Few people have heard of it, yet many consider John Blankenbaker's KENBAK-1 to be the first commercial personal computer.
Atari Punk Console - VCS Tribute Edition
By James Grahame
Oddly enough, the Atari Punk Console (APC) isn't a video game system. It's actually an electronic noisemaking circuit from Forrest Mims' Engineer's Notebook: Integrated Circuit Applications (Radio Shack, 1980).
Originally known as the Stepped Tone Generator, this quirky little circuit gained notoriety after being renamed by Kaustic Machines. And, yes, its output is reminiscent of the sound an Atari VCS might make while slam-dancing with an army of angry Roman Centurions.
Most Atari Punk Consoles are a rats nest of wires and circuitry, but this version by Jim Harris is a thing of beauty. He explains:
"The work featured here is a DIY build of an Atari Punk Console inspired analogue synthesiser known as the Dub-Step-Arcade designed by Matthew Newlove. As a tribute to it's origins in the dusty circuits of the 1980s, the build is housed in a heavily modified Atari VCS enclosure.
Materials used include hand machined matte black acrylic control panel and Atari VCS enclosure, laser engraved gloss black acrylic fascia, salvaged mains power supply, reconditioned stock Atari VCS DPDT switches, stock arcade machine parts and miscellaneous fixtures, fittings and electronic components."
