Jamhamster's "Stealth" Builds Pack Raspberry Pi Systems Into Cassette Tapes, Floppy Disks, and More
From cassette tapes that hide fully-functional computers to a simulated CRT made by bonding a lens to an LCD, these builds impress.
Pseudonymous maker "jamhamster" has shown off a growing collection of "stealthy/unusual gaming systems" which pack Raspberry Pi single-board computers into a variety of unusual housings — from cassette tapes to floppy disks.
Inspired by a love of vintage gaming and the flexibility of the Raspberry Pi range of low-cost single-board computers, jamhamster has set about building a surprising variety of systems. A cassette tape, originally designed for saving and loading programs in a genuine vintage system, has become a Sinclair ZX Spectrum emulator thanks to the integration of a Raspberry Pi Zero; another cassette hides a four-port USB hub, while yet another converts to classic Atari-style joysticks to USB.
"I've been building stealthy/unusual gaming systems using various Raspberry Pi models," jamhamster explains of his newfound hobby. "My sister is the artist of the family, I just change it until it stops looking wrong."
What appear at first glance to be a stack of floppy disks for an Atari ST and a Commodore Amiga respectively are, again, hiding a secret: "They both have [Rasperry] Pi 3 units inside," jamhamster details. "One runs Rastari and the other runs Amiberry. They boot straight to a menu where you get to load the disks which is really handy. The stacks are held together with magnets for one and strong double sided tape on the other. They're hollowed out and I put the ports behind the shutters to hide them."
A replica Nintendo Game Boy hides another Raspberry Pi 3, offering on-the-go gaming, while an off-the-shelf composite monitor with stereo speakers — originally designed for in-car use — just about squeezes into a cassette case with a custom housing. Perhaps most impressive of all, though, is a Raspberry Pi 3 housed in a miniature TV — where the curved glass of a CRT display has been replicated by grinding an acrylic lens and bonding it to an LCD, an ongoing experiment jamhamster is looking to perfect as a means of "emulating" a true CRT experience.
Jamhamster's full round-up is available on Reddit, with more information to be found on their blog and YouTube channel.