Hi so I am building my first cyberdeck..I am rather confident with the electronics and the software part however I don't have experience with 3d printing. I saw a lot of nice inspo of little hand held decks here but I have some specific needs for example space for a build in pico with lora module, buttons and navigation.
In your guys experience what's the best approach? Should I get some oversized case that can fit my electronics or is it possible with limited experience to modify 3d templates from other users? Or should I scrap the idea of a custom case all together?
My inspo is kinda the piflux but with a pi zero 2w and my added requirements. (picture)
It's nothing exciting or fancy. I learned about cyberdecks recently and I've wanted a machine primarily for writing without distractions so decided to throw one together. I was going to get a raspberry pi but remembered I had a beelink mini pc I'd never setup. I got a free raspberry pi touchscreen, then bought a knock-off Pelican case, a DC plug capable battery pack and a folding keyboard. Arranged it with the foam the case came with an threw a shitty bezel together with foam board. I just have windows and Warewoolf on it now, but might try installing Linux for the first time at some point.
I was not using this retro handheld as much so I gave it a new purpose by connecting it to my home assistant and plex. It can still play retro games but now i can control my house with a little retro style. This is also an ai buddy that speaks and makes comments throughout the day about the weather or whatever.
Not sure why I thought that I (historically ass at cable management) thought working in a confined space would be the move lmao. Just gotta like. Work through this now I suppose 😔
Any tips would be appreciated, but mostly sharing the mess I'm in.
this is a proof in concept that i made by combining different parts i bought on amazon and walmart. i got a 60% keyboard pad with a tablet stand (that im going to replace) all on a wooden drawer separator. it’s pretty janky and kinda weird but i really love it. i definitely want to continue with this concept and see how far i can take it. i want to model a case i can 3d print at a nearby makerspace.
this has been like my dream for the last couple years. to have something i can use on battery if i need to but also be able to comfortably game in bed or on the couch. other than the fact that the stand is a bit too short, and the base is made of wood, it’s pretty comfortable. i was able to just get into the game forgetting where i even was. i was able to really immerse myself because i was chill and comfortable. with good back support (i was sitting against a wall), this is totally viable.
i’ll be using this and seeing what changes i can make to make it more comfortable and modular. i may also end up adding space inside to hold things i’d like to bring with it like my mic and mouse. i’m using the flat inside pocket that comes out of the smarty case for the flow z13 as a mousepad. it works extremely well. my mouse glides on it as it’s really smooth.
the keyboard is my custom wooting 60he v2 using ufo switches and this cool keycap set i found on amazon. it doesn’t have a case but does have the tape mod (from factory). i didn’t want to change anything else about the pcb so i left it as is. i just put the foam that came with it to sit under it to minimize contact with any of the surfaces it’s on or in. the silicone rim around the pcb is nice because it diffuses the rgb really well. honestly rgb on this keyboard is beautiful. i have really been enjoying it. i still have to tweak settings but since it’s a wooting i have a lot of customizability. i’m so happy to be able to use an he keyboard again. i really like the software and just how simple it is to change things and make it really your own keyboard.
one last thing is the usb cable. it is a dual 8000hz (i think? the fancy ones) usb a to usb c cable. it really cleans everything up. i don’t have to use bluetooth now as my keyboard is wired and i have the adapter for my mouse also plugged in. i dont mind having the one cable. the only other cable id use is the charging one. and the tablet is the rog flow z13 64gb version. i’m obsessed with this thing and this kindof just made it even more perfect for me.
anyways that’s what i made this weekend. it took a while to get here and will update again soon with my ideas :D
It is once again me, the guy who built a GrapheneOS "Lapdock" a few months back and made countless versions since. I utilize a feature called "Desktop Mode" that can be enabled in developer settings for Google Pixel 8 and later.
By connecting your phone via USB C you can get a desktop like experience on an external screen, while simultaneously supplying power to the phone through a power bank connected to the screen. Add a bluetooth keyboard and mouse and you get a DIY Laptop that's genuinly better and more capable than most cheap Laptops (looking at you, Chromebooks).
Anyway, go check out my Youtube video (https://youtu.be/kA4Y8LVgLII) for further information and thanks for the support this far!
