Well To make a long story short my Gf apparently loves old arcade games found this out at dinner one night where we got a few dollars in free arcade tokens. So I had an idea for one of my raspberry pi's why not make a mini arcade cabinet?


This is a project I hope to complete sometime between now and Late june.

So what are all of your thoughts and such?

Wow that would be fantastic! You should do it and catalog the journey.

Once you have your plans developed i can see it becoming the kind of thing that would generate excitement amongst fans of both rpi and old arcade games .

That sounds fun! What engine are you planning to run on the Raspberry Pi to run the games?

Someone suggested RetroPie so I will be looking into that setup. I mostly am planning on putting on older arcade games like pacman tetris and the works as those are the best imo

Well, other than the Raspberry Pi you'd need a screen, case, buttons, and of course, the software. Do you have ideas on any of those? I certainly do hope you'll pursue this project and keep documenting it here!

So far only on Software i have an idea for and that's retropie. Next up would be the LCD or The buttons. Both of which I can probably get off DX or amazon I have to do some shopping.

I'd say to start with some LCD that has already been shown to work well with the Pi; no need to make life too hard for yourself. Do you already know of any nice, cheap LCDs that fit the bill, probably in the 320x240 or 640x480 range?

No i do not sadly If anyone has any suggestions I will appreciate them. but i was going to look for something that would work off the RCA jack thing instead of hdmi and hope for the best.

Or, instead of investing in a screen, you could make one of those plug-n-play TV games, and be the first with HDMI support...

Small composite LCDs are common and cheaply available - they're often used with car reversing cameras or in security systems. Search eBay for 7" LCD and check the specifications to make sure it'd work with the Raspberry Pi.

I was hoping to find a 10 inch actually i feel 7 is to small but no dice and square would be better...back to shopping!


EDIT:
http://www.chalk-elec.com/?page_id=1280#!/~/product/category=3094861&id=14647624 this looks nice but out of my price range. I wonder if they just sell the LVDS -> hdmi converter tho. might be useful.

EDIT2: this might work. http://www.chalk-elec.com/?page_id=1280#!/~/product/category=3094861&id=14647633 need to poke a friend for some stuff now.

EDIT3: http://dx.com/p/hdmi-v1-4-male-to-vga-female-converter-adapter-cable-white-15cm-130458 this works with the raspi if i can find a cheap vga panel that would work as well

EDIT4: Another hdmi -> lvds option this one has support for sound output as well and apparently 800 other things Pro with this one is i can get the lcd i want for this project for about 50$ which makes the whole thing less then 100$ for the screen

OK Got a gateway lt2016u from a friend. And i spent the last hour fighting with stripped screws and messy wireing to get to the gold inside

What is this gold exactly? Why its simple really

It is

-A 10.1inch lvds LCD panel (model# B101AW03 V.0)
-1 set of speakers
-and one fan to help keep the air moving

There is also a coaxial power connector there (I think that is what it is called) That i am using for another project of mine.

I've been tossing around the idea of attaching an old LVDS panel of mine to one of these: http://www.chalk-elec.com/?p=1553
I could then use it as a third monitor for my PC, as it has HDMI out, or I could buy an RPi and make a portable video viewer with it.

I have been looking at that my self its an alternative i will be looking at. I was hoping to find a solution that allowed me to use the audio over hdmi instead of the headset jack

Ah, I didn't realize you'd edited that old post. I'd be interested to see what you end up using. If you find a solution for $20 or under, I'll be sure to snap one up. Have you put any thought in to what you'll be using for controls?

Na controls are last on my list to find. A friend suggested a good site but they were expensive. (like 20$ for a single piece or something) So no ihave to shop around for that still.

Messaged the people on Ebay they were most unhelpful and told me there item would not work with my product even tho the data sheet says it will.

The chalk-elec people on the other hand asked me for the data sheet which I provided and told me it will work with there adapter Im waiting for them to come back into stock and Get an answer on what cable I need to get to use it with my screen but woo one more part done.

Thanks to there lovely twitter feed the hdmi to lvds adapter is now ordered and o. Its way. eta 7 to 12 days

The lvds adapter showed up a few weeks ago took it forever but woo

I ordered some parts I needed from digikey as well. I got a header and crimps for it so I can connect to the lvds board.

Next on the todo list is to map out the cable on this lcd panel...wish me luck!




Also suggestions for parts to get off digikey? I need to place another order I forgot a coaxial connector for the lvds board.

more notes to self down here.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7BWcJPjt1LNZTBlNmFhZmUtNjkxZC00ZjUzLTkzYTQtOWM0MDMwZjUwMGJm/edit
This is the lvds adapter pin out

http://www.chalk-elec.com/?page_id=1284
This is there support page on how to hook it up maybe i should read this.

Tin wire crimp solder pray

Progress woo
Lvds -> hdmi is all set up and working took a while to solder it...buying extra crimps was a very smart idea on my part...


This goes in boot/config.txt makes sure the lcd mode is supported.


Next up is to design the case I really cant do to much more until I know how I'm putting it all together. I need to shop for a joystick and buttons as well...I wonder if I have anything I can cannibalize parts from.