Electric parts - oh2mp/deskcade GitHub Wiki
I already had a spare Raspberry Pi model B+ and an old 15" monitor that was rescued from electronic waste stack at my previous workplace. The exact model of the screen is ViewSonic VE510s that can do 1024x768 @ 60Hz. I had several bigger monitors but i wanted to make this machine compact.
The Raspberry Pi was mounted to the side of the cabinet. In this image a network cable is visible but it was there only during configuration. It was nicer to adjust the configs etc. via ssh connection.
I unassembled the monitor and threw the plastic cover away. I mounted that control panel on the side of the cabinet because it will be rarely used because the monitor remembers the settings. The video connection is made with a cheap but working HDMI to VGA converter.
Powering the hardware
The monitor has its own power, so it was "ready". The led strip behind marquee and the speaker amplifier need 12V. Every geek has a collection of power supplies, so I took one 12V 2.5A power from my closet. I don't remember where is it from, but this is recycling anyway.
I had bought cheap buck converters earlier, so I used one for dropping 12V to 5V. There are two short micro-USB cables soldered after that and wired to Raspberry Pi and HDMI-VGA converter which both are powered via micro-USB connector. The buck converter is adjusted to 5.1 volts. USB specification says that the voltage must be 5V ± 5% which means 4.75 – 5.25V.
Audio
I had some old active PC speakers and decided to recycle them here. I unassembled the one with the amplifier and threw the plastic case away. Old games had only mono sound, so there is only one speaker and Raspberry Pi is configured to mono sound. There is a hole with a protecting metal net under the speaker and a big hole in the bottom of the cabinet. Because there are about 10 millimeter thick rubber feet under every corner, the sound comes out well enough. The amplifier board is powered directly from the 12V power and the signal comes from the Raspberry Pi's 3.5mm jack.
In this image below is the marquee light. There are two about 30cm 12V led strips. 5 meter costs less than 3 euros from China and the strip can be cut about every 6 centimeters. The strips are put on a piece of plywood covered with aluminium tape. More about that on the cabinet page.
