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Cyberdore - Raspberry Pi powered Cyberdeck

Tommi Laukkanen

Jan 15, 2023 • 3 min read

The Cyberdore in action - RPi powered Cyberdeck

As a fan of cyberpunk and sci-fi I've always wanted to have a cyberdeck of my own. Finally designed and built one - I call it Cyberdore.

I broke the small 128x128 display when installing it to the device. In a way it gives a nice cyberpunk feel to it when it's missing some of the lines :)

Ingredients

I wanted my cyberdeck to be portable but still run full Linux. Also wanted to have some sci-fi feel to it but keep it a bit retro. Here are components that I used:

Raspberry Pi (I used 3 Model B+ first but ended up using Zero W for lower energy consumption)
Battery - I used this battery shield that takes single 18650 battery Amazon.de
3.5" LCD Display - I used this Waveshare version
Rii X1 mini wireless keyboard - this in Amazon.de
3D printed case - see next chapter

That was the mandatory part to get functional minicomputer. I did want to have some sci-fi cyberpunk props there too, so I designed a small screen on the side to display retro cassette mimicking animation. For this I used:

Raspberry Pi Pico
Small 1.5" OLED display with 128x128 resolution, I used this from Waveshare
40mm flatback magnifying glass, something like this in Aliexpress
Red LED for power indicator

I also added a wi-fi antenna as a prop. I did mean to enhance the wi-fi range with it first but eventually didn't add external wi-fi card for this purpose.

Total cost for the components depends highly where you are. Many might have Raspberry Pi already but depending on the model (and your country) getting it from the store can cost anything between 10€ to 90€ due to component shortage. I'd guess the total average cost for materials is around 100-150€.

Cyberdeck case

I started the design based on keyboard dimensions and I was able to embed the keyboard quite well in the front with minimal noticeable gaps. I added main 3.5" and circular lens glass displays on top of the keyboard. I also wanted to have a retro feel to the case and gave it the grille and power led on top as a tribute to Commodore computers that got me started in computing in 80s (Vic 20 & C64 FTW!)

The case is made of layers which are held together by four M2 screws that go through all the layers. The back panel has a snap fit design so it can be removed without screws when you need to have access to Raspberry Pi.

Rendering of the case. There's plenty of room to hold extra accessories or larger batteries.

Here are initial internals with RPi 3 Model B+ - switched later to RPi Zero W

Printables

Checkout my Printables page for .stl files if you'd like to build or mod your own version: Cyberdore - RPi powered Cyberdeck by Tommi L. | Download free STL model | Printables.com