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iCade PC mod


justinwebb

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Taking a break from working on my bartop I forgot I had this for my iPad and never use it. Decided to mod it up a bit and make a mini-itx fit along with a 10.1" screen. Havent really taken pics along the way as I just work on it here and there but its not too bad for just having spare parts laying around after I upgraded my HTPC.

Specs:

iCade

10.1" HDMI LCD with controller board

Asus Z97I-plus mini itx

Intel Pentium G3258 unlocked processor

8 GB ram soon to be 16GB

256 M550 SSD

1 TB 2.5" HDD

450 W SFX power supply.

I-pac controller

Added a few admin buttons near the screen since I didnt really know where else to put them, its a fight to get everything to fit thus far. Had to make grooves in the sides just to get the monitor to fit, had to get a tiny PSU and basically play tetris to get it all to fit without much work. It even has WIFI :) Added a bezel and painted it black as well as cut the piece of wood for the bottom of the marquee that is normally not on an iCade.

To do list:

Make back panel

Finish Marquee

Start on artwork for sides

Install Speakers

It will run Hyperspin and boots up in under 6 seconds from complete off, its quite a nice PC just to not use somewhere. Will update more pics as I complete more.

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Hmm, I have an iCade in the closet gathering dust. I should convert it like you are doing. Please continue adding pics and commentary, especially how you interfaced the controls to the system you installed.

Thanks for the inspiration! :)

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Justin are you gonna use separate power supplies thus 2 cables or try power both of 1 supply I've been looking there really ain't a lot of room.My first idea was to use a 10.1 netbook then the screen the mob etc would all work off 1 plug and the mob would be much smaller but netbooks don't seem to be fast enough to run hyperspin unless they are in the 300 pounds mark unless someone can share a netbook that will for cheaper than that.

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You should definitely add led buttons to your setup. I disassembled an XBOX 360 wired controller and soldered the buttons directly to the board. (not shown in the pictures, it was a future date)

Then i plugged it into my computer and I was good to go. Heres a preview of the setup.

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  • 5 months later...
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nephistos, I am looking into building one of these myself and I was wondering, what are the specs of the Eeepc 900 that you are using and what systems can it handle? I'm maybe hoping to run Dreamcast and Gamecube level games well. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally got around to doing some work on the iCade, got new buttons and joystick in and all wired.  Put in buttons on the side for pinball games.  Got the back of the unit on along with speakers and the marquee lighting.  ran all my cables including 2 usb ports in the back and 2 usb 3.0 ports hidden in the front.  Covered the control panel with Carbon fiber vinyl.  Now all that is left is to transfer over my hyperspin setup i have been working on.  Any questions just ask away!!

 

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The iCade is only £30 on Amazon.uk now so I've just bought one.  I haven't got time to do anything with it at the moment due to other DIY projects that really need to be finished first, but after seeing what's possible I thought I might as well get one while they are still available.

 

I can put my old iPad-sized Android tablet in it for the time being as it has just enough oomph to run MAME, but I'll be keeping my eye out for suitable components to go in it at some point.  I'm wondering about using a NUC mini PC instead of a mini ITX board, but that might be rather expensive.

 

Anyone know of a good source for one of these 10.1" IPS screens at a decent price that ships from the UK instead of China or the US?  All I've found so far is this for £100 https://www.pi-supply.com/product/adafruit-hdmi-4-pi-10-1-display-1280x800-ips-hdmi-vga-ntsc-pal/ which is a lot more than buying a similar one from China via Amazon or eBay, although I'm not entirely convinced that the ones I've looked at are genuinely IPS screens.

 

I also came across this 9" one with a nice custom made case for the Raspberry Pi: http://shop.cyntech.co.uk/products/hdmipi-9-lcd-screen-kit although there may be a 10.1" touchscreen version in the works.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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