I really like the Arduino and Raspberry Pi Pico platforms. I’ve learned a fair bit about electronics, microprocessors and even AI.
Embedded systems are, in deed, quite different from writing software for a traditional computer.
Despite the number of boards I have, and my familiarity with writing code for Arduino and MicroPython, I have only a handful of projects that I’ve put together.
Pong – Built off a Pico and a Pimoroni Unicorn Pack, I created a simple two person Pong game. Total retro fun, in colour, too!
Christmas Ornaments
Arduino Version – I don’t recall which LED panel I used, but I think it was this NeoPixel Shield from AdaFruit, and an Arduino Uno. Using C++ and the AdaFruit NeoPixel Library I wrote a number of animations and messages that would be displayed. A bit bulky to hang on a tree, it’s still a lovely addition as a techy ornament
Raspberry Pi Pico – Using a Pimoroni Pico Display Pack, I created an ornament that cycled through 10 images with snow ‘falling” on the pictures. Users could also stop the animation and go through the pictures individually with the buttons.
You can find the code in my personal Git repository for Picopong and the Christmas ornaments.
I have one other project to complete – the Tapduino as a replacement tape drive for a Commodore 64 or Vic 20. Bring on those T64 files!
I adore the Raspberry Pi platform. A small, credit card-sized computer, that’s cheap, relatively powerful and extremely versatile. If you’re looking for one, have a look at rpilocator.com which provides inventory detail around the world for Raspberry Pis.
While they primarily run Linux, there are a number of operating systems available including a bunch of Linux distributions including sub variants like Android and ChromiumOS, FreeBSD, RISC OS, and Plan 9.
I pretty much run Raspberry Pi OS, formerly Raspbian, on all my Pis. Here are a few projects I’ve created over the years
OctoPrint – I run OctoPrint on my 3D printer as a print spooler so I can keep my other computers going on other projects, especially for long print jobs.
Pi-Hole – I run an ad blocker on my home network so it a) reduces the amount of traffic on my home network, b) reduces how often we get profiled by ads, c) reduces annoying web pages as much as possible.
RetroPie – I run RetroPie on my home arcade consoles with my curated image of games from the 70s to early 2000s.
Recalbox – I have a few handheld Raspberry Pi Zero -based gaming machines such as the Retroflag GPi Case that run Recalbox. Well worth looking into as an alternative to RetroPie.
Pi1541 – When backing up old Commodore 64 disks and adding to my curated game images, I sought out Pi1541 to save backups of my disks. It works very well as a 1541 drive emulator.
Pimiga – Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Commodore Amiga computers, and I have quite a collection at home. When I heard about Pimiga, I had to try it out. It’s pretty amazing.
PiStorm – While i’ve not actually finished setting this up, I have a PiStorm to breathe new life into my Amiga 500 and 1000 in my collection. In short, it replaces the Motorola 68000 with software emulation running on the Raspberry Pi, accelerating the Amiga, and also supports RTG so you can run your Amiga off an HDMI screen rather than having to find a 15khz monitor. it also allows you to run any Kickstart – available with Coloanto Amiga Forever.
Home Assistant – I attempted to setup a Home Assistant at home, however I think I unfortunately killed the SSD – I’m in the process of reviving it – despite having a fan in the case. I went with Home Assistant as I’ve been concerned – what happens to our web-connected smart devices when manufacturers fold or cease to support a device? I’m using an Argon One M.2 case for this project.
Home brew projects
On Air Indicator – Based on a Raspberry Pi Zero W, I created an internal website that indicates if a room is in use, okay to enter, etc. Useful for Scott’s office when he’s teaching. I used a Pimoroni Blanket! LED, Apache, PHP and Python to
Game Console – An extension of RetroPie, here is a link to my page for how I put together my custom arcade game console.
What models am I using?
Primary Pi 4s and 400s with 4Gb of memory. I use a Pi 400 as my “primary” Linux machine in my office for general tinkering, testing and other geekery at home.
