UPGRADING NOSTALGIA
WITH THE ATARI 2600PC
I'm a historian of retro videogame systems
and enjoy playing games on many different
systems. I have a personal connection to the
Atari 2600, which is probably related to my
nostalgia for growing up with one. From an
engineering perspective, the design of the
Atari 2600 hardware is both simple and
complex — yin and yang, so to speak — and
it has enticed me for many years.
The goal of this project is to cram a full-
featured PC system into a retro Atari 2600
videogame case. Not only is this a real
challenge, but it’s extremely rewarding. Since
I want to retain as much of the original look
and feel of the Atari system as I can, I will be
using part of the original Atari circuitry and
the original game controllers. Also, the Atari
2600PC lets you play DVDs (and CDs)
on your TV.

Joe Grand ( joe@grandideastudio.com) is the president and principal electrical engineer of Grand Idea Studio, Inc., a product development and intellectual property licensing firm. He specializes in the invention and design of consumer electronics, toys, and video game technologies. His latest creations include the Parallax RFID Reader Module, the Gamecaster Cybercam, and the Stelladaptor Atari 2600 Controller-to-USB Interface.