This is a really cool project that I’ve always wanted to try myself. Some folks hacked a cheap digital picture frame and got it to run Linux. Add a touchscreen overlay and working bluetooth and you’ve got yourself a really amazing toy to play around with. I may just grab one myself and see if I can’t get this working!
Here’s a great How-To on turning an old keyboard into a breakout board to use for projects. I can see this being really useful in a MAME build or as a control interface for a uC project if you wanted to avoid buying an I-PAC or something similar.
Note: After doing some reading, this wouldn’t actually be ideal for a MAME build. Keyboards have issues with ‘Blocking’, meaning that you can’t always press multiple keys simultaneously. A device like the aforementioned I-PAC solves this by scanning each key input pin individually, allowing you to press as many keys at once as necessary.
A reflow oven is an absolute must if you plan on doing projects with many surface mount parts. Hack-A-Day has featured many examples of home made reflow ovens, usually using a toaster oven and a microcontroller to do the work for you. This post uses that approach and has a very detailed guide on getting started building your own.