My OctoPi runs off a Pi 3B, and it’s more than enough power for that setup.
My handheld and On Air Indicator project run of Pi Zero Ws, and I have a Pi Zero 2W I also use with the GPI case – the 2W is close in power to a 3 which is huge.
For PiStorm, I’m using a Pi 3A which has a much thinner form factor.
This week I was asked by a co-worker, whom I am mentoring, “What are your tips and tricks for travel?” She was writing a speech for her Toastmasters meeting and given I am a bit of a road warrior, who better to ask?
Here are my tips and tricks for the newly initiated to business travel. This also applies to anyone who is starting their own personal adventure travels as well.
1. Align yourself with an airline program, hotel program and even a car rental program
That is in order of importance too. Consider where you are flying, the airlines available in your area, and what your goals are for those miles. Here in Canada we’re heavily skewed towards Star Alliance with Air Canada being the dominant carrier. I could fly American Airlines to the US to build up my One World status, but I am more likely to use Air Canada to go somewhere.
2. Get yourself Global Entry/NEXUS/Clear
Want to get through airport security quickly? Get yourself a Global Entry, NEXUS card, or Clear. NEXUS is really useful for those who cross the Canada/US border or travel internationally to/from Canada. Global Entry is great if you travel internationally to/from the US.
You get dedicated lines, in the US you don’t have to pull your laptop out of your bags, and you don’t have to take off your shoes, depending on the security checkpoint you’re at.
In Canada you get a dedicated line at most airports, but have to pull your laptop out of your bag. I have found inconsistent service.
Clear is only offered at 11 airports in the US, and honestly, I don’t see much value in the program.
The only caveat is that I am finding a lot of people are now getting NEXUS cards and slowing the process down, however airports like Toronto Pearson are opening up additional security lanes.
3. Get a points credit card
If you can, get yourself a points credit card so that you’re earning points on any purchases you make. Make sure this aligns with the airline or hotel program you are aligning yourself with.
Personally, I aligned my airline miles with my credit cards. While as of January first, I have only earned around 11,000 status miles, I have earned 30,644 miles total with my credit cards.
Also you get great sign up bonuses which add up quickly too.
Some cards also let you get through security quickly too, so if you don’t have status with an airline or a NEXUS/Global Entry card, you do have an opportunity to get expedited service through some airports.
4. Research your destination in advance
Look at what is happening at your destination in advance to see what is going on. Check the news, weather, look for events.
5. Stay at the same hotel
If you’re like me, consistency is a good thing. I’ve been staying at the same three hotels in Portland OR and Vancouver WA for the past 4 years. I know what to expect, I know the comfort of the beds, and I’m getting the hotel points and status. You also get to know the staff members, and they recognize you, which sometimes helps with extra perks or if you need that extra level of care and service.
6. Consider a connection
Most of us who travel prefer to have direct flights to destinations. It’s a pain to be delayed, to not get to your destination or back home on time, etc. But sometimes connections can be advantageous, especially if you’re about to hit a status milestone.
Last year I flew Toronto to Dallas via Houston because that was the only flight available. You earn just over 1,000 miles on Aeroplan/Air Canada Altitude with this direct flight. If you fly via Houston, you get just over 1,500 miles. This year with the changes to Aeroplan, you would probably only get over 1,250 miles. That’s a bit of a nice bonus.
Also, some airline programs consider flight segments towards earning status. i.e. 35,000 status miles or 35 segments. If you have 1 connection point in your travel, that equates to 2 segments. If you’re 1 segment short of status, why not connect?
7. Pick your favourite airports
Know which are your favourite airports for connections, and which airports are horrible.
For example, I don’t like ORD or PHL because it they are either very busy, or there are long walks between connecting gates.
I refuse to fly through LAX for connections because of the walk between terminals and terminal transit is horrible. As well, Customs Border Patrol staff are rude.
I love SFO and DFW.
So there you go – What other tricks and tips do you have?
