Back in 2000 I built a MAME cabinet, but I haven’t used it much lately. I want to retrofit it with a higher resolution LCD screen and updated hardware and OS, so I’m thinking that a Raspberry Pi and a cheaper LCD would work well. These are my work-in-progress notes for this project:
Cabinet Changes:
- Remove exhaust fan / temperature activated relay.
- Remove ATX switches and lights; maybe replace with something to toggle the Raspberry Pi on and off.
- Remove PC, use base plate to mount power supplies / Raspberry Pi and supporting hardware?
- Swap Hagstrom KE-72 for something USB.
- Needs to support trackball.
- HP ZR2440w monitor in place of CRT. ASUS VS24AH-P? 1920×1200 max from Pi.
- Need to rework power on/off stuff due to Raspberry Pi not having any way to actually shut itself down.
Raspberry Pi Hardware:
- v2.0 board.
- Enclosure.
- Powered USB hub.
- WiFi adapter: Cheap dongle; Adafruit sells one.
- Large SD card: 128GB?
Control Panel Hardware:
- Replace Hagstrom KE-72 with I-PAC or Hagstrom KE-USB36 which may be an almost drop-in replacement.
- Currently have 39 inputs. Can I work with only 36?
- Panel-mount USB B.
Order of work:
- Get Raspberry Pi.
- Validate MAME functionality.
- Update monitor.
- Update control panel.
UPDATE: After the purchase of a Raspberry Pi and some extensive testing, the hardware seems nice but not capable of running MAME at any appropriate speeds. Thus this project is shelved for the time being.