Home Arcade Headache.....Pi over PC?

[lisowskikevin]

Hey guys, I built my own arcade years ago using a sony tv/IPAC/ PC. The problem is now I am getting blue screens all the time and my question is........is raspberry pi a good alternative to a more stable platform for hyper spin and the emulators?

I feel like windows in general is such a glitchy platform for something that I need to "just work".

Thoughts?

[Nephasth]

Fix your PC.

[leapinlew]

Hey guys, I built my own arcade years ago using a sony tv/IPAC/ PC. The problem is now I am getting blue screens all the time and my question is........is raspberry pi a good alternative to a more stable platform for hyper spin and the emulators?

I feel like windows in general is such a glitchy platform for something that I need to "just work".

Thoughts?

My thoughts on the Pi:
Pro: Gets the job done to load arcade games(only use the Pi 3)
Pro: Inexpensive
Pro: Easy to image/replace with same components
Con: Cannot handle Hyperspin if that's your front end of choice
Con: Has to be shutdown the same as a computer
Con: Performance issues with some of the more demanding roms

The good news is, you can try it for very little cost to see what you think. If it doesn't work very well, you aren't invested that much in it. I use a PC in my mame machines for the front end and performance. I use a Pi3 in my console rebuilds to emulate console games. Good luck!

[lisowskikevin]

Hey guys, I built my own arcade years ago using a sony tv/IPAC/ PC. The problem is now I am getting blue screens all the time and my question is........is raspberry pi a good alternative to a more stable platform for hyper spin and the emulators?

I feel like windows in general is such a glitchy platform for something that I need to "just work".

Thoughts?

My thoughts on the Pi:
Pro: Gets the job done to load arcade games(only use the Pi 3)
Pro: Inexpensive
Pro: Easy to image/replace with same components
Con: Cannot handle Hyperspin if that's your front end of choice
Con: Has to be shutdown the same as a computer
Con: Performance issues with some of the more demanding roms

The good news is, you can try it for very little cost to see what you think. If it doesn't work very well, you aren't invested that much in it. I use a PC in my mame machines for the front end and performance. I use a Pi3 in my console rebuilds to emulate console games. Good luck!

Thanks Lew!

[pbj]

Pi has come along pretty well, but it's still a lot of flat menus with lists of text for the most part.  I finally gave in and used one on a cabinet.  It's fine. 

[leapinlew]

Pi has come along pretty well, but it's still a lot of flat menus with lists of text for the most part.  I finally gave in and used one on a cabinet.  It's fine.

surprisingly enough, "fine" is a pretty good and accurate description.

I would argue with anyone that "quick and easy" are subjective when talking about setting one up.

[KenToad]

Pi can be a crazy amount of work to get running correctly with all the artwork and everything showing up, controls configured well, etc. I downloaded quite a few preloaded images until I found a good starting point. It still took me several months to get everything perfectly clean and configured. By the time I had finished, there were new versions of the pi hardware and new versions of the hyperpie FE that I use. But the thought of updating makes me cringe. Nothing in Pi world is drag and drop. And I have access to a computer with Linux, so I had the luxury of being able to mess with configs without having to log onto the pi remotely or use the clunky text interface.

I would say that Pi is great for most major consoles up to 32 bit. It's serviceable for Mame, runs an old version and lots of games are glitchy (such as Donkey Kong having issues because the old versions samples are missing, just as one small example), but it does well running Neo Geo and Capcom games via Final Burn.

Keep in mind that most of my experience was at least half a year ago. I have a 3b and no experience with the newer hardware or more recent images.

[lisowskikevin]

Thanks guys! Trust me I remember spending MONTHS trekking my way through a full hyperspin setup so I know how tedious some of this can be. That being said You guys have confirmed what I suspected.....Pi has come a long way. I think I'll try some things to fix up my PC but ultimately I might just start working on a Pi project and see how it turns out.

Also, I have 2 Aimtraks, is Pi all good for those or is that a pipe dream?

[keilmillerjr]

Pi does native 240p via composite. Its easier to setup Raspbian lite with cli than windows. Its small.

