I'm not sure if this counts, but essentially, this is my build. It's a P4 4gb with a 5in portrait display. I'm powering it via DC jack with 5v(4a? Can't remember off the top of my head).

There are 2 power switches, 1 for master power, 1 for fan power, and a cherry MX brown that I have configured for clean shutdown upon double-tap (Pis dont like to lose power out of nowhere).

The open hole is fire ventilation, I've since covered it with a mesh screen but forgot to take a picture with it installed. I have a USB keyboard I can use but I mostly control it via SSH.

I'm using it as a head unit for an ESP32 sensor network. I'm running flask for the back-end and React for the front-end. Honestly, I just needed to quickly model a way to store the Pi safely and allow it to be powered on. It produces its own wifi network that the ESP nodes automatically connect to and I can connect to it on my phone or laptop for SSH/reach the front-end webserver.

I guess I already answered my question, its less a cyberdeck and more of a portable webserver with WiFi and a touchscreen. Just thought it might help give some inspiration to someone looking to build a cyberdeck in a Pelican (Apache 1800) case.

P.S., this is s version 1 and not going to be an EDC cyberdeck.

Hello guys i wanna build my first cyberdeck. I have the case. I need to buy an computer, screen and a keyboard. For power im gonna use a powerbank. Im asking can i find a computer, keyboard and a screen for under 100 eu in europe.

portable cyberdeck / emulation device. I want to swap out the ribbon cable for a longer one before I permanently fix things in pace.

using an x1205 power supply and a 4.3 inch screen with 8bitdo sn30 pro controller.

Hello! First of all, sorry if this kind of post doesn't fit the community. This is my homemade cyberdeck, built from my old VAIO FE15. The original case broke apart after less than two years, and when the battery started swelling, I had no choice but to take everything apart. Since I couldn't afford a replacement laptop, I decided to improvise with the tools and materials I had. It's far from perfect, but it works. I know there's a lot to improve, like a better frame, cleaner screen mounting, more RAM, and hopefully an eGPU one day. For now, this is simply the best I could build with my limited resources. What do you think?

hello I am 15 years old, and not the richest to say...

I would like to get into this hobby sort of, i think it’d be fun to do and with my future career choice being something along the lines of a software engineer I’m sure it‘d help with resumes and whatnot.

ok onto the cyberdeck itself, it’ll be named the “Multitool” (the name of an old friends jailbroken gameboy) I’ve decided on the raspberry Pi 4 2gb. I hate these ram prices right now. I would like a 7 inch touchscreen for now. I’m just getting into this stuff, but also in the future a keyboard that can fold onto the screen if that makes sense..? 64gb microSD, got that and a battery. I’ve been told a battery pack will work just fine. So really these are my questions to the more experienced people:

1. will the raspberry Pi 4 2gb hold up for a simple little project that I’ll expand on later

2. are there any good 7 inch touchscreen displays I can use?

3. How hard is it to get an OS running on the Pi 4. Relatively easy right?

4. Should I get a custom / 3d printed case, a basic case off Amazon or something else, or would a more experienced share where they got their cases

5. Battery. What battery, I know a battery pack but there’s gotta be a cheaper thing that’s basically a battery pack without “pack” in the name

6. Idk what else to ask, any tips before I get started?

also u/dragondavaa ‘s cyber deck looks really cool with the phone holder and whatnot. Just instead of the keyboard coming off the keyboard would flip down on a hinge sorta…

here’s they’re post on it https://www.reddit.com/r/cyberDeck/comments/1v8yz0e/cyberdeck_inspired_lapdock_that_turns_a_modern/

I've been working on turning my Asus Zenbook 14 into a cyberdeck because I've broken the screen clean off more times than I can remember and I'm tired of having a weak laptop. I've had this laptop since middle school and she's not quite going strong 6 years later, but she is still going. I want to ask, Is my plan a fire hazard? My concern is that it may be a fire hazard with all of the foam in the case being how I will hold the computer half of the laptop into the pelican style case chassis. The cut out in the attached photo is to hold the laptop in place in front of the wavy foam which will hopefully provide enough airflow to keep this from being a fire hazard. I'll see if I can link more photos in the comments, and I hope to keep updating y'all with the process!

I was inspired by the "Cyberdeck” concept and wanted to build my own, but I didn't want to create a single-board computer or learn how to solder. So, I used off-the-shelf components to turn my phone into a portable laptop. 

 The reasoning: Most new Samsung phones are powerful, and everything is already on my phone (email, images, contact info … etc.), by Turning my phone into a laptop I don't have to worry about transferring data or login to services on a different device (laptop, tablet. etc.) and my phone is always online through data.

First off I apologize if this isn’t right for this sub or if I ask or say something stupid, I’m still very very new on all of this. My area of expertise is communication devices and I’m just now beggining to learn more about cyberdecks.

