Tactical 6502/portable

My 2020 project.

Let me call it #6502portable.

It closes the loop between my starting point in 1986 and now. Like a Terminator time line, just backwards.

It's an Atari 800XL on a USB powerbank, video output captured into a Raspi on a 2nd powerbank.

Optics inspired by Alien movie where computers look like they should. Released in 1979, the year of Atari 800.

I have rarely felt more satisfied.

#retrocomputing #retrohardware #atari8bit #cyberdeck

Atari 800XL in a box, portable

Goal

Work on the Atari with the real feeling. But be independent of the place in the living room.

The idea

Two epiphanies: there is an Atari 800XL power cord to be fed with USB on the other side. Power bank anyone? And there are video grabbers to provide captured video as USB device readable by VLC. The rest is history. Display on a Raspi. Put everything into a mobile suitcase.

Challenges

USB power support is fragile when fed from a power bank. Every additional USB hub or cable makes it worse. Especially when driving raspi and display from a single powerbank.

Where's the punk?

If this is cyber then where is the punk, I hear you ask.

My grandfather was a carpenter grandmaster. When he tried to teach me when I was 10 he quickly gave up - I was not qualified in his eyes. Carving the plate from wood anyway nearly 40 years later instead of procrstinating with modern 3d possibilities - that's my punk.

VLC cmd line

vlc --crop=444x271+20+52 --video-wallpaper --aspect-ratio=4:3 --no-video-title-show v4l:///dev/video0

Open topics

No sound yet.
GPIO isn't accessible at the front plate yet.
The video sometimes glitches. Interferences? Weak power? This looksx great but irritates real work.