I've been tinkering with the idea of rebuilding my bartop Defender. If I do, I'll post a small update in Project Announcements.
The problem with it is that I used a PC on the initial build. It worked fine for a couple years, but 1 reboot and it was dead. I'm fairly sure the windows install is corrupt. It was a tight squeeze putting PC guts in it, so this time around I want to do things different. This bartop only plays Defender (doesn't even play Stargate). I want to be able to power off with a lightswitch and not worry about having to reboot it.
- 19-n-1 multigame: disable all games but Defender. I already own a jamma harness and power supply. The 19-n-1 costs less than $50.
- Raspberry Pi: Launch directly into Defender. I already have a Pi, power supply and encoder.
I'd use the pi, if there is a way to power it off without worrying about corrupting the image. The 19-n-1 is pretty rock solid, but I'd prefer to not shell out the $50. One way or another, I got to get this bartop back in business. Is my Rpi knowledge out of date? Is there a way to power it off abruptly and not worry about corruption? If there isn't, I'm going with the 19-n-1.