Hackaday Prize 2022: The Baffatari 2600 Adds Atari Compatibility to Retrocomputers

A PCB carrying several Atari 2600 chips

Like today’s Intel-AMD duopoly, the market for home computer CPUs in the 1970s and ’80s was dominated by two players: Zilog with their Z80, and MOS Technology with their 6502 …read more Continue reading Hackaday Prize 2022: The Baffatari 2600 Adds Atari Compatibility to Retrocomputers

38 Years Later, The Atari 2600 Learns To Speak

Back in the early 1980s, there was a certain fad in making your computer produce something resembling human speech. There were several hardware solutions to this, adding voices to everything from automated telephone systems to video game consoles, all the way to Steve Jobs using the gimmick to introduce Macintosh …read more

Continue reading 38 Years Later, The Atari 2600 Learns To Speak

38 Years Later, The Atari 2600 Learns To Speak

Back in the early 1980s, there was a certain fad in making your computer produce something resembling human speech. There were several hardware solutions to this, adding voices to everything from automated telephone systems to video game consoles, all the way to Steve Jobs using the gimmick to introduce Macintosh …read more

Continue reading 38 Years Later, The Atari 2600 Learns To Speak

Machine Learning Algorithm Runs on a Breadboard 6502

When it comes to machine learning algorithms, one’s thoughts do not naturally flow to the 6502, the processor that powered some of the machines in the first wave of the PC revolution. And one definitely does not think of gesture recognition running on a homebrew breadboard version of a 6502 …read more

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Converting an Atari 2600 into a Home Computer; Did That Ever Work?

[Tony] posted an interesting video where he looks at the Atari 2600 and the way many companies tried to convert it into a real home computer. This reminded us of the ColecoVision, which started out as a video game but could expand to a pretty reasonable computer.

It might seem …read more

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An Atari Graphics Chip, Ready For You To Build

The most notable of the home computer and console hardware from the 8-bit golden era didn’t get their impressive sound and graphics from off-the-shelf silicon, instead they relied on secretive custom chipsets to get the edge over their competitors. Unfortunately for vintage gaming aficionados, those chips are now long out …read more

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Emtombed Secrets Partially Unearthed as Researchers Dissect Clever Maze-Generating Algorithm

If you look at enough of another developer’s code, you will eventually say, “What were you thinking, you gosh-darn lunatic?” Now, this exchange can precede the moment where you quit a company and check into a padded room, or it can be akin to calling someone a mad genius and …read more

Continue reading Emtombed Secrets Partially Unearthed as Researchers Dissect Clever Maze-Generating Algorithm