this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2024
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A dream project for me, when I have the space for it, is to have a set of Ikea kallax shelves with a cubby for each retro console with some LEDs inside hooked up to a retropie emulating those consoles so those cubbies light up when that console is being emulated.
I have a lot of the actual consoles and they're in working order, but it's a bit of a pain in the ass to get them hooked up, swap cartridges, etc. sometimes. And I have just enough programming and electronics background that I feel up to the task of trying to make it work, just don't have the space for a big display shelf at the moment.
I can appreciate the experience of playing on the actual hardware and the cases where it's superior, but for me the experience emulating them is 99% as good with significantly less effort. Totally cool if others prioritize things differently though.
That's an amazing idea...
Yeah, I like to bring it up and put the idea out into the world whenever I get an opportunity because part of me is kind of hoping that maybe someone out there will do the hard work and write the code and share it online so someday when I have the space for it all I have to do is wire up the lights
Also when it comes time to fill in the gaps in my collection, I can save some money and still get the same effect because the console doesn't even have to be in working order, it just has to not be too beat-up looking. I could probably even 3d print some dummy consoles to hold me over (though of course I'd prefer to have actual working consoles if possible)
I'm not super techy, but I have an idle raspberry pi and tons of retro consoles... The idea is now in my head.
If you take up the project and decide to make my dream your reality, all I ask is that you share the code
I haven't done a deep dive into how I'm going to make it happen, my programming is rusty as all hell, and I've never tinkered too much with a pie or this kind of project
But on its surface it seems like an easy enough problem, just need to turn on the appropriate lights when an emulator starts.
Easier said than done I'm sure, I also suspect you'd probably need some kind of led controller or maybe an Arduino or something between the pie and the lights, I don't think the 3.3v it puts out from its GPIO pins would be enough for some light strips.
If someone had a lot of money to throw at the project, I imagine you could also do a pretty cool setup with smart lights like Philips Hue that would be pretty clean and require minimal tinkering with the physical electronics side of things, but you'd probably be throwing as much or more at it in bulbs as the rest of the project put together.