Even though we somewhat uncharacteristically don’t have a cyberdeck contest currently underway, there’s never a bad time to get your [Gibson] on. That’s especially true when fate hands you an enclosure as perfect as the one that inspired this very compact Kali Linux cyberdeck.
Now, that’s not to say that we don’t love larger cyberdecks, of course. The ones built into Pelican-style shipping containers are particularly attractive, and it’s hard to argue against their practicality. But when [Hans Jørgen Grimstad], who somehow just sounds like a person who should be building cyberdecks, found a new-old-stock stash of US Army Signal Corps spare parts kits from the 1950s, designation CY-684/GR, he just had to spring into action. After carefully gutting the metal case of the dividers that once protected tubes and other parts, he had some PCB panels made up for the top and bottom. The bottom had enough room for a compact USB keypad, with room left over on the panel for a cooling fan and various connectors. A 7″ HDMI display was added to the panel on the top lid, while a Raspberry Pi 5 with a 500-GB NVMe SSD went below the lower panel. The insides are properly decorated with cyberpunk-esque regalia including a “Self Destruct” button. Sadly, this appears to be unimplemented in the current version, at least for the stated purpose; there’s always hope for version two.
While we love the look and feel of this build and the subtle nods to the cyberpunk aesthetic, it sure seems like you could get some serious work done with a deck like this. Hats off to [Hans] for the build, and here’s hoping he left some of those cool cases for the rest of us.
we need hacker cyber deck.
normal keyboard, ethernet, long working time and …. normal unix system
So a laptop?
Cyberdecks are supposed to be all about the aesthetics, combined with highly customised usability for the specific person making it. Making a generic ‘hacker cyberdeck’ would just be a laptop. Maybe something like the Framework laptop, or the Novena, but basically any laptop with expansion ports and Linux or BSD driver support would work.
But no one needs to write about “I bought a laptop and installed Ubuntu on it” in 2024, that’s not worth sharing. “I made a cool looking thing” is, even if the computing elements of it aren’t super exciting by themselves.
its funny you say that, but every day “I shoved a pi in a box and installed linux on it” is featured every day :p
^This!^
Cyberdecks have NOTHING to do with aesthetics.
A cyberdecks is a form factor and configuration.
A cyberdecks is:
A general purpose computer.
Portable by design.
Multiple discreet components that are required to be usable.
Assembled at the place of use, almost always in a space not specifically intended for it.
Disassembled after use.
A phone is not a cyberdeck.
A phone with a portable monitor and external keyboard, used at your desk in a classroom, is a cyberdeck.
A laptop is not a cyberdeck.
A slabtop(laptop with the built-in display removed), with a head mounted display, used in a coffee shop,is a cyberdeck.
A game console is not a cyberdeck. It is not a general purpose computer.
A LAN party/mini PC is not a cyberdeck. It is assembled and used in a location specifically intended for it.
People need to stop using “cyberdeck” for any homemade computer-esque build simply because they want to borrow the cool factor of that word.
Is any part of that even remotely canon?
Got references?
The idea comes from 80s and 90s cyberpunk fiction.
The cyberdecks portrayed in fiction like William Gibson’s works, Shadowrun, netrunner, movies like Johnny Neumonic, and others share these features.
There are also outlier examples in those works too. An elite hacker/decker might have a custom deck that takes 10 suitcases to move, and gets assembled in a hotel room across town from their target as a giant rats nest. (Not 1 man portable)
Or a corporate team might work in an office with a “deck” built in to each members desk. (Not portable at all)
The exceptions are usually being too big/bulky to move.
Most are portrayed like the ones in Johnny Neumonic. He goes into an electronic store and grabs a CPU unit, external modem, headset, and gloves, then brings them over to the jack and netdives.
Interesting idea actually …. even if its driven by a raspberry. With a connected 5V/12V supply, I2C/SPI/CAN/Whatever module/sniffer, maybe an integrated JTAG or Programmer(s). And a small USB soldering iron as the cherry on top.
Everything in a portable package with a long battery life.
That would be sick….
get to it then!
I did consider stuffing a HackRF One in there and maybe do a SigintOS variant, but it would have been a tight squeeze and I would also need space for SMA feedthroughs etc in the panels. The result would still be two standard devices inside a cool looking enclosure – instead of one.
An alternative is of course to come up with custom electronics for a given feature set, but that raises the bar significantly (many non-hardware people that try to dip their toes into the hardware world are often overjoyed by just being able to blink a LED using an AVR controller).
I see your point regarding the many pi projects out there, but the Pi is growing up. The Pi 5 is a powerful little beast, especially when you fo for the SSD option instead of the SD card. Its a capable little computer :)
I think my biggest complaint with the Pi is its grown up price! Although a lack of standardization in bootstrapping other ARM hardware akin to UEFI/BIOS essentially makes otherwise useful kit (thousands? millions?) of tons of e-waste.
I don’t really see the point of any cyberdeck. At best it’s a poor man’s laptop or PC based around a SBC, usually not very ergonomic, because the esthetics are more important than functionality. At worst it ends up being ugly mashup of movie-inspired bad design and underpowered components. How bad it can be? Think “EeePC running Windows ME” bad. And usually only the creator of the device can use it, but won’t because it’s badly designed and underpowered. Just get a 5 year old laptop, glue some gears on it and call it steampunk.
I share the same sentiment, but you have to understand that “Cyberdecks” are just fictional devices made real so much so as a “working art piece”. These creations are impractical, but cool looking at best. As some people have pointed out, just use a laptop if you need to get serious work done as those are a lot more portable, and durable for daily use.
I’m not sure what “purpose built” means in your context, but wouldn’t a laptop with the various USB accessories dedicated to it be purpose built, too? And if for whatever reason anyone decides to remove the case, and encase them with an enclosure of their own be considered more as a cyberdeck?
Hei Hans! I have the same keyboard, using in a very similar build. But the curve of the keyboard top near the LEDs doesn’t fit a flat panel: it leaves a small gap. It requires a (3D printed) curved panel to fit properly, which I’m currently trying to avoid redesigning: Did you just leave a small gap there?
If you look at the keyboard from the side, there is a slight curve that leaves a small gap on the side. It is barely noticeable if you don’t look for it, so I just left it. After I finished the video, I also added some small 3D printed clamps on the underside. There are some really tiny M2 plastic screws that holds the metal base in place. I replaced these with slightly longer M2 machine screws that allowed for a 4mm thick PLA block to lock the keyboard in place from the underside (I initially used melt glue to fix it in place but that didn’t last very long :))
Ah. OK. Many thanks for the added info.
I’m trying for a minimum-possible-size build (coming in at 145 x 212 x 40 mm), and trying hard to avoid added thickness, but the added block on the underside might be justified.
Thanks.