It had to be done, didn't it.
This is an Amiga 500 case and keyboard, fitted with one of my Amiga 500 USB keyboard and dual joystick controller boards.
They are designed to allow the keyboard to be used as a USB keyboard with a modern PC or Raspberry Pi etc., and also provide two 9 way D joystick ports that act as USB game controllers. (no support for Amiga mice or another other than Atari / Commodore 9 way D joysticks). Handy if your Amiga 500+ board has been ruined by Varta juice.
It's not the nicest of Amiga cases and a very yellowed keyboard, but it does the job. All my nicer Amiga 500 cases have Amiga 500s in them.
In the past I have built these with a Raspberry Pi inside. Someone even designed a 3D printed mounting kit to install a Raspberry Pi very neatly (and reversibly) in an Amiga 500 case.
Today we see the launch of the A500 Mini, an Amiga 500 emulator in a small Amiga 500 style case.
That will support a USB keyboard, so lets see what we can do with it.
1) The easiest option
Just keep the A500 mini outside the case and use the external connection version of the Amiga 500 USB keyboard / joystick board.
The keyboard works, but it seems USB game controllers are not supported on the A500 Mini - maybe in a future revision of the A500 Mini firmware?
https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/amiga-500-usb-keyboard-controller-(external-connection)-62010
2) Loopback
This also uses the external connection version, but has the A500 mini inside the case with a short USB cable looping back
The connectors all line up within the spaces for the parallel and serial ports.
There are a lot of wires already with the mouse and game controller, power and HMDI, so you don't really notice the loopback USB cable.
3) A neater solution
This involves extending the cables of the A500 mini to external connectors. Here I have adapted the 3D printed mounting set. This gives external power, 2x USB and HMDI. The keyboard / joystick controller connects to the third USB port inside the case, so there is no loopback required.
4) With audio passthrough
There is a third version of the USB keyboard adapter, which provides two phono jacks where the original audio out jacks were. These are connected through to an internal 3.5mm jack. That is ideal for passing out the audio from a Raspberry Pi etc. There is no headphone out on the A500 Mini, but if you needed audio, you may be able to add a USB sound card (if that is supported??)
Alternative Blog Post
Do you buy the A500 Mini?
Do you buy an Amiga 500 + USB keyboard controller + Rapsberry Pi?
Or what about a Raspberry Pi 400?
You can still use 9 way D joysticks with the Raspberry Pi 400, using one of my USB Joystick adapters.
Conclusion
Advertisements
I am clearing out all the USB keyboard controllers to make way for new projects. The ones I have left are listed on my SellMyRetro store in a separate category:
https://www.sellmyretro.com/store/tynemouth-software/all-categories/retro-inspired/usb-controllers
All of the Minstrel and Mini PET PCBs etc. are in the main category
https://www.sellmyretro.com/store/tynemouth-software/all-categories/retro-computers
