NOW FINISHED: Pi Powered Galaga-themed Bartop

[mvolke1]

Hey All,

I just started on the cab tonight, the widescreen bartop kit from harumancustoms.com. I have to give a big shoutout to Lee for taking care of me after I had a bad experience with another bartop kit maker.

So far the kit has come together pretty well. I got it mostly put together, though I still have to figure out how to finish the rest of the kit.

As for controls, I have to Ultimarc Mag Stick plus controls and some LED push buttons from Twisted Quarter. I've got two CDRs for the front, too.

I'll be running the cab with a model B Raspberry Pi running Retropie with MAME, NES, SNES, Sega Master, Genesis, Neo Geo, Turbo Grafix, Atari 2600, Gameboy, Gameboy Color.

That's it for now. I'll be updating as I go.

[mvolke1]

For some reason I can only add one pic at a time. This is the marquee art.

[mvolke1]

The CP

[mvolke1]

And I still haven't figured out what these parts are for 

[Locke141]

Good start,

Have you considered Pi Play as the OS for this project?

[Malenko]

For some reason I can only add one pic at a time. This is the marquee art.

its because your pictures are HUGE  resize them down, 3264x2448 is redonkulous.
I designed your marquee, glad you like it.

[HaRuMaN]

 

[mvolke1]

Good start,

Have you considered Pi Play as the OS for this project?

No, but I'm all ears. I'm not familiar.

[mvolke1]

Good start,

Have you considered Pi Play as the OS for this project?

Oh, I didn't realize Pi Play was PiMame. I have tried it when I made a console version that I hook to my TV. The problem was the ROMs went onto the Pi inconsistently. I had bad luck with. The small files, like Atari 2600 games, were fine. But anything else didn't work.

If you have some suggestions, please share.

[BuschWolff]

Check out RetroPi - http://blog.petrockblock.com/retropie/

I use it and really like its main interface for all the emulators

**oops just reread your main post that you are already looking at using RetroPi**

[Locke141]

The Pi play guy had a very successful kick starter campaign a while back and has been doing regular updates ever since. In my opinion it is much better now then it was just a month ago. It may be worth another look.   

[mvolke1]

The Pi play guy had a very successful kick starter campaign a while back and has been doing regular updates ever since. In my opinion it is much better now then it was just a month ago. It may be worth another look.

I'll have to throw it on an SD card and try it out! Thanks for the heads up!

[mvolke1]

Couple small updates.

Got the buttons in my CP. My lamp and speakers fit perfectly.

The buttons are pretty stiff, with no play in them, unlike Happ buttons which have quite a bit of play. But so far I dig 'em.

Tonight, I'll install my iPac and see if I can figure out a bezel. I'm thinking just a really think black cardboard stock from a hobby store.

[AzureKnight]

You also might have luck for the bezel with black foamcore.  It has more stability to it than a cardstock. 

I would recommend a hot glue gun for sticking it together (I've used black foamcore to make buildings and terrain for miniature based tabletop games).

[mvolke1]

Thanks for the tip!

Got more work in tonight. Finished a lot of wiring prep and got the speakers and marquee finished. My camera didn't get the best dark shot.

[mvolke1]

Another pic

[mvolke1]

One question for anyone reading: have any of you put legs on? Any suggestions?

[mvolke1]

Couple pics from tonight; got the LED and CD-R buttons wired up. I have all the button wiring prepped. Just need to hook it all up to my iPac and hang my monitor.

[mvolke1]

One more pic

[Locke141]

Looking good.

I like the look of this kit.

[mvolke1]

Looking good.

I like the look of this kit.

Thanks man! I appreciate it

[mvolke1]

You also might have luck for the bezel with black foamcore.  It has more stability to it than a cardstock. 

I would recommend a hot glue gun for sticking it together (I've used black foamcore to make buildings and terrain for miniature based tabletop games).

For the bezel, I went to Michael's and the framing department has that frame matting. I actually brought in my monitor and the plexiglass and they measured it and cut it. I think it'll work out just fine. It's pretty darn thick.

[AzureKnight]

That sounds like a good idea, nice work.

[mvolke1]

For some reason I can only add one pic at a time. This is the marquee art.

its because your pictures are HUGE  resize them down, 3264x2448 is redonkulous.
I designed your marquee, glad you like it.

I love the marquee! It really makes the cab unique and you nailed the Galaga style I was going for. Thanks!

[mvolke1]

Hooked up myniPac tonight and it worked well. The games all loaded but the only controls that worked were MAME. I have to tweak them but I'm really happy so far.

[nitrogen_widget]

Are you going with advmame or mame4all?
I like advmame for scanlines (it looks really good) but a few of the Vert games like gyrus chug on it.
Mame4all sacnlines look cheesy but I do have a scanline generator & an hdmi to vga convertor.

with mame4all the trick is to set the resolution in the config to 320x240 and the pi resolution to 640x480 & let it do the scaling.
looks good then & doesn't give wonky aspects.

[mvolke1]

Are you going with advmame or mame4all?
I like advmame for scanlines (it looks really good) but a few of the Vert games like gyrus chug on it.
Mame4all sacnlines look cheesy but I do have a scanline generator & an hdmi to vga convertor.

with mame4all the trick is to set the resolution in the config to 320x240 and the pi resolution to 640x480 & let it do the scaling.
looks good then & doesn't give wonky aspects.

Honestly, I'm not sure... lol

I'll have to check when I get home from work.

[mvolke1]

Got the monitor installed today and put the back door on the cab. It all went together nicely. I have to hand it to Haruman, he really has a nicely made kit. Kudos!

Now all that's left is the side art the my-molding.

[mvolke1]

Another pic

[mvolke1]

One more pic

[Locke141]

This is looking quite good.

[mvolke1]

Thanks man!

[mvolke1]

Little updates here: I got one side complete with art and t-molding. I couldn't do the other side because it was printed too small. But I'm almost done.

[Malenko]

cool. apparently I designed your side art too, AND its my fault the other side had the top cut off. So, sorry :/

[mvolke1]

cool. apparently I designed your side art too, AND its my fault the other side had the top cut off. So, sorry :/

No worries, man! These things happen. 

I'm really happy with how it came out. Once I get the new side art, I can finish this baby up. I used the spray bottle with warm, soap water method to apply it, and it worked great. Easy peezy.

I'm really pleased with all of it, the art, the kit, the Raspberry Pi. Just a nice build that came together without any major hiccups. 

[mvolke1]

Hey All,

I haven't been able to finish the cab yet. Just waiting on my cab art, and then I'll finish the install and T-molding. But I've been playing this a lot, and I'm really happy with it. Just thought I'd add a couple more photos.

[jbenesh]

Just curious what you are using for speakers.  I am fiddling with a similar build also using RetroPie and have been trying to get these to work for the last few hours.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000ZH98LU/ref=pe_385040_121528360_TE_dp_1

This is my first time messing with a Pi and it has been years since I played around with Linux/Unix.

[mvolke1]

Hey there,

I have the Logitech s120 speakers. I got them here on eBay http://m.ebay.com/itm/181043149309?nav=SEARCH

I didn't have to take them out of the casing and they fit just fine with my marquee light. I kept the volume all the way up and control the level within the retropie menu. The sound is just fine. It won't blow you away but for old school games it's totally fine.

[mvolke1]

Also, they just plug into the headphone jack on the Pi.

[macattack]

How are you handling a graceful shutdown so the os does not get corrupted?


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