Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Raspberry Pi & Dev Board => Topic started by: mike5im5 on July 17, 2015, 10:41:33 am
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Hi All,
My first post on this forum (please move if it's in the wrong place). I upgraded my pi to a pi2 a few weeks back and had a spare original pi kicking around. I decided to make use of it as an arcade emulator. When searching for decent controls on Amazon I stumbled across the iCade at what seemed like a really decent price so decided to use that as the base of my project. Anyways, I'm sure many people have built the same project before me but I thought I'd share some WIP pics never the less. Comments welcome!
Parts:
old raspberry pi, case & sd card - Spares
iCade from Amazon - £29.95
usb arcade control board from ebay - £7
ipad 1 lcd screen from ebay - £29.99
ipad lcd control board from ebat - £26.99
dual 12v/5v psu board from Amazon - £11.50
mini usb speakers - Spares
perspex sheet from homebase - ~£8
I decided to go with the ipad lcd + control board as all the small lcd monitors I could find were 16:9 and the old retro games would have been squeezed into very small screen space. I was very happy with the results and the resolution was great for even command line text when configuring the pi. The only drawback is the control board needed a 12v supply. Not being too savvy with electrics I bought a PSU that had both 12v and 5v (for the pi) outputs.
LCD control board made the ipad replacement screen into a monitor with vga, hdmi and video out:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-bCHTeZHW5r8/VakPzKxqWvI/AAAAAAAAJ48/H1pl6XTQpmg/s512-Ic42/IMG_4885.JPG)
I cut and then bent some perspex as a bevel for the screen and painted the back with some black bbq paint that I had laying around.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-O6vjHL8DWc0/VakPynRsOwI/AAAAAAAAJ44/m29NjD9p17M/s512-Ic42/IMG_4890.JPG)
Once I'd scrapped the iCade bluetooth module, rewired the controls to usb and plugged everything together. I tested the setup with tape holding everything in place.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zLDWG2bdFts/VakPyfcmkEI/AAAAAAAAJ4w/9TVLGHHPM9A/s512-Ic42/IMG_4900.JPG)
I destroyed the casing of the usb speakers and took out the cones and mounted them to the perspex (with some holes drilled for the sound).
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-OzK1IAf45zE/VakP8HxOJyI/AAAAAAAAJ5o/C4FblUCzzRU/s720-Ic42/IMG_5170.JPG)
Fully assembled:
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hCoF-OK0-nk/VakP5BpRL6I/AAAAAAAAJ5U/cLkGtvMq9u8/s512-Ic42/IMG_5168.JPG)
From the back (More painted perspex with a window to see the pi ;))
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-i0T4_-GjqyI/VakP3aMFPNI/AAAAAAAAJ5E/ouulLUtTmnE/s512-Ic42/IMG_5166.JPG)
Build time is about 3 evenings so far... much more time wasted thinking about the project and components though! ;)
Still to be done:
-Custom Marquee with back light
-External USB slot for extra controllers
-Mount the usb speaker volume controls so they can be operated externally.
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What software are you using on the Pi? I've yet to encounter something I like much.
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I didn't want to spend to long configuring it so just downloaded the retropie iso image. Saved a lot of time as everything was more or less setup ready to go (just needed to load ROMS and configure controls).
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Looks great for such a quick build!
Do you have a link for the ipad 1 controller board you are using?
I can find lcd controllers for later model ipads but boards for ipad 1's are eluding me.