Bartop Arcade Build (WIP)

[lightz39]

LIGHTZ39 MULTI ARCADE BARTOP

Marquee Ideas: This isn't a final image. It is more a representation of the overall theme I am trying to acheive. Retro, simple, effective. I am open to suggestions and ideas.

Cabinet Style: Pretty well set on this design. A friend is going to cut the pieces for me. I will do all other work.

Button Layouts: I will need some help with this. I'm not sure what type of layout I will require. I have a few in mind, though. Option 1 is the layout shown in the cabinet mockup. 6 Main buttons with 2 modifiers below. Option 2 is picture below which makes the extra 2 buttons more accessible. Again I will need help here.

Edited November 30, 2016 by lightz39

[Lordmonkus]

For starters a Pi won't run Launchbox or HyperSpin. For a Pi you will be looking at something like AttractMode or EmulationStation for a front end.

But if you want information on building take a look over here at these forums, all sorts of useful information: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/board,1.0.html

[SentaiBrad]

Ordering through Monster Arcades is a really good pre-built service, that we've used (we had the cab at Retropalooza) and we're working with them more and more. They even have some DIY kits, where it looks like you can mostly order the wood pre-cut, and the electronics, minus the PC. If you want LaunchBox to power it (which is why I assume you are here), then yea, only Windows based machines will do that, and even if you can find a SoC based solution that runs Windows, it probably wont work correctly when all is said and done. If you go the Monster Arcade route, you'll be spending more money, but it depends on how much you want to put in to it. If you want something completely built for you, or certain levels of DIY they seem to accommodate that, with a few different cab styles.

[DOS76]

I powered mine by setting the BOIS to start the PC on power up and then I bought a 3 plug extension cord tthat has a switch on the cord. That was the easiest solution without having to rewire things for me

[DOS76]

I bought my diy kit on ebay for $130 and the parts for two controls for another $75 on Amazon and used a PC and monitor I already had lying around so $200 so far but still need plexiglass and graphics.

[lightz39]

Alright well I'd like to use BigBox so Raspberry is out. What kind of specs am I going to need to run what I want? I'm looking to spend as little as possible.

[Lordmonkus]

I haven't tested this out personally but others have said that the Intel Compute Sticks are decent enough for emulating up to 16 bit systems.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883800012&ignorebbr=1

That's the cheapest one with a 1.4 GHz cpu which should be fine depending on which emulators you use. For SNES you will have to stick with Snes9x, it's not fast enough for BSnes at all.

 

[Lordmonkus]

If you want to use a PI I would just suggest EmulationStation and keeping your rom selection small and selective. You would also need a very specific Mame romset for it. If you google Mame4all romset you should find it.

That would keep things cheap. Otherwise depending on how big the bartop is going to be you might be able to work something in there depending on your budget as well.

[lightz39]

5 minutes ago, lordmonkus said:

I haven't tested this out personally but others have said that the Intel Compute Sticks are decent enough for emulating up to 16 bit systems.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883800012&ignorebbr=1

That's the cheapest one with a 1.4 GHz cpu which should be fine depending on which emulators you use. For SNES you will have to stick with Snes9x, it's not fast enough for BSnes at all.

 

 

This is more along the lines of what I'd like. 

[Lordmonkus]

When it comes to something like a bartop build you have the 3 way tug of war between price, power and size. You can have any of the 2 but you cannot have all 3. If you want cheap you can have small but limited power and lower your expectations. If you want small you can have it cheap or powerful but not both.

[DOS76]

2 true on that I'm using an Asus EEEBox 1021E which is like a mini desktop but it isn't powerful enough really I've been looking at  these I7 I5 or this i3 the i3 is the best price naturally which may be the deciding factor but that i7 is so nice and with the 512GB SSD and the 16GB of RAM it is worth the extra money. Damn I can't afford one but want one and don't want the i3 because I'll always wish I got the i7

[lightz39]

I suppose depending on the size of the cabinet I could use my old computer parts. I regularly upgrade so I have some pretty beefy parts I'm trying to sell. Then again I could use that money towards one of those intel i7 boxes. They look crazy. I have some decisions to make...

