Cocktail computer/retrogaming table

nivlat

Hello all,

I'm planning on building a cocktail style computer/retrogaming.
Essentialy it will be a table with a 22" monitor lying flat in the center, all covered by plexiglass o tempered glass, with a raspberry, speakers and all wiring hidden inside the table.
I'm aiming to use it as a pc for internet browsing with a wireless keyboard and to run retropie with with wireless joypads.

Few questions for the more savvy.

I read somewhere that monitors are optimized so that you can view them clearly from above, but not from below, so I thought to mount it "facing away" from the user and to rotate image 180 degrees. Is there a way to set both the raspberry OS and retropie to automatically rotate screen 180 on start up?
On the same topic, since the user will be looking at the screen from an angle, is there a preferred tecnology? led, lcd, etc...?
Would there be a problem plugging 3 wireless devices on the Pi? keyboard and two joypads

Thanks!

IanDaemon

@nivlat said in Cocktail computer/retrogaming table:

you can view them clearly from above, but not from below

Viewing angles really depend on the TV screen.

raspberry OS and retropie to automatically rotate screen 180 on start up?

I believe so, yes.

On the same topic, since the user will be looking at the screen from an angle, is there a preferred tecnology? led, lcd, etc...?

I go with whatever I have on hand. The quality will vary TV to TV.

Would there be a problem plugging 3 wireless devices on the Pi? keyboard and two joypads

I don't believe so, no.

nivlat

@iandaemon thanks for the info. By the way today I actually tried with 3 monitors: the view angle from below is terrible, from above it's ok

IanDaemon

@nivlat You have some screen rotating ability through configs. The Pi3 had more ability than the Pi4 although that may have had more to do with software changes.

Lolonois

As for the monitor I would look for a well engineered brand (Dell, Eizo, Nec, Fujitsu-Siemens (before the were bought by Benq)).
Backlit LCD tend to get warmer than newer LED, depending on the cabinet size you may consider adding some venting slots at the side.

On rotating software-wise by 180 degrees:

Firmware of Kernel 4.19.x does support display_hdmi_rotate=2 in /boot/config.txt (absolutely no issues with Retropie emulators and EmulationStation).
Firmware of Kernel 5.4.x / 5.10.x: Here you need to edit /boot/cmdline.txt and add to the first line: [...] video=HDMI-A-1:1600x1200@60,rotate=180. Obviously you have to adjust the X-/Y- dimensions and refresh rate to your monitor capabilities. Also Retropie Emulationstation has no issues with this config. All retroarch based emulators do respect this setting too, any SDL2 based emulator (without retroarch) should work well. From my emulator set I noticed Amiberry and LinApple and ScummVM do not honor this setting as of today. However, this setting in cmdline.txt also works with kernel 4.19.x (but you have to remove display_hdmi_rotate=2).

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/configuration/config-txt/video.md

HTH

nivlat

@lolonois thanks! Someone suggested me ips screens, are those better than led?

Lolonois

A IPS panel may be the best match for your setup (but with a higher price tag), or you go with a good (read: with a high viewing angle) TN panel.
(NB: Both techniques are of the TFT-LCD family. An LCD can be backlit by LED or by flourescent lamps. The latter are the bulkier and heavier flat-screens.)

Despite the fact that they want to sell their monitors, this article gives a not too technical overview about the panel types: https://www.viewsonic.com/library/photography/what-is-an-ips-monitor-panel/

Regarding the slower reaction time of the IPS in contrast to TN: I guess this can be neglected for retro games, which were developed when TVs with 50/60Hz were to be found in a household.

Maybe you can lend a TFT with IPS panel or know someone with an Apple device (Retina display) to evaluate the IPS capabilities, or can view the different panels in a consumer electronics store before making a buying decision.

One more thing: Depending how "noisy" your place is in terms of other bluetooth / wireless signals it may be advisable to use a dedicated USB-Bluetooth and/or USB-Wireless dongle, but this can be changed even once your arcade is built.