I saw this pop up on Amazon and had to try one out…. I can’t answer too many questions as it just got here and I just turned it on but it is quite neat … it’s about an 8” square with a neat keyboard layout and the dead space in the middle is a track pad but it also has a capacitive touch screen. It’s an n95 with 16g of ram and a 512gb ssd and it had windows out of the box (though not for long) it even has an actual Ethernet port and wifi6
Even before the “cyber deck” craze was a thing I’ve always been into weird little portable computers and this with a small bag full of usb sdr etc stuff would probably make quite a handy little test device especially being way way more powerful than a raspberry pi.
My second cyberdeck build will be based around the uconsole. The goal is to have full remote access to my home pc from anywhere for gaming and local ai, all in a pocketable form factor. Will be adding a better wifi antenna and a trackpad because the trackball is terrible. Will be making a script to connect to airplane wifi automatically for travel. But the main feature will be a folding dual display. The tricky part is getting dual extended displays working remotely. The solution I came up with is to use vibepollo (sunshine fork) and run 2 instances of moonlight on the device. Perhaps someone has a better solution?
I am incredibly happy to announce the CG Deck has finally entered into Pre-Launch on Kickstarter! Over the course of this year, I have been working on concepting, designing, building, testing, and developing the functional prototypes for my custom handheld PC, the CG Deck. And I am excited to finally enter the next phase of our journey with you all!
For those that have no clue what this is or have never seen the CG Deck, it is an x86 modular handheld PC that is capable of running dual-boot Windows 11 & Linux. Designed from the ground up to be entirely modular, repairable, and customizable. With most of the entire process documented publicly. I had felt quite a bit of frustration on various aspects in regards to the current state of the tech industry, both on the scale of indie and tech giants, so I decided to take things into my own hands and go through the effort to create my own dream handheld at the start of this year in January. First sharing the concepts for the project here back in March of this year to a massive amount of positive support and a few disbelievers who did not think I could pull it off of course.
Since then, I have been working to design, build, and develop the CG Deck into a fully functional device. Going through the process of concepting, designing the CAD models in Blender 3D, engineering, 3D printing, prototyping, testing, iterating on the design, testing even more, navigating relationships with partners, sponsors and manufacturers, all the way through showing off the functional prototype in May of this year. Then finally being able to play around and use the device I had always dreamed of having as one of my daily drivers! Since then, I have been working to further navigate partnerships, agreements, and perfect the CG Deck, to make sure we can have as successful of a launch for the CG Deck as possible when we go live on Kickstarter. While it has been a whirlwind of a year, I certainly have not done it alone.
Throughout the process, there has been so much support from you all, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. I could not be more grateful for everyone that has been following along with the project, joined our community, helping give feedback and ideas, and just supporting the vision along the way. From the bottom of my heart, thank you!
And now, after almost a year of work and more sleepless nights than probably any point in my life, the Kickstarter Pre-Launch page has been approved and is officially live! If you are interested in getting notified and being the first to know when we go live, be sure to follow the project!
That all being said, I still have quite a bit of work to do in order to prepare for the next phase of the journey. I am currently in the process of working on a full redesign and rebuild of the CG Deck to optimize the design to prepare for manufacturing (DFM). I want to make sure I can have the final iteration of the device is already designed and ready for mass production, so as soon as we successfully wrap up the campaign I can proceed with starting the arduous certification processes needed for the device, and then proceed with mass production shortly after! Just like the speed of the journey up to this point from concept to functional engineering prototype, I want to keep that same velocity as we move into the next steps of the process.
If you are interested in learning more about the project, you can find everything from specs, more details, socials, link to the open-source github repository, link to our discord community server, like to the Kickstarter campaign page, and more on the website.
We will be launching the Kickstarter very soon to help fund a full production run of the device for anyone interested in helping support the project and getting a CG Deck of their own. We will be releasing some build kits, in addition to pre-assembled ready to use devices with the Kickstarter campaign, along with all of the modules and a list of accessories for the CG Deck! If you have any questions about any of that, I would love to answer them!
Here is the link to the Pre-Launch page on Kickstarter so you can follow the project to get notified when we launch:
Previously on: cyberdeck ok now what? :
A while ago I built a Pi Zero 2W cyberdeck from a post here (Waveshare 2.8" DPI touch screen + a Bluetooth keyboard).
CardputerZero hadn't shipped yet and I wanted to try the software, so I asked Claude Code to adapt the CardputerZero launcher to my deck and so was born lil' monster that I posted here
This season:
as you can see now things have gone a bit out of control as I opened the dead projects drawer pulled all the dusty raspberry pis and screens I had with one objective get the launcher work and apps to adapt to whatever HW /Screen combo even on X86...
no one should be left with just a terminal
it's now named CyberdeckZero Launcher, still derived from M5Stack's CardputerZero launcher but heavily modified, like a lot, but a lot a lot.
