| Posted By
George
on 2018-12-19
09:03:00
 |  Commodore plus/4 in a CDTV like case.
I always played with the idea buying a commodore CDTV, because i like the HiFi-look of this computer. Combined with a black Commodore Monitor, its one of my all time favorite Homecomputers.
The plus/4 shares the elegant black look and the idea came in mind to buy a CDTV-like HIFI case (eventually with a red or green display), put a plus/4 mainboard in it and connect an external keyboad.
I am no hardware guy, but i put the question into the room, how difficult this would be? I searched a while in the net, but i couldnt find a place to buy such retro cases.
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Posted By
MMS
on 2018-12-19
15:41:04
 | Re: Commodore plus/4 in a CDTV like case.
Really nice idea!
A1200s were built into tower housing for better expandibility, but hardly seen anyone who was interested in a modern/good looking computers fits to the living room environment (CDTV was really like this, CD32 was a big step back from this aspect, looked very "cheapo")
I think you may need to tinker a Keyrah.
https://www.vesalia.de/e_keyrahv2.htm
You can assemble into the desktop housing the motherboard + PSU, you connect the Keyrah to the Mobo instead of the original keyboard. You assemble/glue the Keyrah connectors into the front, so from that moment onwards you can connect the (ATARI style !) joysticks and the USB keyboard to the Plus/4 via the front connectors. So you get rid of the DIN round joystick connectors too. 
It will NOT look like a Plus/4, but I think you may even connect a wireless keyboard to this setup.
(The question pops up, which USB keyboard would fit into the Plus/4 aesthetics?
Maybe this older Logitech?
https://www.infolex.hu/kep/21265/nagy/logitech-k310-usb-feher-fekete-moshato-billentyuzet.jpg)
Getting a proper looking, cheap housing?
CDTV is not cheap at all.
Commodore CDTV is really nice, but may cost you a smaller, older car 
This one is a cheap one, maybe go up "only" to 400€
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-Amiga-CDTV-Model-CD-1000/223286166938?hash=item33fce4859a:g:0m0AAOSwi6dcFYP5:rk:11:pf:0
Hard to find a not operating CDTV, just the housing.
If you look closer, you can see, it looks almost the same as some black Japanese receivers from the 80s, and you are exactly told you are looking for HIFI like case. I think doing some commodore logos would be easier and cheaper.
So, if you look for a not operating one ("for parts") you can find really nice black HIFIs from the older ranges.
This one look OKish:
10 times cheaper than the cheapest CDTV,
very sleek/elegant look, and you can swap the front inputs to the Keyrah, but hidden till not opening the door. So your work should not look extreme good
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PIONEER-Plasma-Display-System-Media-Receiver-HDMI-Black-PDP-R05FE-Faulty/312370081303?epid=2256318736&hash=item48bab52e17:g:I7cAAOSwD2tcETnX:rk:12:pf:0
Or an older not operating model. but what to do with the volume knob?
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pioneer-VSX-C300-Heimkino-AV-Multi-Channel-Stereo-Receiver-Slimline-Verstarker/264060517968?hash=item3d7b3bbe50:g:FnIAAOSwdUJb9udH:rk:2:pf:0
Aslo worht considering the more modern looking VHS recorders. This SONY made im Hungary
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sony-RDR-DC100-HDD-DVD-Recorder-160GB-HDD-DVB-Freeview-Tuner-HDMI-Player/163320551501?hash=item2606a9d84d:g:6~4AAOSwxG9bx4iw:rk:21:pf:0
And this very exclusive (and originally very very expensive) Bang & Olufsen DVD1: the loaders were my personal responsibilty to ship in a perfect quality to the Danish factory, and visited them two times)
You can get it for few €s now,back in the time it was close to 800€
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bang-Olufsen-DVD1-DVD-Player-B-O-MCMXCII/153309011589?epid=83106759&hash=item23b1edde85:g:X1YAAOSwaIpcGUob:rk:37:pf:0
And this one also look OKish and look really similar to CDTV for 15€:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dvd-Player-MARANTZ-DVD-890/113449412335?hash=item1a6a1ca6ef:g:RloAAOSwpz5bQ63r:rk:15:pf:0
(BTW 10 years ago I wanted to make a PC into the housing of an older very slim and nice Apple LC475 housing, but I gave up after checking the cost of the parts, plus the limitations. Still looks cool.
http://www.oldmac.jp/image/lc475-01.jpg
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Posted By
George
on 2018-12-19
16:09:32
| Re: Commodore plus/4 in a CDTV like case.