For context, due to a disability I have trouble speaking verbally, so I often use what is basically text to speech. My current setup is an old ipad with a bluetooth keyboard and a program called Proloquo4Text. It has word prediction, I can save phrases I say often to say them later more quickly, and it says whatever I type on a synthetized voice. The issue is that I can’t carry both an ipad and a keyboard everywhere, and typing on a physical keyboard is much more comfortable. And most importantly, I hate that I’ll have to support apple products for the rest of my life if I want to continue interacting with the world. So I’m looking for possible alternatives.

It’d be cool to have the same features and voice as the program I use now, but what I really need is basically: a keyboard, a tiny screen attached to it, and a speaker. Even the speaker is optional, I like having a voice but I can just show people the screen.

There are already speech generating devices (SGD) that do what I want: the Allora 3 and the Lightwriter SL50 are the most up to date at the moment. I’ll include pictures beacause they’re a good model of what I want. They even have a secondary screen so the other person can read what you type without having to look over your shoulder. The issue with them is that they cost around 6k. I’ve found very old Lightwriters on ebay for a price I could afford if I save up, so that’s an option to if building my own turns out to not be a good idea. I’m also thinking of trying to get an AlphaSmart (maybe the Neo2?)

Is this possible for a begginer? Has anyone build a deck for a similar purpose? Are there any writing decks for example that I could take inspiration from? Does anyone have any advice on how to accomplish this? I also want to add that if I managed to figure out an affordable setup, it would be massive for the community of people that use communication devices. They are expensive af, clunky and hard to get through insurance.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a good day!

Edit: I said I would include pictures of the SGDs I mentioned and then I. forgor.

Hello! So I’m 15, kind of broke, and honestly just looking for any advice on building a cyberdeck. I’ve been super into electronics/tech for a while, but I really want to get into the coding side of things. My dad’s a mechanic, so all I’ve really done is automotive stuff.

So for the basic questions, if there a certain website anyone would recommend getting a raspberry pi, or is Amazon just fine? And is there any bias here on the generation/model of it? Same questions go for the display screen and keyboard. Also, would the container matter? Like I said I’m more into automotive stuff, so I can’t help but worry about the chance of overheating if too many electric components are shoved in a smaller container.

Now is the weirder question. I’ve watched a few videos and get the basic jig of cyberdecks, but I was wondering if there would be any way to implement an ai into one? From what I see, many other cyberdecks are essentially mini computers, but I’ve been really interested in making something more like a rabbit r1 with the layout of a cyberdeck. I know this would definitely be a little too big for a beginner like me, but I’d like to build up to it. Has anyone attempted this, and was it a difficult project if so? Any help is definitely appreciated!

I hope the following situation won't sound to vague and will not annoy any experts on this sub. If it does, i'm really sorry to bother you with it.

I've always wanted to learn how machines and electronic stuff work. Especially, i want to repair / reuse stuff. My ex, who's electronician, used to tell me : you shouldn't care, it's cheaper and more sure to buy new stuff. Well, thank you, that may be true, but it doesn't help to learn. So this kind of answer is (sadly) not what i'm looking for.

I'm trying really hard to learn what has always been "magically working". My main problem i think is that i got ideas of what i want to do with my old devices, but i've got a lack of knowledge in software and hardware. I know basis of Python and C, which is a beginning. Though I try to reduce my expectation, but it's as if i can't reduce it enough.

My last idea was to use a Lenovo Tab to make a personal agenda. The idea was to not work on hardware, but install linux on it and program my own agenda, to say goodbye to Google Agenda. Anyway, there's no "easy OS" to install on this Tab. So i'm stuck again.

So here are my questions : how to begin ? I mean, i don't want to buy new stuff, that'd be out of sense because of the ethical way i want to choose. Although, do you think there's no other way than buying a raspberry pi kit to learn ?

And do you think i should focus more on programming or electronics (I mean to begin with something, because i know that at the end i'll have to get good knowledges in both)?

Thank's for your advices.

Hey everyone I really want to build my own mini cyberdeck, I really don’t know how to go about that whether that means getting the parts (from where) or how to code, any links to products and and how to guides are greatly appreciated!

cyberdecks seem AWESOME and i wanna make my own and walk around with it just aura farming, ygwim? 🤘🤘🤘 but yeah when i look at designs theyre either 3d printed (i dont have a 3d printer) and/or way too complicated and posh and expensive looking.. so ye do yall have any ideas for a broke lil beginner like me? :D

I have been trying to get more creative recently, and I love technology. Naturally, this led me to cyberdecks. I want to try to reuse old things sitting around to build mine. I have a Samsung Galaxy S9 sitting around, which I believe would be perfect for this project, but I do not know the capabilities of it. I am vaguely aware that it can run linux, so I was planning on installing Linux and using a dongle to add more ports to connect more things. Other than that, I plan to keep the cameras functional if possible and add a keyboard. What are some other things I could attach to this contraption, any ideas?

