Who wants some Nintendo Pi

[darthpaul]

Nintendo Pi anyone? Inspired by  Da OldMan's Pi-tendo, I decided to do a NES/SNES gaming console myself.
I gathered the various materials;
NES console(broken of course)
Raspberry pi 2
5 volt 2 amp power supply
Mausberry switch circuit
16 GB SD card, even though I used a MICRO card, I could have used a standard size one
2 USB Panel mount cables
Ethernet panel mount cable
HDMI panel mount cable
2 short USB cables for the controllers
SD Card extension cable
2 SNES controllers, don’t be like me and buy the cheap ones, all I can say is, you get what you pay for.

Here is a good video for setting up Retropie disregard the part about setting up the controllers, in Retropie 3.0 that is all taken care of in the initial set-up.
Once this is done you need to enter your ROMS. Since all my ROM files are located on my arcade machine, I used a USB-stick to enter them into Retropie. First you need to create a folder called retropie on the USB-stick and plug it into RPi. The first time you plug the USB stick into the the RPi, a ROM directory structure is generated on the USB stick, which only takes a few seconds. You can unplug the stick, put it into your PC and copy your ROMs into the corresponding directories on the USB stick. When you put the USB stick back into the RPi, the ROMs are automatically synchronized with the ROM folder on the RPi. When the flashing on your USB sticks ends (which indicates that no writing or reading activities are going on) you can unplug your USB stick
Once this is done you probably want to add a picture of each game and some information about it, to do this we need to do something called scraping. There is a scraping tool in Emulation Station but it is not very good, so don’t use it, instead follow this video
Now that that is done, you should be good to start playing some games.

Next was adding the Mausberry circuit to the NES's original on/off button and the RPi.
You will not find any better explanation on how to that, than here http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,147336.0.html
I thought it was a little confusing which pins to attach the Mausberry's IN OUT wires to because I didn't know which direction the RPI was pointing in, in relation to the Pinout diagram. The below diagram clears that up.



Like DaOld Man’s Pi-tendo I choose to use a broken NES Console as my Retropie gaming console.
Added a place to mount the RPi.



Since I was going to use USB Controllers I cut and grinded where the original controllers pluged in to fit a USB plug.




Next I created a panel for two extra USB connections an Ethernet connector and an SDCard connector that will be mounted behind the front flap.
It didn't come out as nice as I would like,(I used the wrong type of plastic) but since it would be very rarely seen, I decided I could live with it.






I didn't like having the SD Card buried within the console so I bought an SD Card extension and added it to that front panel. The one problem I had with it was, it didn't fit too securely in the RPi, so I just added a some hot glue to keep it in place.


I wanted to use the NES's original DC connector, so I deconstructed board the held this connector, it also included the audio and video output. Here is what is left with the circuit board stripped away.



The original connector was a little short so I used one I had laying around.The barrel connector I had, fit perfectly in the original spot once I cut shallow slots on each side of the new connector and it helped hold it in place as well.
finally I added the HDMI connector next to the DC Connector. This required more cutting and grinding to get it to fit.



The output





The last thing I would like to do is add a little pie on the front flap.
 

[DaOld Man]

Good job Darth!
Are you using Emulation Station?
If so, where did you get those background pics? Pretty cool.
Have you played Quake 3 yet?
I found the full version for Pi if you want to go online with it and kill some real bad guys. LOL
I really liked building my Pi-tendo. The second one is just about done. I ordered some cheap heat sinks from ebay so I can overclock the Pi (on the ole slow boat from China as we speak).
Still havent decided on a name.
I have found that re-building these consoles is a lot easier and quicker than a full sized cabinet, but maybe not as cool.
How do you like that card extension thinggy?

[darthpaul]

Yes, I'm using Emulation station, which background pics, the one of the controller or the Nintendo system? I like the sd card extension cable, it gives you easy access to the SD card and you can use a regular size card instead of the micro.
It is a lot easier than building these than the full size cabinet, quicker and cheaper too but like you said, not as cool. What games do you need to overclock the Pi? I've started on second helpings of Nintendo Pi, the smaller size of the gamecube is going to be a challenge fitting all the cables.

[DaOld Man]

Yeah the background behind the menu, the last pic you posted.
Gamecube Pi will be very interesting.

[darthpaul]

That is just the theme I'm using, the default theme is carbon, follow these instructions to install new themes. https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/themes I'm using zoid.

[DaOld Man]

I had to install the binaries before I had the option to do that. (Thought I'd already done that, maybe it got lost in one of my screw-ups/start-all-overs)
I like the zoid one, think that is the one I will keep.

[Buick455]

Nice work 

Just out of curiosity, this "Mausberry switch circuit" that you both are using. Does it solve the problem with accidental corruption of the SD card?

[DaOld Man]

Nice work 

Just out of curiosity, this "Mausberry switch circuit" that you both are using. Does it solve the problem with accidental corruption of the SD card?

It does not protect from power failure or "pulling the plug" while the Pi is on. It does provide an easy way to interface the original (different) power and reset switches to the Pi.
If you use the power/reset on the mausberry, the Pi is put into proper shutdown before power down.
That pulling the plug possibility is nagging me, so I am exploring possibilities.
Of course making the SD card accessible and keeping a backup is good insurance.

Darthpaul: didint mean to hijack your thread, I just happened to be online and thought Id throw in my two cents. (Worth approximately 0.00001 cents)

[darthpaul]

Your expertise is always welcome Ken.

[Niels Arcade]

Nice hack to bring some purpose back to your old nes. Do you have a photo picturing the complete unit (with your setup)?

[darthpaul]

I'm working on a logo, once that is complete, I'll post it.

[severdhed]

very cool, i love these things.  i've got to track down a cheap broken NES now...

[DaOld Man]

very cool, i love these things.  i've got to track down a cheap broken NES now...

These things are going up in price, it seems. The craze must be catching on.
I know they have the retro nes things out (havent tried them, know nothing about them really), which are about as cheap as the pi by itself, but it does look mass produced and cheapy.
Not sure if it runs emulator games or the real carts.
There is a feeling that only we DIY Arcaders know about.
That feeling you get when people play your build with awe and you say to yourself, "yeah, I made that."

[Slippyblade]

There is a feeling that only we DIY Arcaders know about.
That feeling you get when people play your build with awe and you say to yourself, "yeah, I made that."

Yep - took my SNES-Pi to a friend's get together the other week and the living room was packed all day around the TV playing it.  I was so proud.

[darthpaul]

very cool, i love these things.  i've got to track down a cheap broken NES now...

These things are going up in price, it seems. The craze must be catching on.
I know they have the retro nes things out (havent tried them, know nothing about them really), which are about as cheap as the pi by itself, but it does look mass produced and cheapy.
Not sure if it runs emulator games or the real carts.
There is a feeling that only we DIY Arcaders know about.
That feeling you get when people play your build with awe and you say to yourself, "yeah, I made that."

Those retro Nes things are just the console, you still need to buy the games to play.

[darthpaul]

Tried my hand at a video Splash Screen using Gimp and MS Movie Maker.

[darthpaul]

Completed, I want to thank DaOld Man for the Raspberry logo, it adds the finishing touch.
Now on to the next Pi project.

[DaOld Man]

 

These things are catching on.

[mike boss]

This is a super cool project and I'd like to tackle one.
Does this hook up to your TV via the HDMI ?

[darthpaul]

Yes it does, I just started another build using a Game Cube.