These days, it’s pretty easy to slap together a single-board computer and a cheap LCD screen to whip up a cool cyberdeck fast. But what if you wanna go more retro? [Manu] found a portable TV straight out of the original Blade Runner film, and decided this would be the perfect base for a cyberdeck rocking a whole-ass CRT screen.
The build started with a Panasonic TR-545 television. Back in the day, it took many large batteries to power this thing up—no surprise given how power hungry CRTs are. This gave [Manu] a neat opportunity to sneak all the new cyberdeck hardware into the original battery tray, including a new lithium-ion battery pack that is much more compact than the original. A Raspberry Pi 5 is running the show, computer-wise, and it’s hooked up to an HDMI RF modulator that allows the video output signal to be hooked up to the TV’s original antenna input. It’s not the cleanest way to go, but it allowed [Manu] to make the mod entirely reversible. All the new hardware slots neatly into the repurposed battery tray, and can be removed quite easily without damage to this vintage specimen. Even the keyboard fits nicely into the setup, as [Manu] was able to find a suitable 60% layout foldable unit right off the shelf.
Check out the slide deck for more details on the build, but be warned—it’s a 241 MB PDF. Bonus points if you calculate what that would cost to store on a hard drive in 1979 when the Panasonic TR-545 was on the market. We’ve seen a similar build before, too, with a classic black & white Magnavox unit. If you like squinting at a tiny blurry screen, a CRT cyberdeck is absolutely the way to go. Just be warned that the other screenwriters at your local coffee shop will be more interested in your hardware than whatever you’re actually working on. Good luck with your next pitch all the same. Video after the break.
I think rf modulation is quite right on a build like this
You can get a clearer picture by adding a video input to the TV. It will be even sharper if you remove the low pass filter and feed it a real monochrome signal.
1978 I saved up my money and bought one of those in 6th grade.
Still have it, but the antenna is broken off.
The two big Lead-Acid reachable batteries are long gone too.
Seems like I used it with a Vic 20, about 4 years later, About the time Blade Runner came out.
-Gar.
I used to have one of these when I was a kid. Is bring it, around with my ZX81, when I visited my aunts and uncles. I must have gotten rid of the original, but I got another off eBay years ago. The antenna is broken, but that’s easily replaced.
Nice Voight-Kampf. Don’t ask Leon about his mother.
I’ll tell you about my mother…
Love it, that is an awesome look!
I have been tinkering with using 90’s and 00’s CRTs as monitors for playing emulated games and watching 3:4 TV shows, and getting the overscan right has been a super pain in the butt up until recently. I just figured out this week that Debian 13 has a TV adjustment option that shrinks the picture in a bit so that it doesn’t hang off the sides.
Kudos for not tossing the CRT and putting an ugly flatscreen in the bezel
That would be good for a Star Trek bridge, keyboard under it that can extend/flip out.