DIY Micro Arcade Cabinet by Adafruit

[MPTech]

Didn't know if this had been posted here before, but first time I've seen it offered.

Micro Arcade Cabinet by Adafruit (Raspberry Pi B not included) - Advanced  $119

http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=122&cp_id=12205&cs_id=1220502&p_id=13968&seq=1&format=2&cl=res&utm_source=151113_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=13968&utm_campaign=151113_friday

We played a bunch of memorable old arcade games, like Ms Pacman, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Arkanoid, DigDug, Gauntlet, etc.   
you can configure it for either vertical (Ms Pac-man! Donkey Kong! Arkanoid!) or horizontal screen (Joust! Qix! Nintendo!). The controls can be set to either joystick-in-center or to the side.

Looks kinda cool, but I think the real challenge is building it and running it with Raspberry Pi B!

[vwalbridge]

Yea, that kit has made its way around the internet a few times. Pretty neat and fun little project to learn on. $120 aint too bad either.

That joystick looks like a PS3 thumb-stick.

Also, looks like the speaker they put in the kit is over sized.

[vwalbridge]

I also got a pretty good chuckle at their "Volume" pricing. How generous of them!

[aldub516]

eh... honestly its pretty damn fugly, and too damn small to really do anything with... the raw sides with the screws sticking out.. eh. My fingers are the size of the whole machine..  Im currently customized icades which seem a lot more reasonable.. Im not a fan of this product. And for that price its even more eh

[DeLuSioNal29]

Looks like the SD card they provide comes with an image that's "ready to go".  No roms of course.  According to the manual you need to download the image from their website and then you can simply drag and drop the roms yourself on a PC.  (You're really paying for convenience of the image).

This is a cool little project for my 7 year old.  I'm giving it some thought myself.   

D

[pbj]

Can't one of our resident CNC jockeys rip this thing off and sell the wood for $20?

[keilmillerjr]

Can't one of our resident CNC jockeys rip this thing off and sell the wood for $20?

[paigeoliver]

So it is like a Gameboy, except way worse and a lot more expensive? This is garbage. The completed project looks like garbage.

[mgb]

as an electronics geek, I love companies like Adafruit, Sparkfun and all the many others that support that hobby.
but I kinda wish they would leave the arcade hobby alone because though it may sound odd to say, its comes off as a little novelty and not as genuine as what we have here.

[geeteoh]

I'm also an electronics geek. I bought one if these to get back into modern single board computers. It's a good intro to the Raspberry PI as well. Although this uses the first gen. Joystick is a bit loose, being an analog type. But it works for both analog controlled games as well as 4/8 position joystick games. Only two buttons, P1 and P2. They are a bit stiff. Black ones are coin up and player 1. Press both for Escape from games. Insert keyboard USB plug into hole under black buttons for admin access. You can add ROMs with drag and drop from a Windows machine to removed SD card. Probably works on Apple computer as well. I added some of the graphics obtained from their forum.

Uses GPIO and a special board for controls. They indicate that all the GPIO pins were used. I started a project to add a third (P3) button with a tiny microcontroller from Adafruit configured as a keyboard controller plugged into the unused UBB port. But my computer was acting goofy with getting the compiler installed.

[mgb]

it looks good with the Pacman graphics

[aldub516]

Theres no convenience in paying for the sd card... there are a handful of sd image ready emulators out there that are basically drop and play

[aldub516]

upon looking it over again, I will say i think its a very cool idea to inspire new people to get into a new hobby. Just tinkering with all those different components and coming out with a finished product using all of it could be kind of rewarding. I edit my opion of useless trash, to respectable idea for a product.. 

[pbj]

I still like it better than the $500 cigar box game boys.

[dezmond]

If someone wants to come up with a cleaner design, I would be more than happy to cut a half a dozen or so kits on our CNC Laser to give back to you.

Why not have a BYOAC mini cabinet?  That would be cool...

I will donate my time and wood or plastic for the cabinet

Dezi