Custom Handheld Atari 2600 123
Krimsen
sent in linkage to what has got to be the coolest hack I've seen in months. He built a portable atari 2600. Looks like a game boy, but it plays the old carts, and even features the old wood grain. Absolutely stunning. Someone's gotta sell these things.
Sure it's a repeat but.... (Score:1)
Think how nice it is to be able to amuse yourself with the same stories over and over again from only days previous, much less months ago....
Re:Again? (Score:2)
I just saw a black cat go by twice (Score:2)
(Meanwhile, on CNN)
CmdrTaco Wins Vote In Florida!... Planet Earth Baffled!!
Yeah, but ... (Score:1)
fisfhcuerk.
yeah. whatever.
Quick, get out. (Score:5)
Re:Wasn't this a quicky? (Score:1)
Re:Deja Vu (Score:1)
"Handheld Atari 2600 VCSp by Hemos on Friday September 22, @09:20PM EST 133" [slashdot.org]
How can something be cooler than itself?
Re:geocities (Score:1)
Anyway it's quite cute (the Atari I mean).
Cool (Score:1)
Re:Wouldn't it be nice if... (Score:2)
Of course, i'm sure someone's going to mark this post as Flamebait now...
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Re:Just another reason to open the story submissio (Score:2)
Re:Selling them? I don't see how. (Score:1)
And I would also point out that, really, Spacewar was the first of the genre, if the genre is the more generic 'two-player tactical battle with no hold barred'.
Please, Please, Please... (Score:1)
MyopicProwls
You could make this smaller (Score:1)
Old news! (Score:1)
Re:Combat? (Score:2)
Interestingly Atari made their own Space War catridge. Games lasted a long time, particularly if both competitiors ran out of fuel!
Can anyone tell me why Space War was the only PAL only cartridge in an Atari catalogue I obtained in 1982? There were a number of NTSC only games around at the time, but most of these would not have worked outside North America for cultural reasons (baseball, that pseudo-Rugby League game they call football). Was there a legal problem with Space War?
Just Emulate It (Score:2)
Re:Combat? (Score:2)
I think me and my brother once played a single game (out of fuel) for maybe a whole hour. Don't remember, it was a _long_ time ago. And it was a cool game.
Re:Combat? (Score:2)
Re:Wouldn't it be nice if... (Score:1)
The moment that this site became profitable, Rob and the rest of those goons lost their excuses for such fuck-ups. Our pageviews are what sells advertising; indirectly, we pay for Rob's weed, so we have a right to complain when the level of "service" drops. The management has the right not to listen (which they do very well). The duplicate story problem is well known and recurs often. The management doesn't care. If it really bothers you, stop reading. The management won't care if you stop reading, but they will care when they start losing advertising revenue. If you say nothing, you are accepting that the service rendered is adequate. So go ahead and complain, fellow Slashdotters. Or even better, stop visiting the site.
I used to say, "oh, leave Rob and the rest alone; it's all just a fun geek site, right?", but then I thought, what else does Malda do all day? He stops playing Diablo 2 a few times a day to post these lame stories, and he can't even check for duplicates? That pissed me off. Why should we support Rob's right to be a lazy sod and get rich off of a second-rate site?
Slashdot is big business now. Corporate sponsors, national media exposure, the works. It's time for the management to realize this, and stop doing such a half-assed job. If you want to continue deluding yourself into thinking Slashdot was the same place it was two years ago, or even a year ago, or even six months ago, go ahead. But it's not the same. Dell Computers got their start in a college dorm room, and now they're a major corporation. Consequently, they're expected to act more professionally then when they were run from a dorm room. We should expect no less of Slashdot. If Rob's such a Perl wizard, why can't modify Slashcode so that every accepted story submission is put into a DB table, and compared against previous submissions for similar keywords and links? The editor can then maually review possible duplicate submissions. What else is so pressing that you can't find the time to actually maintain the site that made you a millionare, Rob?
The bottom line is that Slashdot is too successful for him to not care.
All generalizations are false.
closed project (Score:2)
(no offense, I love k5)
Mike
Well.... (Score:1)
I do agree though, sometimes I miss stories because one would need to visit this site every day to keep up with all the stories. Sometimes it's nice to see something updated or slightly different.
Re:hahaha (Score:1)
Custom? (Score:2)
Not to be anal retentive, but slashdot headlines are starting to become less and less accurate as time goes by.
