Summary
- Fictional cyberdecks are now being made a reality by a subculture of geeks who value aesthetics and personalization for specific tasks.
- Cyberdecks are built using a computer core, 3D-printed cases, power sources, creative designs, and personalized features like RGB lighting.
- Examples of cool cyberdeck projects include builds with Raspberry Pi cores for surveillance, radio tracking, data storage, and communication.
If you’ve ever engaged with the “cyberpunk” genre in books, movies, and video games, you might have run into the fictional concept of a “cyberdeck”, but there’s a subculture of geeks who just can’t live in a world where cyberdecks aren’t real, so they’re making them a reality.
What the Heck Is a Cyberdeck?
In fiction, a cyberdeck is a (usually) portable computer that cyberpunk hackers carry around with them on jobs. These are ruggedized machines that give their users access to cyberspace, and the ability to mess around with digital systems throughout the world.
Apart from their fictional capabilities, what makes cyberdecks so interesting is their aesthetic. Just like dieselpunk and steampunk, cyberpunk shows us a world with an anachronistic aesthetic but extremely high-tech technology. Cyberpunk worlds are perpetually stuck in the 1980s, so expect chunky angles, CRT screens, and lots of knobs and dials.
A classic cyberdeck design from the Neuromancer graphic novel
It’s no secret that cyberpunk fiction like William Gibson’s Neuromancer (which coined the term) are popular among the segment of computer geeks who like to tinker, who swear by Linux, and know their way around a soldering iron. So it’s no surprise that these intrepid tinkerers have made their own personal cyberdecks a reality.
What’s the Point?
Now, this is the point where a lot of you are thinking that since these are just regular computers in custom cases, it’s not something to get too excited about, but the idea of making your own cyberdeck goes beyond pure aesthetics. For a lot of makers a cyberdeck is the ultimate form of personalization.
That doesn’t just mean making a portable computer that looks the way you want it to, but also functions the way you want. Generally your only options for a portable computing device is a clamshell laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone. These are very efficient designs for general use, but there are people out there who need a portable computer for just one or a small set of related tasks.
A lot of that’s going to be related to things like network security testing, or scientific or engineering fieldwork. So if you’re going to have to 3D print a case for a single-board computer with some homebrew circuit boards attached to it anyway, it might as well look badass and have exactly the ergonomics and design features you want.
CanaKit Raspberry Pi 5 Starter Kit Pro
How Cyberdecks Are Built
People are out there 3D-printing entire full-size computer cases, so it should be no surprise that 3D printing technology is central to the cyberdeck community. Of course, you can see endless examples of projects on r/cyberDeck, but in general these projects have a similar overall structure.
First you have to decide what you’ll be using as the computer core of your deck. In other words, what will be the brain of the device? Raspberry Pi computers are extremely popular here. They’re cheap, powerful, small, and use very little power. There are also heaps of accessories, such as an LCD HAT, that can take the pain out of assembly.
However, you can get as creative as you want. Use the guts from an old laptop or mini PC, use a vintage computer with trimmed boards and modified components. It’s as much an art project as a practical tool.
You’ll have to design a case yourself or grab one from an existing project (which you can modify), and then produce it using a 3D printer, or something fancy like milling it from a block of aluminum if you are both rich and eccentric.
There needs to be a power source, and portable decks will need battery power, but these days finding lithium power packs is easy, and if it’s something like a Raspberry Pi, you can literally install a power bank and give it juice via USB.
Depending on how cyberpunk you want to get, you can go wild with the paint job, RGB lighting, weathering effects, dials, stickers, and anything else to give it that worn-in dystopian tech feeling cyberpunk is famous for. Or not. It’s your project.
The Coolest Cyberdeck Projects
Now you’ve got the gist of it, let’s have a look at some of the coolest examples of cyberdeck projects. Not all of these are super-complex, but I like them for different reasons. As a case in point, this (now-deleted) user called Keigen7 posted a very basic, but darn cool cyberdeck build on r/Cyberdeck.
It has a basic 3D-printed case, with a stripped-down mechanical keyboard, ultrawide display, battery indicator, and a 4GB Raspberry Pi Model B at its heart. I especially like that the case is too big for the printer they used, so they welded the halves together, which, to me, adds even more to the authenticity. The 3D printing files are available on Thingiverse and are a great place to start your own cyberdeck adventure.
Then there’s the Raspberry Pi SDR Cyberdeck byTom Mladenov (via Hackaday) which folds up into a Peli 1200 case.
This is a proper hacker tool built specifically for radio frequency surveillance or “situational awareness” as the creator calls it. So you can monitor ham radio, track weather balloons, monitor marine traffic, and lots of other edgy stuff, including acting as a “portable hackstation”. Sick.
While not strictly cyberpunk, Eric Benson created this absolutely amazing Fallout-inspired cyberdeck (via Hackaday) and while the retro-future 50s aesthetic is its own thing, this is some of the most beautiful work I have ever seen.
In keeping with the Fallout theme, Benson has hardened this cyberdeck against EMPs (Electromagnetic Pulses) that you get from nuclear explosions. When the case is closed, it effectively becomes a Faraday cage. A conductive shell that should divert EM radiation away from the sensitive internal components.
He’s loaded it up with hundreds of gigs of data from Wikipedia, medical sources, and more. Perfect for preserving knowledge in the post-apocalypse. It has a GPS antenna and offline maps. It can track aircraft, weather, track signals, and receive AM/FM radio. In the right mode with the right antenna, it can even communicate cross-country. Oh, and it can detect radiation.
The last superstar I want to show off to you all is the VERTICAL RUNNER cyberdeck by REEVESMEDIA posted on r/Cyberdeck.
Although it looks like an old-school PDA with some extra stuff attached, this is actually another Raspberry Pi system with various custom bits and bobs and a design that would not look out of place on the set of Johnny Mnemonic.
The hand strap, the grip, the tiny keyboard, the cable snaking out of the side, the naked metal bolts, and the neon-green chassis are all pitch-perfect. No notes.
This whole thing has me raring to build my own. I already have multiple 3D printers, and you can buy Raspberry Pis by the sackful, so maybe there’s a cyberdeck in my future?
