CRT All In One & PiCI

Inspiration

Much of our group are members of the Embedded Hardware Club and Computer Club, so we wanted to give a more hardware-oriented spin on retro vs modern. Zack had always wanted to integrate a computer into his CRT monitor, so we decided to use that idea as a base, and mix it with our other idea

What it does

It simply integrates 2 computers into a CRT monitor. This means we can perform retro and modern computing on the device. Right now, its main purpose is to play old and custom-made games.

How we built it

We first modified a PCI card, and used the +5v power pins to power the Raspberry pi (via a wired in USB port). We glued the Raspberry Pi to the PCI card. Then, we used an HDMI to VGA converter, glued it the the Pi. Then, we screwed the ITX embedded atom motherboard into the inner metal casing of the chassis. Then, we added anti-static layers (prevents static electricity damage), anti-conductive layers (prevents motherboard shorting) and fan cooling (prevents overheating) to make the solution more robust. Then, we made the back cutouts to make sure the ports could be accessible from the back.

Challenges we ran into

We ran into challenges with fitting our computer components in the chassis, but were eventually able to get it to fit through creative positioning, and shifting around the CRT neck piece. Many of them were too big, so we had to get creative with the design. Our final design still had one glaring issue: The outer casings wouldn't fit on properly, causing the back to jut out. Tem had issues developing his game due to the learning curve, but was able to make a basic game.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that it works as intended, and is mostly integrated.

What we learned

We learned that we need more robust ways to prevent shorting.

What's next for CRT All In One & PiCI

The next thing to do is to integrate a KVM switch to allow for switching of video sources and keyboard/mouse input for each machine inside of our system. It would make useage of this device more convenient.

Built With

• crt
• raspberry-pi