Opinion on my machine

[SAVAGExMLGPRO]

I was wondering what people thought of this machine so far. i haven't finished it all the way but here is a link to youtube im basing it off of.

[yotsuya]

Looks tall and wide.

[Nephasth]

Can it play Galaga?

[SAVAGExMLGPRO]

Looks tall and wide.

very tall, its only about 33" wide

Can it play Galaga?

it can play every mame game. Using a raspberry pi 3 with retropie installed onto it

[FALSE]

Looking good so far!
What type/size monitor are you going to use?
Build thread?

[Slippyblade]

very tall, its only about 33" wide

Can it play Galaga?

it can play every mame game. Using a raspberry pi 3 with retropie installed onto it
[/quote]

That was a community joke.  It's referencing the fact that showing any non-arcade junky a MAME machine, their first response tends to be, "Can it play Galaga?"

[BadMouth]

Design looks decent so far.  Center panels might be recessed from the edges a bit much.

it can play every mame game. Using a raspberry pi 3 with retropie installed onto it

Post video of it running Ridge Racer, Gauntlet Legends, & Deathsmiles. 

[tomstewdevine]

It's not finished, but from what you have it's too wide, and too tall.

[paigeoliver]

A pi3 cannot run every mame game.

I feel like you are building a big expensive project and then cheaping out on a critical component. You are building a brand new hot rod and installing a 30cc lawnmower engine in it, when you could probably get a free V8 with a few minutes of asking around.

The pi is the worst possible thing available that anyone is actually powering their cabinets with.

Looks tall and wide.

very tall, its only about 33" wide

Can it play Galaga?

it can play every mame game. Using a raspberry pi 3 with retropie installed onto it

[cj138]

It looks like you are on track to build a similar cab as the link. Interested to see the progression!

[Titchgamer]

A pi3 cannot run every mame game.

I feel like you are building a big expensive project and then cheaping out on a critical component. You are building a brand new hot rod and installing a 30cc lawnmower engine in it, when you could probably get a free V8 with a few minutes of asking around.

The pi is the worst possible thing available that anyone is actually powering their cabinets with.

Looks tall and wide.

very tall, its only about 33" wide

Can it play Galaga?

it can play every mame game. Using a raspberry pi 3 with retropie installed onto it

Bit harsh!

They aint great but have a place.

Admitidly I would only use one for something space limited personally (bar top for instance) but hell the size of that cab you could fit my works server unit in there!!

[opt2not]

Paige is spot on. (I don't think it was a harsh reply either. this is an opinion thread, and he wasn't being antagonistic, just anecdotal).

The pi is only perfect for pre-90's arcade games and up to 16-bit era console games. though I've seen the n64 emulation on it and it's decent. But some titles after that will not run 100%,and don't even think about running any of the 3D polygon arcade games.
Typically the Pi is better suited for smaller projects like mini-cabs and bartops.

With your full-sized machine you could mount a good secondhand PC in there that will run everything without hiccups, and those machines can be had for cheaper than a full pi set-up.

Personally I don't think the Pi is there yet to have a place in this hobby. yet being the key word, since there are people improving on the emulators these days so perhaps one day it'll be solid like an actual PC.

As for the size/shape, etc...  the design is interesting. It has a sort-of Vewlix cabinet look to the base.  But as the guys said, it's too tall and wide.
An average arcade cabinet's width is usually around 28-30". Consider an Dynamo HS-5 (classic conversion cabinet that you would normally find Street Fighter 2 in),  which is pretty much the defacto average size cabinet that hosts a 30" width and a 75" height.  Normally showcase cabinets have a much large width, at around 33", but those have pedestal-like control panels.

I would cut a bunch of inches off the width and see about getting the height down to 75" or lower. It would make your cabinet much easier to deal with, as well as easier to offload if you ever plan on selling it in the future.

[Titchgamer]

Paige is spot on. (I don't think it was a harsh reply either. this is an opinion thread, and he wasn't being antagonistic, just anecdotal).

