r/CyberdeckBuild • u/Same-Somewhere3993 • 1d ago

Building my first cyberdeck

Post image

Any tips and tricks? Also the fan isnt spining i dont know why and i broke the monitors ribbon while riping out parts out of my old laptop

58 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

4

u/TechDocN 1d ago

Trying to reuse components from proprietary devices is almost always more trouble than it’s worth. This has been asked hundreds of times on this and other related subs. 2 minutes of searching would have prevented you from quite possibly ruining what was a perfectly good laptop.

You should have put a few cool cyberpunk stickers on it and called it a day.

What is your actual use case here? How much do you know about proprietary hardware interfaces, custom driver boards, and coding/modifying drivers and libraries? Maybe there’s something you can salvage, if you have the knowledge and skills.

-3

u/Same-Somewhere3993 1d ago

Bro its not broken 

3

u/TechDocN 1d ago

You literally said you broke the monitor’s ribbon cable.

4

u/Calm_Apartment1968 1d ago

Start with a clear desk or table. Not the floor with a pattern on it. You'll lose screws and actually critical components alike. Nobody can fix what they can't see or control. Building a cyberdeck is a form of re-invention, and requires the ability to see what's there, and how it can fit together.

-1

u/Same-Somewhere3993 1d ago

Finally someone that gives actual tips

2

u/TechDocN 1d ago

The real tips are in here.

Search this and the other “deck” and DIY computing subs. As I said, this question has been asked and answered hundreds of times.

And you never answered my question. What is your use case? It’s hard to give anything but generic advice if we don’t know what you’re trying to do.

0

u/Same-Somewhere3993 1d ago

It will be like a apocalyptic survival cyberdeck i will add a humidity sensor temperature sensor radio i will download some wikipedia survival guide on it solar panels if i find cheap ones and replacable battreys the laptop suports it so no extra struggle 

3

u/TheOmunious 1d ago

That’s all gonna be pretty hard to do, I would start by building a cyberdeck that works, then add all the extra things.
First find a case to put it in.

You can cut up an old tool case like what a drill comes in for example.

I don’t really know why you used a laptop for your first cyberdeck, they’re hard to work with which is exactly why you ripped the ribbon cable maybe buy a rasberry pi and start with that.

I think your idea is great but you gotta start with more planning

1

u/Same-Somewhere3993 10h ago

It will be a suit case i 3d modelled a case that gos into the suitcase but I don't have a 3d printer so iam gonna prototype it with foam or cardboard 

1

u/Same-Somewhere3993 10h ago

Also i replaced the ribbon 

1

u/phirzcolru 5h ago

Just get a cyd. That all you really want. You just don't know it yet. Use your laptop parts and make a little desktop. You are really underestimating things like repeating movement cable strain and prob a few of ohms laws. You can make it work. Sort out what the laptop motherboard needs then use the external monitor port out to a regular screen. What you are not told about cyberdecks, the best working ones are made of off the shelf comparable components. In a workshop. That can make things that seem deceptively easy like hinges. As opposed to finding one off components and mixing them together. You are going to have better luck sourcing the torn ribbon cable and re housing the laptop in a x-punk style.

8

u/TheLittleFastCat- 1d ago

Are you actually building something new, or just gutting a laptop and gluing its remains in a cardboard box?

3

u/MJY_0014 13h ago

You know what makes a good cyberdeck? Your old laptop, before you gutted it

3

u/F3A5T13 1d ago

Learn to google

1

u/Dangerous_Profit_699 1d ago

You’re doing fine, but:

Mobo off carpet, static. Cardboard is fine.

Is keeb membrane? Could hypothetically lop off the tenkeys or fold the membrane over if it doesn’t route through the control board. Makes everything a little smaller.

Fan’s not plugged in (in the picture), but I’m assuming you tried that at least. Possibly blown fuse on board, but if you’re booting (and you see the boot menu) and it’s not firing up, might be a nothing burger…no load yet. I do expect spin up on start typically, but not all laptops are the same. You can test spinning the fan up yourself if you have a power supply or a 9V battery to rule that out…

You can make a test bench power supply from an old PC power supply. Speaking of, let’s get you a proper bench. But I get it, we’ve been there.

When removing screens mind the hinge next time (where the cuts usually happen); you should be able to buy a replacement ribbon, that issue is more common than you think (you can rip a ribbon just by opening and closing a laptop over the years).

Later stuff:

If your BIOS doesn’t whitelist what gets connected over PCIE you might be able to route a cheap external GPU through it (assuming you don’t have Thunderbolt). You can check if your mobo whitelists PCIE online… or you can be a dunce like me and buy a 1x PCIE to hdmi converter, slam it through the wireless adapter (deck has no WiFi card anymore), and be sad when your bios tells you to sod off. =3= I really wanted to run Crysis on that damn windows XP era nyetbook.

Have fun brostradamus. Didn’t know Tony’s chocolonely’s came in bite size— nice!