Hi MMS,
i also think is a nice idea. Thank you for the interesting informations. You solved the keyboard problem.
Well i have this housing from a not working Sony CD player Sony CDP-195 left. Thats how the idea came from. With the right batch, it could look interesting.
As keyboard i would choose this here:
Ducky G2 PRO
The CD-tray would be replaced with a mechanical Disk-Drive.
Also an internal SD2IEC with display output.
Just dreaming.
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Posted By
MMS
on 2018-12-19
18:45:12
| Re: Commodore plus/4 in a CDTV like case.
Hi George,
I think it is too realistic to be a dream !
That Sony one is also looking great. The SD device as a display is also great idea! I even did not think that far...
If you have some drilling and cutting tools and hot glue (plus the Keyrah ) it is possible to realize.
(most of the task can be done with a dremel)
One smaller problem, that the currently available Keyrah does NOT have Plus/4 / C116 connector, just for C16.
(WHY, oh my, WHY only 16K version is supported?
You cannot order it with the plus/4 connector, not even for an extra cost. duh.)
One comment:
the Ducky is a mechnical keyboard, so the noise level would be much higher, than on the ultra soft Plus/4, maybe closer to C16
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Posted By
George
on 2018-12-19
19:19:04
| Re: Commodore plus/4 in a CDTV like case.
hmmm i also have a c16, which could be sacrificed for..just needs an upgrade to 64 kb...
Would be a unqiue thing... this "Commodore 264 CDTV"
I read the german website of the Keyrah interface. I think it works only the other way around..you can connect a C16 keyboard to a PC. So it would not help much.
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Posted By
MMS
on 2018-12-20
15:26:35
| Re: Commodore plus/4 in a CDTV like case.
OK, you are right. Sorry.
There is a similar one, but it works the other way around too.
Unfortunately Plus/4 is not supported, just C64, C128, VIC-20
http://store.go4retro.com/c-key-keyboard-adapter/
Though they say "GPLv2 licensed C firmware source code can be modified to support nearly any matrix-style keyboard configuration."
But also "Nonetheless, we consider this a project, not a product and do not intend to offer complete support for the unit. If you are looking for a complete product offering with full support, please wait for our USB development effort to complete. "
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Posted By
George
on 2018-12-20
15:39:42
| Re: Commodore plus/4 in a CDTV like case.
Thinking about this topic, maybe its cooler and better not to use original hardware, but and FPGA or a raspery pie for such a project. We could even simulate a V364 with it.
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Posted By
MMS
on 2018-12-21
16:20:18
| Re: Commodore plus/4 in a CDTV like case.
Yes, nowadays it seems to be easier. Maybe even chaper... Which emualtor it could run?
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Posted By
George
on 2018-12-22
08:21:43
| Re: Commodore plus/4 in a CDTV like case.
depends on the OS you install on it...theoretically you can run every emulator on it.
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Posted By
MMS
on 2018-12-23
05:23:24
| Re: Commodore plus/4 in a CDTV like case.
Theoretically ARM can run now Windows10. But in practice I think it is too slow for that.
I found a video showing 20 minutes boot time for Win10.
surely both YAPE and Plus4emu have different releases.
an other one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erwD3ck6w2A
And here is one kit may work at some level with C16 case (but not fully). (anyhow, Keyrah currently supports C16 keyboard only)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Commodore-C64-Raspberry-Pi-Non-Destructive-Case-Mod-NEW-VERSION-Stampa-3D/283309899689?hash=item41f695ffa9:g:g30AAOSwSiJazf5v:rk:3:pf:0
It would be perfect, if the C16 keyboard fit onto the bottom of a old breadbin C64. Probably even the screw towers are at the same place.
It would be a weirdo setup :-)
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