Commodore 64 USB Keyboard Adaptor – Powered by Raspberry Pi Pico

Bring your original Commodore 64 keyboard back to life!

This project uses a Raspberry Pi Pico and a custom USB adaptor board to connect your vintage C64 (or compatible) keyboard directly to a modern computer or emulator — no soldering (you will need to solder on a socket for the PICO and a header for the keyboard connector if they are not included in your PCBWay order ), rewiring, or expensive interface boards required.

Once the Pico is flashed with the provided open-source firmware (available on GitHub), the adaptor works as a plug-and-play USB keyboard, with full key mapping for the original Commodore layout. It’s the simplest, most affordable, and authentic way to experience retro computing on today’s systems.

• Low-cost design: Uses a Raspberry Pi Pico instead of pricey interface chips.
• Plug and play: Just program the Pico, plug in your keyboard, and connect via USB.
• Fully mapped keys: Complete keyboard support for C64 emulators and modern OSs.
• Maker-friendly: Open hardware + firmware hosted on GitHub.
• Perfect for retro restorations, emulator builds, and DIY retro PCs.

Project Type: Raspberry Pi Pico USB Adaptor Board

Purpose: Connect Commodore 64 (and compatible) keyboards to USB hosts via Pico

Difficulty: Easy – Intermediate

License: Open Source (hardware + firmware)

Get the software for this project here: https://github.com/rumbledethumps/cbm2usb

Get the uf2 file to copy to your PICO board here: https://github.com/rumbledethumps/cbm2usb/releases/tag/V1.2

For RPi Pico Flashing Instructions go here: https://learn.adafruit.com/getting-started-with-raspberry-pi-pico-circuitpython/circuitpython and use the kb6.uf2 (or later) image instead of the one mentioned in the article.