[Lordmonkus]

If you got room to work you could probably put something together for a decent price with a micro atx motherboard and an Intel G3258 CPU. Here is a parts list I put together a little while back for a system I would build

Intel Pentium G3258
Asus H81M-K or ASRock H81M-HDS LGA 1150 Motherboard
G.Skill Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333
EVGA 400W ATX

Hard drive and Video card of your choosing. For a video card I would put something with 1 gig of GDDR5 vram in it so it could handle HLSL or BGFX shaders without issues.

[DOS76]

That Pentium would easily push anything 16bit where all my suggestion were overpriced and overkill if that is all you want to do with it. I just like them for the form factor.

[SentaiBrad]

The main issue is still Big Box, but if your library is small and you optimize Windows you may be able to work with some older hardware. Cache and load times may not be the greatest, but once you're in it might surprise you. Also, being on Windows 10 actually makes a difference for Big Box as well, compared to 7 or even 8.Microsoft made Inherent OS advances on that Jason took advantage of, so do keep that in mind. Make sure you have enough over head for Windows (preferably 10) and LaunchBox / Big Box.

[shanzo]

Brad, that's really interesting regarding windows 10. Very handy to know as I'm about to embark on my big build for myself. 

In regards to those using raspberry pi I have found that mame2003(.79 I think) is the best set if you are using a a pi2 or 3. 

I think I might make a thread if there is interest from anyone wanting to follow the build. It's going to be a custom design 4 player ledblinky enabled bigbox with only arcade(no consoles). I've built about 5 cabinets before but woodwork isn't really my thing but I feel the quality has improved lately. I've included a pic of the last bartop I built.

[lightz39]

I've done some digging around looking at which type of cabinet I want to get. I think I have settled on one.

http://shop.harumancustoms.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=71

As far as dimensions its:

Dimension
Height	27.5 inches
Width (main cabinet)	20.85 inches
Width (control panel)	24.5 inches
Depth	21 inches

 

What kind of room am I going to have in this thing for parts? Not a great deal I would think by the looks of it. I also have a question about the controls. It needs 22 OSBN 30mm buttons and 2 JLF joysticks. My first question is how do I hook these things up to a PC? I assume some sort of usb adapter will be needed. Secondly as far as the joysticks are concerned there seems to be a few different options. Does it matter if I go with the plate or no plate?

[shanzo]

9 minutes ago, lightz39 said:

I've done some digging around looking at which type of cabinet I want to get. I think I have settled on one.

http://shop.harumancustoms.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=71

As far as dimensions its:

Dimension
Height	27.5 inches
Width (main cabinet)	20.85 inches
Width (control panel)	24.5 inches
Depth	21 inches

 

What kind of room am I going to have in this thing for parts? Not a great deal I would think by the looks of it. I also have a question about the controls. It needs 22 OSBN 30mm buttons and 2 JLF joysticks. My first question is how do I hook these things up to a PC? I assume some sort of usb adapter will be needed. Secondly as far as the joysticks are concerned there seems to be a few different options. Does it matter if I go with the plate or no plate?

The best USB adapter(encoder) is the ipac2 but a cheaper and in my book just as reliable is the xin-mo encoder but you would have to check if it had enough inputs.

[DOS76]

I bought these they use zero delay encoders which show up as a joystick and not a keyboard they aren't compatible with LEDBlinky so if you were planning on using it they wouldn't be for you.

[lightz39]

2 hours ago, DOS76 said:

I bought these they use zero delay encoders which show up as a joystick and not a keyboard they aren't compatible with LEDBlinky so if you were planning on using it they wouldn't be for you.

Thanks for the suggestion. What is LEDBlinky? Just makes leds flash based on events or something? I don't plan on having glowing buttons.