Smallest computers that are also cheap ? (Bartop)

[spystyle]

Hello from Maine

CRT monitors - they are being given away like hotcakes. They are free. I see them everywhere and I even have a bunch myself.

Bartop arcade machines are unquestionably good

Keeping CRTs out the of landfills and saving the environment, probably also good

So I'm thinking of designing and building simple and affordable bartops to use up many of the extra CRTs and maybe even employ some of my pals who are broke

So I have the design for a simple bartop in mind, and a simple control panel, and it can all be scaled around the free CRT

But what I can't really think of is the computer... For my own bartop I have a Pentium 4 laptop that had a broken LCD. I removed the LCD entirely, extended the power button via wires, and there you have it a bartop computer.

But I don't have a bunch of Pentium 4 laptops with broken LCDs laying around, and they are pricey. I wonder what computers are small and cheap that are good for a bartop.

I think of those "all in one" mainboards, the ones that have everything built onto the mainboard and don't require any add-on-cards. Those could lay flat and a power supply and hard drive could be next to it. But those are kind of a pain.

Then I wonder if there is something else I am overlooking... Like an single board computer (SBC) or a dumb terminal or something like that. Or maybe something I don't know about.

What do you guys think ?

Wanna help me design a cheap and simple bartop that anyone can build, and that uses a CRT ? We might have a positive environmental impact and entertain some kids LOL

Tell me what you think of my fuzzy idea.

Thanks
Craig

[leapinlew]

Use the 48-n-1 boards. As for a computer, I use these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121399&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Motherboard+/+CPU+/+VGA+Sets-_-Intel-_-13121399

It's cool for running freebox jukebox, or other emulators. Still need a hard drive and PSU.

[Ed_McCarron]

With the 80 buck board, by the time you add a drive, psu, memory, and an OS, you're getting close to the price of an Aspire Revo.

Think I paid 199 for a 512M, 160G, XP Home machine with HDMI out a few months ago.

[Edgedamage]

Get an Optiplex SX270 off E-bay.  I paid $65 shipped and got 40GB HD / 512MB RAM / 2.8 GHz / WinXP etc etc

With the side cover removed, it's thinner than a 2x4 is wide.

Power on to AtomicFE menu in ~23 seconds.

Gotta love those old dells.

[spystyle]

Thanks for the replies fellas

Optiplex, itx, small form factor, carputer, fanless, these are good keywords to scour eBay with

I see the "thin clients", those are really cool. I wonder if any of those can have a hard drive and Windows XP added to them? I've never messed with one but I get the gist that they run off of a server rather than alone.

OK have fun
Craig

[Blanka]

EEE Box. Later ones are pretty good with dual core 9400M boards. Very silent, and due to low power use (less than the hailed MacMini) very suited for 24/7 running.

[spystyle]

Those look pretty cool, but I was thinking of something in the 25 to 50-ish dollar range LOL

I'd hate to strap a 250 dollar computer to a 2 dollar CRT

[MonMotha]

Fry's has dual core Atom based boards new for $79.  You'll need power, RAM, and some sort of hard drive or similar.  The board is passively cooled, which is nice, and you can also get by with a pretty small power supply.  The case I have mine in has a 65W power supply, and I'm nowhere close to fully loading it.

[spystyle]

Thanks for the tip EE-HERO

I am still thinking, I feel like I am overlooking something adequately small but more affordable.

If the components reached a certain cost I'd feel that they were not well balanced with the cheap CRTs ... I'd feel inclined to couple them with a nice LCD

[Blanka]

The EEE Box is actually very cheap. Windows XP seperate costs 150 bucks. That leaves 100 quid for the computer

[spystyle]

I must be looking in the wrong spots, the lowest priced EEE box I saw was $175 (?)

[SNAAKE]

modded xboxes are cheap...

[Ginsu Victim]

modded xboxes are cheap...

...but not small.

[spystyle]

A modded XBOX might be a very affordable suggestion, it even cuts $33.00 off the overall price because a keyboard encoder is not needed.

$25.95 KeyWiz Eco + $7.40 shipping = $33.35 for keyboard encoder.

I wonder if an XBOX could be made "lower" by disassembling it and extending the wires so the components could all lay flat.

Interesting

[Malenko]

modded xboxes are cheap...

...but not small.

outside of the shell? yeah, they are pretty small, well alot smaller then in the shell. you can also remove the DVD if its not needed, and move the power supplyto make the footprint smaller. But its still just a 733Mhz processor

[spystyle]

I actually built a couple prototypes a while back from extra material and free CRTs.

I wanted to design a simple bartop that was easy to build and cheap, for youngsters with low cash and low tool confidence



EDIT :

Well I'll be ... The old prototypes I built happen to have 4 1/8 inch clearance for components, and the XBOX happens to be a little less than 4 inches in height LOL

Here it is under the monitor shelf, there is plenty of room for it to slide back too (the cabinet is deep to accommodate the CRT's depth) :



Snaake is a smart one

Thanks for all the replies fellas

I'd like to design a complete bartop that is :

1. Simple to build
2. Uses a free CRT
3. Costs less than $100 to complete

That would be a great arcade machine for the new builder who has low bucks and not much tool skills Like teenagers or accountants.