Pc with the right video card can handle rgb video. Perfect pixel clocks. Better front end video performance (shaders, surfaces).

[leapinlew]

Also, I have 2 Aimtraks, is Pi all good for those or is that a pipe dream?

I think you are squarely in headache territory if you try to go with a Pi. Let the pain begin:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=153035.0


My gut says stick with the PC if that's what you know.

[nitrogen_widget]

Aimtraks?
no.
Pi does most other things just fine except 3d games.
if you are using a monitor or hd tv you got eye csndy galore with the pi with attractmode.
Hell it eve runs hyperspin themes with attractmode.

but 240p?
you aren't getting much prettiness regardless of your front end.

[langlem]

Question... what games / systems do you primarily play? 

[Howard_Casto]

Something that's taken me nearly 20 years to come to terms with is the old Jurassic Park adage.....  I was so busy trying to figure out if I could get every possible game crammed into a cabinet, I never stopped to think if I should. 

The difficulty in setup, both on a Pi and a PC has a lot to do with the sheer amount of games available.  If you try to add them all it's a nightmare, but if you start out with a small list of the games you played as a kid and expand from there as you try new games and emulators it's pretty manageable.  The all killer no filler list is a good place to start if you need suggestions. 

[lisowskikevin]

Question... what games / systems do you primarily play?

Mame, genesis, daphne and sega CD.

[lisowskikevin]

Thanks for all the insightful replies guys.

[KenToad]

Something that's taken me nearly 20 years to come to terms with is the old Jurassic Park adage.....  I was so busy trying to figure out if I could get every possible game crammed into a cabinet, I never stopped to think if I should. 

The difficulty in setup, both on a Pi and a PC has a lot to do with the sheer amount of games available.  If you try to add them all it's a nightmare, but if you start out with a small list of the games you played as a kid and expand from there as you try new games and emulators it's pretty manageable.  The all killer no filler list is a good place to start if you need suggestions.

With pi images, it's usually the opposite problem. You download an image that is just filled to the brim with junk, meanwhile missing tons of the best translations and obscure stuff. Most of my time dealing with Pi images has been sifting through the garbage, then resolving media issues, stupid control configurations (who sets up an irreversible reset hotkey on the face of a controller?), and then making sure that the essential stuff gets represented. Part of what makes it takes so long is if you have a touch of OCD and see that you can delete tons of media, etc. and maybe fit a few more of your favorite disc-based games, then you have to test them because maybe you carelessly forgot to capitalize something.

The problems were so ubiquitous, at least when I was perusing the scene, I just assumed that one person had set it up that way as default and no one had bothered to change those things.

I should stress that the pi is great once you've got it set up properly. I've played through a lot of console games on it, just because it boots up fast and has nearly unified controls. On PC, I still haven't got perfectly unified controls, but overall Windows is a lot easier to work with, test, and tweak.

[daywane]

I am enjoying doing both Pi and PC
I even just ordered my 3rd pi.
PM sent

[keilmillerjr]

but 240p?
you aren't getting much prettiness regardless of your front end.

I beg to differ. I design my layouts specifically with an 15khz crt in mind. It looks good. If you associate resolution with prettiness, then I’m not sure why you are on an arcade forum that targets old games.

This is my latest layout at 240p on crt.

[keilmillerjr]

Something that's taken me nearly 20 years to come to terms with is the old Jurassic Park adage.....  I was so busy trying to figure out if I could get every possible game crammed into a cabinet, I never stopped to think if I should. 

The difficulty in setup, both on a Pi and a PC has a lot to do with the sheer amount of games available.  If you try to add them all it's a nightmare, but if you start out with a small list of the games you played as a kid and expand from there as you try new games and emulators it's pretty manageable.  The all killer no filler list is a good place to start if you need suggestions.

