We feature a lot of DIY portable computers — rehash the “is that a cyberdeck” in the comments to your heart’s content — but how many of them are explicitly girly? Certainly, none of the ones that come to mind oozed the distilled femme energy of [cc] AKA [bossbratox]’s project, playfully titled “Mermaid in the Shell”.
The build started with a frame clutch purse, which, given that it comes with nice hinges and latches, is really a brilliant starting point for a project case. The fact that you can find them shaped like pink seashells really seals the deal for this particular project. A ZitaoTech BB Q10 keyboard — in white, naturally — pairs with a 3.5″ touchscreen as the interface for a Raspberry Pi 3A+. You might be thinking, “great, another toy with an old Pi inside. What can you really do with a Pi3 in 2026?” Well, admittedly, for full-fat desktop Linux, the 3A+ is looking a bit long in the tooth and short in the RAM.
If you are willing to work within its constraints and not run a full Linux desktop, though, 512 MB is plenty of RAM to work with. [cc] has set up a custom terminal user interface (TUI) to give her everything she needs — wifi, bluetooth, a full terminal, a remote serial monitor, a local LLM chatbot, a PDF reader, a text editor, and, of course, a mermaid digital pet. That last one is user-skinnable, though, so if you want a terminal tamagotchi of your own, you can grab the code off GitHub and swap the spites for whatever you want.
Thanks to [cc] for the tip. Whether your next build is dripping the femme-ergy and kawaii as heck, or just utilitarian tacticool, please let us know in the tips line.
Remember, too, that an aesthetic doesn’t need to be skin-deep. We have some tips for good-looking PCBs here that are relevant because they now come in pink — as we saw with this wearable circuit sculpture.
Can we have more details about how bossbratox has managed to run a local AI on a Pi 3? The Github doesn’t reveal much about how, though the python file for the AI chat appears to contain http/https functionality for the purpose of accessing a remote resource. If you can get an AI chatbot on to a Pi 3 you can probably get it on to any other local hardware too, would be very interested to know how. Thanks
I feel NOLFed
For some reason I can only imagine some lady walking out of server room. Getting searched in her way out, no one opens the clam. Then a team of IT guys scratching their heads not knowing they got owned by a computational Polly pocket purse.
This one is definitely a cyberdeck
Phrasing.
I hope the terminal can run Perl.
No doubt in a shell.
This is the way.
I embrace the idea of tech being woven into personal fashion, rather than tech itself being the fashion.
Really cool!
A round or oval display would fit the case even better!
I’m man enough to pull it off.
Secret Agent Barbie! (36-24-36)
Scaramanga stole her Golden Gun, you know.
Having a personal (should be a voice) assistant in a purse reminds me of an old flick, My Stepmother is an Alien.
Crazy I was trying to find a round make up case compact mirror esp32 dual screen setup. Doesn’t seem like it exists surprisingly. Saw this and surprised how recent it was posted.