This Has Already Made An Apperance (Score:1)
Re:Deja Vu (Score:1)
Who cares. It is like 5 lines of text. If you've seen it before, ignore it. It took way more effort to bitch about than to wade through the 5 lines of text that make it up (unless you read at a first grade level).
Now, on the other hand, wading through all this bitching, was a pain in the ass.
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I did not see it (Score:1)
Re:Repetative repetition (Score:1)
Re:Wouldn't it be nice if... (Score:1)
Until you start donating money/hardware/coding time to THEM, they have no reason to do what you think is right.
Give the god damn guys a break.
OMFG, imagine. Seeing the same thing twice! OH NO. I mean it might ruin your life that your excitement over a new article is dashed because you have already seen it last month!
Re:Just another reason to open the story submissio (Score:1)
I'd love to be able to go through the submitted stories and see if I'm sending in a repeat. But I can't!
Umm in this case, the repeat story was posted two months ago (Sep 22). So the author could have (and in fact should have) checked the archives to see if it had already been posted.
I think the abuse to which FAQ refers is not a matter of low quality stories, it's a matter of spammers clogging up the submission queue with penisbirds becuase they know all of slashdot is going to read it (and not just Taco, etc.).
...and for the last time (I wish): if you want moderated submissions, go to K5 [kuro5hin.org]!
Re:Wouldn't it be nice if... (Score:1)
Me either (Score:1)
It's a shame I can't moderate SLASHDOT down (Score:1)
Slashdot will soon be listed on fuckedcompany.com if this keeps up!
Re:Repetative repetition (Score:1)
I like making fun of millionaires who pull down $90,000 a year in addition to the $7 million they got for their site, who can't even manage to read their own product.
Re:Just another reason to open the story submissio (Score:1)
-m
Somebody give taco one of thies (Score:1)
It looks neet.. This is the second time it's been Slashdotted...
No Taco you CAN NOT sell it Atari still has a copyright on the thing and worse yet they tossed all the documents (yet annother Slashdot story) so they can not do it themselfs.
It looks pritty easy to do thow....
On a side note didn't Sears make a clone of the Atari VCS at one point?
What ever happend to that? Did they get sued?
Now you too can make the news! (Score:2)
Has
Cheap Portable Screens... (Score:1)
Much better than the $150-$160 retail alternative.
OT: Best multi player game (Score:1)
If you REALLY wnat to have fun, the only atari cart that you need is 4 player warlords with two double paddle controllers.
Re:Somebody give taco one of thies (Score:1)
Re:geocities (Score:1)
Re:Just another reason to open the story submissio (Score:1)
Re:Selling them? I don't see how. (Score:1)
As for best game -- Wall Ball (but I may be biased :>)
Wasn't this a quicky? (Score:2)
It's a pretty interesting hack, and certainly one that I'm surpised he got working the first try ;) The reason why the atari's motherboard was not smaller to begin with are interesting; generally put you don't use long tracks for your health due to stray capacitance and all... And it wouldn't seem that RF is an issue from surrounding components because well, it's mainly digital.. and it worked for this guy :)
Re:Wouldn't it be nice if... (Score:1)
If you think that the people who run Slashdot are 'idiots', I have two questions for you: ... 2. Why are they millionaires?
So now there's a correlation between intelligence and personal wealth? I guess that makes me a fscking moron (and Bill Gates a demi-god). My parents will be so disappointed. :-(
geocities (Score:3)
Re:Wouldn't it be nice if... (Score:1)
Re:Just another reason to open the story submissio (Score:1)
In a way, it's sad - but it's happened. CmdrTaco really needs to on, and understand that it's not the same Slashdot he used to run from Hope College. It's a price he has to pay for "making it big." It's a price he has to pay for having a "slashdot community." The site is no longer just his, it's become something else. As it is, other than posting stories, CmdrTaco seems to have almost nothing to do with the community that Slashdot has created. It really feels like it's time he understands this and gives more control to the community that makes Slashdot what it is. Don't forget, without the readers, Slashdot would never have become what it is today.
It started out as a good idea, but like everything else in life, it needs to grow in response to change. It may be "his site" but in reality, it became all the readers' sites. Since the readers submit the bulk of the stories, it makes sense for the readers to have some control over what gets on the front page. Originally, CmdrTaco and the other editors did all the moderation - that job got too hard for just them. They had to allow readers to take on the task. Think of this as a natural extension - he needs to allow some of the readers to help with story submissions. It might actually help the site.
