LCD/LED Marquees

Remember back in the physical arcades how game cabinets would proudly display the logo of the game they featured on the overhead billboards? Well, thanks to the aid of modern technology, it is now possible to replicate those banners! And since we're in Batocera, we can dynamically change those artworks to reflect the game that's being played at that current moment!

The premier digital marquee manufacturers! Pixelcade has been integrated into Batocera since v33.

Supported platforms include:

• Raspberry Pi Zero 2
• Raspberry Pi 3
• Raspberry Pi 4
• x86_64
• Odroid N2+
• Theoretically, any aarch64/32 and/or x86_64 platform that supports Batocera v33+, but these have not been tested yet.

Pixelcade offer their marquees in two delicious flavors. The installation instructions change depending on which you want to install for.

This is the lower resolution LED panel that's more suited to pixel-art display than full-color images. It's easy to tell this one from the LCD panel as it has a USB port on the back, while the LCD panel does not. This panel comes in two sizes, pictured above is the smaller size next to an Xbox One controller.

Installation is simple. Power on the Pixelcade panel and plug in its USB port into the Batocera machine:

Then SSH into Batocera and run the following:

curl -kLO -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alinke/pixelcade-linux/main/installer-scripts/setup-batocera.sh && chmod +x setup-batocera.sh && ./setup-batocera.sh

After the downloading and installation is complete, you will see the 1941 marquee being displayed on the panel. Confirm the prompt and close it.

If the panel did not display the marquee, refer to the troubleshooting section.

This is the higher resolution LCD panel that's suited to displaying full-color images. It supports Wi-Fi and sends its signals over the network instead of a USB cable. It is also possible to use an Ethernet connection in case a fully wired setup is preferred.

Installation uses a different command from the LED panel, so be careful. Power on the Pixelcade panel, (connect it to the Wi-Fi (how?)), SSH into Batocera and run the following:

curl -kLO -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alinke/pixelcade-linux/main/installer-scripts/setup-batocera-lcd.sh && chmod +x setup-batocera-lcd.sh && ./setup-batocera-lcd.sh

If the panel did not display the marquee, refer to the troubleshooting section.

If you have both panels and want to use them at the same time, it is possible to install both these scripts at once.

A simple web interface can be used to upload new artwork to the panel's SD card. Visit http://batocera.local:8080 (if that doesn't work, use http://<IP of Batocera>:8080) to bring it up.

Pixelcade has a sophisticated API that can be used to make the marquee perform certain actions. These can be programmed into the regular Batocera scripts if desired, but it might be easier to use EmulationStation's scripts instead. The ES scripts installed by Pixelcade's installer can be found in /userdata/system/configs/emulationstation/scripts.

For instance, here's a simplified routine that displays the game's marquee when a game is launched by Batocera (if it were installed into the /userdata/system/configs/emulationstation/scripts/game-start folder and marked as executable):

pixelcade.sh

#!/bin/bash
 
# Save the arguments into variables.
system="${1}"
rom="${2}"
romname="${3}"
 
# Convert an argument into another value.
if [[ "${system}" == "fbneo" ]]; then
        system="mame"
fi
 
# Switch case for certain systems.
case ${system} in
  fbneo)
    system="mame"
    ;;
  scummvm)
    rom="${rom%.*}"
    ;;
esac
 
# Execute this part every time this event triggers.
curl -G \
        --data-urlencode "t=${romname}" \
        http://127.0.0.1:8080/arcade/stream/${system}/`basename ${rom}`

If you wish to simply see the events that are being fired off by Pixelcade's EmulationStation scripts as you're navigating the menus, run the following in an SSH terminal:

killall java
/userdata/system/pixelcade/jdk/bin/java -jar -Dioio.Seriaorts=ttyACM0 /userdata/system/pixelcade/pixelweb.jar -b -e

Now you'll get the following debug output:

It is possible to use the two HDMI outputs on an RPi4, with one displaying Batocera and the other displaying the dynamic marquee. Link to the original forum post explaining this. Essentially, the Raspberry Pi draws images/videos directly to the framebuffer, which is still visible on the other display even though it's hidden by Batocera on the main display.

Link to original forum post. Link to video demonstration.

This can be done using Batocera installed onto a device and another computer/Raspberry Pi connected to a separate display. So far, this has been tested successfully using Batocera installed on an x86_64 computer/Raspberry Pi with another Raspberry Pi acting as the marquee.

Pixelcade takes a few more moments after ES has started before it “kicks in”.

If it's still not working, it could be that it's simply not plugged in correctly. Ensure that the USB cable on both ends is firmly secure in their ports (or if using the LCD panel, that it's paired to the same Wi-Fi network as Batocera). On the Batocera machine itself, it might be worth checking if it's functional on a different port (such as a USB 3.0 port if you were using a 2.0 port, or vice-versa).

If it's still not working, try out the following:

• If the Pixelcade software was installed before the 7th of February, 2022, a bug prevented the script from working on boot. The script at /userdata/system/custom.sh containing the Pixelcade instructions must be removed completely and then the installation run again. Choose “yes” to wanting to reinstall Pixelcade.
• The script can be called manually with

  killall java && cd ~ && ./custom.sh

  • If the marquee starts working then the problem is that the script itself is failing to launch. Ensure that it contains /userdata/system/jdk/bin/java -jar pixelweb.jar at least twice in the file. If it does not, it is outdated and will not work.
  • If the marquee still does not work, then this is (likely) not the issue.
• A command can be sent to the marquee manually for testing purposes. For example:

  ~/jdk/bin/java -jar pixelcade.jar -m stream -c mame -g 1941

• If using the LED panel (not the LCD one), run ls /dev and search for ttyACM0 or ttyACM1. If neither are present, then your machine has not detected the Pixelcade LED device.