Back in the distant past (well the 80’s) I had an Atari 2600. I loved my Atari 2600. I was lucky to have an Atari 2600. The problem was I didn’t have any money to buy games. I remember convincing my Mum to let me buy Yars Revenge from her Kays catalogue at 20p a week for about 15 years. She said “Yes”. It was rubbish. About the same time, I really REALLY wanted to buy ET the Game, but as I had already committed my pocket money to the repayments for Yars Revenge I couldn’t and didn’t get it. Looks like I escaped lightly as guardiane’s YouTube movie points out. Looks like video games with movie tie-ins have always been a bit dodgy.

Brendan Dawes has modded a usb stick (a nice small usb stick) into an old Atari cart to make a rather fetching massive memory stick. I kinda like it:



Oh and he’s also created a hub out of a joystick…

The original post for this article by Jeremy Borger is available here

Analysts said on Monday that Apple plans to release software for the Atari 8-bit which would allow users of the computer to sync the iPod to their machines.

However, the limited sound capabilities of the Atari means the MP3s will only sound like bells and chirps when played on the computer.

The new software, called “iTari”, includes a special iPod-to-serial port cable. This is needed because the 8-bit Atari, which includes models such as the 400, 800, and 800XL, doesn’t have a Firewire port. The special cable allows users to hook the iPod to the Atari’s serial port. Unfortunately, this doesn’t allow the iPod to be automatically recognized by the Atari. It must be synched manually. The entire 5 GB iPod can be synched in just under 4 days.

This is big news for the estimated 527 active Atari 8-bit users.

“We’ve been waiting a long time for this,” said Atari enthusiast Pat Jackman. “Can’t sync the iPod to the Commodore 64! Eat that, commies!”

Apple first released the iPod last October with software only for the Macintosh. Many thought when Apple released a revised version, they would include Atari software. But earlier this year, when Apple came out with the 10 GB iPod, no Atari software was included.

Apple may be releasing the iTari software in order to get a jump on third party developers who may be planning to come up with Atari iPod software on their own. There’s currently no such software out there, but at least one programmer has been thinking about it.

“I have an 8-bit Atari and was thinking about making software for it [to sync with the iPod],” said 38-year-old unemployed programmer Bruce Dickson. “But I figure there’s only about seven people out there who’d be interested in using it, so it’s probably not worth it.”

Will Apple making iPod software for the Atari hurt Mac sales?

“The advantage Apple had with the iPod was that it was another reason for potential computer buyers to buy a Mac,” said Guernsey Research analyst Chris LeTocq. “But why would consumers buy a $2000 Macintosh when they can get a $15 Atari from eBay?”

The iTari software is expected to be released in July at MacWorld New York.

Just discovered this brilliant site that has retro case mods. This is basically people putting mini-itx boards into old computers and other ancient technology. No surprise to anyone are my favourites:

Project Anemone modding an old 1940’s Bush bakelite radio.



Atari 2600 modding an Atari 2600 ‘Woody’ including a SlimDVD drive.



I just love them.

Atari is selling a product called Atari Flashback. It’s an all in one games console complete with 7800 style joysticks. Each console contains 15 Atari 2600 games and 5 Atari 7800 games. I think it’s a real shame that they didn’t make it look like a classic 2600 “woody” and I think they could have been a bit more generous with the number of games.

Whilst playing lego with Billy yesterday I thought it would be cool to create a reproduction of a space invaders screen out of lego. We made a couple of prototypes and I thought the project would be a good one to blog about. I checked on the internet to see if anyone else had had MY idea - and of course someone has. This guy has started creating one, and has realised it would be about 6ft by 8ft and has decided to scale the image to ‘lego resolution’. His project is not yet complete, but he is listing the parts required and so is one to watch (for me anyway!).

Maybe I should do PacMan…

Here are some images:

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Russ Prince has built his own arcade cabinet out of particle board. He’s done a brilliant job. It’s now joined my ever expanding ‘to do’ list. I wonder how much it would cost to hire an odd job man to make one?rn