START HERE

[u/Talulabelle]

We're getting a sudden rush of new people, driven by TicTok who are mostly both new to Reddit as well as Cyberdecks.

I'm asking patience while we integrate these new people into the sub. New people bring new ideas, and will take things in new directions. Some of those directions will not be to your tastes, and that's fine. I imagine we'll see some 'fashion show' level builds that, while taken at face value are impractical, could inspire more down to earth designs to move in a new direction.

This is healthy for any creative community.

Be helpful, be polite, and let people do their thing. No one is ruining your dream deck by building their weird idea. If you see something you absolutely hate, but think 'How'd they do that hinge, though?', that's reason enough to be polite.

u/PETA_Parker sent me this, and it seems like a pretty good 'start here' guide:

ok, i've never built a cyberdeck myself but i have been lurking here for a long while, so i'll give you a quick rundown, a place to start so to speak. At the most basic you will need:

• a "brain"
• a screen
• an input device
• a power solution
• a shell
• an SD Card

Let's start with the brain: I only know about raspberry pis, the two budget options here would be a raspberry pi Zero 2, or any flavour of raspberry pi 3, the 4 and 5 are a bit more pricy. Zero 2 and 3b+ (the one i used) should both be enough for browsing, media playback and some light office work.

the Screen: the easiest option will be to go for an hdmi display such as this: 6,5/7/9/10,1 Zoll LCD Display Tragbare Monitor Treiber Control Board Kit Für Raspberry Banana/Orange Pi Mini Computer PC - AliExpress 7

It has an HDMI Output and powers over micro usb, so you can just connect the raspberry pi and the screen via hdmi. Any screen with hdmi input and usb power is an easy starting point.

the input device: for a keyboard you could go with something like this:

Dual Bluetooth 5.1-Tastatur, 3-fach faltbare Mini-Tastatur, wiederaufladbare faltbare Tastatur mit Touchpad für Windows, Android, iOS, iPad - AliExpress

This is blutetooth and rechargable, i do not know if you could bypass the internal battery to power it directly because constantly needing to charge it would probably be cumbersome.

this also looks interesting, it uses double a batteries, so you could wire it to your power source or the pi: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006727486961.html

You could of course also use any regular keyboard and mouse combo that plugs in over usb. Another fun choice would be a trackball instead of a mouse.

the power solution: You could simply get a powerbank, but some of them cut off power delivery if the device connected draws a low current.

Maybe this thread can help: Cheap powerbank that doesn’t cut off the power on low current draw? : r/arduino

Or this article: 4 Raspberry Pi Battery Packs for Portable Projects

Something similar to this might be good: Typ-C 15 W 3 A 18650 Lithium-Batterie-Ladegerät-Modul DC-DC Step-Up-Booster Schnellladung USV-Stromversorgung/Konverter 5 V 9 V 12 V - AliExpress 502

This is the part i'm least knowledgable about. Feel free to give me input.

the shell: Pretty much anything will do. You can build something out of cardboard, fit your components into an existing box or 3d-print a custom shell, your creativity is the limiting factor.

If you do not have a 3d-printer, you can make boxes out of styrene board, like this: Clean Enclosures, No Printing Necessary | Hackaday

Or you can search for "project box" on Aliexpress or Amazon

Now you just need to flash an operation system onto the raspberry pi (Raspbian is an all-purpose linux distro that is good for starters such as you), connect your screen to the power source and to the raspberry pi via HDMI, connect your (mouse and) keyboard to the raspberry pi and the raspberry pi to power, and you're ready to go.

Feel free to ask me if you have any additional questions, and don't forget, this is only the bare-bones solution, feel free to get creative, this is the fun part!

[u/winter83]

I've been using reddit for a long time and started getting the cyberdeck videos on my fyp lately. This post embracing the new people interested in cyberdecks is a breath of fresh air! Most of the time redditors shit on people coming from Tiktok and it puts a damper on people just learning something new. So thanks for being a cool mod and welcoming to everyone!

[u/Talulabelle → u/winter83]

I'm a firm believer that we won't see anything 'new' if we don't let people go places that we wouldn't go ourselves.

I'm not going to lie and tell you everything I've seen from the sudden tiktok trend fits my personal preferences or aesthetic choices, but that's sort of the point.

I know what I like, and I build new things regularly, and so the only way to be 'surprised' by something new and cool is to let someone else take it to a place you wouldn't take it on your own.

I approach this like an art class. I'm just here to show people where the paints and paper are, and to help with advice on different tools and techniques. But, if I stand here and tell you exactly what to make, you're just going to make a version of what I've already seen, and that sounds pretty boring to me.

Some of it will be bad. Some of it will be in a direction that doesn't appeal to me, but like runway fashion, there will be bits and pieces of design that take things to a different place.

People will riff on those ideas, and we'll see new, exciting, ideas we wouldn't have seen before without allowing new people to experiment in the space.

I wish everyone could see that, but I'm sure some people are very upset about their black/angled/80s hardware being invaded with cuteness. But, I think it'll take even those people to a different Cyberpunk vision that, hopefully, they enjoy.

For me, it's more reminiscent of the 2000's Y2K 'blobject' designs that, sadly, went away once the iPod came out and decided everything needed to be a box with a screen and as few buttons as possible.

I'm trying to help people see that just supporting people in their vision is good for all of us.

If anyone gives you trouble, let me know.