This is my current pick - simple, works exactly as expected, very small. Only thing I ever fight with is remembering to accept Mac OS's warning about connecting a USB device.
For just video (or w/ separate keyboard/mouse), the Genki Shadowcast devices work really well.
Various manufacturers have been listed, but there are actually several different companies building them currently:
- Stern Pinball (sternpinball.com) - Great, modern themes, biggest manufacturer. Recently released The Mandalorian, Godzilla, Foo Fighters, etc. Easiest by far to find to play and / or purchase via distributors.
- Jersey Jack Pinball (jerseyjackpinball.com) - Tend to be more collector quality machines. Recently released Guns n' Roses (developed with Slash), Toy Story 4, and the Godfather.
- Spooky Pinball (spookypinball.com) - Initially home brew pinball, built into much larger company. Releases include things like Rick & Morty, Halloween, Ultraman, and Scooby Doo.
- Chicago Gaming Company (chicago-gaming.com) - Involved in many things, but from a pinball standpoint, mostly have made remakes of popular 90's games with more modern hardware (Medieval Madness, Attack From Mars, Monster Bash, Cactus Canyon).
- Multimorphic (multimorphic.com) - Advanced pinball system, designed to allow changing of games in the cabinet (ie partial playfield swaps). Large screen built into playfield, ball tracking, etc. Games have been mostly original themes.
Typically each manufacturer will release a given title, at typically 2-3 "trim" levels (ie, Stern calls these Pro / Premium / LE, Jersey Jack has called them Standard Edition, Limited Edition, Collectors Edition). Price and features go up with the trim level.
Long since mattering, but you could move them like this if you started it, rev'd it beyond 4k RPM, and then shut the motor off prior to it dropping below 4k. Basically, the idea was the rotors would force the fuel / oil mixture out of the crankcase and keep the spark plugs from fouling.
I loved my RX-8, but it was a pain in the rear. Switched to a WRX and got 50% better gas mileage, more power, more torque, and way more room. This of course bypassed the need to check / refill the oil every other fill up (aka, every 300-ish miles) all while trying desperately not to burn your hand.
The 3B+ has ethernet (and it's gigabit - at least gig sync - ~250Mb/s max actual transfer due to USB2.) The new one (3A+) does not have ethernet but is still capable of USB booting.
I've been fiddling with this idea for a while and have basically come to the conclusion direct VGA capture isn't worth the trouble. There are VGA to HDMI converters available for about $20-$30 that do the job surprisingly well. There used to be a number of VGA -> digital chips available (TI TVP7002, etc) but they've all been EOL'd or NRND (Not recommended for new designs.)
For HDMI/DVI capture at this scale, the best option seems to be an FPGA based system. There are several boards available that have the necessary hardware but are expensive (relative to a 1-port IP-KVM), power hungry, or large (or all of the above.) The Digilent Zybo may have enough to pull it off (and has the ARM cores to boot) but is still a bit on the pricey / power hungry side. I'm hoping the new Snickerdoodle Zynq based boards will be able to do the job (with an add-on board)
Regarding using the Pi2, it might work, especially if it can be fed via the camera interface. The lack of USB-OTG (linux gadget support for KB / Mouse / Mass Storage) limits the usefulness somewhat.
I've been hopeful about the Beaglebone Black / X15 due to the USB-OTG and the tons of extra IO.
The other board of interest is the Dragonboard 410C - it can supposedly capture at 1080p60 (more than enough for the average system you'll stick a KVM on) but I'm not sure what that means explicitly (yet.) It does have USB-OTG (though it can't do USB Host / Device simultaneously.)
The article isn't really covering the modern pinball scene. While Stern is definitely the major manufacturer in play, Jersey Jack is growing and there are several more boutique manufacturers including:
Multimorphic - Offers the P3 pinball system integrating a full LCD panel with motion tracking into the playfield (as opposed to the backbox like JJ.) They also offer the P-ROC which allows replacing the CPU (a 6809/ASIC combo!) with a Spartan3 system allowing you to reprogram the rules on most 90's+ games.
