This Tape Deck Cyberdeck Brings the '80s Style
Inspired by a tape deck that he received for his sixth birthday in 1980, Matthew built this CyberTapeDeck.
A lot of cyberdecks are an attempt to provide some sort of functionality that the builder can't find in the consumer computer market. But sometimes cyberdecks are all about style. In these cases, the cyberdecks channel the spirit of William Gibson (don't worry — he's still alive) to get that elusive neon and grime-covered cyberpunk aesthetic. Everyone knows that the best way to achieve that is by harnessing the cultural touchstones of the 1980s, so Matthew H chose to use a tape deck from that decade as the inspiration for the CyberTapeDeck.
Despite how it appears, Matthew did not use an actual tape deck enclosure to build this cyberdeck. He modeled the enclosure after a tape deck he received from an aunt in 1980 for a sixth birthday present—a gift that included the soundtrack to the movie Grease. Matthew no longer owns that tape deck, so he had to settle for a reproduction. He spent weeks modeling the design in CAD and going through prototype iterations 3D-printed on a Voron 2.4 before nailing down the final product, which has a color palette reminiscent of an Atari 2600 and style that mirrors every consumer electronics device of the late '70s and early '80s.
The CyberTapeDeck's brain is a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, which feeds video to the 7" LCD screen via HDMI. The keyboard/touchpad combo device is a wireless Bluetooth unit, but the CyberTapeDeck itself has buttons to trigger specific functions. Those connect to the Raspberry Pi through an Arduino Pro Micro running USB HID firmware. So as far as the Raspberry Pi is concerned, that is just a second keyboard. Power comes from a Sunfounder Raspberry Pi UPS power pack that includes a 2000mAh battery.
Matthew built the CyberTapeDeck for two purposes. First, it will serve as a workshop computer that he can bring out to the garage without worrying about damaging a fancy laptop. Second, it will let his son experiment with Scratch so he can start learning the basics of programming. We like that second purpose, because it means that Matthew's son will use a device that looks just like the tape deck that Matthew himself owned when he was the same age.