Pi3 in an atari 2600 flashback.

spruce_m00se

So here is the latest build, following on from a mini NES and gameboy classic, I have build a pi3 into a flashback 5 console.
HDMI with 2x usb ports available on thebackside, the original power plug is used, although the power supply is changed.
The 9pin joysitck ports work with the original joysticks or with Competition Pro joysticks as shown in the photos, (thats what the person getting it wanted)

although you cant see it in these photos, everything is held in place by 3d printed brackets that attach to the original hardware, the joystick ports screw into the same place the original PCB attached, the pi is on a bracket, the 9 pin adaptors are on brackets and the USB, well they are hotglued..... oooops.

The buttons on the top have been hacked, I have hacked three of them onto the player one 9 pin connector, so that you have start, select and fire 2 when using a one button joystick.
The red power button interrupts the power directly to the Pi and the other is connected to the reset pad on the Pi ( I will change this and use a script to do a soft reset)
there were two latching switches which I had to change for momentary switches in order to get the start and select buttons, I also 3d printed an adaptor piece to convert the original button plastic to use a momentary switch instead of latching.

all in all its great, I love it and I dont want to give it to its new owner :(
I may buy another atari online just to make one for myself, I like it much more than the 3d printed mini nes.

DorkVonWaterfall

no pics from inside?

spruce_m00se

@DorkVonWaterfall I may open it up again in a couple of days to take an image of the sd card once its all scraped.
maybe I will take some worthy shots of the inside. I only have one photo and it is pants

space cadet

Nice build! I've been building a pi 3 in a nes case but taking me forever to finish! One day

mediamogul

@spruce_m00se

Very nice! It should be law that all retro consoles have a bit of simulated wood grain. Your daughter looks completely engrossed in that game. With that level of determination, she'll be besting your high scores before long. Do you two play often?

spruce_m00se

@mediamogul im on ebay looking for a cheapy 2600 woody to do it properly :)
I may put a 4tb nas in it and a small switch, have a decent media center that looks 35 years old :)
my little girl is just starting to play games, she enjoyed some bubble bobble, once she had realised that you have to move a joystick rather than tap on the screen. we mostly play the dora game for the GBA

spruce_m00se

@space-cadet i cheated a bit and did a lot of it during my down time at work.
aswell as a genuine 2600 im looking for a NES to put something inside, I have a 3d printed mini nes console at the moment, and i love the look, and the fact its small, but ive always wanted a nes, dont have one in my collection, maybe i will keep it as a NES and just use the 2600 which are more common and cheaper.

edmaul69

@spruce_m00se i have a friend that i did a pc inside of an atari 2600 4 switch in for him. I will have to find some pics to post for you.

spruce_m00se

@edmaul69 I wanted to do a micro atc board in a NES about 12 years ago and put mame on it, but it was too hard to work out back then.
Id apreciate any pics you find.
I think that the ease these days comes from the 3d printer, i quickly made a CAD of the interior of the 2600 and quickly made pieces to fit inside it, Without the printer it would have taken ages.

edmaul69

@spruce_m00se had to dremel down the heatsink and remove the fan to get it to fit. 3d printed posts that got epoxy'd to the top case to screw the bootom into.

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spruce_m00se

@edmaul69 thats cool, whats the board doing to switches to usb? how well do the 3d printed parts stick to the plastic with epoxy? is it a noisey beast?

Capeman

I did a pi in an original woody
Consider laser cutting the panels for a professional finish, it's pretty easy, i can give you some pointers if you want.

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/4935/custom-atari-2600-retropie-with-laser-cut-panels

edmaul69

@spruce_m00se the parts epoxy'd good. Im not sure what you are asking about usb? And it actually is pretty quiet.

tashman

@spruce_m00se

Looks really good. Last year I bought an Atari Flashback from eBay for the same purpose. Unfortunately I made a complete pigs ear of it by hacking a big ugly hole in the back so that most of the Pi would be exposed so the ports are accessible. It didn't turn out too well so I abandoned that project....

spruce_m00se

@tashman I found that putting the pi at an angle helped.
Also I have de-soldered the usb power, the rj45 and USB ports from the pi, they were removed for another project which got abandoned, I wouldnt normally have needed to, but having removed them I could solder cables directly to the external usb port and saved some cost and space.
I feel like i messed up the hole around the hdmi plug a bit, but its not too bad

spruce_m00se

@edmaul69 it looks like you have the original switches hooked onto an adaptor board that makes them a usb device?

spruce_m00se

@Capeman that looks great!!
im not sure how I feel about the laser cut parts, I like a more original look, but they look very good none the less,
I like the way you have hacked the switches onto a keyboard matrix pcb, thats a very good idea I may well have to steal for a future project, I would love to have the basic keyboard buttons on the front panel, F1 and F3 etc to run the games on the C64, and a hard wired save state button set would be awesome.

Capeman

@spruce_m00se said in Pi3 in an atari 2600 flashback.:

I like the way you have hacked the switches onto a keyboard matrix pcb, thats a very good idea I may well have to steal for a future project

It works really good for what i use it for. The only catch is if you have the hotkey button enabled on the controller, the retroarch function buttons (save state, load state, hard pause, reset, etc.) on the keyboard buttons will also require you to hold the hotkey button on the controller, it's kind of weird, you'd think keyboard and controller settings would be isolated.

This is OK for me because i didnt want ANY of the funtion buttons on the controller, especially exit game (the ADD in me would just switch games like channels)... i like the idea of walking across the room to reset, keeps me more involved in whatever game I'm playing.

spruce_m00se

its funny you mention having to walk across the room, I found that having to press a button on the console also stopped me switching games as often, also having only one system on the console meant that I enjoyed playing that system more than just flicking through.