pi-arcade

16 Pages·2017·1.03 MB·English

by  Tristan Cool

PI-ARCADE
Table of Contents
TABLE OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................................ 3
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 3
1 - BILL OF MATERIALS .................................................................................................................................. 4
1.1 - REQUIRED TOOLS ........................................................................................................................ 4
2 – ASSEMBLY .......................................................................................................................................... 5
2.1 – ARCADE BOX..................................................................................................................................... 5
2.2 – BUTTON & JOYSTICK WIRING ........................................................................................................... 5
2.3 – RASPBERRY PI CONNECTIONS .......................................................................................................... 9
2.3.1 – POWER, HDMI, ETHERNET ........................................................................................................ 9
2.3.4 – GPIO ........................................................................................................................................ 10
3 – SOFTWARE ....................................................................................................................................... 11
3.1 – OPERATING SYSTEM DOWNLOAD ........................................................................................... 11
3.2 – REQUIRED SOFTWARE .............................................................................................................. 11
3.2.1 – SD FORMATTER ................................................................................................................ 11
3.2.2 – DISK IMAGER .................................................................................................................... 11
3.3 – SD FORMATTING ...................................................................................................................... 12
3.4 – SD IMAGE ................................................................................................................................. 12
4 – CONFIGURATION .............................................................................................................................. 12
4.2 – CONTROLS ...................................................................................................................................... 12
4.3 – AUDIO ............................................................................................................................................. 14
4.4 – INTERNET ACCESS .......................................................................................................................... 14
4.5 – SOFTWARE UPDATE ....................................................................................................................... 15
4.6 – EMULATORS ................................................................................................................................... 15
4.7 – ADDING ROMS ............................................................................................................................... 16

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TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1- Box Template ................................................................................................................................. 5
Figure 2 - Signal Wire .................................................................................................................................... 5
Figure 3 - Button Ground Wire ..................................................................................................................... 6
Figure 4 - Joystick Ground Wire .................................................................................................................... 6
Figure 5 - Button Ground Connection ........................................................................................................... 7
Figure 6 - Button Signal Connection ............................................................................................................. 7
Figure 7 - Joystick Signal Connection ............................................................................................................ 8
Figure 8 - Joystick Ground Connection ......................................................................................................... 8
Figure 9 - Box Wiring ..................................................................................................................................... 8
Figure 10 - SD Card Slot ................................................................................................................................. 9
Figure 11 - Power, HDMI, Ethernet Ports ..................................................................................................... 9
Figure 12- Raspberry Pi Ports ........................................................................................................................ 9
Figure 13 - Raspberry-Pi Pinout .................................................................................................................. 10
Figure 14 - Power, HDMI, Ethernet Connection ......................................................................................... 10
Figure 15 - Raspberry-Pi Connection .......................................................................................................... 10
Figure 16- Controller Template ................................................................................................................... 13
Figure 17 - Retro Pi Configuration .............................................................................................................. 13
Figure 18 - Controller Configuration ........................................................................................................... 14
Figure 19 - Software Updates ..................................................................................................................... 15
Figure 20 - Emulators .................................................................................................................................. 16

INTRODUCTION

Feeling retro? Well so do we! This ABRA Arcade Kit will blast you back to the past all within the
comforts of your own gaming station. The added bonus is no tokens required to play!

This guide will show you how to connect the buttons and joystick and turn this simple cardboard
box into a realistic game station emulator.

The kit is driven by a Raspberry Pi microprocessor (Version 2 or 3) running Port Pi Arcade
operating system. Port Pi equips the Retro Pie, Emulation Station, RetroArch and Retrogame
emulators. You can also re-image the SD card to run similar operating systems such as PiPlay,
Lakka and Recalbox. Follow these instructions for connecting the pins, screens, power and ethernet
and you’ll be playing your old favorite games in no time.

The emulator supports multiple gaming platforms (Sega, Atari, NES, N64, NDS, Macintosh) and
will run any legally obtained ROMs (a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a
read-only memory chip, often from a video game cartridge)

The emulator allows you to configure the buttons in any order and adjust settings like screen
resolution and audio. The Raspberry-Pi connects to any HDMI screen.
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1 - BILL OF MATERIALS

1 x Arcade Style Joystick [GAMES-05]

6 x Arcade Style Button
Black [COM-09339] White [COM-09340] Blue [COM-09337]
Red [COM-09336] Yellow [COM-09338] Green [COM-09341]

1 x Female-Female Jumper 40x12” Wires [793-ADA]

100 x Solderless Terminal Lugs ¼” [12-1610-100]

10 x M3 Mounting Screws [FIT0061]