Spooky Pinball - Ben Heck designed the America's Most Haunted machine, an "unlicensed" theme that is quite fun to play. I believe the first run was for 150 machines, with the next title to be announced in the near future.
Heighway Pinball - Manufacturer out of England with one title in production (Full Throttle, a motorbike theme) and are working on a licensed Alien themed pin.
There are a couple others including current and former game designers working on their own or with one of the manufacturers. This also says nothing of the pinball modding community, custom one-off games, etc.
EDIT: Completely forgot Planetary Pinball who is remaking late 90's pinball machines with modern electronics. First machine is Medieval Madness and is shipping now.
As of yesterday, the links weren't updated beyond the RC3 release which came out about Aug 13. My guess is they updated this forum post with the final release.
I purchased a Formlabs Form1 from the Kickstarter a year and a half ago. Received it about a year ago and have made some pretty cool practical parts (replacement parts for a pinball machine, custom brackets, etc.) Being a resin printer, the objects come out with far better accuracy than any of the FDM (filament) printers I've seen thus far (at least without extra finishing.)
Originally the software and documentation was pretty sparse, but it has gotten drastically better over time. Biggest complaint about the printer is the cleanup of the parts, but once you have it down it's not a bad process.
Used one of these recently. Had a SATA port (not eSATA) on the outside of the device that I'm assuming is used for upgrades / etc. Not sure why you would ever expose a port like that without some sort of cover.
It can definitely save you some time (SSDs in general, not just this one,) but how much depends on the operations in question.
Example workflow - SQL Server, approx 1TB working set - putting it all on SSD (a RAID set of consumer level SSDs) basically doubled our operations per second. Modifying the algorithm a bit while still on the SSD gave 20x speed up.
2nd example - SQL Server, approx 10TB of RAID Prosumer SSD vs same amt of 15k SAS drives: SSD = 8x speedup.
3rd example - SSD as swap on linux operations - performance dropped by 10%. This mostly had to do with the SSD used and its role.
In other words - it's not a magic bullet but it can definitely buy you some breathing room.
Going on a little over 4 years now. Best thing ever. Had absolutely awful vision beforehand, now at about 20/15 with both eyes.
Surgery part wasn't bad - felt a little ill during the process, but it was over quickly. Could read street signs on the way home which made my wife cry. The goggles were uncomfortable but not bad for the next day or so. Didn't need pills for pain - have had dryness off and on for at times since.
Again, absolutely best thing ever - have done rock climbing, martial arts, swimming, etc - things that were difficult with glasses (ie, they don't fall off your face anymore...)
One of the designers / developers for LoTR (and many many other games,) Keith Johnson, is now employed by JJP. Chances are he'll be involved with The Hobbit machine.
Much like an approach to learning software, I'd say pick a project that you'd like to control in some fashion. Could be something like:
- Turn on a desklamp when I enter the room
- Remotely open my garage door without modifying the hardware
- Tell me the status of the sprinkler system
One good place to get ideas is look at a product that does something interesting, but you want it to do more. Examples from my own current project list:
- LED strips with a remote control that give the option of 16 colors. Modifying said controller to give me more colors (as the LEDs are RGB LEDs)
- Hacking a wireless power socket to not need the remote but be computer controlled.
If nothing else, pick up a copy of Make magazine and have fun...
The iMX233 variety is a considerably slower chip than the BCM2835 and I don't believe it has anywhere near the video capability. These were the same chip line as the 2nd gen 3.5" Chumbys (may have slight variances.) It is still a cool chip but it's not the same setup.
The A13 variety is more powerful, but less widely available and the chip hasn't been used as much.
For just video (or w/ separate keyboard/mouse), the Genki Shadowcast devices work really well.