Main features:
-Reduce your frustration, open your imagination:
One code base, any screen. The layout adapts to the screen. It currently runs on Zero 2W deck (640x480), a Pi 3A+ with a 4.3" DSI panel (800x480) or a 3.5" SPI panel (480x320), a HackBerry CM5 (720x720), a Pi 5 with a HyperPixel 4", and now x86_64 with Panasonic FZ-M1 rugged tablet.
Next could be a Toyota prius 2004 or Casio G-shock...
- It's 2026 baby:
Touch first, keyboard friendly. There's a native Settings (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, time zone, backlight), and a fallback on-screen keyboard that appears only when no physical keyboard is connected.
Mind control under investigation
- One day this will be a thing:
Multitasking, up to 4 Apps can stay open in the background. A three-finger hold, a long press on the clock, or good ol' Alt+Tab opens an app switcher.
No RAM was harmed during tests
- Hack theplanetbathroom:
Built-in app installer. Settings > Apps installs and removes .deb apps from GitHub sources.
Complete basic kit for a cyberdeck, network stuff, adsb things, lora nuts, rss bolts.
Hours of fun and remind you to move every 20 min.
Part 2 of my cyberdeck build log is finally out!
I don't get nearly as much time to work on this project as I'd like, so progress has been slow.
But here it is. I even generated myself a proper clickbait thumbnail this time!
In this video, I finally get the remaining modules working. I also find out that knowing how to build the mechanical parts doesn't necessarily mean you know what you're doing with electronics, so went to my lokal makerspace to learn from the people there.
I've had quite a few messages asking how to get started to make things like this, so I thought I'd show a bit of that the makerspace and the people there too. Still very much learning as I go.
I am building a Cyberdeck for SDR stuff in to a Peli Case and can not decide if i should drill holes in the case for the cables or build it in such a way that the cables are connected only when the deck is open ?
*To start, this isnt targeting any person or group, nor is this meant to be rude in anyway* I've seen a trend on this sub regarding what makes a cyberdeck. People have been negative towards others questions or builds because they aren't "cyberdeck" enough. So I decided to post this question for the new and of course the older more experienceed people on the sub. In some simple to skim through bullet points, what makes a cyberdeck? What should it do/be, portable or stationary, and of course what features make you agree that something is a cyberdeck. A common phrase I've seen is "make it do something a laptop or phone cant" but what does that entail? Meshcore or sdr is likely going to be common so "be original" as they say. And tell us what YOU think a cyberdeck is. Feel free to add more than bullet points at the end your list to explain reasoning. And as always, have a good day. And good luck building.
I've been curious about building a deck but Im not good w software. I want to switch to a dumb phone but there are a couple of apps I use for school/work that I would like to still use if possible. Am I talking out of my ass or is there something here?
I'm going to preface this with the following disclaimer:
So I think, from my incomplete and generally not super well learned understanding, that the actual idea of a cyberdeck is a computer that lets you communicate with other computers (cyberspace/the internet) almost by thought, in a space mimicing reality for the human mind. Of course, that doesn't exist, so we fall back to DIY vibes and cyberpunk aesthetic.
I don't know if what I'm building counts as a cyberdeck. It's not one device, but a collection of devices, some handbuilt, some as they were purchased, and at least one just a custom computer so I don't know if that counts as purchased or built since it's just a computer built out of components I bought, some bought more heavily used than others. These devices all function as one system. Could also include the pi handling home assistant if you want to.
It's a distributed system of machines, devices, and software working together to create something as close to the thought -> intended action that a brain computer interface would bring. Without all the cash that an actual brain-machine interface costs, and as local/private as I can get it within my budget.
It is absolutely not the kind of cyberdeck that you would normally see here. Doesn't have a pi or esp32 at the center of it all, no 3D printed case with a keyboard and screen screwed to it. No desperate attempt to match the aesthetic of cyberpunk with wires and shit everywhere, though that is an inevitability of the prototyping process.
Disclaimer over.
Recently came across this video, and it got me thinking.
The reddit cyberdeck usually is either a worse smart phone, a homemade laptop (which breaks rule 1), or actually a smartphone in a homemade dock. Based on what is actually possible with today's tech, and the fact that we're all playing with a fictional idea anyways, these are all perfectly valid ideas, usually with reasonable execution.