Typically the Pi is better suited for smaller projects like mini-cabs and bartops.

I meant harsh to the Pi not the OP

You said it yourself they are good for smaller projects which is what I said above

I had a go with a Pi just for the hell of it to see what it was like more than anything and it emulated all the classics perfectly well which is exactly what I would want it to do if I was building a cab with it.
No it cant play really heavy games but I would not expect to be playing those on a small machine either.

The point is it has a place and to dissmiss it as "the worst possible thing available that anyone is actually powering their cabinets with." is IMO harsh.

The downside to the Pi is the shear amount of work required compared to the gain.

Where as you can set up a low end PC running a FE and mame with all the nice box art etc quite quickly doing the same for the Pi takes ALOT of time.
You certainly cant just dump a full rom set on it and expect it to work you need to rebuild the set, sift through all the stuff that wont work, take ages transfering all the files over and then start looking at the nice bits.
Not to mention the whole powering up and down bits etc.
Admitidly though once you have a good set up it is very quick and easy to replicate and reproduce.

But yeah for small projects I think they are wonderfull, But they dont hold a candle to a PC or JAMMA set up.

[opt2not]

Naw, it's not the worst thing to go with, it's just over-hyped and a hellava lot more work to set-up.

Re: heavier games, I would completely expect people want to play some 3D games like virtua fighter or die hard, tekken, Gauntlet Legends, NFL Blitz  on a small form cabinet like a bartop. As far as I know, the Pi cannot emulate these at their full fps in it's current state.  It's questionable whether it ever will.

If you want small-form hardware, you could always get a mini-itx computer that's fast enough to run everything.  That's a decent compromise between size and power.

[SAVAGExMLGPRO]

A pi3 cannot run every mame game.

I feel like you are building a big expensive project and then cheaping out on a critical component. You are building a brand new hot rod and installing a 30cc lawnmower engine in it, when you could probably get a free V8 with a few minutes of asking around.

The pi is the worst possible thing available that anyone is actually powering their cabinets with.

Looks tall and wide.

very tall, its only about 33" wide

Can it play Galaga?

it can play every mame game. Using a raspberry pi 3 with retropie installed onto it

it plays every game that i want to play. So works perfectly fine for me!

It looks like you are on track to build a similar cab as the link. Interested to see the progression!

Thank you very much!

Looking good so far!
What type/size monitor are you going to use?
Build thread?

Im using a 32in tv

It's not finished, but from what you have it's too wide, and too tall.

I really like the length and width of it. I think it reminds me of something old, like playing the games. But also something new, as in using a flat screen tv and making the design smaller and using the same buttons from old machines.

[Malenko]

The pi is perfect.......................





















to netboot my Naomi NetDIMM.

Cab looks too tall and too wide.

[SAVAGExMLGPRO]

The pi is perfect.......................





















to netboot my Naomi NetDIMM.

Cab looks too tall and too wide.

The cab was built by someone else and I just got his plans because i personally liked it and copied it.

[Malenko]

The cab was built by someone else and I just got his plans because i personally liked it and copied it.

That's fine, but here's a pro tip : Don't ask for peoples opinions if you don't want them.
  Maybe rename your thread  "Here's my cab, stroke my ego please" ?

[SAVAGExMLGPRO]

More progress on it! I only have to cut a couple more pieces and mount the tv. I also have to drill the holes for the buttons. It almost there and completed, im actually very happy with this machine build and excited to see it finished!

[opt2not]

If you're really happy with it and excited to get it finished, what's the point of asking for opinions?  Just create a project thread instead and post your progress. Project threads are probably more of what you're looking for in terms of feedback. Most people will likely say "good job" "it looks great" in a proper project thread, rather than an opinion thread where we're lead to think that you're actually looking for honest feedback.

[yotsuya]

The pi is perfect.......................





















to netboot my Naomi NetDIMM.

