Experiences with VPinballX on CachyOS

[iBorg7000]

I thought I’d share a bit about my experiences. Last week I set about testing my pinball machine with Linux.

I used a NUC 12 Enthusiast with 16GB RAM, an Intel Core i7-12700H processor and Intel Arc A770M graphics with 16GB GDDR6 VRAM. After a few tests, I opted for CachyOS. The drivers work well with the Intel graphics card here. I’m currently running Vpinballx 10.8.1-BGFX 5436. I have a 3-monitor setup with a 4K 60Hz playfield, DOF and SSF. The SSF uses a USB sound card, 4 exciters and 2 bass shakers. I control my DOF via a Pinscape Pico and a Teensy. Connected to the Teensy are RGB LED buttons, playfield strips and a 16×64 matrix behind the playfield. This consists of two rows of 8×8 WS2812 panels, which I control via two channels. As these are arranged left-right, bottom-up, I have to adapt the Teensy firmware so that it matches the layout and can be addressed as a 1024-pixel matrix. So, if anyone else is having the same problem…

 

What should I say: even the 4k Totan runs without a single glitch…well, it’s only 60Hz, but it works without any lag during testing. The only issue I had was with the VPW AC/DC, where I encountered a script error with the bell. But I managed to sort that out too. PUP tables also run without any further configuration. I’ve installed 65 tables and, of course, haven’t tested everything thoroughly yet… but so far, it’s working.

Serum DMDs also work; the only thing is that PAC files won’t play. Unfortunately, these can’t be converted either.

 

I’m using VpinFE with the Trifecta theme as my interface. It’s really close to Pinuppopper. As I don’t like the automatically loaded videos, I’ve written a script that captures 45-second videos and screenshots for display in the frontend. I’m very happy with that too.

On top of that, I’d built a box for Pinvol that allows me to control the SSF channels individually using rotary encoders. Naturally, I wanted this to work under Linux as well. That works too. I’ve used xbindkeys and dunst to create a control scheme for overall volume, front and rear exciters, and the backglass.

 

So much for my experience report. To sum up: overall, I’m thrilled with the performance of this little PC, as well as its customisability under Linux, the system’s boot times, the speed at which VPX loads into the game, and how quickly complex DOF configurations with lots of VPLC adjustments are loaded.

 

So if anyone else wants to give this a go, I’d be happy to answer any questions.