MiSTer FPGA Forum

Sorry, if this has been discussed before (I could find only a few slightly related discussions but that probably doesn't mean a thing), but is there the slightest chance of implementing something like a "Carousel Core" that can be used for e.g. an arcade machine aimed at the dummy user who just want to select a game from a cool looking screenshot and some description text by basic joystick controls (left/right/button)?

Obviously, MiSTer is totally awesome and all, but selecting hundreds of NeoGeo and Arcade games from the normal menu is a bit underwhelming and definitely not something for the dummy user. And yes, MGL might be a step in the right direction, but IMHO it's not a big step.

I wished there was some possibility to have an alternative (configurable) user interface that looked more like the Carousel of all that SW-Emulation based "Pandora's Box" Arcade things, the "Neogeo Arcade Stick Pro" or the "TheA500 Mini". If the Cortex CPU/Linux System doesn't have the power for this, I wonder if it would be possible to create a core that handles displaying Carousel/Menu and that would leave the information what to start to the Linux system which then would launch the according core or rom (etc.) within the core.

I'm sure someone will make it eventually but it's been a long standing desire to avoid this sort of thing on MiSTer for various reasons. Not the least of which the massive influx of "dummy users" that would surely show up here asking for support.

A real "dummy user" wouldn't even know that MiSTer was the backend and therefore would never end here.
I.e. a "Pandora's box" is something you can wire up in the corner of a room and everybody coming there will be able to play without even knowing what that system is. If you do the same with MiSTer right now, people will either not be able to start anything at all or end up screwing up your configuration.
But honestly speaking, the dummy user was just an excuse for my own wish to get a graphical game selection screen.
Sometimes you want to play a specific game or maybe even one from a genre and can't recall the name.
Or you don't even know what to play and a screenshot would be much more helpful than just a name.