THEBRICK Is YARH.IO’s Newest Cyberdeck Design
YARH.IO is back with a fun new cyberdeck design: THEBRICK.
We’ve been covering cyberdeck projects for a long time now and they tend to get “samey.” But YARH.IO (Yet Another Raspberry Handheld) has a history of releasing interesting designs that always impress us. The newest project from YARH.IO, THEBRICK, isn’t any different.
We have featured two YARH.IO builds in the past: the original YARH.IO MKI and the follow-up YARH.IO Micro 2. Both were pocket computers built around the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ with complete tactile keyboards. But there was one YARH.IO project we missed: the Cyberdeck Keyboard. That is a 4×12 or 5×12 compact ortholinear mechanical keyboard designed for use in cyberdecks. THEBRICK is YARH.IO’s first cyberdeck design to take advantage of that keyboard.
THEBRICK features the Cyberdeck Keyboard and a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B single-board computer. THEBRICK has three main sections: the main unit (THEBRICK itself), the Cyberdeck Keyboard, and a carrier frame that ties those two together. This is interesting, because it supports many different carriers. For instance, one carrier has folding hinge mechanisms so it can lift the main unit up to a level that is easier to see. Another carrier has a static design that looks a bit like an old TRS-80 Model 100 computer, with the screen flat above the keyboard.
This unusual design forced YARH.IO to cram everything other than the keyboard into the main unit. That contains the Raspberry Pi, a 400×1280 pixel 7.9” touchscreen from Waveshare, three 5000mAh Fenix ARB-L21-5000U batteries (each with an integrated charger), a small OLED status screen, a Pimoroni Tiny 2040 development board to control that screen, and more. There is even a heatsink and fan to keep the Raspberry Pi nice and cool. That’s a lot to fit into such a small space, but YARH.IO even provided wire guides to aid in cable management and keep everything tidy.
The main unit enclosure, keyboard enclosure, and carriers are all 3D-printable. Like YARH.IO’s other designs, they have a kind of minimalist industrial aesthetic that reminds us of products from the 1980s. And, of course, those STL files are available for download so you can print them and build your own THEBRICK.