By Joe Ochwat — originally published in July 2026 — Issue #13
Items in Short Circuits are often open-source projects that are built and sold by third-party vendors. Original developer information and links are listed within each review section, along with the vendor information. The main objective is to provide awareness of the sometimes-overlooked accessories, goodies, and gadgets created by insane geniuses worldwide.
A8PicoCart
Description: Customizable multi-cartridge for Atari 8-bit XL/XE computers.
Developer: Robin Edwards
Vendor: Maxi’s Retro Tech
Website: maxisretrotech.com
Price: $20 USD + Shipping
Ships from: United States
The A8PicoCart was originally created by Robin Edwards, (https://github.com/robinhedwards/A8PicoCart), and is based on his previous UnoCart design. Running on a Raspberry Pi Pico clone, the A8Pico is a cartridge emulator and XEX file launcher, allowing the transfer of Atari ROM, CAR, XEX, and ATR files to its available 15MB of storage.
Adding files is easy. Connect the cartridge to your PC with a USB-C cable. The A8Pico will appear as a USB Mass Storage device called “A8-PICOCART”. Copy your files over to the cartridge, unplug the USB cable, insert the cart into your Atari, and turn it on. Up pops a purple screen displaying your files (or folders, if you made any).
From here you just use your joystick or the keyboard to navigate the screen. Highlight the file, press RETURN or hit the fire button, and the program runs. ROM, CAR, and XEX files need to be under 128K. ATR files can be up to 15MB, but compatibility varies among disk images. I tried a few game disks, and many worked fine.
Getting back to the menu requires either a manual restart with the power switch, or a reset. But hitting the Atari RESET key alone won’t do. First press the reset button on the A8Pico, and then press the Atari reset key. Yep, gotta do both, otherwise it just crashes. Strange, yes, but it’s documented this way. It will become second nature in no time.
Overall: This cartridge is great. It’s cheap, simple, and gets the job done in a tidy little package. As a new Atari user without any storage peripherals, the A8PicoCart was the perfect way to quickly get into playing with the machine.
Amiga 1000 USB Keyboard Adapter
Description: Adapter to use a USB keyboard with an Amiga 1000.
Developer: Eugene L.
Vendor: jm._retro (eBay)
Website: ebay.com/usr/jm._retro
Price: $30.90 USD + Shipping
Ships from: Ukraine
Got an Amiga 1000? Ever tried to find a replacement, original keyboard? If so, stop looking: they ain’t out there. Their scarcity goes back to a 1990 Commodore promotion: get a $1000 rebate on an Amiga 2000 in exchange for your A1000 keyboard. I had that sucker shipped off in a heartbeat.
I bought another 1000 recently, and it came with the original keys (whew!). But it got me thinking: should I risk killing a rare, 40-something year old board with regular use? Or is there an alternative? The answers are “no” and “yes”, in that order. To the Internet!
I discovered eBayer jm._retro, who sells the Amiga 1000 USB keyboard Adapter (as well as versions for the 2000, 3000, 4000, among other various projects). It’s a little 3D-printed box with a USB port on one end and a short phone cord connector on the other. It replaces your original coiled phone cord and keyboard, and allows you to substitute a readily-available USB keyboard to pound on instead.
Not every keyboard will work, however. The seller advises against, for instance, keyboards with backlighting or customizable profiles. I tried three boards I had on hand, and two worked just fine: a wireless Dell, and an off-brand, yard sale keyboard (which, I should mention, did have backlighting). The odd one out? The one I hoped to use: the 8BitDo Commodore-inspired keyboard. A little bummed, but what can you do?
Overall: Worked as advertised, and I was able to fully use the Amiga with a cheap replacement keyboard. The product is a tiny bit pricey (especially with shipping from Ukraine), but it’s cheap insurance for keeping your original keyboard intact.
Amiga USB Mouse Adapter
Description: Adapter to use a USB mouse on an Amiga.
Developer: Chris Auger
Vendor: 8bitdevices
Website: 8bitdevices.com
Price: $20 USD
Ships from: United States
Originally I had a more feature-rich USB adapter slated for this spot that supported joysticks and mice, for several different computer platforms. Try as I might, I couldn’t get the thing to support anything more than a mouse on the Amiga. We’ll have to get some tech support and try another time.
In that same vein, here’s something that does exactly what it promises, but in a smaller, simpler, settings-free package: the Amiga USB Mouse Adapter. This little guy goes into the Amiga mouse port, accepts most USB mice (wired or wireless), and suddenly you have access to a wide variety of USB mice: cheap or costly, plain or fancy, or whatever floats your boat.
The instruction sheet indicates that high DPI gaming mice may cause some odd behavior, and that cheap 2.4ghz wireless ones may exhibit some level of lag. I tried out a nice, not-very-cheap wireless Dell mouse, and it worked just as well as the yes-very-cheap 8BitDo “NES” mouse… well, I mean, as far as USB connectivity goes. The NES mouse is cute, but it’s still awful to use on a regular basis. I also gave the adapter a shot with a wired, LED-backlit gaming mouse, but it was unresponsive. Two out of three ain’t bad, and I’d rather go wireless anyway.
The lag possibility they mentioned? Yes, just a teeny bit of sluggishness was noticeable when I’d swing the mouse pointer back and forth across the screen. I gave it a better test with Deluxe Paint III and Arkanoid II: Revenge of Doh, and oddly enough, the lag barely seemed there. What lag did exist was very, very tolerable.
Overall: A simple, handy product that delivers on what it promises, with caveats spelled out beforehand, and at a decent price. It’ll stay in my toolkit.