Great deal on iCade (in the US)

[wermy]

Bed Bath and Beyond have the iCade for $50:


http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=18449218


Combine that with a 20% off coupon for signing up for their newsletter ( http://app.bedbathandbeyond.com/prefs/pref.cfm ), and that brings it to $40. I picked one up yesterday for that price - very fun with iMame4All!

 

[craigix]

Wow, that is cheap, that's cheaper than their cost price.

 

[vcoleiro1]

I guess they have to compete now with the "Atari Arcade Duo" which has a RRP of $60 but has been selling for way less than that.


It's odd that Atari worked with the iCade team to get the iCade working with "Atari's Greatest Hits", only to then launch there own version of the iCade later on. It always has seemed like a bit of a slap in the face.

 

[Prometheus]

I noticed that some folks are looking at these to make Raspberry Pi-based bartop cabinets. Might be worth a look from that sort of angle, as well, people.


If they were at a similarly reasonable price over here, I'd get one myself and do the same.

 

[wermy]

I noticed that some folks are looking at these to make Raspberry Pi-based bartop cabinets. Might be worth a look from that sort of angle, as well, people.


If they were at a similarly reasonable price over here, I'd get one myself and do the same.

I was actually tempted to get a second one myself for something similar. It's just a bluetooth keyboard, and the space where the iPad would go looks just about the right size for an old laptop screen. Some people have had success using it as a bluetooth controller for mame in Windows using AutoHotKey: http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/24774/can-i-configure-mame-to-work-with-the-icade-joystick-and-its-keyboard-interface


Could make a fun project.

 

[vcoleiro1]

I noticed that some folks are looking at these to make Raspberry Pi-based bartop cabinets. Might be worth a look from that sort of angle, as well, people.


If they were at a similarly reasonable price over here, I'd get one myself and do the same.

I was actually tempted to get a second one myself for something similar. It's just a bluetooth keyboard, and the space where the iPad would go looks just about the right size for an old laptop screen. Some people have had success using it as a bluetooth controller for mame in Windows using AutoHotKey: http://gaming.stacke...board-interface


Could make a fun project.

iMAme4all supports the icade. So you would need to load a version of imame4all on the PI then have a lcd monitor connected to it via the hdmi. .


Problem though: Does the PI have bluetooth?


Alternatively (and probably better), you could attach the icade joystick and buttons to a keyboard encoder (ipac-2 or from an old keyboard) and then plug that into the usb of the PI. You then wouldn't need any batteries for the icade or have to connect via bluetooth. You could also run any version of mame that runs on the PI.

 

[wermy]

I noticed that some folks are looking at these to make Raspberry Pi-based bartop cabinets. Might be worth a look from that sort of angle, as well, people.


If they were at a similarly reasonable price over here, I'd get one myself and do the same.

I was actually tempted to get a second one myself for something similar. It's just a bluetooth keyboard, and the space where the iPad would go looks just about the right size for an old laptop screen. Some people have had success using it as a bluetooth controller for mame in Windows using AutoHotKey: http://gaming.stacke...board-interface


Could make a fun project.

iMAme4all supports the icade. So you would need to load a version of imame4all on the PI then have a lcd monitor connected to it via the hdmi. .


Problem though: Does the PI have bluetooth?


Alternatively (and probably better), you could attach the icade joystick and buttons to a keyboard encoder (ipac-2 or from an old keyboard) and then plug that into the usb of the PI. You then wouldn't need any batteries for the icade or have to connect via bluetooth. You could also run any version of mame that runs on the PI.

I was thinking more along the lines of a plain ol' laptop running windows. Even a few-year-old laptop will be far more powerful than a pi (or my ipad 1 for that matter).

 

[vcoleiro1]

@Wermy,


You could do that, but that's a bit costly. I think the point was to create something from scratch for as little as possible

 

[Prometheus]

iMAme4all supports the icade. So you would need to load a version of imame4all on the PI then have a lcd monitor connected to it via the hdmi. .


Problem though: Does the PI have bluetooth?


Alternatively (and probably better), you could attach the icade joystick and buttons to a keyboard encoder (ipac-2 or from an old keyboard) and then plug that into the usb of the PI. You then wouldn't need any batteries for the icade or have to connect via bluetooth. You could also run any version of mame that runs on the PI.

Not built-in, but it can easily be done via a USB dongle.


Is there some reason you couldn't just treat it as a standard Bluetooth keyboard, since that's what it apparently is, and re-map accordingly? Dealing with compiling iMAME4All seems like an awfully long-winded way of doing it, to me...

 

[wermy]

@Wermy,


You could do that, but that's a bit costly. I think the point was to create something from scratch for as little as possible

I've actually got a couple older, half-dead laptops. i plan to see what I can cobble together between them.

Not built-in, but it can easily be done via a USB dongle.


Is there some reason you couldn't just treat it as a standard Bluetooth keyboard, since that's what it apparently is, and re-map accordingly? Dealing with compiling iMAME4All seems like an awfully long-winded way of doing it, to me...

the icade is a little weird in that it does one keystroke for a button down, and another for a button release. That's how they use it with iOS, since you can't directly poll the keyboard for a key's up/down state. The guy at the link I posted had a script to get around all that, though.

 

[vcoleiro1]

Sorry , I meant Mame4all but having said that, Im not sure mame4all does support the icade , it might only be imame4all. Perhaps someone else might know more on this.


Assuming mame4all does not support the icade .


I guess if you haven't got a laptop to sacrifice already and you do want to use the PI, the best bet and cheapest way would be to:


Wire a keyboard encoder(from an unwanted keyboard) to the joystick and buttons of the icade and plug it into the PI via the USB. Sounds harder than it is, actually its a 10 minute soldering job.


No need for Bluetooth or batteries for the icade then. And as said before you could use any version of Mame that runs on the PI or HW you use

 

[Prometheus]

Sounds harder than it is, actually its a 10 minute soldering job.


No need for Bluetooth or batteries for the icade then. And as said before you could use any version of Mame

True, but it's much harder if you don't know how to solder and don't own or have access to any such equipment!

 

[vcoleiro1]

@Prometheus


You could always use your charm to convince someone else to do it for you.

 

[Prometheus]

Haha, true, but it's not something I was really actively considering anyway - the pricing for these critters here is really, ludicrously high, last I checked.


I guess it's something to look at learning for the future, though.