"What's a cyberdeck?", you ask.
"A cyberdeck is a personal mobile computer found in many cyberpunk novels and video games that is used by hackers or 'Deckers' to temporarily connect their mind or 'jack in' to cyberspace. [...] In the real world, cyberdecks are Artisan Crafted Computers often powered by single board computers with some sort of display and keyboard made in the cyberpunk aesthetic." — cyberdeck.cafe
(A picture of my cyberdeck build in its current state)
(3D model of the housing)
I have been working on this project for some time and decided I wanted to document the process while I work on the last steps to finish it.
Inspired by the technology in William Gibson's book Neuromancer, and the decks showcased on cyberdeck.cafe and the r/cyberdeck subreddit, I crafted my own version of an artisan crafted computer. A dual screen, mechanical keyboard, Raspberry Pi powered "portable" computer, functionally similar to a low-end laptop but much cooler looking.
Design Process
The shell of the deck is designed by me in Fusion360. The design includes a honeycomb grid that will be filled with individual hexagons printed in transparent PLA to allow RGB backlight pass-through.
The journey to this design was filled with many iterations and design tweaks. Currently, adjustments are being made to the spacing around the HDMI-in port to better accommodate cables.
Hardware List
- 3D printed housing.
- 2x 7" Waveshare LCD displays.
- One mechanical keyboard:
- DZ60 RGB PCB,
- Gazzew Boba U4T silent tactile switches,
- Honey and milk XDA keycap set.
- Raspberry Pi 5 8GB version.
- A small 4 port USB A 3.0 hub.
- A battery power solution (still being finalized due to the higher power requirements of the Pi5).
- Various cables.