The Obsium Cyberdeck Is a Custom Workhorse
Glinek built the unique Obsium cyberdeck that incorporates a whole bunch of interesting functionality.
Builders in the cyberdeck community find motivation for their hobby in many different ways. For some, it is a creative pursuit that enables self-expression through industrial design. For others, it is a way to possess a custom machine that manufacturers will never produce because it doesn't align with market trends. For most, it is some combination of the two. That certainly seems to be the case for Glinek, who built the unique Obsium cyberdeck that incorporates a whole bunch of interesting functionality.
From the first glance, you can tell that Obsium is unusual. It has an asymmetric layout with the keyboard pushed all the way to the right side side. Its aesthetic and lines seem to channel a mid-century modern design ethos, but without resorting to stylistic cliches. This look won't appeal to everyone, but we can all agree that it is original.
Glinek also strayed from the well-worn path when it came to features. The Obsium cyberdeck includes a digital oscilloscope, LoRa hardware for long-range messaging, a 100kHz-1GHz software-defined radio (SDR) module, and 12 exposed GPIO pins. Together, those allow for all kinds of interesting possibilities, from electrical engineering work to ham radio to hardware hacking.
Like most cyberdecks, Obsium utilizes a Raspberry Pi SBC (Single-Board Computer). But it is somewhat unusual in that that is a Raspberry Pi 400, which is the complete computer in an enclosure with a keyboard. Glinek designed a custom PCB to act as a carrier board for the Raspberry Pi 400 mainboard. That also includes a Raspberry Pi Pico development board, though its purpose isn't entirely clear.
The display is a 12.5" full-HD LCD. The keyboard is a custom ortholinear layout with Cherry MX Brown key switches and generic key caps, controlled by an Arduino Pro Micro development board. Power comes from a 40Wh battery pack made from four 18650 lithium battery cells in a 4S configuration. The enclosure was almost entirely 3D-printed in turquoise PETG, with a white acrylic sheet on top.
We aren't sure what Glinek has planned for the Obsium cyberdeck, but it is a neat project. If you want to build your own Obsium, Glinek uploaded all the files — though the design isn't optimized for public consumption.