wontpontificate
Member
- May 22, 2013
- 2
- 0
Hello!
I have a few questions regarding using cheap android tablets as non-tablets in devices.
First off, some background: I design and build miniature arcade cabinets. Up until this point, I've used 3.5" LCDs with composite video input, along with the guts of cheap "TV Games" -- the battery powered doo-dads they sold at big box stores for a while, that have composite A/V output for playing Atari classics and whatnot. Up to this point, that's been the quick and easy way to get things done.
HOWEVER, now, I've been told that I should start producing more of these things, and with the complications of scavenging "TV Games" on the secondhand market, as well as the limitations in using them, I've decided that I need to rethink my electronics, and use something that supported MAME. My first thought was using my existing 3.5" screens with a Raspberry Pi, since it's one of the few dev boards that supports composite video out. However, after spending a while learning just how difficult they were to obtain in quantity, I moved on and looked at some of the A10 development boards, which seem to be easier to obtain in supply, and also have composite video output.
I then started noticing a whole slew of the 5"/7" chinese tablets for less than the cost of a bare dev board + 3.5" LCD. I've been looking around for a little while, but the number on the market is just staggering, and I'm fairly new to the idea of using Android as an embedded sort of system that could function as a dedicated MAME machine, and can't find a whole lot of reference to this sort of thing being done. I was originally planning to use a stripped down linux distribution on a dev board, and boot directly into MAME on power up. I'm not sure how Android can handle this, and I'm really confused about the number of different tablet architectures out there. I find a lot of the specs to be kind of sketchy or hazy about whether the devices support USB OTG (for arcade controls) and other such things.
One of my biggest concerns is starting to use a device, and then discovering that it has been discontinued shortly thereafter, and then having to start all over again to get the new device shipshape and bristol fashion. I've been looking at the Android TV Stick devices as well, since that was essentially where I was at with both my TV games and dev boards, but they don't like to support composite video output, and finding cheap LCDs that take HDMI seems a bit difficult, and will push the cost further than I'd like to go.
I apologize if this seems a bit rambling, I've got a lot of food for thought here, and I'm hoping some of all y'all can help me sort it out!
Cheers!
-C
I have a few questions regarding using cheap android tablets as non-tablets in devices.
First off, some background: I design and build miniature arcade cabinets. Up until this point, I've used 3.5" LCDs with composite video input, along with the guts of cheap "TV Games" -- the battery powered doo-dads they sold at big box stores for a while, that have composite A/V output for playing Atari classics and whatnot. Up to this point, that's been the quick and easy way to get things done.
HOWEVER, now, I've been told that I should start producing more of these things, and with the complications of scavenging "TV Games" on the secondhand market, as well as the limitations in using them, I've decided that I need to rethink my electronics, and use something that supported MAME. My first thought was using my existing 3.5" screens with a Raspberry Pi, since it's one of the few dev boards that supports composite video out. However, after spending a while learning just how difficult they were to obtain in quantity, I moved on and looked at some of the A10 development boards, which seem to be easier to obtain in supply, and also have composite video output.
I then started noticing a whole slew of the 5"/7" chinese tablets for less than the cost of a bare dev board + 3.5" LCD. I've been looking around for a little while, but the number on the market is just staggering, and I'm fairly new to the idea of using Android as an embedded sort of system that could function as a dedicated MAME machine, and can't find a whole lot of reference to this sort of thing being done. I was originally planning to use a stripped down linux distribution on a dev board, and boot directly into MAME on power up. I'm not sure how Android can handle this, and I'm really confused about the number of different tablet architectures out there. I find a lot of the specs to be kind of sketchy or hazy about whether the devices support USB OTG (for arcade controls) and other such things.
One of my biggest concerns is starting to use a device, and then discovering that it has been discontinued shortly thereafter, and then having to start all over again to get the new device shipshape and bristol fashion. I've been looking at the Android TV Stick devices as well, since that was essentially where I was at with both my TV games and dev boards, but they don't like to support composite video output, and finding cheap LCDs that take HDMI seems a bit difficult, and will push the cost further than I'd like to go.
I apologize if this seems a bit rambling, I've got a lot of food for thought here, and I'm hoping some of all y'all can help me sort it out!
Cheers!
-C