VIC-20 Pi Conversion Panels

thingiverse

I designed a series of panels for a Commodore VIC-20 that I wanted to transform into a housing for a Raspberry Pi. To do this, I included blank panels as well as ones with cable or other object holders. The Autodesk 123Design file is also available. The panels were printed using PLA and attached to the case with Gorilla Glue, resulting in a sturdy yet removable assembly. Applying a thin layer of glue on both sides and letting it dry before adding more glue and pressing the pieces together worked perfectly. To read the keyboard input and convert it to USB, I used an Arduino Pro Micro. This build can function as a standalone USB keyboard or power up the internal Raspberry Pi to access a Linux desktop computer. The cables were sourced from eBay. I have uploaded an Eagle schematic and board design, along with a PDF diagram for the Arduino keyboard interface. A hex file is also available for flashing onto an Arduino-compatible 5-volt, 16-MHz Pro Micro. By holding down the Commodore Restore key during boot or reset, the keyboard interface can be disabled to access the Arduino bootloader.