SPECS:
ATARI CIRCUIT:
Standard 6507, 6532, TIA three chip set
Standard clock generator
Composite video output, mono sound
Dip switches for setting difficulty, color/bw
Digital thumbstick
LCD TV:
Standard RCA 2.5inch set
AV input mode, antenna mode
Built-in speaker, headphone jack
Backlit control
POWER SUPPLY
Batteries or DC input jack
Two parallel Radio Shack NiMH 6v RC car batteries, 1500maH each
Unregulated power supply support (4.5v to 6v)
2600 supply voltage can be set lower than LCD voltage
Current draw about 900ma, maybe three hours battery life
OPERATING MODES
1. 2600 games displayed on LCD
2. 2600 games outputed to AV receiver
3. AV device inputed to LCD
4. Broadcast TV received through antenna
I'd always had the project in the back of my mind after seeing an old Usenet post from Kevin Horton about running a 2600 on batteries, but got even more enthused after Ben Heckendorn build his first model. However I wanted to make mine as small as possible and use an existing controller shell to keep things easy, but still looking good (I'm horrible at working materials). The first plan was to combine a TV-boy (the handheld Atari clone) with an lcd tv in some fashion. After that, thought about placing the 2600 guts into a playstation controller, but that didn't have any area to surround the TV screen. Then one night (while washing dishes strangely enough) it hit me to use a dreamcast controller, with the lcd placed in the VMU area.