The 1976 RetroPC. (DIY retro gaming computer build)

[Dipkid]

Presenting my latest build - The 197X RetroPieC.
Finally got the screen working after a couple of days of ripping out my hair etc,
so I guess its done now:
Raspberry Pi 3B with Retropie 4.3 (ES & AM), in a Korean Goldstar vintage tv with a cheapo Aliexpress 9" TFT lcd. Small 3v speakers inside.
Put a 4x USB hub in the front if one would need a silly amount of gadgets attached.
MagicForce keyboard with custom keycaps, a retro Usb mouse & a DIY zero delay fightstick. Did all of the design & drawings for the cnc in illustrator. All pieces got a custom paintjob. Will mostly emulate Amiga & ScummVM but have also installed the full Pixel Desktop so one can do regular stuff like emails & youtube..

Custom splashvideo; Amiga bootup animation with a classic chiptune to go.

DIY stick, snes pad, retromouse & keyboard.

[Pietze]

Fantastic!

[LiveFastCyYoung]

Looks great! Any reason you didn’t use the screen that was in the TV?

[DD-Indeed]

@livefastcyyoung

Propably it was busted and couldn't find replacement screen. Besides, it's really difficult to work with tube TV's.

Fantastic project nevertheless.

[Dipkid]

@livefastcyyoung @DD-Indeed Yeah, its over 40 years old, black n white & didnt really work.
Also, those tubes are dangerous! Fortuneatly I didnt know that until I was done, when I went looking for some tips online. By then I had already used a hammer and boltcutters on it. Apparently they carry voltage for a long time, an are full of toxic led, AND they can explode due to the high vaccum pressure in the tubes.. But im still here! :) (My gf was pissed thouh..)

[DD-Indeed]

@dipkid

Haha, that can happen indeed. But I think that you could get modern curved displays somewhere, that would fit into this.

[Dipkid]

@dd-indeed I tried to save just the outher curved protection glass thats is sort of welded / molded to the tube, but it became to much of a struggle. Another time...

[DD-Indeed]

@dipkid

So the glass is welded to the chassis somehow or is it glued down ?

[meleu]

@dipkid

[Dipkid]

@dd-indeed sort of, some of em have a wax like material, just gettin the lightbulb-lookin glass case out of the tv was easy. (atleast when u dont realize the thing is lethal!) but then there is some sort of coating thats holds the outer glass on to the CRT-tube. Im pretty useless at explaining, but this guy and others on YT shows how one could do it:

[lipebello]

Gorgeous!

[DD-Indeed]

@dipkid

Yea it's super difficult, they have glued it down with this sort of hard silicone stuff and heating it up is risky business. You would basically need flexible and super thin saw to break up the glue.

[edmaul69]

@dipkid this is a really sweet build. My main pi is in an apple iie that i converted the monitor to a flatscreen and converted the disk drives to dvd drives so i definitely love the retro look. This turned out great. Two thumbs up!

[Dipkid]

Why not: