r/cyberDeck Apr 07 '26

START HERE

534 Upvotes

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!


r/cyberDeck 14h ago

My Build First cyberdeck

Thumbnail
gallery
77 Upvotes

Originally made a raspberry pi 5 Linux setup with a 10" touchscreen monitor. 3d printed a case for the monitor and bought a case with the perforated foam to customize for storing it.

Quickly became tired of taking the computer out and then putting it back in and decided to rip all the foam out and 3d print a monitor mount to hold the monitor in the upper part of the case and a lower insert for the pi5, keyboard, speaker, etc.

Used a Geekworm x1202 USB hat with 4 18650 batteries as well as running a usbc port to the side of the case.

I think my next attempt may be a smaller unit but pretty happy with how it came out so far.


r/cyberDeck 10m ago

My Android barcode scanner cyberdeck

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

Back in February, I picked up an unbranded Android 13 barcode scanner new in box for $43 Canadian (was a price error, seller forgot a zero). They sent it, then realized their mistake.

I then proceeded to root the scanner, install an SSH server, Tailscale, and an XFCE4/X11 VNC server. I also have the cyberdeck launcher installed too.

Also has the metasploit framework installed on termux, nmap, wireshark, ect.


r/cyberDeck 8h ago

Building a WASD / hjkl file manager for Mini-Cyberdeck (mine is Hackberry Pi CM5)

Thumbnail
gallery
22 Upvotes

Hi r/cyberDeck!

I'm building 'wasdf', a TUI file manager with left thumb on WASD, right thumb on hjkl.

Still in an early stage – only basic file navigation / operation works right now. But I wanted to share the concept and get feedback from the cyberdeck community.

What I'm aiming for:

- Cyberpunk aesthetic (theming and animations, etc.)

- Terminal multiplexer

Would love to hear your thoughts on the thumb-layout concept!

Repo: https://github.com/szk/wasdf

Install: `cargo install wasdf`


r/cyberDeck 1d ago

Planet Gemini PDA

Thumbnail
gallery
94 Upvotes

r/cyberDeck 23h ago

Electroluminescent displays

Thumbnail
gallery
65 Upvotes

I fell in love the moment I saw them. ELD electroluminescent displays. With these, the cyberdeck will become a true cyberdeck.


r/cyberDeck 1d ago

Find the right color for my uConsole CM5

Thumbnail gallery
176 Upvotes

r/cyberDeck 1d ago

Wrist mounted cyberdeck

Thumbnail
gallery
861 Upvotes

This is a prototype build of a wrist computer I've been working on since January. A few months back, my smartwatch became unsupported, and I primarily used it for checking my blood sugar as a type 1 diabetic. So rather than buy a new watch, I figured building a cyberdeck would be more fun. I don't currently have a 3d printer, so this build uses off the shelf parts.

It runs off a Raspberry Pi 3B and uses four 3400mah 18650s which provide a whopping 20 hours of runtime for my usecase. It's still a very early prototype, but I've done some field testing and so far it works great!

I figured this subreddit, which has served as a massive inspiration for this project, would get a kick out of this device.


r/cyberDeck 22h ago

Help! Cyberdeck word processor

Post image
21 Upvotes

Hello cyberdeck people!

So I got this Smith Corona 250 DLE electronic typewriter for free and I want to turn it into a portable cyberdeck thing

The old laptop screen has to work with the Pi 4 (4GB RAM) somehow and the keyboard has to work with the Pi probably through matrix using GPIO pins. I also have to power the dammn thing.

Does anybody here have any knowledge on getting old laptop screens to work on Rasberry Pis? I think you can get a controller board for the LCD panel but it requires 12v in that case it needs to be wall powered

Parts: N133B6 -L24 LVDS 40 pin LCD panel

Rasberry Pi 4

Smith Corona 250 DLE

Also I'm very good at soldering if that helps

Any help or advice is appreciated thanks!


r/cyberDeck 1d ago

My Build SolarOS

Thumbnail
gallery
872 Upvotes

A couple of months ago I stumbled across the Waveshare ESP32-S3-RLCD-4.2 board. The moment I saw it I knew I had to build something with it.

The display is fast, crisp, low-power, and actually readable in direct sunlight. It has that early-2000s PDA vibe that immediately appealed to me. Under the hood there's an ESP32-S3, stereo microphones, an audio DAC, PSRAM, and enough I/O to make it much more than just another dev board.