About two years ago, I was inspired by my partner Sté to put together my own arcade game console with buttons, two joysticks, blinky LEDS and make it Raspberry Pi and RetroPie-based.
It was a great project to start during the COVID-19 Pandemic, but I ran into an issue when one of the vendors sent me the wrong cables. I finally got around to sorting this out and got the controller up and running.
I’m putting this together so that anyone who wants to do something similar with RetoPie can do so. There were some hoops I had to jump through to get this working, mainly around drivers that were no longer available, but re-found courtesy of the Internet Archives.
Crucial X8 4Tb SSD – I wanted something fast, relatively low power, and efficient for space. I also have curated a significantly large image of games from the 70s to early 2000s. Previously I was using a WD 4Tb My Passport which does the trick and thankfully I was able to copy the image to the SDD.
Atolla USB Hub – While it seems I can power the SDD from the Raspberry Pi directly, I wanted to make sure I had a powered USB hub to help with power.
Various cables
USB A-USB C cable for power to the Raspberry Pi from the USB hub
Power cable for the Ultimate I/O board to power LEDs
Micro USB-USB A for the Ultimate I/O board for cotrol
Micro HDMI to HDMI and with a female to female converter to hook up to my TV
A lesson learned
I originally bought a set of buttons and a controller from Amazon or Aliexpress, and while it sort of worked, I ran into an issue with keyboard emulation. From what I recall, I couldn’t use two of these controllers at the same time for the two different sides, or something else. It’s been a while. I know I also had some issues with powering the LEDs on those buttons.
I was also frustrated because the buttons were really brittle so taking off the switches broke the harness that the switch sits in.
Setting it up
When ordering the Ultimate I/O board make sure you go with the 4.8 mm switch connector. The buttons had 4.8 mm connectors, not the 2.8 mm which are for the Goldleaf connectors. I had ordered the 4.8 mm harness with mine, and Ultimarc sent me the 4.8 mm and 2.8 mm version.
Wiring is not too hard, but a few tips:
Make a note of where you’re connecting your LEDs for the buttons as you’ll need the port numbers for programming/configuration later
Pay attention to the switch harness and what wire goes to which button as they are specific
Buttons for Joysticks and Buttons themselves often have two connectors – for the signal wire. I found that you want to connect the signal wire to the terminal closest to the ground. Otherwise it assumes the switch is closed when you’re not pressing the button rather than open:
Keyboard or Xbox 360 Mode?
The Ultimarc I/O board can switch between multiple modes – Keyboard, dInput, and Xbox 360 mode. I didn’t explore much with dInput mode as I’ve had good experiences with both Keyboards and Xbox controllers with RetroPie.
There is once big caveat – If you use Xbox mode, you cannot control the LEDs on the board. As I understand it, Microsoft locks down the abilities of boards that emulate Xbox controllers in their protocols, and so you cannot control the LEDs.
That said, two controllers are clearly visible in Xbox mode and it works well. Just be sure to program the triggers to the proper Coin and Start buttons if you use this mode. If you’re not using LEDs, this could work for you.
Now, what is the challenge if you use Keyboard mode with RetroPie? Well…out of the box, you can only setup the keyboard as a single player device, you can’t have two distinct set of controllers and control them as Player 1 and 2 separately.
If you try to setup both sides, you end up wiping out the controls for the other player. So if I setup Player 1 and then setup Player 2, I end up wiping out the Player 2 controls.
Attempt #1: xboxdrv
Update 2023-08-31: I thought xboxdrv to the rescue, but it actually didn’t work. Sure enough, it turned my keyboard into an Xbox controller, but only one controller, not two.
So you can’t say one part of the keyboard is player 1, and another part is player 2. ARGH!
Here is what I had previously written:
xboxdrv allows you to setup a single keyboard-like device as two controllers (nope!). So your device still acts like a keyboard, and the driver converts the keypresses as if it were an Xbox controller. Perfect for what I needed so I can control the LEDs and have two controllers.
