Skelnik Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 Now that LaunchBox is officially on Android (with BigBox forthcoming), and Android can be installed on a Raspberry Pi, would it be a viable front end for Pi-based arcade machines? I could see potential issues in controlling output LEDs or supporting marquee mode for the second HDMI output of the RPi 4, but I can dream big. ? Or, can we skip the Android middle-man and get a Raspbian version of LaunchBox? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 Welp, developing an app for Android and developing an app for any particular flavor of Linux are very different beasts, so I can say that a version for Raspbian is not in the picture for the near future. I haven't experimented myself with Android on the Pi, so I'm still fairly green on the subject, but yes, I would hope that eventually we can get it working well for Pi 4-based arcade machines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 That said, I do want to note that if you're spending a decent amount of money already on building an arcade machine, I would still highly recommend Windows over Android. Emulation on Android is improving quickly, but it's still nowhere near as good as emulation is on Windows, and it's worth the extra money if you have it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skelnik Posted September 11, 2019 Author Share Posted September 11, 2019 My first arcade machine is on Windows, and runs BigBox. I'm currently working on the second one, which is tailored for older trackball games so it doesn't need the horsepower (or cost) of a full PC, especially as I insist on my machines being fanless. HyperPie is a decent front end for the moment, but LaunchBox / BigBox really sets the bar as the gold standard to strive for. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Carr Posted September 11, 2019 Share Posted September 11, 2019 13 minutes ago, Skelnik said: My first arcade machine is on Windows, and runs BigBox. I'm currently working on the second one, which is tailored for older trackball games so it doesn't need the horsepower (or cost) of a full PC, especially as I insist on my machines being fanless. HyperPie is a decent front end for the moment, but LaunchBox / BigBox really sets the bar as the gold standard to strive for. That is great to hear. Thanks @Skelnik. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rom116 Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 The cost of an older PC for strictly emulating older games should be comparable to that of a raspberry pi. I've bought plenty of used PCs on craigslist or offer up for 30 or 40 bucks and used them in Arcade1up mods for people with 0 issues... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skelnik Posted February 5, 2020 Author Share Posted February 5, 2020 4 hours ago, rom116 said: The cost of an older PC for strictly emulating older games should be comparable to that of a raspberry pi. I've bought plenty of used PCs on craigslist or offer up for 30 or 40 bucks and used them in Arcade1up mods for people with 0 issues... That's a valid option, but some may choose the Raspberry Pi for other reasons, such as lower power consumption, quieter / no moving parts, IO pin capabilities, or the ease of backing up and restoring a configured system image. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil9000 Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 51 minutes ago, Skelnik said: That's a valid option, but some may choose the Raspberry Pi for other reasons, such as lower power consumption, quieter / no moving parts, IO pin capabilities, or the ease of backing up and restoring a configured system image. Unfortunately the pi simply, even with the 4 is not good enough for correct emulation. Especially when also running a underlying frontend like Launchbox/Bigbox. Dont get me wrong i like the pi, and have a couple myself, but it really is not good enough for accurate emulation, i mean it still uses a 2003 MAME set for example, as well as using very old retroarch cores a lot of the time, or is using hacks like frameskip and others to get a good running speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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