Jamma to Raspberry Pi

[jeffco]

Hi All,

I am a newb to building arcade systems, I was given a Pandora's box 2 jamma by a friend which led me to building a bartop style cab, everything is working as it should be but I wanted to add light guns to the cab and after looking about found that I would be better off using retropie on a raspberry pi system.

So my question is this, is there a way of leaving the jamma harness connected to the controls and using that to connect to the raspberry pi? I have come across this http://arcadeforge.net/PiJamma/PiJamma-Raspberry-Pi-Arcade-and-Retro-Gaming-Interface::106.html and http://arcadeforge.net/GamePad-Key-Encoder/Jamma-USB-Adapter/Jamma-USB-Adapter::237.html and this https://www.ultimarc.com/jpac.html and I have no idea if these will work or if they are even made to do what I need.

My cab is a 2 player, 6 buttons per person, 1P, 2P and insert coin button set up. and I would like to upgrade the buttons to illuminated buttons at some point.

I don't know if it would be easier to swap out the harness for these https://www.amazon.co.uk/Illuminated-Encoder-Joystick-Buttons-Project/dp/B01GZXW6SO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474273712&sr=8-1&keywords=jamma+to+usb+illuminated+encoder as I believe they have the connections for the led built (or so it looks) though I would like to remain using the current fighter style sticks I have installed.

Thanks jeff

[Locke141]

The J-pac should work as it is just a keyboard encoder. Your R-Pi should just see it as a keyboard. You can email Andy at ultimarc he is really good with the customer service.

[keilmillerjr]

The J-pac should work as it is just a keyboard encoder. Your R-Pi should just see it as a keyboard. You can email Andy at ultimarc he is really good with the customer service.

Jpac is correct.

[jeffco]

thanks for getting back to me, and thanks for the info 

[paigeoliver]

You are better off using a PC. One from 1999 will be better than the pi. I am not aware of any light guns that work with the pi. Don't waste your money on the pi. The pi is the wrong road. Sell your pandora box, use the $50 to buy a used PC on craigslist and use that instead. There is absolutely no reason to use a pi in anything large enough to be called an arcade.

[jeffco]

Thanks for the warning, I thought the aimtrak light guns would work with the Rpi, the problem I have is that my cab wouldn't be able to fit a psu, mobo and Hdd in it, its not deep enough which was why I thought the pi would work best.

thanks

[jeffco]

sorry one last question, if I go down the pc route, is it possible to control windows with the stick and buttons? I don't want the hassle of installing a track ball or modifying the cab, and I don't want a keyboard and mouse hanging out of it.

Also is it possible to wire the power switch of the mobo to an arcade button (I have an unused one on the side of the cab)

thanks   

[nordemoniac]

sorry one last question, if I go down the pc route, is it possible to control windows with the stick and buttons? I don't want the hassle of installing a track ball or modifying the cab, and I don't want a keyboard and mouse hanging out of it.

Also is it possible to wire the power switch of the mobo to an arcade button (I have an unused one on the side of the cab)

thanks

Absolutely better with PC! I just bought a brand new RPi3 and I'm using RetroPie on it. SOOOO slow for MAME! Only usable on NES/SNES etc.
There are a lot of small PC's available, although maybe not for just $50, but you can find them. But I experienced slowdowns on a P4 on "newer" MAME games, and would recommend something beefier, Core2Duo -> Core i3/i5 and a decent graphics card. Slowdowns ruins the whole experience.

While it is possible to control Windows with the stick and buttons, I don't see why you'd want to. You could buy a tiny RF keyboard/mouse combo and have the receiver plugged into the motherboard for the times you'd need it, or VNC from another computer. When you have everything set up the way you want it, you re-shell Windows so you go straight to your front-end (HyperSpin or whatever).

Starting the computer with an arcade button? No problem at all! The power button in a computer chassis is connected to two pins on your motherboard, cut the wires behind the button, and solder them/crimp to the arcade button - done!

[nordemoniac]

Thanks for the warning, I thought the aimtrak light guns would work with the Rpi, the problem I have is that my cab wouldn't be able to fit a psu, mobo and Hdd in it, its not deep enough which was why I thought the pi would work best.

thanks

The driver/software for Aimtrak won't work, which is why you would need a PC for them.
Btw, I can highly recommend them! They're awesome!!

[Locke141]

The Pi is fine for some, mostly older games. FBA is faster then MAME on R-pi. But as others have stated an Old PC is usually the better way to go. If space is an issue, you could get an old laptop and use that.

Yes it is easy to get a PC to load a Front End (FE) on boot and most can be set up to use the joystick and buttons for navigation. Go look at some FE's and decide how fancy you want to go. I like attractmode as it is very easy to set up and use. It also now supposedly supports Mala (a FE not under active development) and hyper spin themes, but I have never tried to use one in attract mode my self.

hyperspin is pretty but takes a lot more work to set up and learn.

There are lotsand lots of other FE's but the two above are a good place to start your search.