Cab looks too tall and too wide.

I thought you were going to write "...for me to poop on!"

The style cab you're planning is really associated with two-player fighting games. Do those run well on the Pi?

[SAVAGExMLGPRO]

The pi is perfect.......................





















to netboot my Naomi NetDIMM.

Cab looks too tall and too wide.

I thought you were going to write "...for me to poop on!"

The style cab you're planning is really associated with two-player fighting games. Do those run well on the Pi?

actually i havent played any fighting games yet

[yotsuya]

Best of luck with the build,  my friend!

[paigeoliver]

I am not trying to be a jerk or some sort of elitist when I say the Pi is the worst thing that anyone is using. I am actually just telling the truth.

There are basically only 3 things people are using for Mame.

PC
Xbox
Pi

The pi is absolutely the worst one of the 3, and the only reason you will ever see me endorse an Xbox is because you can pair that up with a 25" TV set to put in an original cabinet. Most don't know it, but there is a serious shortage of 25" arcade monitors. The games from that era ran on the arcade floor 2-3 times as long as the older games and couldn't take advantage of the spare monitors coming out of the gambling industry since those were all 19".

[SAVAGExMLGPRO]

I am not trying to be a jerk or some sort of elitist when I say the Pi is the worst thing that anyone is using. I am actually just telling the truth.

There are basically only 3 things people are using for Mame.

PC
Xbox
Pi

The pi is absolutely the worst one of the 3, and the only reason you will ever see me endorse an Xbox is because you can pair that up with a 25" TV set to put in an original cabinet. Most don't know it, but there is a serious shortage of 25" arcade monitors. The games from that era ran on the arcade floor 2-3 times as long as the older games and couldn't take advantage of the spare monitors coming out of the gambling industry since those were all 19".

Im also playing nes, snes, and any other consoles that are compatible with the raspberry pi. But what im using it for, is just enough! 

[SAVAGExMLGPRO]

Best of luck with the build,  my friend!

Thank you very much!

[Mr. Peabody]

The width is fine. The height might be a bit much, even with a 27" CRT. 33 CRT, maybe. I'd cut those front-sticking feet off.....unless they're a gag to make people eat it when getting up. I'd also bevel the edges of the outer walls.

[paigeoliver]

The console emulators for the pi are certainly better than Mame is. A console emulator just has to emulate a single platform that is usually relatively simple and well understood for its era.

While in Mame every single game is possibly a different platform.

I am not trying to be a jerk or some sort of elitist when I say the Pi is the worst thing that anyone is using. I am actually just telling the truth.

There are basically only 3 things people are using for Mame.

PC
Xbox
Pi

The pi is absolutely the worst one of the 3, and the only reason you will ever see me endorse an Xbox is because you can pair that up with a 25" TV set to put in an original cabinet. Most don't know it, but there is a serious shortage of 25" arcade monitors. The games from that era ran on the arcade floor 2-3 times as long as the older games and couldn't take advantage of the spare monitors coming out of the gambling industry since those were all 19".

Im also playing nes, snes, and any other consoles that are compatible with the raspberry pi. But what im using it for, is just enough!

[Titchgamer]

I am not trying to be a jerk or some sort of elitist when I say the Pi is the worst thing that anyone is using. I am actually just telling the truth.

There are basically only 3 things people are using for Mame.

PC
Xbox
Pi

The pi is absolutely the worst one of the 3, and the only reason you will ever see me endorse an Xbox is because you can pair that up with a 25" TV set to put in an original cabinet. Most don't know it, but there is a serious shortage of 25" arcade monitors. The games from that era ran on the arcade floor 2-3 times as long as the older games and couldn't take advantage of the spare monitors coming out of the gambling industry since those were all 19".

Allthough that is true I still wouldnt want to be putting a XBOX or a PC in a bartop :p

Sure PC's can be put in bartops pretty easily but keeping em cool is the hard part!

