2022 Cyberdeck Contest: A Chorded-Keyboard Wearable Cyberdeck

October 1, 2022 by Dan Maloney 10 Comments

Those of us who are unreformed hunt-and-peck typists are often baffled by the keyboard skills of those with more formal training. Home row? Specific fingers for specific keys? The mind boggles. And chorded keyboards? That’s straight-up witchcraft!

But, there are times when only a chorded keyboard will do, such as when you want to build a wrist-wearable cyberdeck like this one. It’s called the ComputeDeck-B3, and it comes to us from [Nate Damen], better known as someone who goes around with a TV on their head, which sort of fits with the total device immersion this cyberdeck enables.

The deck is designed to fit on the forearm in the position of function — basically, the posture your arm, wrist, and hand take on naturally when everything is relaxed. There’s a small display mounted at a good angle for viewing, but the star of the show is the keyboard. The fingers slip inside a slot to find three mechanical key switches positioned for each finger. It looks like the idea is to use the finger pad, fingertip, and fingernail to press each key, and then to press different combinations of keys to make specific characters. The thumb isn’t left out of the action; there’s a five-position “hat switch” located right where the thumb naturally falls, to add to the input possibilities. The short video below gives a tour and some background on design goals, and why this isn’t really a PipBoy.

For as much as chording isn’t our thing, we can see how this could work for input on the fly. And we have to compliment [Nate] on paying attention to ergonomics here, even though extending the fingers to press the nail buttons seems like a somewhat unnatural movement. We’d love a follow-up on this after he’s had some time to put it through its paces. Continue reading “2022 Cyberdeck Contest: A Chorded-Keyboard Wearable Cyberdeck” →

2022 Cyberdeck Contest: The Oscilloscope Deck

September 30, 2022 by Jonathan Bennett 27 Comments

When [Jak_o_Shadows] Siglent Oscilloscope died, he didn’t just mourn the loss, he saw an opportunity. See, he had a Raspberry Pi 400 already set aside for a cyberdeck build, and he just scored a novel case. Most of the insides of the old scope came out, but the screen and control knobs live on in the new build. An HDMI-to-LVDS adapter brought the screen back to life, and the control knobs are a work-in-progress. Added to the case are some fun goodies, like a LimeSDR, connected to the old scope inputs. A PL2303 is wired to the serial port, making that functional, too. It’s a very nice touch that the build retains the original scope’s functions this way.

There’s plenty of 3d-printed goodness, like some internal brackets to hold things in place. The real star of the show is a 3d-printed hinge, holding the scope and Pi 400 together and making the whole package portable. There’s a neat tip, too, in that the Pi 400 has a huge integrated heat sync under the keyboard. It’s just a sheet of metal, so you can drill and tap it as mounting points. Cool!

This is a nifty build, and certainly a worthy deck for jacking-in to whatever you’re working on. And re-purposing an oscilloscope is a nice aesthetic. If [Jak_o_Shadows] can just get the front array of buttons and knobs working with his STM32, this will be a killer deck, the envy of console cowboys everywhere.

This Computer Is Definitely Not A Toy

September 30, 2022 by Jenny List 6 Comments

If you’ve ever eyed up a kids laptop and wondered whether it could take an upgrade with a single board computer, you’re not alone. [Labz] have taken a couple of Brazilian Max Steel toy computers from a decade or more ago, and made them into usable if unconventional portable computers (Brazilian Portuguese, but YouTube’s subtitle translation is your friend).

The computers are similar to the ones you may be familiar with from the likes of VTech, a QWERTY keyboard and fairly conventional form factor but with a tiny monochrome LCD and a few built-in games. In the video below the break we see both the laptop and desktop variants butchered with a rotary tool to receive new larger screens, with the laptop getting a Raspberry Pi and the desktop getting a small form factor PC. The laptop needed a 3D printed extension to make extra space, while the desktop received a PCI Express extension cable for a video card. Finally, an Arduino took care of the keyboard.

The cherry on the cake for this video comes at the end, when they find the now-grown-up kid from the original advert. Meanwhile, kids computers have featured here before a few times.

Continue reading “This Computer Is Definitely Not A Toy” →

A person sits on a couch in the background wearing a VR headset. A keyboard is on their lap and a backpack studded with antennas and cables sits in the foreground.

2022 Cyberdeck Contest: Cyberpack VR

September 25, 2022 by Navarre Bartz 4 Comments

Feeling confined by the “traditional” cyberdeck form factor, [adam] decided to build something a little bigger with his Cyberpack VR. If you’ve ever dreamed of being a WiFi-equipped porcupine, then this is the cyberdeck you’ve been waiting for.

Craving the upgradability and utility of a desktop in a more portable format, [adam] took an old commuter backpack and squeezed in a Windows 11 PC, Raspberry Pi, multiple wifi networks, an ergonomic keyboard, a Quest VR headset, and enough antennas to attract the attention of the FCC. The abundance of network hardware is due to [adam]’s “new interest: a deeper understanding of wifi, and control of my own home network even if my teenage kids become hackers.”

