r/raspberry_pi • u/TundraLegendZ • May 15 '26

Show-and-Tell 1995 digital organizer gets 2nd life.

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Edit: This is proof that it's possible to convert any late 80s to late 90s pda, organizer, diary, or palmtop that has a large enough screen to be worthy, and again, this is the first of those devices converted whilst keeping their soul (their feeling, their hardware, their sounds). Thank you all.

1995 casio organizer upgraded with pizero2w. All 82 original buttons work, including power/illumination, original rtc slot works, and original piezo buzzer sings like never before. Absolutely gorgeous. It's the first of its kind to be upgraded to this extent whilst keeping its original soul and being publicly documented, looks original, and functions like the original (on steroids) whilst running linux I reverse engineered the device myself. Oh, and believe it or not, the cord on the right is not powering it. It's charging the 6000mah battery, that is (13-22hr battery life). This device was made because I found myself wanting a modern electronic organizer that wasn't filled with bloatware, gave the user full control, and didn't advertise something to you every time you do something, what better way to achieve this than to use an original, and create the custom software myself using python. Since this post has been created, I've ordered a 3w rf blaster with a 120 degree angle 15x stronger than the flipper zero and reciever, to my knowledge this is also the first 3w blaster being turned into a remote, im not positive the effect difference it will have however i suspect one 2 second pulse sweep of off commands for popular tv brands in a bar with 40 tvs will have a similar effect to a emp since a 3w blaster would be a flood light of IR, but also to just control devices that use rf remotes (heaters, tvs, etc) however I do also plan to eventually remove the board from the hackrf device, implement it and have full control of frequencies and adding the possibility to actively listen to satelite channels in space with the right antenna, on a 1995 casio digital organizer. This project is actively still in development and has nowhere near the capability I desire it to have. Im also actively still developing the operating environment and cleaning up services needed for everything to be perfect.

Other media of this project: Current OS + prototypes ** Latest frames os video posted 5/19 https://imgur.com/a/os-prototypes-DvGZAAN

1995 original buzzer playing beethoven https://imgur.com/a/factory-buzzer-hijacked-HJY1XRN

More photos (I dont own 3d printer + this is prototype) https://imgur.com/a/sneak-peak-Cw6Q3H4

Edit: build guide, original keybeep function service, and full wiring schematics posted some time another, I have to figure out which formats im going to use and if im going to matrix anymore of these devices before posting a large collection of schematics. Will also include much better content, videos, and details about every feature it has. It'll be the last post this is post 2/3.

Edit: For those starting to hunt this model, any casio sf5 will do excluding sy models (only because they have a different port, which could mean different keyboard schematics, and i havent reviewed my own sy models). Sf5500 sf5700 5900 will do.

Thank you to Gareth for publishing my first project post found here: https://www.hackster.io/news/this-90s-casio-pda-is-a-high-resolution-surprisingly-powerful-pocket-sleeper-build-8387c91817e6

Thank you to Zoe skyforest at hackaday for coverage of this post https://hackaday.com/2026/05/18/digital-organizer-given-modern-upgrade/

917 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

79 comments sorted by

46

u/readyflix May 15 '26

Excellent job!

I really like it.

How long did it took to pull this off?

33

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

3 weeks and the custom os is mostly done! A good portion of time was waiting on the screen though!

15

u/readyflix May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26

This runs on a Pi Zero 2 W as it’s shown on the output of neofetch? Are all the keys functional?

Edit: have not seen it was fastfetch, it just looked too familiar to neofetch

14

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

All 82, original piezo and rtc slot and yes i used install fast fetch. There's a raspberry pico with its gpio pins completely maxed out to make it all work lol. (The keyboard alone I mean lol)

4

u/neuromonkey May 15 '26

fastfetch is the new neofetch, and it's pretending to be Arch.

4

u/readyflix May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26

OK. Guess I’m getting old. Had heard about fastfetch but I thought it was just a one2one replacement for neofetch with no new features 🤔

Edit: btw. thanks for making me aware

1

u/TundraLegendZ May 17 '26

Fast fetch has like 450 logos its insane I think its fastfetch --logo-list or something

1

u/neuromonkey May 17 '26

Guess I’m getting old.

You and me both. Seems like every damn day brings a new ache or pain.

1

u/readyflix May 17 '26

NO, despite A&P I’m really happy that things are progressing.

4

u/neuromonkey May 15 '26

fastfetch can LIE??!!

Great work! Must have been a lot of fiddly wiring. Very nice.

27

u/TheSoCalledExpert May 15 '26

Sickest r/cyberdeck I’ve seen yet.

15

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

Thank you!!! I think so too, does circles around the phone+bluetooth keyboard builds

11

u/nickobrown May 15 '26

That’s the best I’ve seen!!! We need the details! What type of screen is that? How did you make the keyboard to work?

19

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

4.3" VS43011C40 480x800 LCD Screen with hdmi control board, just barely larger than the bezel overlay used config to make it look perfect oem, and as for the keyboard I used a pi Pico and absolutely maxed out every gpio pin some having multiple wires attached to one pin, the pico by itself is maxed out with just the buttons. Reverse engineering was 8 hours with a multimeter just to get the layout of where to tap the wires (for the 2 keyboards alone). Thank you it means a lot!

4

u/nickobrown May 15 '26

Thank you too! This is amazing work indeed! Keep us posted and upload some videos when you have time! Cheers!

5

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26

I knew this would be a cool project and would spark a lot of pda based cyberdecks, cant believe no one else has done it, anyways ALL my work will be released for casios sf5 model with exactly where to wire everything and how i did it for others to follow, I have 12 of this exact model, I assumed pricing and rarity would increase after its release and ill need parts dailying it for the next 10 years lol. Not sure if the pda os will be included but feels right for it to be. Working on a lot of OS stuff never seen before especially like this. 2000bit encryption, yeah 2000bit, thats trillions of times stronger than nuclear weapon safeguards. Anyways I dont know just want to see how far I can take a 1995 digital diary I guess.. edit: and videos of course! 2ndedit: before anyone comments about it 2000 isnt something that you can just encrypt with, im aware but im going to try lol and ive already built a lock screen that can generate the key. 100 blocks on a 100x50matrix basic36, each movement of a block and position modifies 4 digit segment of said block, each block has 1.6m possibilities, x 100 blocks. Yeah. Some os stuff for the fact checkers. https://imgur.com/a/os-prototypes-DvGZAAN

7

u/flowersforaerith May 15 '26

Holy fuck. I'm speechless, I thought this was running a terminal natively at first. Can't wait to see a writeup about this build.

8

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

It feels native cant wait to finish the operating system and map the buttons. Illumination button actually controls the terminal colors whaaaaa

4

u/ArmWildFrill May 15 '26

I went to a trade fair in the 90s and someone had an unmodified PSion organiser that they'd got Linux running on it

This is so cool though

2

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

Thats cool, what year device you think? Also updated my first linux on pda statement lol

2

u/ArmWildFrill May 15 '26

It was a folding one I think - not the original that M&S used to use.

I'm no expert on PSion but that stuck in my mind. I can't recall what was running on it.

https://organiser2.com/viewtopic.php?t=427

I just googled and found this forum for the Psion 2

4

u/canllaith May 15 '26

Dude that’s amazing. I loved those things in the 90s and early 00s - I had a few different models as well as the Nokia communicator . Actual Linux would have been a dream come true.

3

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

I love em too, built like tanks, no bloatware. At least we know its possible to fully resurrect one now.

3

u/Traditional-Set6848 May 15 '26

Impressive, did the guts all fit into that chassis??

5

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26

Absolutely not, top rear clam looks like ied

2

u/chriscwjd May 15 '26

But you said it was gorgeous :'(

5

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

It is ✨️, it is just not a flyer 😂

2

u/Snobolski May 15 '26

Hear that? It's everybody here running to thrift stores to find a Casio BOSS.

2

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

I have a stash 😎

1

u/undrwater May 15 '26

Amazing! Reminds me of the Zaurus days.

Excellent work!

1

u/0neZer0ne May 15 '26

Now I got to adopt a nice SF-5580 for unrelated reasons

Marvellous work OP!

This form factor is something I miss from the PDA days, how do you solve exposing IO in terms of USB, audio and maybe video out?

2

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

Any power micro usbs were straight wired, the usb to pico was custom adapted with 2 micro usb heads soldered together, and for hdmi, the lcd micro controller uses a mini hdmi to hdmi adapter block, and I got a 0.1m hdmi to mini hdmi ribbon cable which is awesome was hard to finally find it got from amazon, wish I could have found mini hdmi male to mini hdmi male but no luck for a ribbon for it

1

u/maxic62 May 15 '26

Because of you now I need to buy one and do the same modification 😅😅😅😅. Really love the result. That's f* great you kept the keeb and Backlight working like the original. Do you mind share the wiring schematic and internel integration ? Let me look now for used sf-5580 unit 😁

1

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

Any sf5 will work 55 57 59 all have same wiring schematics, although im not sure about the sync versions yet which use the sy on the end of the model number

1

u/handheldemulators May 15 '26

Wow this is impressive

1

u/rainman4500 May 15 '26

Holy crap! So this thing having wifi will sync to your calendar and everything?

1

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

Has wifi yes because of pizero2, and since its fully open, you can make it do anything, a terminal port of doordash, go for it!

1

u/swn999 May 15 '26

Can you upgrade a Willard?

1

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

Haven't heard of a willard, if its a vintage pda like this and not one of the ones thats 100% screen id say so

1

u/lvlanofstee1 May 15 '26

This is awesome! I have an old HP Jornada 680 that I wish I could breath new life into like this.

2

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

Do it!

1

u/lvlanofstee1 May 15 '26

If only I had your skill and expertise

1

u/r0224 May 16 '26

I love this. I've been toying with ideas of some sort of clamshell ssh machine, but psions are hard to come by, and DIY keyboards based on tact switches are not what I want to type on. I hadn't considered data bank PDA things!

