Starting from scratch....what would you buy

Frantic

Hi, I'm just about to start building a Bartop machine and so far I have compiled a short list of what I think I need to buy. I have an old Dell 19" LCD monitor already so here is what I think I need to buy......

18mm MDF cabinet

Raspberry Pi3

2 player joystick, buttons and Ipac2 kit like this
https://www.arcadeworlduk.com/products/2-Player-Arcade-Joysticks-Buttons-And-IPAC2-Wiring-Kit-No10.html

Speakers (as my monitor does not have any)

And that is it I think. Is there anything I am missing or would you recommend I buy different products? I am totally new to this so I will be making it by reading online instructions all the way. I want to build this for mainly playing Atari 2600 games and Mega Drive games etc. Maybe even PS1 games if it is possible but any advice from experienced Retropiers would be very welcome, thanks

obsidianspider

@Frantic sounds like a good start, but speaking of sound, what are you going to do for speakers? Are you going to have a light up marquee?

sinfolmatt

Do you have a plan for building the cabinet? Do you already have the tools?

If you do not want wires hanging out of it, consider something like this:
http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=DCP-USBCB-Fvirtualkey50210000virtualkey502-DCP-USBCB-F

I am currently building something smaller, like an arcade stick with the pi on the inside to plug into any tv so I am also using a feedthrough for the hdmi
http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=NAHDMI-W-Bvirtualkey56810000virtualkey568-NAHDMI-W-B

Frantic

@obsidianspider hi, I want speakers but I don't know yet how they will wire in. I dont know if they go into the ipac2. I am not that bothered about a light up marquee although it would look good. I could position my speakers at the side I suppose.

Frantic

@sinfolmatt hi, I am thinking of buying a flat pack cabinet like this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182383129274?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

sinfolmatt

what you are ordering looks like it is just the wood. There are a couple different things you could do for electrical. If you have experience it should not be a problem but if not then definitely recommend researching and planning it out. The video i post below has one option.
find out the thickness of the panel where you will install buttons and make sure the buttons you are ordering can fit there easily. every companies buttons have a different depth. I had to seriously sand down my panel to a depth to screw in the buttons i recently ordered. I think the ones you are looking at should be ok but would double check.
the sides of what you are ordering / border has a small line routed into it. This is for a plastic border, I forget what it is called but you may want to order the plastic to insert. They use it in the following video around 7:40

rubber feet

Frantic

@sinfolmatt brilliant video. That is exactly what I plan to do. I know the flat pack kit is just the basic structure and I have to install everything else in it. The USB speakers sound good, do they plug into the ipac2 ?

Frantic

@obsidianspider hi again, I have looked at USB speakers but although they are powered by USB they also have a 3.5 jack on as well and I can't imagine where this would plug in. Do you know of an easier way to get the game sound?

sinfolmatt

@Frantic the iPac 2 does nothing for audio. The iPac 2 takes each button press and joystick trigger and coverts to a keybooard stroke. see the ultimarc sebsite for more details on the iPac. I have it running in one of my controllers and really like it because you can reprogram keys and even program a shift key.

the audio must be wired to the pi. There are a couple ways to do it I think but have never tried, I would like to know what you do when you figure it out as it was something I was researching. I decided to be lazy and will get a monitor with speakers in it probably.

Frantic

@sinfolmatt I've just watched a video and found out that the USB speakers that come with an audio jack, the audio jack just plugs straight into the raspberry pi 3 as it has an audio jack point so nice and easy. It's looking like the way to go is foe mo get a Raspberry pi 3 on order and crack on with it.