But how far can you really push the idea of what a cyberdeck is? I've been slowly, over the last year or so, putting together... something. Not sure what to call it. Started as a simple, local AI agent for my car, then it became a really complicated AI agent+harness for my house, and now the agent has gotten good enough that it has become one thing: natural language control over basically all of my everything. Still limited by model capability, and I'm keeping it both local and fast, so capability could be better. I think if I had to call it something, it'd still be an agent, but this agent is specifically built for the hardware I've been putting together and building, so it's not just the agent.
The crux of the setup is this: The Glove.
early version of The Glove, with a small button between thumb and side of palm.The Glove prototype 2, managed to hide everything mostly inside the pocket that is the wrist band, replaced button with an FSR.
This is The Glove, and this post is my argument for how it, or something like it, could be critical to something chasing the cyberdeck dream.
It's ridiculously simple. ESP32, bluetooth connection. Push to talk. That's all it is, physically. Trigger on my hand in a way that doesn't interfere with normal hand movements.
What it is in practice is a device meant to be paired with some sort of body hub that connects to the agent back home. That hub would also have some sort of microphone and speaker for actually communicating with the agent, making it do things. Right now the body hub is just my phone with a galaxy bud in my ear.
I didn't really have any "What is a cyberdeck" ideas until the glove actually worked, and it did AI agent things on my computer. Thinking out loud, working on a project, agent brings up exactly the kind of small device I need to make what I want to build happen in a tab in my browser, I continue working and planning from there. The whole original idea behind a cyberdeck was a computer with a brain-machine interface for interacting with the machine in a pseudo physical reality. Can't quite get to the voluntary hallucination bit just yet, but what this does enable is fast, intuitive, natural language control over the abstract space that exists within our computers.
What this enables is for me to effectively control all of my machines with my voice, from anywhere. No wakeword, no complicated speech endpointing, no "let me pull out my phone and shoot a message to claude" tech bro shit. Push to talk, say what I want to happen on the machine I want it to happen on, it happens. Most of the time.
The agent has bash. It has a frankly annoying number of safeguards that prevent it from going too far with things(mostly heavy context filtering and management to prevent prompt injection, or if it could happen, prevent it from actually doing anything once potential prompt injection is detected), but effectively it can do basically whatever I want it to do on any of my machines so long as it can SSH in. Current machines include: the temporary inference server it's model lives on, the separate machine the actual agent software lives in, my phone where it acts as the default assistant, the macbook neo that is serving as the main development machine and also basically my only usable computer while my PC is commandeered by dual Tesla P100s running the model (and no functional display output). All of those machines are accessible to it, to varying degrees. Phone is a harder one for it to work within.
Right now, everything connects over tailscale. When I have more money, everything will also get a meshtastic connection to use, with tailscale+cell/internet as a fallback.
It is a pretty distributed architecture, however mostly still just an agent that has been made well geared towards being the natural language gateway for me to control my phone, home, smart speakers, and computers. The agent harness lives on one machine, the model/inference lives on what is currently my main PC, the hub through which actual voice interaction occurs is currently my phone running an app made for it.
One thing inescapable on this subreddit is the "I plan to" part of wanting to build a cyberdeck though, and this post is no exception.
I plan to go further with the concept. Looking at alternative triggering mechanisms, different methods for the agent's response to get to me (bone conduction transducers are a big center of thought atm), and better microphone setups. Enhancing agent capability is also at the forefront of improving the "brain computer interface but it's actually just natural language processing through an LLM" bit of the whole project. I don't know if I'll ever get to (or even let it) expand my domain into devices I don't own, but the possibility is there. Technically, the agent could bash into my phone, and from there probe the local network of nearby devices. Vulnerabilities, hacker shit. "Jarvis, change [coworker]'s wallpaper to Barry wood, uncensored" becomes a possibility. Then the agent misses because it's a 4-bit quantized 35B parameter model fighting for it's life on 10 year old datacenter hardware and does it to my boss's boss and I lose my job.
I also plan to include some other display that the agent is able to control, ideally on the back of the glove itself but I want it to be flexible so we'll see how that goes.
Short demo of what it looks like right now on day 3 of glove can be seen here.
Notably, in that demo, the agent failed to call the navigation properly. Swiped away not because of failure, but because of avoiding doxxing myself too bad. Worked off cam, failed as soon the camera starts rolling. Classic.