Ultimately what got me over the hurdle was the –next-controller command. Here is the command line I ended up using for the base configuration of my Ultimate I/O:
This works perfectly for what I wanted. Definitely use the by-id approach as that guarantees the Ultimarc Game Controller is used rather than any other plug and play device.
Nope, that did not work – I suspect I had my keyboard plugged in at the time.
A real shame, because if someone could get the OS to interpret two different parts of the keyboard as a joystick, then that would be awesome.
Attempt #2: Update retroarch.cfg
Ultimately, I had to follow the page on Keyboard controllers at Retopie and setup retroarch.cfg for all systems to use the keyboard as player 1 and player 2. This works well with Retroarch and definitely, two people can play head to head with the controller AND I can use the RGB lights.
There’s a problem though. What if I wanted to play a game like Gauntlet with four people, two on the controller, and two on wireless joysticks?
It seems that for now, I’m a bit out of luck unless I use a tool like Retropie Joystick Selection and force a joystick to be used for player 3 and 4. It’s kludgy but it works. It would be nice if this were available through the Emulation Station UI so I don’t have to login to my Raspberry Pi to make the changes.
Now, for practicality sake, how many people will actually use the controller directly versus using wireless controllers? Most people will likely play games with wireless controllers as our living room is in a bit of an odd layout with the couches perpendicular to the television.
Wireless Controllers?
Of course! I want friends to be able to play games like Gauntlet – very much a favourite – which supports up to 4 players. This was a big deal when Atari came out with the game, and very much my kind of D&D-like game to throw virtual quarters at.
I’m using 8BitDo SN30s and Ultimates in my build. The Ultimates will be the primary controllers for player 1 and 2, with the SN30s for player 3 and 4, or if preferred, someone can use the SN30s.
How about that LED Lighting?
Ultimarc suggests using RGB Commander, however clicking the link, RGB Commander no longer exists. Doing a search, RGB Commander is nowhere to be found.
Welcome to the Internet Wayback Machine – You can download version 4.0.5 here, which was the last version.
Much thanks to Gijsbrecht De Waegeneer – if there is a way I can support you in the future, I’d like to through a donation, or some other means. Even if I could host or even take over the code, it’s clear there is demand for RGB Commander.
RBG Commander has two config files:
rgbcmdd.xml which defines the actual behaviour of the LEDs and RGB Commander
Animation files in the rgba folder
Some tips about RGB Commander:
You can setup a static pattern, you don’t always have to use an Animation
When creating your own RGBA file, use three values to set RGB
When you start programming the RGB values on the right side, I have noticed that I had to program the values not in R, G, B triplets but in B, G, R – I’m double checking to make sure I’ve not plugged in my LEDs backwards on the board
It’s not hard to program but will take some experimenting with the setup to understand which LED is represented by each triplet
I’ve not linked the application up to specific emulators and tested that, yet
I left the default animation on boot up of the Ultimate I/O card as-is – It’s almost like it’s linked to boot up of RetroPie, which it really isn’t, it isn’t like it’s a progress indicator per se, but you know RetroPie is fully loaded when my default animation starts playing. Neat!
Next up is figuring out how to get buttons to show up in the various emulators.
What else?
If you want to add external USB-based hand held controllers you can. IDs for the devices, i.e. which is the first, second, third or fourth controller seems to be determined based on the order in which they are connected to the USB hub. Play around with this on your hub. I could actually be quite wrong.
Conclusion
This has been an epic project, a bit delayed, but I got it done and I’m super pleased with the results.
This completely replaces a Raspberry Pi 400, USB hub and wireless controllers I had setup as part of my home entertainment setup and puts everything into a very accessible, expandable box. It also frees up the living room Raspberry Pi 400 for other projects.
What’s Next? I’m not planning on putting this in its own arcade cabinet as I already have an AtGames Legends Ultimate with AwesomeSaUCE and CoinOpsX. I am thinking of getting a wide IKEA Lack TV Bench or Coffee Table to put the console on as it’s a bit difficult to sit on the floor comfortably although it does give me significant modern 80s retro vibes and memories.
