early to mid 2000s when Bondo Frankenstein case mods were king and the best options for monitors were pocket TVs and the PSone screen (with LED backlight mod, of course). Port Washington, bickering over how the hell anyone will ever make a Wii portable...
This is almost like the time that guy made those Amazing space movies from the late 70’s and 1980’s, and re-released them with some added cgi.
I remember when you did this! It was amazing!
Cool to get a closer modern fidelity look inside, the old pictures don't do it justice. ;) I always kind of hoped public access could have used all those SD-TV channels but the FCC said no, my hope to watch more "Wheel of Fish" is over. :\
Well you're recording the change so no need to hold onto the crappy parts of the past. I really see the modern maker scene as an opportunity to perfect the past since there were a lot of compromises in manufacturing and costs that are a pain to work with now EGs. lack of face buttons, lack of better AV ports, the way logic reduced height resolution(192p/200p/224p), lack of stereo sound, etc.
Next project "Ben Heck Sings". :D