1 x SD card loaded with Porta Pi operating system software
[BBB-16GB-10]

1.1 - REQUIRED TOOLS
 Raspberry Pi 2 or 3
 HDMI cable (or RCA or VGA)
 Monitor Screen and Speakers
 Box Cutting Knife
 Hobbyist Screwdriver
 Wire Cutters/Strippers
 Handheld Multi-meter
 Wire Crimping Tool
 Hot Glue Gun

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2 – ASSEMBLY

2.1 – ARCADE BOX

The first step in assembling our Arcade kit is to prepare the box. Conveniently, the box this
product came in was designed to be easily converted into the arcade. Carefully cut out the
slots for buttons and joystick. However, feel free to use any box or casing you have in mind or
re-arrange the buttons and joystick any way you like.

Figure 1- Box Template
2.2 – BUTTON & JOYSTICK WIRING

Once your case is prepared, we can move on to wiring. In this step we are creating custom cables
which can be a little bit tricky. (The longer the wire, the easier it is to connect in the box.)

Figure 2 - Signal Wire
You will need 10 of these. Make sure all are working before proceeding.
1 Cut off one end of the wire and strip it to expose the bare wire (a few mm)
2 Twist or fold the bare wire so that it seems large enough for crimping
3 Place the red crimp connector in the crimping tool and feed the wire into the socket (not too
far)
4 Squeeze the crimping tool to crush the connector and fix the wire in place. (repeat if
necessary)
5 Give the wire a gentle tug to check it does not come loose.
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6 In dire situations, a dab of solder, hot glue or shrink wrap can ensure the wires are properly
fastened.
7 Check the wire was done properly by testing its continuity/conductivity with a multi-meter
(use the meter in diode mode and place the leads on either end of the cable. If the screen
shows a value or beeps, your connection is good.)

Figure 3 - Button Ground Wire
You will need 1 of these. Make sure all are working before proceeding.
Follow the same steps as above except for stripping and tying 2 wires together before crimping
leaving only 1 female connector at the end for the Raspberry-Pi. Color-coding is a good idea here.
This cable is for grounding all the buttons together. Make sure to check the continuity at each
connection node and the whole length of the cable.

Figure 4 - Joystick Ground Wire
You will need 1 of these. Make sure all are working before proceeding.
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Repeat the same step as above with 4 connections. This cable of for grounding the joystick
switches. Color-coding is a good idea here. Make sure to check the continuity at each connection
node and the whole length of the cable.

Figure 5 - Button Ground Connection
Connect the common grounds of all buttons (bottom pin) with the cable we made. Color-coding
is a good idea here.

Figure 6 - Button Signal Connection
Connect the button signal wires (2nd pin) using the wires we made before. These wires will connect
to the Raspberry-Pi.
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Figure 7 - Joystick Signal Connection

Figure 8 - Joystick Ground Connection
Play with the joystick and identify each direction of motion with respect to how it will be mounted
in the box. (Don’t worry if you get this backwards, you can re-assign the directions in the software
later). Using the joystick cable we made before, connect the common ground cables (you may have
to bend the tabs a little bit)
Similarly for the buttons, we now connect the signal wires for the joystick. (You may have to bend
the tabs a little bit.)

Figure 9 - Box Wiring
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With all the wires connected, we can insert the hardware into the box. Screw in the buttons and
screw down the joystick.
2.3 – RASPBERRY PI CONNECTIONS

At this stage, we wire the Raspberry-Pi and seal up the box. Place the Raspberry-Pi inside the box
at a convenient location that allows all the wires to reach it as well as has easy access for power,
ethernet and HDMI cables. Trace the Raspberry-Pi outline with a marker and cut out the ports for
the power, ethernet and HDMI cables. We suggest putting these where they won’t interfere
with the game play. It may be wise to skip ahead and load the operating system and emulator
software onto the board before fastening it inside the arcade box. (Or cut out a small slot
underneath the box to get quick access to the SD card port)

Figure 10 - SD Card Slot

2.3.1 – POWER, HDMI, ETHERNET

Figure 12- Raspberry Pi Ports
Figure 11 - Power, HDMI, Ethernet Ports

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2.3.4 – GPIO

The Raspberry-Pi is easier to program with nothing connected. After you’ve uploaded the
operating system (skip ahead to Section 3-SOFTWARE section), we can connect the GPIO
(General Purpose Input Output) pins as should below.

Figure 14 - Raspberry-Pi Pinout

Figure 13 - Power, HDMI, Ethernet Connection
Figure 15 - Raspberry-Pi Connection

It is a good idea to connect all the wires securely before finally fastening the board and sealing the
box. We’ve also labeled each button so we can easily identify if it needs repairing
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