DIY Retro Arcade - using off the shelf parts, Evo Linux, a Raspberry Pi and a Jamma board
06-28, 17:00–17:20 (America/Los_Angeles), Yoga Studio

How to build an arcade system using Evo Linux on a micro SD card in a Raspberry Pi. We will leverage a standard Jamma board and wiring harness.


How to build an arcade system using easily sourced off the shelf parts, a micro SD card with Evo Linux in a Raspberry Pi. We will leverage a standard Jamma board and wiring harness.

Requires a little rudimentary 3D printing experience for printing mounts for the Raspberry Pi and Jamma boards.

This can be used in a full size arcade cabinet with a CRT and controllers OR connected to a flat screen monitor and simple controller set you build yourself or a controller pad you pickup off ebay or amazon.

I have systems at home using both a fully hand built arcade cabinet and a MacGyvered a.k.a. "Frankensteined" semi-portable setup.

See also: Presentation (1.6 MB)

Let's start here, what do I know and who the hell am I?

Arcades: In the 90s my family hobbled together a MAME console with leftover wood in our garage, some banned circuit boards (yes legally banned), a large Sun Microsystems CRT and an overclocked Supermicro box. Almost three decades later during PandemicCon my wife and I started buying old 1980s arcade machines to restore for home use including Asteroids, Galaga, Pac-Man, Robotron, Tempest, Tron. This eventually led to building our own cabinets and internals for home use, in the middle of global supply chain issues.

Personally: I'm older than Yoda, talk fast, drink death incarnate levels of dark coffee, wear dad shoes (yes those big ass white sneakers), I have amazing family and friends. I'm active in two US east coast makerspaces, teaching cybersecurity and retro computing.

Professionally: Spent decades in cybersecurity firms, software companies and hedge funds. I've been everything from a low level ASM/C/C++ coder, pen tester, low latency network engineer, security engineer, infrastructure management and senior management.

Cons: This is my very first toorcamp and first time in Washington state! I've attended cybersecurity conferences for decades including Blackhat, BSides, Defcon, Defcon Shoot, HOPE, Pumpcon, Shmoocon, various LobbyCons and private events.

Family and Friends Shout Outs: My wife and kids for always believing in me. I am here because my amazing friends put together this surprise trip for me as a gift. They are /VickOdemus a.k.a. NickO, Peach and Ix0m. We're a pack of wiseasses.