deskthority

In a thread about the vintage Commodore 64 keyboard, I mentioned an acquisition I was making of a modern day Commodore 64 with a Cherry MX keyboard. Here are some pictures of the computer. It is an Intel quad core I7 based computer that is built into a C64-like case complete with Blu Rayreader/DVD writer, 8GB of memory and Wireless/Bluetooth and USB3; pretty good specs for a computer that came out in 2011 that had limited production due to the death of the company owner.

In any case, here are some pics of the keyboard. It is excellent and goes without saying that it's much better than the originals. If you are interested in pics of the internals of the computer, please check out additional pictures at my website here.

Keyboard pics:

Interesting I didn't know Signature Plastics did front printed keycaps.

I love this. I don't know how I would use it, but I would love to make something like this.

This is just beautiful!

codemonkeymike wrote: ↑Interesting I didn't know Signature Plastics did front printed keycaps.

Yes. In fact, SA Retro had Commodore-64 inspired keycaps with front-printed PETSCII icons copied from the C64 keys.

kokokoy wrote: ↑This is just beautiful!

AGREED.

As much as I despise Cherry based keyboards these days, my younger self would of went moist for this version of the C64x EXTREME.

Would like to see a do over showing pics of how you fitted that PC hardware into the casing and made it work. Almost nothing out there showing current PC hardware, being put into smaller key-case designs.

Miss those days of having a complete PC under my finger tips, as I type happliy .

Elrick wrote: ↑Would like to see a do over showing pics of how you fitted that PC hardware into the casing and made it work. Almost nothing out there showing current PC hardware, being put into smaller key-case designs.

The C64x Extreme is a model and was sold complete as you see here. Information is still available through Archive.org (since Commodore USA dissolved) here: https://web.archive.org/web/20120306213 ... A_C64.aspx

The Commodore C64x was not put together from parts by the buyer like computers that utilized the "barebones" cases. I did find a person on Youtube who built up a "barebones" case system. You can see that video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zt437tJmhM

Hope this helps.

Ah yes, I remember seeing these when they were selling them - a bit expensive for what the hardware was at the time, if I recall. I guess you were paying for the novelty more than anything else.

Are all the commodore 64 keycaps compatible with cherry mx? Are they scuplted or uniform profile?

IIRC they are Signature Plastics SA profile uniform R3

gianni wrote: ↑

11 Mar 2019, 22:03

Are all the commodore 64 keycaps compatible with cherry mx? Are they scuplted or uniform profile?

If you mean the original Commodore caps, you need an adapter to fit them onto MX stems. Link to the 3D print for the adapters in the link below.

https://hackaday.com/2018/09/20/c64-key ... ory-alive/

Yes, this keyboard came with adapters so that the old key caps could still be used.