Re:Wouldn't it be nice if... (Score:1)
The only way we can get rid of karma whores and trolls is to make the default scores for all posts "0" instead of "1". That way people would need to post GOOD-comments rather than just posting tons of crap and getting points, as long as it doesn't get moderated down.
(Perhaps someone should let CmdrTaco know that all is not kosher in Moderator town)
And having said that I hope you're set to view -1 comments.... Moderators are worse than politicians and nobody's doing anything about either
Repeat Article (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Repetative repetition (Score:1)
Of course, since Slashdot is a nice free way for me to waste my time I won't actually go out and yell from the mountain tops "Slashdot is horrible", it is just at times like this I feel like I should find a new news source...
Deja Vu (Score:2)
Something tells me we have seen this subject before [slashdot.org].
Re:small screen (Score:1)
Now, if only my River Raid cartridge wasn't half dead....
Old News is still good news (Score:2)
Maybe if we hit this guy's site enough, he'll get the idea that we want these things.
Not a quicky... a story unto itself (Score:1)
Must be a slow news day.
Nathan
Re:Just another reason to open the story submissio (Score:2)
Kuro5hin [kuro5hin.org] already has an open submission queue. Go there if you want that.
Wouldn't it be boring if Slashdot and Kuro5hin were exactly the same?
- Joe
Wouldn't it be nice if... (Score:2)
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Re:I knew I saved those cartriges for a reason (Score:1)
Cut them some slack! (Score:1)
Then when your done, think about foxnews, CNN, MSNBC etc., and the fact that these stations can essentialy carry only one story for a week at a time ... OJ, Elian Gonzales (notice how many people give a shit about him now? .. the media manufactured their own crisis), Presedential elections... be VERY greatfull theres a slashdot at all
OD
Re:Worth a new Casio TFT TV? (Score:1)
Re:Repetative repetition (Score:1)
Read the blurb... (Score:1)
Re:uh. no. (Score:1)
ok enough complaining (Score:1)
That guy must be a masochist, the attention to detail on the first unit is pretty amazing. So he not only made it portable (with that cool 'clip style' 9v plug) but better quality video than the original. Bonus points on keeping the woodgrain style, etc.
Ahh the days of Atari. Back when I could play Counterstrike whoops I mean Pitfall all night and not worry about the next day. Sigh. Back when I could rent a game for 2 nights and beat it. Long gone are those days, fortunately Grad school allows for a wild schedule.
Thanks for the excellent revisit of part of my childhood.
My Goodness (Score:1)
of all the people to dupe this story it had to be the CmdrTaco himself ?!
/. must have been cracked again...
w|-|0 c4r3z? g0 s33 goatse.cx n0w! qUb3r7 5eZ s0!! (Score:1)
This has already been mentioned... (Score:1)
Re:geocities (Score:4)
On the count of one... two...
Re:Wouldn't it be nice if... (Score:1)
All generalizations are false.
Re:Just another reason to open the story submissio (Score:1)
I wish I could say that they care. I really do. I really enjoy slashdot, but all in all, I don't feel like they care anymore.
However, you can always email malda@slashdot.org [mailto] with your comments. Eventually, something will get past his filters. ;-)
re-post, re-post, re-post (Score:1)
Re:Wouldn't it be nice if... (Score:1)
I suggest that you read The Bell Curve to see just how strong the correlation is.
Since this discussion will be archived before I can do that, I'd just like to point out that I've heard a lot of people trash that book as hopelessly biased (hearsay, I know; I'll read and judge for myself at a later date).
As to Bill Gates,... he is extremely intelligent.
I agree. I was merely taking the "correlation" to its logical extreme (if someone is one million times as rich as the avg. person, they are one million times as intelligent as the avg. person).
In the end, my problem with asserting this correlation is that it suggests things which don't conform too well with my experiences:
Of course, these are just my opinions. Take or leave them as you please.
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Wouldn't it be nice if... (Score:1)
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Re:Repeat Article (Score:2)
Re:Custom? (Score:2)
Re:Deja Vu (Score:1)
whats the big deal? (Score:1)
Re:Just Emulate It (Score:2)
Re:Just Emulate It (Score:1)
Re:Yeah, but ... (Score:1)
I knew I saved those cartriges for a reason (Score:1)
Of course the marketing jugernaught of The Open Source Developers Network could sponsor a "win a Slashdot Portable Atari 2600." contest.
There is no spoon.
Re:Worth a new Casio TFT TV? (Score:1)
Old Nintendo pads (Score:1)
Re:Worth a new Casio TFT TV? (Score:1)
A quick check on FleaBay shows used ones for about $50-$70 or so.
