Before the homogeneity of USB peripherals today, computer input devices were a wild west of proprietary peripherals, as different platforms used their

USB4VC: USB Inputs on Retro Computers!

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2022-05-15 12:00:06

Before the homogeneity of USB peripherals today, computer input devices were a wild west of proprietary peripherals, as different platforms used their own connectors and protocols for keyboards, mice, and gamepads.

Many of those peripherals are simply hard to find, commanding a premium on online marketplaces. They are only getting rarer, and without them, the computer itself is useless.

After decades of service, many can be degraded and unreliable (e.g. foam & foil keyboards), requiring extensive restoration.

Let's be honest here, most early peripherals simply does not feel that great. Mushy membrane keyboards, sticky ball mice, plasticky gamepads, etc. And of course, the good ones gets very expensive.

On the other hand, high quality USB peripherals can be had for a very reasonable price today with vastly superior tactility, precision, and ergonomics.

I also hope it can lower the barrier of entry for certain machines, put more computers back in action, help preserving existing rare peripherals, and generally help more people get into this hobby!

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