Raspberry Pi 500+ made to look like a BBC Micro PC

"An enterprising engineer has evoked the spirit of Acorn's BBC Micro with a custom paintjob for a Raspberry Pi 500+ computer-in-a-keyboard and a natty set of replacement keycaps. You've got a shiny new Raspberry Pi 500+. You've marveled at the colored lights on the keyboard, enjoyed the snappy performance of the SSD, and appreciated the 16 GB of RAM. Hopefully, you bought it before the prices went up. But what to do next?"

"According to Tony Roberts, who goes by the title of 'Maker In Residence at Raspberry Pi', he wanted to make the device look a bit like the BBC Microcomputer that inspired the company's co-founder, Eben Upton. BBC Micro emulators are nothing new (alongside emulators for other computers of the same era), and several enthusiasts have breathed new life into defunct devices by removing the long-dead internals and replacing them with a Pi or similar device. However, since the Pi 500+ is already a computer-in-a-keyboard, and the keys can be easily replaced (to the point where a tool is included to pry them off), Roberts' approach was to give the computer a beige facelift and replace the keycaps with ones that resembled Acorn's finest."

"In a post on the company's website, Roberts wrote, "Within minutes of starting the makeover, I discovered that beige spray paint is unsurprisingly not very popular anymore - especially this exact shade, which reminds me of nicotine-stained pub wallpaper." But, after dismantling the case (the Pi 500+ is designed to be taken apart), Roberts applied primer, a top coat, and had a base that, from a distance and with a bit of squinting, was roughly the same shade as the computers sat at the back of school classrooms all those decades ago."

A maker converted a Raspberry Pi 500+ into a BBC Micro-like beige computer-in-a-keyboard by repainting the case and fitting Acorn-style replacement keycaps. The Pi 500+ already integrates a full computer into its keyboard, simplifying the conversion and enabling easy keycap replacement with included removal tools. Beige spray paint in the chosen shade proved uncommon and awkward, requiring primer and a top coat to approximate the classroom-beige look. The case design allows disassembly, and Signature Plastics keycaps were used to complete the retro aesthetic while retaining modern Pi internals and performance.

Read at Theregister