The Raspberry Pi is modernizing the Retro Commodore 64.

The past brought straight into the future!

In the 1980s, the 8-bit computer scene was dominated by long-forgotten names. Commodore Business Machines has had a successful range of home computers, zVIC 20 as the flagship product of its brand. Ale Commodore 64 (c64) released 1982 of the year was one of their most popular machines and to this day enthusiasts bring them back and use their machines. One hacker, RaspberryPioneer, took a broken C64, Raspberry Pi and Arduino and used them to build a revamped retro machine, which looks the same as part of it.

RaspberryPioneer chose the C64 chassis, which was non-functional, which was quite a deliberate move, given, that running machines can cost approx 200 USD. By connecting an existing C64 keyboard to an Arduino Micro programmed to decrypt keystrokes, RaspberryPioneer has created a custom USB keyboard interface for the Raspberry Pi, which can be any Pi model, of a 2 or 3B more than enough power. Then RaspberryPioneer connected the button, to turn on the machine and created a frame based on Lego, to keep various cables and components in place. Then RaspberryPioneer explains, how to send games and applications to a new machine with RetroPie technology.

This is a fantastic way to revive old gear. Aesthetically, this is a pure mod, nothing is broken, to make way for new ports, rather, the Lego frame provides alternative port openings in existing spaces. An alternative to RetroPie for those, who want a "clean" C64 experience, is BMC64 (Bare Metal C64), which runs on the same BASIC interpreter screen and works like the original C64.