With pi images, it's usually the opposite problem. You download an image that is just filled to the brim with junk, meanwhile missing tons of the best translations and obscure stuff. Most of my time dealing with Pi images has been sifting through the garbage, then resolving media issues, stupid control configurations (who sets up an irreversible reset hotkey on the face of a controller?), and then making sure that the essential stuff gets represented. Part of what makes it takes so long is if you have a touch of OCD and see that you can delete tons of media, etc. and maybe fit a few more of your favorite disc-based games, then you have to test them because maybe you carelessly forgot to capitalize something.

The problems were so ubiquitous, at least when I was perusing the scene, I just assumed that one person had set it up that way as default and no one had bothered to change those things.

I should stress that the pi is great once you've got it set up properly. I've played through a lot of console games on it, just because it boots up fast and has nearly unified controls. On PC, I still haven't got perfectly unified controls, but overall Windows is a lot easier to work with, test, and tweak.

Your starting fresh on a pc. Start fresh on a pi too. I cant stand those images. Slow and bloated because most people have the “i want it to do everything” mentality.

[Mike A]

What the crap? People are spending months setting up their software? Simplify. My cab runs like a dozen games. It gets played all of the time at my parties. I tell people the button combo for exiting games and I can walk away. It took me probably an hour to setup on a PC. Nobody gives a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- about your fancy front end or intro videos. I think I had to get people out of the config menu they stumbled into twice. My wireless keyboard is stashed on top of the cab. The cab is literally zero maintenance at this point. Howard is right. Start simple. And more garbage later if you want to expand.

[Malenko]

The best thing about the Pi is the small footprint. If you're building a smaller cab where fitting all the PC guts inside would prove challenging, a Pi is likely a better choice.  If you have the room for a PC, I honestly cant think of a reason that a Pi would be a better choice unless the PC is so incredibly old that a Pi is faster.

[KenToad]

What the crap? People are spending months setting up their software? Simplify. My cab runs like a dozen games. It gets played all of the time at my parties. I tell people the button combo for exiting games and I can walk away. It took me probably an hour to setup on a PC. Nobody gives a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- about your fancy front end or intro videos. I think I had to get people out of the config menu they stumbled into twice. My wireless keyboard is stashed on top of the cab. The cab is literally zero maintenance at this point. Howard is right. Start simple. And more garbage later if you want to expand.

I'll let you in on a little secret, Mike. It's not for other people. It's for me. I need Galaga fast shooting as much as I need Kururin Paradise or Dracula X PC Engine original with English voice acting. The problem is that it's a deep rabbit hole and definitely easier to stick with full official sets, but I hate scrolling through a wasteland of shovelware. That doesn't mean that I want my classic gaming options to be limited to the dozen games that non-geeks remember playing.

I will run a list of the dozen favorite arcade games at parties, though, definitely. 

[leapinlew]

I'll let you in on a little secret, Mike. It's not for other people. It's for me.

You'll find lots of opinions in this area. I entertain a good amount so I like to simplify my setups to be foolproof and easy. Taking months to initially configure your first mame machine isn't uncommon. Especially if you are reviewing different front end options and trying to figure out how to set everything up. I'd say it took me a couple years to get the perfect setup for me.

So, keep on keeping on. While a lot of us are on the same journey, we have lots of different destinations.

[lisowskikevin]

Fix your PC.

This stupid error is why I want to switch.......I get a blue screen of death in the middle of playing then this comes up:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer driver_IROL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL if this is the first time you’ve seen this stop error screen restart your computer if the screen appears again follow the steps check to make sure any new hardware software is properly installed if this is a new installation ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any windows updates you might need if problems continue disable remove any newly installed hardware or software disable biased memory options such as cashing or shadowing if you need to use safe mode to remove disable components restarted computer presser feet to select events start up options


Anyone had this one before?

[leapinlew]

My PC setups are static. Once I start seeing errors, it's almost always a hardware error since I freeze the software configuration. I am assuming yours isn't static? I would assume you'd have to try all the normal windows troubleshooting. The 3 R's. reboot, rollback and reinstall™.

FWIW, Pi errors happen too. The Power Supply on them is incredibly sensitive and if you aren't familiar with linux, making any kind of configuration change is almost always a google/youtube experiment.

