One of our favorite things about the cyberdeck concept has got to be the versatility of this mobile computing medium. Some cyberdecks lean toward making the user into a full-on Snow Crash gargoyle, and others are more fold-and-go like laptops. This discreet deck from [Andres Borray] looks as though it might have a PB&J and a bag of chips inside.
Instead, there’s a Gherkin. What? For the uninitiated, that’s a handmade 40% 30% mechanical keyboard right there and it’s called the Gherkin. It has more keys than it appears, thanks to layers in the firmware. By long pressing any key on the bottom row, the entire map changes to access stuff like numbers and F keys.
This lunchbox is powered by a Raspberry Pi 4 and uses the official Pi display with the touch input enabled. Even so, there’s a baby trackball right there under the thumbs. [Andres] designed and printed panels for both sides to mount everything, and those files will be available soon along with a more detailed build log.
You can do anything you want with a cyberdeck build — it’s kind of the point. Want to program microcontrollers wherever? Get your feet wet with a cyberduck.
Via reddit
It looks so Fisher-Pricey with the red case and yellow accents!
I know my RPI4s get a little warm. Maybe I missed it, but not sure how the RPI is cooled in this configuration. Neat little project though!
Thanks! Because of the smaller scale of the box, I couldn’t add a fan. I also wanted to ensure that the box remained waterproof and had a tight seal when closed so vents were out of the question. I ended up using some thermal paste and heatsinks which have worked extremely well thus far. I use the lunch box primarily for short coding sessions on the couch so there hasn’t been anything too intensive.
Looks like a baby Toughbook.
Why not go with a “Whiz Kids” lunchbox? Though more likely people would have a “Hackers” lunchbox.
Dang it, wish I hadn’t dismantled mine now that this is becoming a whole thing! I had one with a proper x86 system and desktop GPU. Dual 4k screens. PSU and all were in the case. C’mon, let’s see some decks that aren’t built around the raspberry pi! But this is great. I also took advantage of a pelican case-type setup.
Jeez, one of the usual definitions of cyberdeck is portable. Sounds like yours would need wheels.
Ratio of portable cyberdecks in novels, 33%
Ratio of cyberdecks with immersive interfaces in novels 100%
Which is why this is the highest on the RW cyberdeck index featured here so far…
https://hackaday.com/2020/01/17/a-water-cooled-gaming-pc-you-can-take-with-you/
Wow, that thing is a monster. I want one.
30 keys, that must be 30% keyboard.
I once got in with the wrong crowd, and got invited to join a 1%er club… I turned them down when it transpired that I had to sit the Morse exam.
Does someone really consider that keyboard useable for more than some milliseconds?
Yes, they really do. Not me, mind you – with this much panel real estate, I’d have gone with a 40 or 50%.
I think it IS a 30%. In fact, in the article, it says,
“It’s called The Gherkin and it was created by the good folks at 40percent.club. It’s a 30% ortho-linear keyboard (buttons are in a grid, not staggered).”
There may have been some confusion from the words “40percent” being in the same statement.
D’oh! Fixed, thank you.
It’s pretty cool seeing something you’ve built on a blog you frequent. Thanks for posting about my lunchbox Kristina! Any chance you could add my name to the article? Would help if I’m ever looking to transition into the lunch box building industry and they search to confirm that I can, in fact, build lunchboxes. Thank you! :)
how long this device work?
20 min? mebye 1 h?
pinebook are cheaper
I guess you’re assuming it would run on batteries, but if you look at the wiring it’s clearly powered by a wire plugged into the plug board on the front.
And in any case, why would you assume 20 minutes to an hour? This seems like a completely arbitrary guess, and with the size of its case, it could certainly fit a good number of 18650 lithium cells. It’s a little hard to tell from the picture in this article, but if you look at the pictures in the linked article, the display half of the case is much deeper than the keyboard side, with space for MANY batteries. I’m told that a Pi 4 uses about 3.4 Watts, and I’m just going to guess another two watts for the display. Let’s call it 6 watts altogether. a 2.6 A*hr lithium cell at nominal 3.7 V holds 9.62 W*hr, which means that if you allow a sloppy 80% efficient power supply, it will deliver 7.7 W*hr to the load. This means that ONE cell could power this for over an hour. If I were building it, it would have at least ten cells in it. I’m assuming you can do the math from here.
And by the way, the reason people build things themselves instead of buying what others have built, is so that they can optimize them for their own needs. If you value long run time, you make sure there’s room for the batteries, and you stuff them in there wherever you can. If you’re more into having a minimal impact on your backpack’s weight, you might go for thin and light at the expense of run time.
Great comment BrightBlueJim. That’s correct, there is plenty of room for multiple batteries. I’m actually working on adding a circuit and battery so I can take the lunch box with me on the go. I have roughly 40,000 mAh (two 20k mAh) batteries that are just laying around waiting to be used. I think one of them should be more than enough.
When did every homebuilt computer become a “cyberdeck”? None of the ones I’ve seen lately will allow you to “jack in” and get the full immersion thing going. This is a lunchbox computer, and a pretty slick one at that. Decent size screen, rugged case, nice keyboard. And practical – the use of a clamshell box means that only two flat panels have to be cut out, and everything else mounts to them. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. But as a cyberdeck it would be dismal.
But isn’t the real problem not the cyberdecks but that most people don’t have the needed compatible jack in their heads?
Valid point. And, if we had the jack in our heads, I would strongly deter anyone from connecting a lunchbox to it.
You’re right on that front. I think there is the proper definition and then a subgroup that uses the term to really just refer to a specific aesthetic. Though even defining what that aesthetic looks like can be nebulous. Personally. I think cyberdeck just sounds more bad ass than computer :)
“None of the ones I’ve seen lately will allow you to “jack in” and get the full immersion thing going.”
And if it is being used to access pR0n, they are jacking in to jack off!