[1]The C64 Community

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Micro SD card and extra USB on main board?

  mbum73

   I know the C64 has just 2 USB ports on the outside. In my opinion 4 USB
   ports would be perfect. This will allow two joysticks, a USB keyboard and
   a USB stick to sideload games.

   However that's not the case. I was wondering if the mainboard itself has
   the option to add a microsd reader, so I can use a microsd card with my
   C64 games an place it permanantly inside the case. Would be great.
   Also an internal USB port could be nice. For instance to place a usb
   receiver inside the case for a wireless keyboard. It could also provide a
   way to attach a working keyboard to the mainboard instead of the fake keys
   it's using now. (I expect some compony will eventualy turn up with a
   replacement keyboard that actually works). So I really hope some more info
   about the mainboard itself can be put online.

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  Gurce

   I had a read of the specs of the A20 SoC chip they're using and it only
   supported two USB ports:

   [2]http://linux-sunxi.org/A20

   So seems like the only alternative for adding more is the USB hub option
   (they recommended using a powered one).

   In the 8-bit guy's review of the c64 mini, he had a peak inside the box
   and asked the c64 team a few questions about various sections of the
   motherboard.

   [3]IFrame

   He learnt that there was a position on the motherboard that used to house
   an sd-card reader that was how they (the c64 team) originally loaded
   firmware into the machine before moving that to internal flash memory.

   As for whether it could be re-used as another location to store games to
   be accessed by their ecosystem, I'm uncertain. Maybe someone curious
   enough in the community might try this and let us know [4]:)

   I'm imagining this sort of tinkering would invalidate warranty, so it's
   probably not a path for everybody [5]:)

   As for working keyboards, there is another thread here in these forums
   where they discussed the use of a wireless keyboard, that sounds promising
   to me, but might not be the solution you were hoping for.

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  Jammet

   I suppose there is a good chance that people will make mods for it.
   Greatly enjoyed the review, wich was (as to be expected) quite thorough,
   and gave us an inside look. When David Murray (the 8-Bit Guy) ran his own
   game on the Mini - and showed us the process of patching the system of the
   Mini, I was thinking that maybe a select few games could be retroactively
   - permanently added to the internal library.

   Games like his own Planet X-2, or Sams Journey, or The Bear Essentials,
   perhaps. Or just their demo versions. All the big new ones. That would be
   very exciting!

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References

   Visible links
   1. https://community.thec64.com/
   2. http://linux-sunxi.org/A20
   3. https://www.youtube.com/embed/GXXCj5kqPcM?start=1182