Ever since Apple introduce the first iMac, computer makers have been hiding PCs in monitors, giving the illusion that you’re just plugging a keyboard and mouse into a display. But one hobbyist has taken a different approach, by hiding a computer in a keyboard. Just plug in a mouse and monitor and you’ve got a fully functional PC.
This particular hack combines a $35 Raspberry Pi mini computer and a Cherry G80-3000 (which costs more than twice as much).
Since the case is fairly roomy, it’s pretty easy to cut out holes for ports. And since the Raspberry Pi is about the size of a pack of cards… and doesn’t include it’s own case, it’s pretty easy to cram it inside the case.
The German hacker responsible for this project also hooked up some additional USB ports and made some extenders for the HDMI and Ethernet ports so they could be lined up on the back of the keyboard.
While this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a computer built into a keyboard, it’s a pretty clever, modern take on that idea.
via Raspberry Pi
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9 Comments on "Raspberry Pi mini PC crammed into a keyboard"
I’m pretty sure that keyboard’s case is plastic, not wood. There’s no mention of a wooden case on the product page, and no mention of wood in the original German article describing the hack. The close-up images of the port cutouts look decidedly like cuts into plastic.
Huh… I have no idea why I thought it was made of wood. I must have been multitasking and looking at something else when I wrote that. Or something…
Anyway, thanks. I’ve updated the article. It’s still a pretty nifty hack.
Yeah, Ben Heck made one with a wooden case and a lot more in the way of ports. It’s on his Revision3 show.
Perhaps you were thinking “Cherry” was the material and not the brand of the keyboard?
This is so Retro looking and I like it.
The Commodore 64 lives!
This is a nice idea provided it doesn’t create too much heat.
Hell of a DIY project !!! Good stuff.
“Remember the iMac that was a computer in a monitor? Well this is like that except it’s in a keyboard!… Oh there was also some obscure computer called the Commodore 64 that was a computer in a keyboard… and pretty much every other PC up until the early nineties were computers in keyboards… but yeah, it’s just like an iMac!”