It can't hurt us builders to have a simple plan to build a cabinet as a gift to a nice kid or relative. I know a lot of kids that woudl like to have an arcade machine.

Not to mention it helps the environment to recycle these CRTs (probably).

If you guys have any more ideas for this project I'd like to hear them. Thanks for all the suggestions

Have fun
Craig

[spystyle]

For his layout, he's not going to need a keyboard encoder.

Can't play MK3 or Stun Runner on an Xbox

I have never run MAME on an XBOX, what set runs well on it? Like 0.60 ?

Does it play METAL SLUG and similar NEO GEO ?

I love NEO GEO

modded xboxes are cheap...

...but not small.

outside of the shell? yeah, they are pretty small, well a lot smaller then in the shell. you can also remove the DVD if its not needed, and move the power supply to make the footprint smaller. But its still just a 733Mhz processor

I am not familiar with MAME on an XBOX, I figure it will need a mod chip and a DVD-R with MAME and ROMs. Am I wrong? Is there a way to not use the DVD drive to run MAME ?

EDIT : Oops I forgot the XBOX has a hard drive in it, DOH

I haven't played or modded an XBOX in years, I can't remember what mod chip I was using but I think it was really cheap ...


Craig

[spystyle]

Oh snap that's a good point, XBOX doesn't have VGA output!

I'll have to Google that ...

[Malenko]

For his layout, he's not going to need a keyboard encoder.

Can't play MK3 or Stun Runner on an Xbox

I just wanted to quote this so I can prove you wrong when I get home.


well I'm at work now but I remember:
Midway Arcade Treasures 2 has MK1, MK2, and MK3
Midway Arcade Treasures 3 has Stun Runner.

[Malenko]

If you can play MK3 with sound and not at frame skip 10 on a 733Mhz processor, I'll be impressed (and won't mind being wrong) but that certainly wasn't the case when I was dinking with CoinOps last year.


  re your edit

you said play, not run MAME. besides Im pretty sure the midway games are being emulated and not reprogrammed.

[spystyle]

I need a crash course on the cheapest way to mod an XBOX, get it running MAME, and output it to VGA.

After the cost of the VGA adapter and mod chip it might not be as affordable as I thought ...

It's a challenge

[Ginsu Victim]

check the console section. We've had a few threads about softmodding XBOXes. No chip needed.

[spystyle]

Alrighty, I forgot about softmods too, geez I haven't messed with consoles in an age

[Malenko]

they are, and they also are properly upscaled with 720p output. Softmod will enable VGA out and he can make his own breakout cable. I however lulled (not LOL'ed) past the part where he was going to build multiples of these. though he could just mod 1 then make a folder on his computer to mirror the files and FTP everything over to the additional XBOXes.

For the record, I have no idea how good or bad the XBOX runs MAME (I'm guessing the older games run fine) but I know the collections including all 3 midway packs, the namco, tecmo, etc are all spot on and cost next to nothing and the SNES emulator runs pretty much everything peachy keen.

[spystyle]

Yeah a small computer with a KeyWiz is starting to look more reasonable than the XBOX with mod and VGA adapter ...

However if using a TV rather than a CRT I could see how the XBOX would be good

Maybe I'll build one with CRT + PC and one with TV + XBOX (?)

And yes of course I'll post any of my findings up as simple instructions

Thanks for all the suggestions so far fellas It's a helpful community here at BYOAC just as I remember it!

Have fun
Craig

 

[MonMotha]

How many inputs do you need?  I have to imagine somebody has hacked MAME up to use the parallel port.  That should get you 13 inputs or more on a bidirectional port (which is pretty much all of them these days).  Not enough for a full 2 player panel, but for a single player bartop, I have to imagine that's sufficient.

Or has nobody bothered to hack up MAME suitably?

[spystyle]

Well I was thinking of a Neo Geo 1 player layout :

Player 1 joystick (4 inputs)
4 buttons (4 inputs)
Enter game from menu and exit game to menu (2 inputs)
Player 1 coin and player 1 start (2 inputs)

total = 12 inputs

Can we use the parallel port ?

[BobA]

Problem with newer mini itx boards is that the parallel port is no longer there.

[jholman76]

FWIW I've been using Dell Optiplex 260/270/280s for a lot of projects and loaner PC's and they work great. Just make sure they caps are all good since dell doesnt care about the quality of the boards.

I have a "supply" of parts in case I need to swap things out. The bartop I'm making is running a de-cased 280. add a basic vid card and she runs most MAME games just fine except for the big ones like Gauntlet Legends and Blitz, of course.

They are getting to be old, so work has been turning them out and I snagged a few various models.

[spystyle]

Oh capacitors, I think I've replaced a cap that had a bulge in it before. They should be flat on top and not convex

Anyway thanks for all the replies fellas, I'd like to figure out a simple bartop that could be completed for under 100 clams

Have fun!
Craig

[jholman76]

back before I got promoted, I had to help with the huge workload of GX/SX 270 MOBO replacements. Dell extended the warranty of them for another couple years just because of the caps. then they gave you refurb boards with the same brand/model of caps... yay class-action law suit!

Now even the newer 620/745's are blowing also... something fishy going on in Quality Control...