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Volhout

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Joined: 05/03/2018
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Posted: 02:25pm 19 Oct 2026

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Hi Peter,

The best candidate would be the Raspberry Pi keyboard (since it can hold a Pi400/Pi500 board). Right ..??

Volhout

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Mixtel90

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Joined: 05/10/2019
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Posted: 02:49pm 19 Oct 2026

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AFAIK it only holds a hub, with 3 USB-A horizontal sockets and something to connect to the Pico. At least I think it does. :) Maybe I'm thinking of a different one.

EDIT:
I am. I was thinking of the original one. The RP400 and RP500 keyboards contain a special version of those MCUs. Whether that keyboard is available separately I've no idea.
.
Edited 2026-10-20 00:57 by Mixtel90

Mick

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Wölfi

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Joined: 14/10/2026
Location: Germany
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Posted: 02:52pm 19 Oct 2026

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Volhout said Hi Peter,

The best candidate would be the Raspberry Pi keyboard (since it can hold a Pi400/Pi500 board). Right ..??

Volhout

I already bought one because I thought it would work really well with the PicoMite (HDMI/USB), but there was a problem with the function keys: they were activated automatically, without pressing “Fn” That made it completely unusable. Or is there a setting in the OS to fix this?

mozzie
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Joined: 15/06/2020
Location: Australia
Posts: 468

Posted: 03:02pm 19 Oct 2026

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G'day,
If anyone in Australia is considering getting a batch of these made, I would be interested in purchasing 1 unit.

Many thanks to Peter for the design

Fitted with single height USB connectors it might squeeze into the RPI keyboard shell quite well.

@ WOLFI, can you please post the model of the keyboard you are having trouble with, might help us figure out the problem.

Regards, Lyle.

Wölfi

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Posted: 03:13pm 19 Oct 2026

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mozzie said
@ WOLFI, can you please post the model of the keyboard you are having trouble with, might help us figure out the problem.

The Sticker on the backside says: Model: RPI-KYB (German Layout)

this one:
https://www.berrybase.de/offizielle-raspberry-pi-tastatur-de-layout-inkl.-3-port-usb-hub-schwarz-grau

It’s not a problem with the keyboard, it works perfectly on my Win-PC.
Edited 2026-10-20 01:16 by Wölfi

calcmandan

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Joined: 24/07/2020
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Posted: 03:25pm 19 Oct 2026

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Volhout said Hi Peter,

The best candidate would be the Raspberry Pi keyboard (since it can hold a Pi400/Pi500 board). Right ..??

Volhout

Have you used that keyboard before?

calcmandan
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mozzie
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Posted: 03:28pm 19 Oct 2026

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Hi Wolfi,
Yep that is the one I was looking at as well, AU/US version of the same.

There was some discussion of the NUMLOCK being on during bootup of the PicoMite, I think this can be changed in OPTIONS, could this be what is causing the problem?

IE: the numbers on the letter keys are active (J=1,K=2,L=3 etc)

Try OPTION KEYBOARD GR,0,0,1,12

This should turn the NUMLOCK off. Might depend on the version you are running as well.

Regards, Lyle.

matherp
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Joined: 11/12/2012
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 12034

Posted: 03:44pm 19 Oct 2026

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No chance it will fit in a raspberry pi keyboard. Apart from anything else it appears to be plastic welded shut.
There was a mistake in the center coordinates I gave
The correct location of the centres of the edge components are:
Qw/ST 4
SD 19.7
USB1 43.1
USB2 65.7
Prog/USB switch 87.1
Prog-USB 99.3
Audio 113.2
Reset switch 123.8
Boot switch 134.2
HDMI 149.3
Power switch 165.4
USB-C 178.9
I/O 204.8

Wölfi

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Joined: 14/10/2026
Location: Germany
Posts: 20

Posted: 03:52pm 19 Oct 2026

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mozzie said Hi Wolfi,
Yep that is the one I was looking at as well, AU/US version of the same.

There was some discussion of the NUMLOCK being on during bootup of the PicoMite, I think this can be changed in OPTIONS, could this be what is causing the problem?

IE: the numbers on the letter keys are active (J=1,K=2,L=3 etc)

Try OPTION KEYBOARD GR,0,0,1,12

This should turn the NUMLOCK off. Might depend on the version you are running as well.

Regards, Lyle.

Thanks, I’ll try it soon, but unfortunately I’m short on time right now.

matherp
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Posted: 04:10pm 19 Oct 2026

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This is the keyboard I'm thinking about using with a 3d printed box. The trackpad is fully operational in PC3

Edited 2026-10-20 02:17 by matherp

mozzie
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Location: Australia
Posts: 468

Posted: 04:25pm 19 Oct 2026

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Wolfi,
My mistake, that was PS2 keyboard, try:

OPTION KEYBOARD GR,0,0,250,200

When you get a chance, a laptop keyboard here does the same and the lack of a NUMLOCK LED makes it hard to figure out.

Regards, Lyle.

calcmandan

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Joined: 24/07/2020
Location: United States
Posts: 22

Posted: 05:19pm 19 Oct 2026

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matherp said This is the keyboard I'm thinking about using with a 3d printed box. The trackpad is fully operational in PC3

Is that a bluetooth dongle in the usb port?

calcmandan
sysop : air & wave bbs
finger : calcmandan@bbs.erb.pw

matherp
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Posted: 05:33pm 19 Oct 2026

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No, it is a USB/UART. The firmware supports them to create up to 4 additional serial ports

matherp
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Posted: 06:11pm 19 Oct 2026

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Here is a dxf file for a back panel. I've laser cut this out of the plastic that has a coloured side and white body. If anyone want the Lightburn file then let me know.

PicoComputer3linear.zip

Edited 2026-10-20 04:12 by matherp

Wölfi

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Posted: 06:51pm 19 Oct 2026

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matherp said I've laser cut this out of the plastic

Hi Peter,
just a quick off-topic question: what laser cutter do you have? I’m asking because I’m thinking of getting one myself.

matherp
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Posted: 06:57pm 19 Oct 2026

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It is a hack version, started off as a low power Ortur and then I added a very powerful Lasertree K40 head.

Wölfi

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Posted: 07:26pm 19 Oct 2026

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matherp said It is a hack version, started off as a low power Ortur and then I added a very powerful Lasertree K40 head.

Thanks, that information helps me with my search.

OT OUT

Grogster

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Joined: 31/12/2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 10070

Posted: 11:06pm 19 Oct 2026

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This one reminds me of a PCB I designed several years ago, to turn a cheap blue-and-white BT keyboard, into a serial keyboard using a MM2 chip and a custom PCB - you removed and hiffed the old BT PCB.

Of course, this design squeezes everything into the one board, and is therefore very much similar to the ZX81, C-64 or Atari machines back in the 80's, where most of the connectors were on the back, and they all had PCB edge-connectors for connecting external stuff.

Watching this thread with interest, and might order a few samples to play with, but before I do that, I will just wait and see if Peter discovers anything in the prototypes, that need changing, but the prototype ones seem to run fine, so there might not be anything to change.

Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!

mozzie
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Posted: 12:48am 20 Oct 2026

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G'day Grogster,
As mentioned above, if you are looking to order a batch of these, can I put my name on 1, happy to pay a deposit if it helps.

Regards, Lyle.

Grogster

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Posted: 06:38am 20 Oct 2026

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Yeah, I will be ordering a test batch of five.

I'll use one, I can reserve one for you, leaving three for anyone else in Australia or New Zealand who might want a board.

Price yet to be determined, but prototype runs I usually just on-sell at cost-price plus postage.

Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!

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