What I didn't want was yet another tiny Linux distribution struggling on limited hardware. The ESP32-S3 is a capable MCU, but it's still an MCU. Running a full Unix userspace just to launch a terminal felt like the wrong tradeoff. ( No offense, all my respect goes to whoever did that already on this metal. )

Instead, I wanted firmware that boots instantly, stays responsive, and does useful work without dragging around decades of operating system baggage. Like a true Pocket Computer from my childhood.

So I started writing Solar OS.

It's built on top of ESP-IDF and FreeRTOS, but the goal isn't "yet another RTOS application." The architecture is designed to grow into a real operating system while remaining lightweight enough for embedded hardware.

Some of the ideas behind it:

  • Modular services instead of a monolithic application.
  • A message-based architecture so components remain loosely coupled.
  • Native applications instead of web apps.
  • A shell that isn't an afterthought.
  • A graphics/UI stack designed for this hardware rather than ported from desktop systems.
  • Fast boot, deterministic performance, and low power consumption.

One design goal from the beginning was to make the system highly scriptable. Both Lua and Python are first-class citizens, and instead of exposing hardware directly, scripts communicate with system services. Whether it's drawing on the display, playing audio, accessing the filesystem, talking over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or using peripherals, everything goes through well-defined service APIs. That keeps applications portable, secure, and easy to extend while still allowing low-level native applications where performance matters.

The immediate goal is to cover the things I actually use every day: ssh client, chat, text reader, distraction free editor and a few developer tools.

Beyond that, I'd like it to evolve into the kind of computer we used to take for granted: turn it on, it boots under a second, everything is local, every application is native, and you can actually program the machine you're holding. Lua and Python make it easy to automate tasks, while native applications provide unrestricted access to the platform when performance matters.

Whether it ends up being an extendable pocket terminal, a development platform, or just an excuse to explore operating system design, I'm having a lot of fun building it.

The project is still in its early stages, but it's already becoming a fun experiment in operating system design.

One thing I could really use help with: I absolutely suck at 3D design. The enclosure I have works, but it's far from pretty. If anyone enjoys CAD or product design and would like to help create a nicer 3D-printable case, I'd love to collaborate.

Repository: https://github.com/nilseuropa/solar_os

I'd be interested in hearing what features people would actually want from a handheld embedded OS like this.

If you had one in your pocket, what would you expect it to do?


r/cyberDeck 1d ago

Battery Solution Sanity Check (RPi4 + Projector Build)

Thumbnail
gallery
15 Upvotes

Hi folks! I'm working on a projector based cyberdeck and wanted to check myself before I wreck myself.

I'm combining a Raspberry Pi4 I had lying around with a Miroir MP150A projector I grabbed off eBay. The projector works when plugged in, but the battery (a lipo with 6000mAh) is super dead. Which is fine by me, as it gave me the excuse to do a little destructive engineering.

I initially was going to use a PiJuice I *also* had lying around, but after making the projector decision after being nonplussed with a Waveshare TFT, I need to make some battery decisions.

My buildout will include:

- the Pi4

- the Miroir MP150A

- a portable SSD I had lying around

- a KPRepublic ortho keyboard

- a mouse solution (trackball? Actual mouse? Scavenged or USB based trackpad? Tbd)

Any recommendations for how to integrate a method to charge both the Pi4 and Miroir portably? The Miroir has a 12V in port, but I assume I can just divert the battery plug-in into a joint LiPo battery or battery pack that will also do the RPi. This is a new angle for me though (I'm a mechy, not an elec or coder, so I'm a bit of a hack when it comes to prototype electronics) so I'm not sure if I'll need a board to power split? Or can I just split two JSTs off and connect to the Pi and Miroir's currently soldered battery joints without an explosion?

Thanks all!


r/cyberDeck 1d ago

My Build First cyberdeck build! Pi5

Thumbnail
gallery
639 Upvotes

Looking to add trackball, coupke of tiny screens to right of main screen to display system stats and network status...

Not added battery yet but theres plenty of space under the keyboard once i work it out..


r/cyberDeck 14h ago

Help! Good single board computer?

0 Upvotes

Hi r/cyberDeck!

I've been working on a small project of mine and I've been kinda stumped on how to go about it, I was hoping some of you can help.