At Least The Reruns Are Good Ones (Score:1)
i love hardware hacks and this is
a good one.
Re:Just Emulate It (Score:1)
Re:Please, Please, Please... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Just another reason to open the story submissions (Score:4)
We all know by now this is a repeat. Oops, they messed up. Since I really don't have anything to say about the story (other than "that's kinda cool") since I don't now, and never did, own an Atari, I want to instead comment on how they might prevent repeats like this.
Open the submission queue! I have to wonder why they don't do it yet. Given that many people instantly saw this as a repeat (I didn't, missed that day), you'd think allowing them to moderate/comment on the story while in the queue would help...
From the FAQ answer as to "How about a page for rejected or pending story submissions?":
If you want to prevent worse stories, then open up the queue! That way people will be able to see how the community acts to their writing, and might actually get useful feedback. Since I have no way of judging whether a story is "good" or not, I have no way of knowing how to make a "better submission." The only other problem I can think of is repeats in the story queue.
You wanna know why you get so many repeats? I'd love to be able to go through the submitted stories and see if I'm sending in a repeat. But I can't! The only way I know I was being redundent is either after someone else's story was accepted. If they decide not to run a story, I never do! Let's say they decide not to run some piece that a hundred people think they should submit. Well... those hundred people can't see that they're all getting rejected, so in they come!
Yet again, he's missing the oppertunity. Sure, people will abuse it - but having hundreds of people going over to verify is better than just the few active authors. (How many are there? 10 to 20?) If you're really that constrained on time, then think please - you don't need to make this take more time - it can actually take less! Think about it as outsourcing the story submissions - the editors still choose what goes on the front page, but the readers can help by "moderating" the stories, allowing the editors to spend less time in the story queue - not more.
Yes, this is offtopic, but it should be addressed at some point. I know why CmdrTaco says he doesn't want to do it, and I just personally disagree. Since most of the thread is currently talking about how this is a repeat, I though trying to offer constructive critism might actually help.
Re:Just another reason to open the story submissio (Score:4)
This should stop junk/troll submissions, since not all of
Imagine being a 'submission moderator' for a few days with a few points, and being able to mark things as '-1 Repeat' or '+1 Geeky'... Hell, I'd love to be able to correct the grammar/spelling in some of the submissions!
Selling them? I don't see how. (Score:2)
Of course, to play any of the classics, just get an emulator and down all 6 or 7-hundred roms from classicgaming.com . However, you only need one game. Combat. Combat revolutionized 2-player gaming (not an easy task considering it's predecessors like pong.... and.... uhm.... super video pong) and has not been surpased yet. Ever. Combat is, no conest, the greatest game of all time. Combat rocks. Period. End of Story. Hundreds of hours of fun at your local frat house. Play it today, or you will die an empty man.
Re:Custom? (Score:2)
Yeah I know it's not got its own screen, but it's a small step innit.
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Re:Wouldn't it be nice if... (Score:2)
Actually, no. The corporate media have their heads so far up their ass that they'd rather lose money than admit they were wrong. The only time they will admit they are wrong is if they stand to lose popularity.
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slashdot recycle time (Score:2)
Re:small screen (Score:2)
Save ROM's to flash? (Score:2)
Re:Just another reason to open the story submissio (Score:2)
BTW, not trying to troll, but: what the heck does he do all day? Submissions don't seem to be cleaned up (links corrected, speling, grammar, etc.) and while it might take a while to check out 500 submissions, does it really take that long when your office has a T-1/OC-3/something-much-faster-than-my-dial-up.
BTW, I could be wrong about the length of time taken, or what clean up of submissions occurs. But when CT's favorite refrain is "we don't have time", it sounds a bit like an excuse from the days when he was still studying for exams. I'm just curious. How about a
Re:Repetative repetition (Score:3)
just think, slashdot is free. there are no guarantees anywhere that one of the authors isn't going to go out and enjoy the big blue room. we are human we are allowed to make mistakes. perhaps this author thought that the story deserved more attention. perhaps he had never seen it. perhaps he just wanted to post it again. it's his decision.
if you people have a problem with slashdot, just stop coming. it'd make it much more enjoyable.
i for one am glad they reposted this article, as i wanted to read more about what the hard core techs at slashdot thought about it's feasibility as a commercial product, and how hard this hack is.
moral of story: if you have a problem with slashdot's authors, either filter them out or go somewhere else. i hate whiners.