Connecting old retro keyboards to USB with a cheap Raspberry PI PICO for MiSTerFPGA cores.

[@Fluxrat]

I really like the idea. I wonder if you could get those bluetooth chatpads for the dualsense running with the pico. Would be amazing.

[@bardock666]

Sorry, maybe i missunderstand something in the video, but where you find the "lib" folder? And at 15:48 you copy 15 files to the pico folder, but where to dowload all this files?

[@leesmithsworkshop]

circuitpython.org/libraries

[@abedabdesselem9491]

Thank you so much. Exactly what I was looking for. I have a ps/2 keyboard iam thinking to use it like this

[@PCBWay]

Nice sharing & thx so much for your trust, Lee 🥂

[@leesmithsworkshop]

My pleasure

[@jlofthouse1062]

are the boards available on pcbway or can you supply the gerbers (for a cost)?

[@elektron2kim666]

Very well documented what you did. Amazing. I think I would prefer a PCB buttons thing for a keyboard in most (unusual) cases. It's a great way to reuse/recycle things, though.

[@RoseTintedSpectrum]

Interesting stuff! Just to clear things up though, I'm a little behind on the terminology - What IS a computer?

[@leesmithsworkshop]

I am not sure I am qualified to answer that.

[@nathanaelsmith3553]

Might try this with bbc micro keyboard

[@sorcererstan]

Restore key on C64 -- even though it's hard-wired, couldn't that also be wired to Pico inputs? If there is no mapping in the MiSTer for it, maybe contact the C64 core developer and have them add a mapping for it.

[@leesmithsworkshop]

Hi, Yes it's the same as the 4 special keys on the atari XE the problem is I have not worked out how to do the dual scanning keyboard with the shift function of the cursor keys at the same time. I have included the actual physical connection so it's just software problem.

[@MattKasdorf]

Are there projects to do the opposite? ie. Use a USB keyboard on a C64?

[@leesmithsworkshop]

I know of a board for the C64, but not others Take a look at Uni64.com and he has a lot of very cool projects. It's not working today 25-10 -2022 so look in a few days. It's not so easy to go the other way as you have to wait for the keyboard scanning from the computer and then have a matrix of what keys are pressed - released ect and send a bit back so you have to keep track of all the keys while keeping the clock timing correct to each computer. It's not impossible and all I did for this was change pin numbers and the keyboard layout, very simple programming.

[@christophedelbecque6848]

Vraiment très cool. J’aurai besoin d’une interface pour Atari 800xl, une pour Commodore 64 et une pour amstrad cpc. Avez des cartes déjà réalisées susceptibles d’être commandé ? Merci pour votre retour

[@leesmithsworkshop]

sorry no, I am not selling them.

[@christophedelbecque6848]

Merci pour le retour. Bon, ben je vais prendre le fer à souder et commandez le matos. Merci pour la vidéo et les explications.

[@Colin_Ames]

Interesting. I don’t have a MiSTer, but have been trying to run a BBC Micro emulator on my Windows desktop. It works OK, but typing code gets frustrating because of the different keyboard layout. If I could obtain an original keyboard from a Micro, I presume it would work using the setup described here.

[@leesmithsworkshop]

Hi, Yes it will work and it all depends how the emulator is setup with keys compared to how the default bbc script is setup. I have not looked into this yet, but I do know it worked as a keyboard when I tested it. It should be very easy to swap the keys in the script to match the emulator

[@Colin_Ames]

@@leesmithsworkshop Thanks.

[@sudhamsuguduru8694]

Hi I am reaching out wondering that if I have an external clock pulse or any signal having high and low pulses, and I initialize the SPI on the Pi Pico to capture the signal using it, will it possible to store the signal in a buffer and display it?

[@n.h.s.a.d.m.]

Huh, interesting. I wonder if there's an option for ADAM keyboard which also uses flex.

[@leesmithsworkshop]

Do you know how it works ? if it's just a basic rows and cols matrix any keyboard can use this.

[@n.h.s.a.d.m.]

@@leesmithsworkshop It is and the matrix is known so it should be doable. Cool.

[@leesmithsworkshop]

@@n.h.s.a.d.m. content.invisioncic.com/r322239/monthly_05_2016/post-25956-0-81576800-1462658606.png

[@leesmithsworkshop]

@@n.h.s.a.d.m. just need to find the correct connector for the FFC

[@KyoshoLP]

I'm pretty new to all this stuff, but I've got a Pico and a C64 keyboard I'd like to use on MiSTer temporarily. Is there any chance you've got a list somewhere of what pins on the C64 connector would go to what pins on the Pico, if I'm going to be using your script (and the KMK firmware, of course)? I'm just hoping to connect them with some leads and pin headers, rather than make a PCB since this is likely temporary until I repair my C64 again (they really do love to die, you know?). Any help at all would be appreciated. I know I could look at your PCB designs and spend some time tracing them all out (assuming I track down a program to open them), but I'm hoping maybe you've just got a list saved somewhere. If not, no worries. I appreciate you making this stuff available, regardless!

[@leesmithsworkshop]

have a look at the schematic imgur.com/a/qyeqVZ2

[@KyoshoLP]

@@leesmithsworkshop Thank you! That is exactly what I was hoping for! Very much appreciated!

[@jinyongkim4327]

Hello, very interesting and instructive video.. Thank you so much.. I am trying to apply this for other retro computer MSX(FS-A1).. and running into python library preparation.. where are those file in your lib folder - adafruit_tick.mpy adagruit_debouncer.mpy and any files under adafruit_hid folder.. Thank you so much..

[@leesmithsworkshop]

hi, I would suggest you join the discord and ask them for help, don't know how the code actually works and just changed the layouts.

[@jinyongkim4327]

@@leesmithsworkshop, Thanks for advice.. I do!

[@zldsar14]

Fantastic thanks

[@Quazee137]

I need to go the other way round. USB keyboard to PS2 or I2C or ASCII (serial) well having all three as out puts available would be better.

[@leesmithsworkshop]

I am sure LGR featured something that can do that already ?

[@MineOrebaker]

this is great video but sir i need you r help to complete my keyboard please reply me and i will be thank full !

[@leesmithsworkshop]

What keyboard ? I only know how to do these basic setups for retro.

[@garywilkinson5887]

Just seen this as I was looking for something similar, though the opposite way around. I want to connect a modern keyboard to retro computers. I have a Minipet (new commodore pet motherboard) but no commodore keyboard, so I’d like to connect a modern USB keyboard to it. I’m just looking around with google to see if anyone has done something similar. Not having much luck!

[@leesmithsworkshop]

I am not sure you will find one, it's not an easy thing to do. I know of wireless keyboards for the C64 perhaps one of those could be altered to work ?

[@RetroJack]

Great - now people will be ripping apart perfectly salvageable classics for their keyboards.

[@leesmithsworkshop]

This is nothing new and you could buy adapters for most of the common keyboards for a while.

[@another3997]

Perfectly salvageable? That covers a particularly broad spectrum of experience and expertise. Given enough time, money and skill, just about anything can be slavaged, but not everyone agrees on where to draw the line. And as he pointed out, this idea is nothing new, and people are free to choose what they do to things they own, whether you agree with it or not.