A few questions relating to arcade controls and connecting them to RPi's GPIO

[chiefspike]

Hello all, Not sure if this is the right section to make this post in.

Disclamer: I am a beginner with RPi and RetroPie

I’m in the process of building my first MAME arcade inside a briefcase and am looking for joysticks, buttons and a controller to connect buttons/joystick to RPi. One of my main priorities is to keep cost reasonably low.

QUESTION #1: I was doing a bit of research and came across an arcade kit assembly and the guy just plugged the buttons and joystick straight into the RPi’s GPIO (see link, 25:36 – 32:51.) https://youtu.be/ViLRv6JK45I?t=25m36s
How is this possible? I’m not using this guy’s kit, can I do this on my own?

QUESTION #2: How many buttons do I need total? Also how do I lay them out?

QUESTION #3: Are these buttons (linked below) any good?
retrobuiltgames.com/diy-kits-shop/arcade-parts/ (3rd product from bottom)

QUESTION #4: Is this joystick (linked below) any good?
retrobuiltgames.com/diy-kits-shop/arcade-parts/ (5th product from bottom)

[Anonymous]

Answer 1: he supplies his own software to read the GPIO inputs from the joysticks/buttons. You can try and incorporate his software into your project (I think he provides it for free), write your own, or find another software option. Personally, I got the ControlBlock add-on board from PetRockBlock and intend to use that for my arcade joysticks/buttons.

Answer 2: lots of different options here. I believe MAME uses 6 buttons, two rows of three, plus a coin button and a start button. NeoGeo used one row of 4 buttons. Console emulators use from 2 up to 8 buttons depending on the system emulated, plus a select and start button. I’m still trying to figure out my exact layout. I think I’m going to go with two rows of 4 buttons (allowing up to 8 buttons for PSX), plus a start and select button, and possibly a few more, not entirely sure.

Answer 3/4: I used this article to learn about the options for sale:
http://www.tested.com/art/makers/464539-choosing-buttons-and-joysticks-custom-arcade-cabinet/

[maughanorama]

im gunna get one of these, it gives 26 usable on the pi + 32 inputs on the card :)
https://www.abelectronics.co.uk/products/17/Raspberry-Pi–Raspberry-Pi-2-Model-B/54/IO-Pi-Plus

[sheepishbacon]

Hi cheif, I am having problems with the controlblock so I am probably going to take this route, can you tell me if you got this working and how you did it? Many thanks

[chiefspike]

Hello Mr. sheepishbacon,

I would’ve used GPIO to connect my controls but my RPi 3 is still incompatible. I have linked below to the software, it’s called ‘Porta pi’ but it’s really just retropie with GPIO support.

As for me I’ll be using the guts of a keyboard to attach the controls though I’ll probably switch to GPIO when RPi 3 is supported.

http://www.retrobuiltgames.com/porta-pi-arcade-help/porta-pi-software-os-download/

[petrockblog]

[quote=120564]Hi cheif, I am having problems with the controlblock so I am probably going to take this route, can you tell me if you got this working and how you did it? Many thanks

[/quote]

Can you tell me what kind of problems you are facing with the ControlBlock?

[Author]

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