Blingboard64 - New keyboard for the Commodore 64

[Marcio D.]

If you're in the market to replace your old, broken C64 keyboard, check out this campaign:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/keyb ... computer#/


The campaign originally ended May 31, 2024, but has been re-opened for a limited time due to overwhelming demand from Commodore fans worldwide.

In addition to the Blingboard64 keyboard replacement, also check out the BlingBox on the same page, which is a standalone keyboard that can be attached to SX-64, C128D, Amiga, PC, MiSTer, BMC64, etc.

[Marcio D.]

The printing cost for the keycaps ended up being more than double of what was budgeted during the campaign. To offset the difference in printing costs without paying more out of pocket, the project manager is offering a pre-order of 60 additional Blingboard64 units at the campaign price. That means you can pre-order and pay the same price as folks who backed the crowdfunding campaign last year. After these 60 units are gone, the product will be sold at a higher price.


Kit: https://www.cbmstuff.com/index.php?rout ... uct_id=163


Fully assembled: https://www.cbmstuff.com/index.php?rout ... uct_id=164

[Marcio D.]

A couple of months ago, Jim Drew offered a pre-order of 60 additional Blingboard64 units at the campaign price to offset the increase in printing costs. Now in July 2025 and heading into August 2025, he's offering you another chance at pre-ordering a Blingboard64.

As you know, the upcoming Commodore 64 Ultimate (https://www.commodore.net) will use the basic Blingboard technology developed by Jim. However, Jim refers to the C64 Ultimate keyboard as "Blingboard64 Lite Edition". In other words, that keyboard in the C64 Ultimate will be less powerful than the keyboard offered in the crowdfunding campaign and recent pre-orders. Jim explains it this way:

The Lite Edition is really a VERY stripped down version of the keyboard from this campaign. It has basically none of the advanced features. You can think of the Lite Edition as just a very nice keyboard with LEDs and a 4 pin connector that plugs into Gideon's U64 board. The U64 itself provides the features.

The Blingboard64 in this campaign is very different because it has support for USB and Bluetooth BLE, a dual core CPU, expansion port, wireless programming, macros (recording and playback), 2MB of RAM fully accessible from the C64 side, ability to off-load calculations to the keyboard's CPU, and much, much, more!

Kit: https://www.cbmstuff.com/index.php?rout ... uct_id=163

Fully assembled: https://www.cbmstuff.com/index.php?rout ... uct_id=164

[Darklord]

Jim Drew is the same guy who makes the WiModem232 and WiModem232 Pro.

I've purchased a few of these units and the quality is first class.

You can talk to him on his forums and he's usually pretty quick to answer
and address any issues or problems you have. We've literally seen him add
features from user requests the same day.

PS I was lucky enough to meet him in person at the 2023 VCF Midwest
computer show. Seemed to be a really nice guy.

IMG_20230909_171847.jpg (295.77 KiB) Viewed 2789 times

[Marcio D.]

Jim Drew is the same guy who makes the WiModem232 and WiModem232 Pro.

I've purchased a few of these units and the quality is first class.

You can talk to him on his forums and he's usually pretty quick to answer
and address any issues or problems you have. We've literally seen him add
features from user requests the same day.

Thanks for the photo. Really cool to see you guys having fun!

Yeah, Jim has a long upstanding history in the Commodore community. It's a big reason why close to 2,400 backers hopped on board for the campaign last year.

Jim hosts the annual online Commodore Retro eXpo (CRX). It used to be an in-person event, but the cost of venue space in Las Vegas became prohibitively expensive post-pandemic. This year, it takes place November 14 to 16. Check out the presenters lined up so far:

https://www.crxevent.com/presenters.htm

[Darklord]

Thanks for the photo. Really cool to see you guys having fun!

Yeah, Jim has a long upstanding history in the Commodore community. It's a big reason why close to 2,400 backers hopped on board for the campaign last year.

Jim hosts the annual online Commodore Retro eXpo (CRX). It used to be an in-person event, but the cost of venue space in Las Vegas became prohibitively expensive post-pandemic. This year, it takes place November 14 to 16. Check out the presenters lined up so far:

https://www.crxevent.com/presenters.htm

We had a blast. IIRC, Jim was supposed to be at last year's show but something came up (can't remember what - got sick maybe?)

Hopefully he'll be able to attend this year's show (which is fast coming up - September).

Can't wait...