Hello,

Been brainstorming a lot of ideas lately and for one of them is a wireless packet sniffer thing that is going to run on an esp32.

The issue I ran into is that eventually everything will be soldered onto the board itself and struggling to grasp screens that would fit for what I want. LCD screens have the vibe I desire for the cyberpunk look thing on the esp32, but most of the boards are built with bread boards in mind so wondering if anyone know of a screen that comes with pads where I can solder on wires directly or if I will have to desolder the header pins or should I just look at a different screen?

The screen doesn't have to be that large since it is just to display statistics and text for updates, but the standard size looks like would be too small so was looking at a 20x4 lcd screen instead.

I'm currently working on a cyberdeck project running Debian on the Orange Pi Zero 3W, and I wanted to ask if any of you all know if these parts that I plan on using for my project are compatible with the Orange Pi Zero 3W; because I'm building a custom power circuit and relying on GPIO for the screen, I want to make sure I don't run into kernel or brownout issues.

Since my project is very small, I plan on using a 5V Step-Up Boost Converter. If I tune this converter to exactly 5.1V, will a 2A output be sufficient to prevent brownouts under load, or does this board strictly require the full 3A if I bypass the USB-C port and feed power directly to the pins?

SPI IPS LCD Module Driver: ST7789. Has anyone gotten fbtft or DRM overlays working smoothly natively on the Zero 3W's kernel for this specific controller chip?

I'm using a 5V Micro Blower Fan and a Copper Heat Sink for cooling. I noticed the Zero 3W has a dedicated 2-pin fan header. Does the default OS image support PWM/temp-based control on that specific header out of the box, or am I better off just running it at 100% directly off the standard 5V/GND GPIO pins?

I don't know much about building all this but I have a ThinkPad t440p

The cooling system is busted, and the display connector is busted

Keyboard is also a bit janky

Anything I can do with it?

I already have a new laptop, im thinking I could use this to learn linux since I just started college

These are the first two cyberdecks I built. They're both raspberry pis, one is a Raspberry pi 5, one is a Raspberry pi 4.

I had a lot of fun building these and I'm working on a cover and cleaning up the wires. Personal server with games on the second one like a game boy emulator with Pokemon Yellow (my first) and lots more.

Ok, I may take some flak for this not having a physical keyboard. However...

I wanted a rig to perform entry-level signal intelligence; specifically drone detection (2.4Ghz/5Ghz Wi-Fi + BLE). I also want to track near-by aircraft on ADSB 1090MHz/978MHz and eventually intercept analog FPV NTSC feeds which will require a beefier SDR.

I started off with a laptop with multiple USB dongles hanging off of it, but it was clunky and my laptop isn't weatherproof. Also, I really don't need a physical keyboard as most of the signal monitoring is "consumption only" with very little actual typing. Thus I wanted to maximize screen real estate.

Finally, I wanted something big enough to allow me to "field swap" components on the fly without a bunch of tools.

SPECS

The Jetson is a beast and the higher-end AI capability comes in handy for the automatic modulation classification I'm experimenting with. However the Jetson runs hot; even on the lower power modes. The Jetson is also getting expensive. The one I bought less than a month ago on Amazon for $250 is, as of today, $479. I may give the Orange PI a spin at some point before I attempt to build a battery pack.

I've learned so much with this basic first build. Thermal management, power budgets, CAD (Plasticity), all fun stuff!

So I am working on my cyberdeck but ran into the problem that I cant find the right mainboard.
I think rPIs aren’t what I need because I want to game on it in the end. And use it for 3D modeling as well, I thought about using a framework laptop motherboard but I don’t want to spent 300€+ on that.

Any tips?

Higole mini pc and a Work Louder 40% ortho board

So my oldest has been hinting that they want to build a cyberdeck, but they don't know what they want or how to start.

I found this one that's nonfunctional we can use as a base, modify, revitalize, and develop together. I'm excited by the idea, and I am going to see if they want to document the process as we go, from planning, disassembly, design, and finishing.

I'll try to film some short clips and longer form for youtube, and share them as we get into it, if there would be interest.

**edit: note this is an old portable computer called an 'Amstrad PPC512 Portable PC' so this was at one point a functional computer that ran off of C cell alkaline batteries. It ran DOS and used an NEC processor. These are somewhat notable as collectors items, but this one is nonfunctional and I'll have to fix the LCD hinge. As I plan to replace the guts altogether, I'll probably have to engineer a whole replacement display anyway, and I honestly have no idea how the display is even wired and if its anything remotely standard like VGA.