Do I really wanna use a Pi for my Cocktail cab?

[mgb]

Ok, so I'm starting a new project and I'm in the planning and obtaining parts stage.

It's going to be a vertical cocktail cabinet but as a slim design so it will have a stand or can be sat on a table.
Here's the general idea I'm going for:


My plan is to keep it simple with strictly 4 way joysticks and 2 buttons per player.
So I'm not planning on a huge game list. Just 4-way vertical classics.
I'm also thinking of putting USB ports on the side for playing some older consoles with game pads (Nothing newer than Genesis)

I'm even planning on going total old school and just do a usb keyboard hack for the encoder.
Shouldn't be any ghosting issues on this setup.

I already bought a good 20" lcd for this project.
So my plan was to use an old DuoCore laptop with Windows 7 for the brain but due to wanting to keep things from getting bulky and hot, I'm thinking maybe a Raspberry Pi may be the way to go.

I've had an older RPi model B for a few years now. I've done some other things with it but haven't tried it out for emulation. Didn't have a reason until now.
If I go this route, I may buy an
So how are you guys liking the pi for emulation.

What seems to work best for you?

I'm gonna mess around retropie and see how it goes.
My monitor has dvi in so that's another plus for the pi.

How do guys handle scan lines?
Thanks for any input.

[Slippyblade]

I've got an old version B that I shoved into an SNES case, it is purely a retro console station.  I love it.  Honestly, from the game list you've mentioned I see no reason NOT to use a Pi, especially since you've got one collecting dust.

Granted, I did splurge and spent $3 on a heat sink set and I have my Pi on the first notch of overclock settings to smooth out the sound issue that the older models had.

[pbj]

I'm still waiting for a front end I really like.

[mgb]

I'm still waiting for a front end I really like.

That's one problem I'm having is that the frontends are a little lacking

[Bloinkxp]

Retropie \ Emulationstation is really a nice FE in my humble opinion.  Take a look at Floob's YouTube videos to get a feel for how to install...

[yotsuya]

I'm still waiting for a front end I really like.

Agreed.

[JDFan]

So the monitor arrived ?  (was gonna ask in the other thread but seems it vanished !)

[mgb]

So the monitor arrived ?  (was gonna ask in the other thread but seems it vanished !)

Yeah it arrived. I was gonna post something but yeah that Thread got killed.

The monitir actuslly has dvi inputs but not vga So I ran it with an adaptor cable.
It worked fine and the viewing angles are good

That's a nice monitor.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll start a project thread after I figure out some design plans.

[8BitMonk]

That's a nice monitor.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll start a project thread after I figure out some design plans.

?

Looking forward to the project thread and seeing how the monitor works out. Which model was it again?

[mgb]

That's a nice monitor.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll start a project thread after I figure out some design plans.

?

Looking forward to the project thread and seeing how the monitor works out. Which model was it again?

I went with the HP LP2065.

[mgb]

I stripped down my old duo core laptop to its essentials and its small enough for this build so I'll probably go that route instead of the pi.

I kinda want a little bling in the frontend so I just feel windows 7 will be a better bet.

[LEDAero]

I'm still waiting for a front end I really like.

The beauty of open-source, you get to design one you really like.

Or pay someone on Fiverr to do it for you.

[keilmillerjr]

I stripped down my old duo core laptop to its essentials and its small enough for this build so I'll probably go that route instead of the pi.

I kinda want a little bling in the frontend so I just feel windows 7 will be a better bet.

Attract-Mode front end runs on the pi. It can be "bling". It's open source and multi-platform.