If you would like to use modern USB keyboards, mice and game pads with your old retro computer collection, you may be interested in the USB4VC. An active protocol converter features a modern design and allows support for different platforms by swapping out protocol cards. The adapter has been specifically designed for low latency and is open source and powered by the awesome Raspberry Pi mini PC
The Baseboard contains user buttons, OLED screen, and a Raspberry Pi. It processes USB input events, which are sent to Protocol Card. Each card has a dedicated microcontroller and the appropriate circuitry and connectors for a specific platform. For full compatibility jump over to the official Kickstarter campaign by following the link below. Early bird pledges are now available for the inventive project from roughly $34 or £25 (depending on current exchange rates). To learn more about the USB4VC keyboard mouse adapter project play the promotional video below.
“Before the homogeneity of USB peripherals today, computer input devices were a wild west of proprietary peripherals, as different platforms used their own connectors and protocols for keyboards, mice, and gamepads. With the popularity of retro computing today, it poses several issues:
– Many of those peripherals are simply hard to find, commanding a premium on online marketplaces. They are only getting rarer, and without them, the computer itself is useless.
– After decades of service, many can be degraded and unreliable (e.g. foam & foil keyboards), requiring extensive restoration.
– Let’s be honest here, most early peripherals simply does not feel that great. Mushy membrane keyboards, sticky ball mice, plasticky gamepads, etc. And of course, the good ones gets very expensive.
– On the other hand, today high quality USB peripherals can be had for very reasonable price with vastly superior tactility, precision, and ergonomics.
– Thus, this project aims to make retro computers simply more enjoyable to use.
– I also hope it can lower the barrier of entry for certain machines, put more computers back in action, help preserving existing rare peripherals, and generally help more people get into this hobby!”
If the USB4VC crowd funding campaign successfully raises its required pledge goal and the project progresses smoothly, worldwide shipping is expected to take place sometime around April 2022. For a complete list of all available pledges, stretch goals, extra media and engineering specifications for the keyboard mouse adapter, jump over to the official USB4VC crowd funding campaign page by clicking the link below.
Source : Kickstarter
Filed Under: Hardware