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?


Www.xtremepinball.com

[mvolke1]

It's in the Retropie menu

[mvolke1]

Hey Everyone,

She's finally done! I'm very happy with the build. This kit came from Harumancustoms.com, and I really highly recommend them if you're thinking about a kit or custom build. Great service, great product, super fast shipping and fair prices.

I got the last piece of art on last night and finished off the t-molding. The only thing I have left to do is map the controls for the consoles. MAME works perfectly, though, and I've been playing it a ton. It's in my office right now. Going to break it out at lunch time.

Thanks all for the advice and feedback!


Here's the parts list:
Haruman widescreen two-player bar top kit
http://www.harumancustoms.com/bartop-kits/

HDMI to VGA adapter
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007KFVQXI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Inline plug
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0050HH70E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Speakers. Never even had to take them out of their cases.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181043149309?_trksid=p2060778.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

These buttons are much firmer than the classic Happ buttons, but I really like them.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ARCADE-LIGHTED-LED-LONG-GREEN-BUTTON-MAME-MULTICADE-/360296413375

The lamp to illuminate the marquee. It fit just fine in there with the speakers. I used velcro to attach it.
http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=71118-57299-7000&langId=-1&storeId=10151&productId=4075998&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1

Ipac4 (I know I only needed a 2, but I had one I reused it from a previous build)
Raspberry Pi Model B with Retropie
Ultimarc Mag-Stick Plus
Heat sinks for the Pi
HP L2045W HSTND-2181-T 20" LCD MONITOR (got it used on ebay)

[mvolke1]

Here are some more photos.

[mvolke1]

And more

[mvolke1]

And yet another.

[mvolke1]

Last one.

[Malenko]

trade me your IPAC4 for my IPAC2?  I'll ship first




Cab looks fantastic!

[yamatetsu]

Congrats on a beautiful cab 

Please consider posting a pic in the "I completed my project! I posted a pic and a link to my project thread" !

[mvolke1]

Thanks guys!

[imsuperduckie]

Very nice build. I'm trying to build one myself with a raspberry pi B+. Please excuse the newbie question, but why is an I-PAC 2 or 4  needed? Is that just for ease of connections or is that the only way to connect up the buttons/joysticks to the pi? I figured there is a 40 GPIO on the pi, wouldn't that be used to connect? Please help. Thanks.

[Slippyblade]

Very nice build. I'm trying to build one myself with a raspberry pi B+. Please excuse the newbie question, but why is an I-PAC 2 or 4  needed? Is that just for ease of connections or is that the only way to connect up the buttons/joysticks to the pi? I figured there is a 40 GPIO on the pi, wouldn't that be used to connect? Please help. Thanks.

It's called ease of use and support.  The I-PAC is stupidly easy to use and has a ton of support available for it.  You -could- use the GPIO pins on the RPi to do pretty much the same thing but you would have to write and debug the interface code on your own and if something went wrong, you'd have to figure it out on your own - no support.

[imsuperduckie]

Great explanation. Thanks!

[mvolke1]

Very nice build. I'm trying to build one myself with a raspberry pi B+. Please excuse the newbie question, but why is an I-PAC 2 or 4  needed? Is that just for ease of connections or is that the only way to connect up the buttons/joysticks to the pi? I figured there is a 40 GPIO on the pi, wouldn't that be used to connect? Please help. Thanks.

It's called ease of use and support.  The I-PAC is stupidly easy to use and has a ton of support available for it.  You -could- use the GPIO pins on the RPi to do pretty much the same thing but you would have to write and debug the interface code on your own and if something went wrong, you'd have to figure it out on your own - no support.

What he said! 

The iPac is soooooo easy to use. Way easier than messing with the GPIO. And I had an extra from an old project, so it was no big deal to reuse. If I do this again, I'd get another iPac. It's been working perfectly.

[DaOld Man]

Very nice job!
I have got to get me some of that Pi!!

[imsuperduckie]

Have another question for OP and anyone else that went the Pi route, how are the 3.5 analog speakers working for you? Especially the sound. I, for the life of me, cannot get rid of the audio static that you hear from the 3.5 pi connection. I've swapped different speakers without any luck. No  static at all if I use the HDMI connector to a monitor with built in speakers. Any tricks?

[nitrogen_widget]

Have another question for OP and anyone else that went the Pi route, how are the 3.5 analog speakers working for you? Especially the sound. I, for the life of me, cannot get rid of the audio static that you hear from the 3.5 pi connection. I've swapped different speakers without any luck. No  static at all if I use the HDMI connector to a monitor with built in speakers. Any tricks?

I believe in the retropi-config script there is an option to set hdmi or jack for the primary oudio output.
That may help you out.

[Goochee64]

The iPac is soooooo easy to use. Way easier than messing with the GPIO. And I had an extra from an old project, so it was no big deal to reuse. If I do this again, I'd get another iPac. It's been working perfectly.

Like your cabinet. Looks great. It has inspired me to go and purchase a Pi2 for my next build.
You say the iPac is So easy to use. I assume you had to edit the retropi config file to map the buttons? Can you give some more detail how you got the iPac and retropi working so well. Doing a search I see some people having problems getting them working together.
Any info will be greatly appreciated
Cheers
Goochee

[mvolke1]

The iPac is soooooo easy to use. Way easier than messing with the GPIO. And I had an extra from an old project, so it was no big deal to reuse. If I do this again, I'd get another iPac. It's been working perfectly.

Like your cabinet. Looks great. It has inspired me to go and purchase a Pi2 for my next build.
You say the iPac is So easy to use. I assume you had to edit the retropi config file to map the buttons? Can you give some more detail how you got the iPac and retropi working so well. Doing a search I see some people having problems getting them working together.
Any info will be greatly appreciated
Cheers
Goochee

Thanks for the question. I'm really glad you like the build! It's found a home in my office at work

I literally just wired the iPac up to the controls and plugged the usb cord into the Pi and it worked without any programming or extra wiring. It was pretty easy. The hardest part was stripping all that damn wire. 

[mvolke1]

Very nice job!
I have got to get me some of that Pi!!

I have to say it's pretty tasty. My next build will be a full-size cab, running on a Pi.

[RetroGreg]

I have to agree that I need to get a Pi2 for a project soon. Congrats on this cab! Looks great!

[mvolke1]

I have to agree that I need to get a Pi2 for a project soon. Congrats on this cab! Looks great!

The Pi is great for someone like me who is better with the build than the computer portion (i.e., I'm pretty clueless with that stuff). Especially when you have the iPac. I am already planning my next build and am thinking of doing another Pi in a full-size arcade for my home office. 

[nitrogen_widget]

I have to agree that I need to get a Pi2 for a project soon. Congrats on this cab! Looks great!

The Pi is great for someone like me who is better with the build than the computer portion (i.e., I'm pretty clueless with that stuff). Especially when you have the iPac. I am already planning my next build and am thinking of doing another Pi in a full-size arcade for my home office. 

Initial tests on my RPI2 show it can play so much more than the RPI 1.
i've been playing around with my rpi1 and getting it ready for my bartop now so havn't had a chance to play with my rpi2 too much lately.