My cabinet is powered by a ~12 year old PC, with a 2.8 GHz Pentium D, a Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT video card, WinXP SP3, and a hard drive that is starting to have some issues. I primarily use it for arcade games, though have a few console emulators installed. I am using an I-PAC2 with a SpinTrak spinner and a U-Trak trackball connected to the I-PAC2, and two UltraStik 360's that are plugged directly into USB. To turn the system on/off, I have an arcade button that's hooked to the PC's motherboard power toggle, and everything else is on a current sensing power strip, so turning the PC on then turns on the monitor, marquee light, USB hub, etc.
That being said, I'm thinking about replacing this PC since it's really on it's last legs. I like the idea of a Raspberry Pi, both from the low energy use and low noise point of view, plus I like to tinker as much as I like to play, and there's plenty of tinkering to do with a Pi. Seems like the 3 B+ would be the Pi board to go with. I've been doing some reading, both here and elsewhere on the internet and not quite sure how seamless it would be.
Main concern is the I-PAC2/spinner/trackball and U360's will work properly and easily. My Ultimarc stuff is all ~2 years old, have read that some earlier models do not work well under Linux, that the utilities are not as robust as those for Windows, etc. I do not have any buttons connected to the U360's, and read someplace that they may not work properly unless there is at least one button connected to them?
Secondary question is how to handle powering the system on/off, but it looks like there are several solutions, the Mausberry Shutdown Circuit looks like an easy way to use a standard arcade button to handle this, though I wonder if the Pi draws enough current to activate the current sensing power strip? It's a Bits Limited Smart Strip.
My other option would be to buy another PC, probably a refurbished one with more current hardware and OS. Costwise, there's probably not too much difference between the two options. I expect I'd spend <$100 on a Pi and all the accessories, and probably spend ~$100-150 for a refurbished Win7 PC.
Thanks,
Eric