An Introduction

My amazing girlfriend (yes a geek with a girlfriend), gave me a Raspberry PI for Christmas. Wow I thought the possibilities are endless. What am I going to do with it?

So many projects, 1 Pi and so little time. My choice to build a Games Arcade Machine for my mancave.

Yes I know there are many many tutorials out there on how to do it, what to do etc etc. But I decided that not all the tutorials are complete. Some only show you how to connect 2 buttons and a joystick to the Pi, others show more information. I decided 3 weeks into my project that maybe it would be a good idea to blog what I have done. So that maybe I could help others.

So the project: Build a retro game machine using a Raspberry Pi.

I am at the wiring up stage, but I will go back and document everything I have done so far.

But first, this initial post.

About me and this project.

So I am a geek, I love computers and anything related. I have been programming for a very long time. I started off on a Commodore VIC 20, programming in BASIC. Later I moved to a 386 DX 40, and coded in PASCAL. I am now a professional programmer and I code in just about anything the client wants.
Java, C, C++, C#, PL/SQL are the languages I am busy with at the moment. I have an Hons Degree in Computer Science from the University of Pretoria, and have been busy with a MSc in forever.

But the idea of this project is not to do something that I know. It is to build an awesome toy from scratch and learn something while doing it.

So besides the fact that I have a Computer Science Degree I decided to drop myself in the deep end:

• I am going to do woodwork, something I did in grade 8 and 9 and never done it since.
• I am going to try my hand at electronics, so I did a course in microprocessors but I have never really played with something like this so its going to be fun. (MCP23017 to be exact)
• I am going to try and learn Python, well enough to get by and build my arcade machine. I did 2 weeks of Python in 1999 as part of a programming languages course, so it has been a while.
• Graphics and vinyl for the machine. (GIMP)
• Power Supplies and Electricity (Way beyond varsity physics or wiring a plug :), this time I could break something )

Most importantly the Raspberry PI and how it works.

So as you can see, I am a novice. I am going to try things I have never done before and in the end I hope to learn something, have fun and have something to show for my time.

I would appreciate comments, suggestions.

I shall post pictures, videos and source code. I will also store all the code I generate on GitHub and make it opensource.

I hope that you enjoy the blog as much as I enjoy making a games arcade.