[Nephasth]

I am not trying to be a jerk or some sort of elitist when I say the Pi is the worst thing that anyone is using. I am actually just telling the truth.

There are basically only 3 things people are using for Mame.

PC
Xbox
Pi

The pi is absolutely the worst one of the 3, and the only reason you will ever see me endorse an Xbox is because you can pair that up with a 25" TV set to put in an original cabinet. Most don't know it, but there is a serious shortage of 25" arcade monitors. The games from that era ran on the arcade floor 2-3 times as long as the older games and couldn't take advantage of the spare monitors coming out of the gambling industry since those were all 19".

Allthough that is true I still wouldnt want to be putting a XBOX or a PC in a bartop :p

Sure PC's can be put in bartops pretty easily but keeping em cool is the hard part!

Decase the PC. Install fan in bartop. Yup, pretty hard...

[Titchgamer]

I am not trying to be a jerk or some sort of elitist when I say the Pi is the worst thing that anyone is using. I am actually just telling the truth.

There are basically only 3 things people are using for Mame.

PC
Xbox
Pi

The pi is absolutely the worst one of the 3, and the only reason you will ever see me endorse an Xbox is because you can pair that up with a 25" TV set to put in an original cabinet. Most don't know it, but there is a serious shortage of 25" arcade monitors. The games from that era ran on the arcade floor 2-3 times as long as the older games and couldn't take advantage of the spare monitors coming out of the gambling industry since those were all 19".

Allthough that is true I still wouldnt want to be putting a XBOX or a PC in a bartop :p

Sure PC's can be put in bartops pretty easily but keeping em cool is the hard part!

Decase the PC. Install fan in bartop. Yup, pretty hard...

Yeah and what about when it does not cool enough and the HDD fails?

Becasue yes I have seen that happen several times!

[Nephasth]

Then you're doing it wrong.

[Titchgamer]

Then you're doing it wrong.

Not me, I used a Pi :p

But I have seen it happen to numerous people.
They work great for a few months or whatever then they fail.

If I was going to use a PC i would prob use a fully cased micro PC and add a additional extract fun tbh but ya know each to there own :p

[Nephasth]

Then you're doing it wrong.

Not me, I used a Pi :p

But I have seen it happen to numerous people.
They work great for a few months or whatever then they fail.

If I was going to use a PC i would prob use a fully cased micro PC and add a additional extract fun tbh but ya know each to there own :p

 

[Titchgamer]

Then you're doing it wrong.

Not me, I used a Pi :p

But I have seen it happen to numerous people.
They work great for a few months or whatever then they fail.

If I was going to use a PC i would prob use a fully cased micro PC and add a additional extract fun tbh but ya know each to there own :p

 

And whats the prob with using a cased micro pc with extra fan?

[Malenko]

If I was going to use a PC i would prob use a fully cased micro PC and add a additional extract fun tbh but ya know each to there own :p

 

[Nephasth]

Maximize air flow. Get rid of that ---smurfing--- case.

[Titchgamer]

Pc cases are designed to suck the air through the case and out the other side to create a wind tunnel effect.

If you take it out of the case you are stopping that from happening.
You can create a cabinet which has the same effect but I think that is where people go wrong and the components over heat.

You can have all the air around it you want but if the hot air is not being expelled and cool air drawn in then its going to fail.

All my cabs have had cased PC's in them and none of them have had any issues.
The only machine I have had fail on me was a cocktail cab I had aquired from someone who had stripped the PC and sure enough The HDD failed followed by the processor.
I knew it was going to happen I just couldnt be arsed to fix it until it did.
Then I replaced it with a cased pc and sold it :p

Anyways I will drop out here as I think we have derailed the OP's thread a little!

[Nephasth]

Agree on case design... But they're not intended to be stuffed in small wooden boxes. (Talking bartops here)

[Titchgamer]

Well agree with you there they are not designed for that lol
But this is where design is inportant!