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.

Raspberry Pi in Cherry keyboard

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.

Cherry Pi

via Raspberry Pi

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,547 other subscribers

9 replies on “Raspberry Pi mini PC crammed into a keyboard”

  1. “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!”

  2. 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.

    1. 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.

      1. Yeah, Ben Heck made one with a wooden case and a lot more in the way of ports. It’s on his Revision3 show.

Comments are closed.