We covered [Nick Bild]’s mini Atari console using original devices not so long ago, and today he’s back with the same console wrapped up with a CRT as a handheld. It would have cost a fortune in D cells to own back in the day, but we know we’d have lusted after one of these in 1979.
He’s called it the µTari Go, pronounced “Microtari”, and it’s a 3D printed affair with the buttons roughly where you’d expect them if you’re used to the Game Boy, and a cartridge socket at the top above the screen.The PCB is the circuit of the original packed into a smaller space, so his claim of using original hardware is valid. The CRT is one of those Sony flattened modules that can still be found in the usual online bazaars, and it packs a small speaker. He’s not been foolhardy enough to equip it with those D cells, so the power is an external 12 V jack.
You can’t not like this project, especially after seeing it in action in the video below. Unlike in the ’70s a USB-C power pack could run this thing with reasonable playing time, so it could even be fully portable if you wanted. You can see our write-up of the board itself here.
Destroyed a rare Sony Watchman for its flat CRT only to build a generic 3D-printed SlopTube project, which after 10-15 minutes of use will go into forever storage because primitive Atari 2600 games still suck just as badly as they did in early 1980s. Pathetic.
The CRT is a cheap module from AliExpress, and it wasn’t in any way destroyed. It’s fully intact inside the case.
Sony Watchmans are not that rare.
How many Sony Watchmans have you curated, preserved ?
I have about 5 Sony Watchman + a few Casio and 1 Citizen.
Somehow they worth nothing.
I do understand your frustration, but vintage tech gets fewer and fewer regardless of such mods.
There will always be people that see it as trash and throw it away not knowing that others still have a demand for it.
In addition, the plastic and the electric components degrade over time.
Sometimes even faster when not powered/used regularily.
An alternative might be to document a piece of vintage tech as good as possible, so parts for repair can be built by enthusiasts.
I beg to differ – Atari 2600 games are still fun. I’d pick that up every now and again and play some River Raid or Enduro or whatever (and yes the list of games I really like on the 2600 is bigger than 2. A lot bigger. And the Atari 2600 was well before my time)
Also – I don’t care that I shouldn’t feed trolls.
(oh and shameless plug – I did something similar, with a PONG chip instead of an Atari 2600. And it’s rare to sit and collect dust for more than 2 months at a time and the machine is now almost 2 years old, despite people telling me different. Look for DingPONG, also on Hackaday)
yeah hes just a troll. Its a fantastic project.
There are a few good ones, but the VCS and its game library ca6sed the ’83 video games crash for a reason.
Solaris, Space Shuttle – A Journey into Space, Ski Jinks, Tomcat – The F-14 Fighter Simulator, Battlezone, Video Chess, , H.E.R.O., Pitfall 2, Enduro, Barnstorming, Adventure etc.
Or the Starpath cassette games, such as Frogger and Escape from the Mindmaster.
But there’s a catch merely the US games had pretty color gradients (128; Battlezone, Tomcat etc).
The PAL and SECAM games used too look worse (104 and 8c).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_console_palettes#Atari
The SECAM VCS basically took the gray scale output (game set to grays) and fed it to a SECAM capable pong chip.
That’s why French games looked so ugly except if they were “fixed” for 8c (Space Shuttle).
And I’ll do it again
What else should someone be doing with an old black and white Sony CRT?
Ok Karen. Simmer down.
You can buy one of these modules on AliExpress for $10. It’s crazy how a CRT like this is cheaper than many mono LCD panels.
Because it’s clunky and limited and has high power demand. Are they all vintage?
probably replacement for some video doorbell and modern stock I’d think
Wow someone has hurt feelings .did someone beat you to the punch🤔
” Atari 2600 games still suck just as badly as they did in early 1980s”
Bite your tongue. In their day they were the best things going. Some of us still have the original consoles and use them to occasionally relive youth.
His property, his time, his money. Your opinion is meaningless in the face of that.
I get why you’d assume that since it’s easy to miss that these types of display are still widely available as new old stock from the usual Chinese electronics sites. They were a commodity item mostly used in video doorbell systems. No vintage Sony Watchmen need be harmed to replicate this project.
It’s a shame Sony abandoned flat CRT technology before the color version was ready for market. Sony saw that color LCD was getting cheaper and realized color CRT would have a hard time competing in the portable TV market so they left flat portable color CRT unfinished and stored in a dusty box somewhere.
Does it use the Sony Indextron technology? Because that would be my only guess at how to make a flat color CRT. Can’t have a shadowmask in a Watchman CRT, that’s impossible. But painting the phosphor in color stripes like on the Indextron would have worked.
I believe it did use that. It was to have one electron gun rather than 3 but it’s still a challenging design keeping it small
Power consumption perhaps also was a reason.
A mono CRT is a fairly simple device that doesn’t need much power and alignment (no screen mask).
On a color CRT there are three guns for red/green/blue and a more complicated electronics is required to decipher an NTSC/PAL/SECAM signal.
It’s essentially three mono CRTs with a different color each.
I can confirm that that specific mono CRT sips an extremely small amount of power. Still have it in a drawer somewhere next to all my camcorder viewfinder CRTs. Cute lil buggers
Sony’s design was to use one electron gun and some color index to get full color out of a tiny CRT. Tiny mask was hard to make and with flat CRT design, quite impractical.
Most flat CRTs were used in door intercoms and when LCDs that could display video were cheap enough, CRTs were no longer needed. Pocket TVs were always niche products and not megasellers. They existed because small CRTs were cheap mass products at the time.
Why is it a shame?
Print it in black filament and add some woodgrain to the sides!
I wanted to do something very much like that, but it was WAY more expensive!
Yes. Nice project, but it needs an Atari styled case. Fake wood grain, silver switches, grill lines, some slopes. Print in black for sure.
So cool. Nice job on the µTari (I watched that video too). Also, I had no idea 4″ B&W CRTs using 12V 4W could be had for $25. It’s all I can do to follow my own rules and think about a project to use it on for 12h before ordering.
ooo cute. I wanted to do something like that as soon as i got my hands on one of these (really horrible!) flat CRTs. I think I’d go with a gameboy emulator inside. Maybe some time I’ll get round to doing it. Before I’m too old to hold my soldering iron, that is…
Been there done that.. A conversion to vector display would be an interesting project for one of these CRT modules. Basically you need to make both coils equal and replace deflection amplifiers.