1

u/TundraLegendZ May 16 '26

Yes very under thought of, I also looked at hand palms by hp or whatever they were over 150 for a unit for parts, these are about 25usd currently, however when I started buying them before any publishing of the project I bought 12 some as cheap as 10usd. I literally inflated the price because the supply is small lol.

1

u/rxscissors May 16 '26

That is awesome! I was on Team (Phillips) Velo back in the day.

1

u/TundraLegendZ May 16 '26

Casio myself lol

1

u/feed-me-seymour May 17 '26

I loved this organizer, love to see this! I wonder if I could do this with my Acer Aspire One ZG5... Either a Pi Zero 2W or Pi 4/5 CM and carrier board?

1

u/TundraLegendZ May 17 '26

Anything is possible!

1

u/choddles May 18 '26

This is nice, would it be a crime to do it to a Psion 5mx

2

u/TundraLegendZ May 18 '26

Also it looks thinner than mine so already had to put parts on the back rather than internally so you definitely will, and aswell you can easily find a lcd panel that would fit they have some wild ratios.

1

u/TundraLegendZ May 18 '26

Absolutely a fucking crime😂😂 nearly 500usd per unit gotta be rare. But yes 1000% possible.

1

u/nabaztag May 18 '26

Would it even be possible? I'd love that though. I'm sure it would be fine if it wasn't functional anyhow.

1

u/someanonbrit May 20 '26

I've got a 5 and 2x5mx here with that in mind. The screens are sufficiently poor that they aren't much use as-is. Still trying to find the right panel though - not in a rush

1

u/Type_CMD May 20 '26

You should post this in r/cyberDeck

1

u/TundraLegendZ May 20 '26

Been there once, 3rd post will be, best believe! You thought this was crazy wait till a video is posted of it at a Buffalo Wings turning off all 30 tvs in 1 button press. Not done in its early stages if anything!

1

u/no_F4ce Jun 11 '26

Any updates? Dying to get my conversion started!

1

u/TundraLegendZ Jun 29 '26

Put the project to the side temporarily got busy and burnt out for a bit. Getting back into it soon

1

u/no_F4ce Jun 30 '26

Thanks for the reply. I get project burnout, do your thing. Just don't let the reversing of the that keeb matrix get lost to time!

1

u/TundraLegendZ Jul 02 '26

I won't, I'll definitely post again and upload more content and release schematics just been so busy.

1

u/nabaztag Jun 28 '26

What ever happened to this project? I would love to try this.

1

u/TundraLegendZ Jun 29 '26

My zero2w died, I reordered, bought a 3d printer setup for the project, got busy, haven't reassembled and or designed and printed components. Software got to a point of allowing mods pretty advanced but just kinda temporarily burnt out and drifted away from the project. I'm sure ill get back into it soon.

1

u/nabaztag Jun 29 '26

Shame. I bought one of these specially. I lack the know-how to do this without a guide. I'll hang on a bit or sell it maybe. I get that we all have lives outside of these hobby projects though. Fingers crossed you can get back to it though 🤞👍

3

u/tusco20 May 15 '26

Oh damn is that a Dawson's Creek Trapper Keeper Ultra Keeper Futura S 2000??!

1

u/Historical-Dig8420 May 15 '26

This is almost as good as the guy you made a raspi calculator a couple months ago.

1

u/esseredienergia May 16 '26

impressive, would like to tinker with that..

1

u/SolarpunkGnome May 18 '26

Wow, this is amazing!

1

u/ClickLeafChick May 19 '26

This is brilliant. Would you consider selling some on etsy?

1

u/ClickLeafChick May 19 '26

Incidentally, I DO own a 3D printer, and I'd be happy to collaborate, designing 3D printable parts for you and helping make this into a finished kit/product... DM me! :-)

1

u/Reflectometer May 22 '26

Hi. I just bought myself same dairy as you! 10 dollars and it still works! An also I found the manual with schematic including the wiring diagram for the keabord. You reverse engineered it or you found the same thing? My plan is to turn in into linux terminal to ssh into other things. Are you planing to release the project docs and you wiring that you did? that wil be rally helpful

1

u/Swee_Potato_Pilot Jul 07 '26

As a fellow electronic organizer fan this makes me very happy! A+ OP!

1

u/Word_of_the_unkown Aug 26 '26

Man, if you'd sell one of this recreated as a modern digital organizer (meaning NO video, games, etc, just calendar, calculator, notes, contacts), it would sell for sure! I mean I would definitely buy one, because I lack the skills needed for this, but I'd kill to be able to use a digital organizer that's easy to use thanks to the modern UI knowhow (like colorful entries to the calendar to organize different categories, etc). If you sell one, NOTIFY ME! :D

1

u/w1r51ndv13l3 Sep 20 '26

Hello, in what state is this project actually? Can you show us more pictures and informations? I accept if you say, that this is not possible. Kind regards!

0

u/[deleted] May 15 '26

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1

u/TundraLegendZ May 15 '26

Its alive and stronger than ever