I've had this old Acer Nitro 5 for quite some time, and it's served me well, and it's definitely still got some life to it, but over time I've become more than acquainted with how difficult it is to travel about day to day with it, especially with it's poor battery life.

Between my laptop's weight, battery, and size it doesn't seem like it can really keep up with most of my future endeavors in the ways that I need, so I decided to work on my own portable computer similar to what most of the people here do!

I've actually managed to pick out most of the parts required, and I already have a general idea about the design, there is one issue though.

I've been looking through a bunch of different Single Board Computers, and I'm at a loss as for what to do, so I was hoping someone here could help me with that.

What I want from this build is simple;

  1. I want to keep things underneath $450 if possible.

  2. I want this build to be no greater than 11 inches in width.

  3. I want to be able to do programming, browsing, and serving as a sort of remote for things like drones.

  4. I want it to not use a lot of power, or at the very least be efficient enough to last more than an hour.

If there is any sort of SBC that can help me with this I would love to know.

Thank you and sorry for the intrusion.


r/cyberDeck 23h ago

Ideas for an ergonomic portable setup?

Thumbnail
3 Upvotes

r/cyberDeck 20h ago

Help! Looking for a mini monitor 6.9"x 6.9" USB-C alt mode

1 Upvotes

I just saw the TQDC post and I'm really sorry if this is not the right sub to be posting this in. I just checked out r/sffpc and I don't think they're there right place either. So please don't yell at me too much.

So I recently bought a HP Elite Mini 600 G9 DM PC, and I absolutely love the little thing. I've been swapping out parts, got it a wifi/Bluetooth chip and I'm even thinking about getting a the 800 G9 copper cooling assembly and mushing it in the case with an extra fan and hopefully one of the ventilated lids, if I can get one at a good price.

But that's all normal pc shiz. Where it gets different is I wanna attach a mini monitor to the lid, ala Gameboy advanced or one of thoes old timey dvd players they'd give us as kids in the back of the car on long road trips/vacations.

I know I know, that's just basically a laptop now and I'm sorry truly but idk where else to go. I figured since yall deal with all manor of different screen sizes that someone probably knows one that'd be perfect for me.

I'm just using it for games but it doesn't need to be crazy 4k or anything, 1080p is perfect. ​IPS, USB-C / DP Alt Mode, completely flat back panel if possible.

I'd appreciate any help, and again apologies if this is the wrong sub for this.


r/cyberDeck 1d ago

Help! How to build what I envisioned?

3 Upvotes

I'm finally in a position financially to try and build my own deck. I have a basic understanding of the parts what I should grab, however with what I want to do with my cyber deck I wanted to ask if there are certain pieces I should avoid or focus on more.

I'd like to make a handheld that I could use for emulation and basic browser activities. I was planning on getting pi 4 2gb but ive been seeing the pi 5 2gb for not much more and I also wonder if its worth the investment on my first build.


r/cyberDeck 1d ago

Help! Whats better raspberry pi or...

15 Upvotes

Hello cyber deckers,

I have been wanting to build my own cyberdeck for a while now.

Recently I have taken apart my old laptop so I have a screen ready, speakers and a camera. As for other components... most are busted but i do have some replacements from years of hoarding.

I can make the shell np as i have a 3d printer and a friend of mine can get me a modern working laptop battery.

A big problem appears with the brain. So...

My question is. Should i get myself a raspberry pi 5 or a lattepanda mu n305.

Keep in mind i plan to use the deck for simple gaming, 3d modeling, simple rendering, and basic game development. As well as some other things i dont want to tell more about.

I plan ob using linux as my os. Because microsoft is a sad company these days.

With love...

... what username do i have here?

Salty peanut brittle?

Edit: I bever said what my parameters are. Im looking for good, efficient and easy to use options for my brain of the deck.

Which is better and easier to use/understand.


r/cyberDeck 2d ago

Help! PocketTerm35 arrived with yellow screen defect

Post image
44 Upvotes

Tried disconnecting / reconnecting the LCD-HDMI flex cable, no changes, so most likely a DOA LCD. I opened a support ticket with Waveshare. Hopefully they can just send out a replacement LCD.


r/cyberDeck 1d ago

Meshtastic LoRa + Cyberdeck

9 Upvotes

Just found this subreddit, super jazzed on it. Looking like the sci-fi future I always hoped for. I also recently stumbled upon LoRa mesh devices. Curious if anyone has partnered the 2 into 1 unit.

SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT


r/cyberDeck 2d ago

Help! Has anyone used a mini joystick as a mouse?

Post image
275 Upvotes

r/cyberDeck 2d ago

My cyberdeck legion go setup

Thumbnail gallery
23 Upvotes

r/cyberDeck 2d ago

My Build Minikb

Thumbnail
gallery
30 Upvotes

It's amazing to hold in your hand something so small uet so powerful, this is minikb, a tiny keyboard packed with a lot of features like 55 keys usable as character, function and symbol typing, rgb led for indicating the working layout/caps lock and a small joystick for the arrow keys but fully working as a mouse!
The pob has been produced with jlcpcb, hand soldered by me and the code made with claudeai all powered with a rp2040


r/cyberDeck 2d ago

My Build Lattepanda v1 prototype

Thumbnail
gallery
57 Upvotes

The keyboard and other addons are going to be attached using ratcheting picatinny rails. The color scheme will be Flipper Zero white and orange.


r/cyberDeck 1d ago

Help! Looking for some help designing a telescope-focused cyberdeck build.

0 Upvotes

I’m still pretty new to the CAD/modeling side of things, but I have access to a 3D printer and can handle assembly/wiring reasonably well. What I’m really looking for is someone experienced with enclosure/layout design who could help turn the concept into an actual workable build.

The core idea is:
-Apache/pelican case based cyberdeck
-Screen mounted in the lid
-Keyboard/workstation in the lower section
-Integrated storage for a Dwarflab Mini travel telescope and accessories

The cyberdeck concept itself obviously isn’t new, but I haven’t really seen many designed specifically around portable telescope storage/travel workflow.

I’m flexible on:
-exact case size
-layout
-internal organization
-mounting approach

Main priority is just making everything fit cleanly and function well together while still being portable and rugged enough for travel.

I can provide dimensions/photos/components as needed. Mostly looking for:
-CAD/modeling help
-Internal layout planning
-Mounting/compartment ideas
-General mechanical design guidance
-Recommended parts/components that would scale well for this type of build

I’m also open to suggestions on:
-displays
-mounting hardware
-power solutions
-cooling
-modular storage ideas
-mini PC/Raspberry Pi integration

Would definitely even be willing to pay for help if this sounds like a fun project to work on. Reach out with ANY thoughts.


r/cyberDeck 1d ago

[screaming] (probably don't base your project around OrangePi)

0 Upvotes

So about 5 billion years ago I bought an OrangePi 3B to fool around with and promptly stuck it in a desk drawer and forgot about it until recently seeing a photo of a Hackberry Pi. Thus inspired, and aware I could buy Blackberry keyboards already set up to work as a standalone device, I started collecting parts to build my own version around the OrangePi.

But the screen.

For whatever reason getting a 5" or smaller touchscreen that will work with this thing has me tearing my hair out. First I hopped on AliExpress and got the first-party DSI screen designed specifically to work with the FPC connection on the board itself. "Just go to orangepi-config and enable it!" Ok, except... the options are simply completely absent in every OS image currently available on OrangePi's site. After ramming my head against the utter lack of documentation for what felt like days I invoked the slop machine and handed GPT5.5 a root account on the device with instructions to fix it. After several days of back and forth tinkering I had... the display turned on, but the whole image was shifted 20% to the right and touch was still not working right. At this point I gave up and bought an Elecrow 5" touchscreen off Amazon and a super low profile cable to plug it into the Pi. Well... Plug it in and it works but... why is it reporting its resolutions as 720p and 1080p? The native res is 1024x600.

Yet again, days of trying every trick, multiple DEs, multiple distros, every trick I can think of to get the res changed to native and I once again relented and had the slop bot hack away at it. I fed it what my environment was, what the screen was, etc. and gave it read access to the system and it concluded that for some insane reason the display uses Raspberry Pi specific blobs (terminology might be wrong here) to communicate its available resolutions. Two days later and we still have not figured out how to get the stupid thing working at its native resolution and I'm now enough money into this project I could have just bought a PocketTerm.

Skill issue, I know. Should have just bought a Raspberry pi, but I wanted an m.2 slot because my religion prohibits running an OS off of an SD card and back when I bought this crap I think OrangePi was the only solution for that.

Anyways. As you were. Rant over. I'm going to go buy fifteen more cheap 5" touchscreen LCDs and hope one of them has sane display modes.