T3rminal Is a Beautiful Raspberry Pi-Based Pocket PC

For most people in the world, the pocket PC concept became obsolete the moment smartphones became viable. And no, I don’t consider a smartphone to be a pocket PC in anything but the vaguest sense. But while it may not have widespread appeal anymore, the pocket PC form factor does still tickle the fancy of certain geeks. Because the consumer market doesn’t exist anymore, we geeks have to make our own pocket PCs. And it is hard to imagine a DIY design more tempting than Caleb Holloway’s T3rminal Raspberry Pi-based pocket PC.

The term “pocket PC” doesn’t have an official definition, but I think most of us can agree on a few defining characteristics. A pocket PC must have the ability to run a full desktop operating system, must have a physical keyboard, and must have at least some communication ports. That last one might be a little controversial, but it is important for terminal functionality, which is one of the most popular use cases for pocket PCs.

T3rminal fulfills all three of those criteria and does it in style. The 3D-printed enclosure has a dual-color hexagonal pattern that looks a little bit like crusty partially cooled lava. The size seems good, as it is big enough to hold and type on comfortably, but still compact enough to tuck away. It probably won’t fit in the pockets of your skinny jeans, though.

Inside that alluring 3D-printed enclosure is a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B single-board computer. For it to fit, the user must desolder a few components, like the Ethernet port, and replace others, like the USB ports. The Raspberry Pi receives power from an 18650 lithium battery cell via a PiSugar S Plus module. The display is a BIGTREETECH Pi TFT50 V2.1 5” capacitive touchscreen.

Of course, the star of the show is the keyboard and that is a generic mini battery-powered Bluetooth model. One seller on Amazon is Qiilu, but there are many others. That glues into place and looks right at home on the 3D-printed case. The Instructables page doesn’t make it clear, but it seems like the keyboard could pull power from the PiSugar — or simply connect to the Raspberry Pi via USB.

For anyone pining for the good ol’ days when pocket PCs were still available, T3rminal seems like the perfect project.