Compute! Publications
£8.95
Many of the 'old hands' at Atari computing came
into the hobby several years ago when there was not much available
in the way of peripherals and accessories and they often already had
a background in electronics so that amongst several specialist
interests was that of the 'hardware hacker' who built his own
equipment. There has always been an interest in adding home made
projects to computers but there has never been an easy guide for the
electronics 'layman'. Until now, that is.
Electronic Computer Projects is the ideal
introduction to hardware projects for any Atari owner even if he has
never picked up a soldering iron before. The book takes you step by
step through all the stages required to build your own joysticks,
paddles, sensors, switches, burglar alarms and more. Staring from
the very beginning it explains in detail different methods of
building a circuit and how to use a soldering iron. Most of the
projects in the book use a 'solderless breadboard' but you will need
to do a little soldering. Fear not, a step by step guide is included
for those who have never soldered before.
Introductory chapters explain how the computer and
the joystick ports work before the first project, a simple logic
probe,. is tackled. Each project has a list of parts, including part
numbers, which can be obtained from any Tandy store followed by
detailed step by step instructions for construction. At various
points special notes are included to explain the reason for certain
actions in greater details. Where extra care is needed, that too is
explained. Finally the procedure is given for testing your project.
If a program is required to operate the hardware, a simple but
effective listing is given. Every procedure is carefully explained
and remarkably easy to follow.
The main projects include two types of simple
joystick and importantly, now that they are no longer available,
game paddles for those excellent games like PAGE 6's BREAKOUT that
require them. What is more you can make these yourself for a
fraction of the commercial cost. More advanced projects include a
light pen, sensors that can detect movement or light and even a full
scale burglar alarm. With these simple projects you can switch on
lights, control model railways, time events, control robots and
more.
The book is excellent value at £8.95 and, whilst
aimed at beginners, will provide information to any owner who wishes
to try his hand at interfacing his Atari to the outside world. You
will have hours of fun with these projects and, what you may not
realise, you can do so at very little cost. Most of the parts
required will cost no more than a couple of pounds in total and some
projects might cost only pennies!
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