[jeffco]

lol just realising how little I know, you guys are awesome thanks for the help and suggestions, I think I will defo be going down the pc route.

thanks jeff

[paigeoliver]

If whatever you are building is too small to put a PC motherboard in then I would question as to if it could even be called an arcade at that point.

[jeffco]

If whatever you are building is too small to put a PC motherboard in then I would question as to if it could even be called an arcade at that point.

I made it using this kit as space was an issue http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BARTOP-ARCADE-18MM-TWO-PLAYER-CC-STYLE-STANDARD-WIDTH-WITH-SCREEN-AND-MARQUEE-/191959417747?hash=item2cb1ac4393:g:~iQAAOSwr7ZW4sxV

[DeLuSioNal29]

I don't want the hassle of installing a track ball or modifying the cab, and I don't want a keyboard and mouse hanging out of it.

I bought this and it works great.  I have a USB dongle installed on the PC inside and whip out this wireless keyboard as needed.  It has a built in trackpad (mouse) with left and right mouse buttons.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Logitech-Wireless-Touch-Keyboard-K400-with-Built-In-Multi-Touch-Touchpad-Black/17253322

DeL

[nordemoniac]

lol just realising how little I know, you guys are awesome thanks for the help and suggestions, I think I will defo be going down the pc route.

thanks jeff

Everyone has to start somewhere 

I consider myself new to the game as well (no pun intended). My tip would be to buy exactly what you need, so you're up and running - modify/upgrade later when you know what you want to change, be it audio, display, controls etc, take it step by step.

[paigeoliver]

You can definitely get a motherboard in there, although it would be easier to put a netbook in there.

If whatever you are building is too small to put a PC motherboard in then I would question as to if it could even be called an arcade at that point.

I made it using this kit as space was an issue http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BARTOP-ARCADE-18MM-TWO-PLAYER-CC-STYLE-STANDARD-WIDTH-WITH-SCREEN-AND-MARQUEE-/191959417747?hash=item2cb1ac4393:g:~iQAAOSwr7ZW4sxV

[jeffco]

Thanks All, would a netbook be powerful enough to run Mame?

Also I wanted to make it as easy as possible to get the emu running and have come across RetroArch, is this any good to use? Can it be set up as a FE and boot directly into it, and are the Aimtrak LG's compatible ? And can you set up the 'cheats' too on this?

Want to run Mame, Dreamcast, Snes, Nes, Mega Drive, & maybe N64 (just for WCW lol) not too fussed about the other cores.

Thanks again

[paigeoliver]

A quick check on craigslist shows that you can get a 1.5 ghz Atom netbook with 1GB of ram for $50. That is way more than enough provided you are willing to use a much older mame version (which would still be many years newer than the version that you would be running with a pi). That isn't going to run Dreamcast but you don't need Dreamcast, those games are all analog and your joysticks won't be analog.

Thanks All, would a netbook be powerful enough to run Mame?

Also I wanted to make it as easy as possible to get the emu running and have come across RetroArch, is this any good to use? Can it be set up as a FE and boot directly into it, and are the Aimtrak LG's compatible ? And can you set up the 'cheats' too on this?

Want to run Mame, Dreamcast, Snes, Nes, Mega Drive, & maybe N64 (just for WCW lol) not too fussed about the other cores.

Thanks again

[nordemoniac]

Ugh... Atom.
Really - If you want this to be a playable machine, go for a better computer!

[paigeoliver]

Ugh... Atom.
Really - If you want this to be a playable machine, go for a better computer!

I'll bet an Atom does just fine with Mame .55.

Also, apparently this is going in a tiny bartop, so does it even matter? Just going to end up in the trash a few years down the road when something breaks on it.

[behrmr]

Paige is correct I've done a couple of builds with an atom motherboard and at least all of the 80s type games played well on it.

[nordemoniac]

Hmm, yeah maybe under a simple Linux setup. I've just experienced too much pain with Atom, Fusion, and all those tiny passive cooled solutions. Never has enough juice to run without hiccups.

[ivwshane]

What games are you trying to play on the pi that run too slow? I can play sf3 with no issues with my pi 2 and running racalbox with the rewind feature disabled.

[paigeoliver]

What games are you trying to play on the pi that run too slow? I can play sf3 with no issues with my pi 2 and running racalbox with the rewind feature disabled.

That uses a different emulator that is way more optimized for pi than Mame is. Pi frameskips all sorts of early 90s stuff in mame.

[ivwshane]

What games are you trying to play on the pi that run too slow? I can play sf3 with no issues with my pi 2 and running racalbox with the rewind feature disabled.

That uses a different emulator that is way more optimized for pi than Mame is. Pi frameskips all sorts of early 90s stuff in mame.

Running mame on the pi I get 53.9 frames on mkII and 59.9 frames for sf3 using libretro.

Now for Dreamcast and n64, sure, a PC is the way to go but I don't think they can be played smoothly on an atom cpu.

[ark_ader]

Forget the PC and get a old Xbox and run CoinOPS on it.