The Quest is setup to run multiple virtual displays via Immersed, and you can relax on the couch while leaving the bag on the floor nearby with the extra long umbilical. One of the neat details of this build is repurposing the bag’s external helmet mount to attach the terminal unit when not in use. Other details we love are the toggle switches and really integrated look of the antenna connectors and USB ports. The way these elements are integrated into the bag makes it feel borderline organic – all the better for your cyborg chic.

For more WiFi backpacking goodness you may be interested in the Pwnton Pack. We’ve also covered other non-traditional cyberdecks including the Steampunk Cyberdeck and the Galdeano. If you have your own cyberdeck, you have until September 30th to submit it to our 2022 Cyberdeck Contest!

A retro-futuristic portable computer with a touch screen and a shoulder strap

2022 Cyberdeck Contest: The Hosaka MK I Connects You To Cyberspace, Neuromancer Style

September 19, 2022 by Robin Kearey 17 Comments

It’s hard to pin down exactly what a cyberdeck is, as we’ve seen through the huge variety of designs submitted to our 2022 Cyberdeck Contest. The most basic requirement is that it is a type of portable computer, typically with a futuristic, cyberpunk-style design, but beyond that, anything goes. The original concept was introduced in William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer, where it refers to portable devices used to connect to cyberspace. The design of the ‘decks is not described in detail, but we do know that Case, the protagonist, uses a Hosaka computer which is supposedly “next year’s most expensive model”.

Inspired by Gibson’s novel, [Chris] designed and built the Hosaka MK I “Sprawl Edition” as he imagined it would have looked in the Sprawl universe. The result is an impressive piece of retro-futuristic hardware with lots of chunky tumbler switches, exposed metal screws, and even a shoulder strap. Processing power is supplied by a Raspberry Pi, with input and output happening through a 7″ touchscreen. There’s also an ESP32, which controls a set of RGB LEDs on the back as well as an FM radio module.

The Hosaka’s functionality can even be extended by adding modules to the side, which will snap into place thanks to a set of neodymium magnets integrated into the housing. The whole case is 3D printed, and a full set of .stl files is available for download, although [Chris] warns that the larger parts might be too big for some 3D printers: the whole thing barely fits inside his Prusa MK3s.

We’ve seen several cyberdeck creators that aimed to recreate Gibson’s vision: the XMT-19 Cutlass is one example, as is the massive NX-Yamato. If you’ve designed your own, be sure to submit it to this year’s contest.

2022 Cyberdeck Contest: RPG Character Tracker

September 14, 2022 by Tom Nardi 7 Comments

While it would be a mistake to think there are any firm rules for what constitutes a cyberdeck, we can at least identify some common traits that would seem to give us a baseline description. For example, most deck builds we’ve seen have been fully-functional Linux computers, more often than not powered by some Raspberry Pi variant. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room in the community for less computational powerful decks, or builds that are so bespoke that they can only perform a few selected tasks.

As a perfect example, take a look at the RPG Character Tracker from [Melissa Matos]. You won’t find a Raspberry Pi here, nor a full operating system. Instead, we’ve got a M5Stack Core2 and an I2C CardKB Mini Keyboard wrapped up in a foldable frame made from Erector Set pieces. Add in a little LED lighting for that cyberpunk feel, and the stage is set.

So what does this diminutive build do? Well, apparently nothing right now. [Melissa] just got the hardware together and has only recently started aligning all the 1s and 0s to do her bidding. But what it’s supposed to do is clear enough: it’s intended to be an electronic companion to complex RPG tabletop games to help with things such as character creation. Sounds like it will also have a “roll dice” mode that will save you the trouble of having to crawl under the table when one of your D20s goes rogue.

While such a device could be useful for many different games, it should come as no surprise to hear that [Melissa] is currently targeting the cyberpunk Shadowrun.

Although we were particularly taken with the online tool that let you generate 3D printed organizers for all your tabletop gaming needs, we’d definitely rather have digital companions like this which would make those plastic baggies full of parts obsolete.

2022 Cyberdeck Contest: The Folding Mini-Deck

September 10, 2022 by Jenny List 5 Comments

The trend for cyberdecks has brought us many takes on the home-made portable computers, but it’s fair to say that some of them can be rather unwieldy. This is not an accusation you can point at [Smeef] with the Mini-Deck though, because its Raspberry Pi Zero, Adafruit miniature display, and tiny keyboard make the whole unit able to fit in the palm of a hand. We’re not sure we’ve seen one so compact!

The most obvious feature is the keyboard, it’s a DreamGear MiniKey miniature USB keyboard. It doesn’t have all the useful buttons a PC board has, so there’s also a separate set of buttons to cover those. Then there’s an analog stick connected to an Arduino Pro Micro that takes the functionality of a mouse, and an Adafruit Mini PiTFT 1.3″ Display. While a fully-functional display for the Pi, we do wonder if this tiny screen might actually be a bit too tiny to be practical. Power for the unit comes via an 18650 battery, which also functions as a pin for a folding mechanism.

The result is something that looks, feels, and works like a cyberdeck, but all in miniature. It might be a stretch to write a Hackaday piece on a machine like it, but we’re guessing that merely having built something like this is cool enough in itself. Certainly it’s considerably smaller than previous contenders for the smallest build.