[lisowskikevin]

My PC setups are static. Once I start seeing errors, it's almost always a hardware error since I freeze the software configuration. I am assuming yours isn't static? I would assume you'd have to try all the normal windows troubleshooting. The 3 R's. reboot, rollback and reinstall™.

FWIW, Pi errors happen too. The Power Supply on them is incredibly sensitive and if you aren't familiar with linux, making any kind of configuration change is almost always a google/youtube experiment.

Ya that’s the crazy thing.....my pc is not connected to the net and I haven’t touched any sort of hardware/software in over a year. Could be a piece of hardware that is failing maybe?

I’ve tried restore points etc. And no luck. I did t realize Pi was so sensitive.

Would a solid state pc be more reliable?

[langlem]

Lots of extremely solid advice here...everyone has their preferences.  I have done both PC’s and PI’s and really enjoy the setup of each.  The thing I agree with most is “more” is definitely not better in terms of games and control panels... which is a whole separate topic.

I have learned there are about 25-30 classic arcade games, including a few of the obvious Daphne ones, that get 95% of the play on my cabinet.

I am running an ArPicade jamma setup with a RPI 3B+ slightly overclocked.  Is is running a very clean and simple to use theme with around 50 games on it.  (I hate “lists” based layouts)  I find this the easiest to set up and use and most stable for all my family and guests.  It was light years easier to set up than my PC based Hyperspin set up....which I was always babysitting during any kind of gathering.

I dont have have that strong a desire to play the console games but if it were me...I would personally leave those out of an arcade cabinet.  There are dozens of images for RPi that play all those games very smoothly and look great.  A simple Youtube search will yield a ton of results.  Grab a Pi, a case and controller and plug right into your tv...done. (Kinda like back in the day)

Just my opinion... Im sure others will disagree... but hopefully you will get some constructive advice along the way.  Feel free to PM if you want any specific info. Would be happy to help in any way.

Good luck.

[keilmillerjr]

My PC setups are static. Once I start seeing errors, it's almost always a hardware error since I freeze the software configuration. I am assuming yours isn't static? I would assume you'd have to try all the normal windows troubleshooting. The 3 R's. reboot, rollback and reinstall™.

FWIW, Pi errors happen too. The Power Supply on them is incredibly sensitive and if you aren't familiar with linux, making any kind of configuration change is almost always a google/youtube experiment.

Pi doesn’t come with a psu.

[leapinlew]

My PC setups are static. Once I start seeing errors, it's almost always a hardware error since I freeze the software configuration. I am assuming yours isn't static? I would assume you'd have to try all the normal windows troubleshooting. The 3 R's. reboot, rollback and reinstall™.

FWIW, Pi errors happen too. The Power Supply on them is incredibly sensitive and if you aren't familiar with linux, making any kind of configuration change is almost always a google/youtube experiment.

Pi doesn’t come with a psu.

on = for? I don't think it was too hard to figure out what I meant. ;P

[Osirus23]

Pi only if space doesn't permit anything else.

[leapinlew]

Pi only if space doesn't permit anything else.

I choose a pi for console emulation. I think it's a really good platform for it. Way better than building a PC for it.

If you are more comfortable with the Pi as an OS, I would say that's an easier path than trying to learn Windows and the different frontend options that our out there.

[Zeosstud]

After reading this thread, I think I fall into the the fix the PC group.. One thing I have started to try and do with the PC's I am using is limit the amount of moving parts.. SSD for the Hard Drive, video card with passive cooling, CPU with passive cooling also if it is an option.  Seems like these things have helped my latest builds run cleanly. Once you start getting the BSOD, it is really hard to get rid of. As a person in the IT Field for, egads, over 30 years, it is certainly a lot better now than it was.  I hope you get it sorted to your liking, nothing worse than getting past the 3rd elevators on Donkey Kong for the first time and then the GD thing crashing before you get to put your name in there with a new high score. Pi's are cheap, and if you go that way great, if I read  your post right, the 4 systems you care about, should run really well on a pi, unless your enjoy .chd games and the like, those have no real chance, PC is required.  Again, hope you get it sorted, best of luck. I recently have started using Launchbox/BigBox on a few builds, seems to be pretty easy to get going, and can be setup several different ways, depending on if your hosting a party and want to be able to actually concentrate while you play poker and not fix the damn arcade game because yout guests have hit button combinations you did not even know were possible.  Got to be such a pain, last party I set the mame cabinet to Galaga, that was it.. Also had the JROK cab for Robotron, Defender and Stargate, and the GT 2019 cab going and built a 60-n-1 for people to pound around on for the night. Got 2nd in the Poker tournament and overall, was a big success.

[keilmillerjr]

My PC setups are static. Once I start seeing errors, it's almost always a hardware error since I freeze the software configuration. I am assuming yours isn't static? I would assume you'd have to try all the normal windows troubleshooting. The 3 R's. reboot, rollback and reinstall™.

FWIW, Pi errors happen too. The Power Supply on them is incredibly sensitive and if you aren't familiar with linux, making any kind of configuration change is almost always a google/youtube experiment.

Pi doesn’t come with a psu.

on = for? I don't think it was too hard to figure out what I meant. ;P

Get a good psu, not some cheap 7$ ching fu cell phone charger. It would require an article to explain the different types of ac->dc psu’s and how they work.

[markc74]

For a full size I'd always go the PC route. It just gives you more versatility.

I do think pi's are great for mini builds and the 3a/b's run the classics pretty well though.

[Guywiththegun]

I would add that there amazing emulated arcade games outside of the usual mame framework. You can't get those without a PC.

I also want to re-iterate not trying to cram every game possible. You're never going to play Game Gear games. I wasted so much time. I even tried getting Android games on there. Don't bother.  Ive decided im sticking strictly to coin op. Its an arcade cabinet after all.

[Mike A]

I would add that there amazing emulated arcade games outside of the usual mame framework. You can't get those without a PC.

I also want to re-iterate not trying to cram every game possible. You're never going to play Game Gear games. I wasted so much time. I even tried getting Android games on there. Don't bother.  Ive decided im sticking strictly to coin op. Its an arcade cabinet after all.

This should be displayed right underneath the title of the forum.

It has been repeated a million times since way before I showed up here. Nobody ever freakin' listens.

[Osirus23]

Ive decided im sticking strictly to coin op. Its an arcade cabinet after all.

1000x this.

[Gilrock]

I built a bartop last year that uses a RPi3b+.  I had it built and running in 3 days.  I used RetroPie.  I had never used it before but I found it to be much easier than anything I had done in the past setting up PC emulators.  It includes a ton of emulators out of the box and the RetroPie website help made it easy to figure out how to get each emulator running.  Within a day I already had MAME, Daphne, NES, Sega Genesis, and Nintendo64 running.  I kept the games limited and only have about 100 loaded.  I found a RetroPie theme I liked and I figured out how to run a scrape for artwork.  I thought it was pretty cool.  I only run the older mame 0.37b5 on it but I only loaded some older games on it.  If you have a full sized cab you probably want to get a PC going.

[nitrogen_widget]

but 240p?
you aren't getting much prettiness regardless of your front end.

I beg to differ. I design my layouts specifically with an 15khz crt in mind. It looks good. If you associate resolution with prettiness, then I’m not sure why you are on an arcade forum that targets old games.

This is my latest layout at 240p on crt.

I meant you aren't going to get hyperspin type themes on 240p with multiple animated windows easily.
You know the themes with 50 bells and whistles going on at the same time that people seem to love.

[Mr. Peabody]

but 240p?
you aren't getting much prettiness regardless of your front end.

I beg to differ. I design my layouts specifically with an 15khz crt in mind. It looks good. If you associate resolution with prettiness, then I’m not sure why you are on an arcade forum that targets old games.

This is my latest layout at 240p on crt.

I meant you aren't going to get hyperspin type themes on 240p with multiple animated windows easily.
You know the themes with 50 bells and whistles going on at the same time that people seem to love.

I like to see at least a snap or title image of the game, which is possible at 640x240.