This Wearable Cyberdeck Is as Stylish as They Come
Cyberdecks are a dime a dozen these days, but this wearable cyberdeck called Кибердек RA01 that stands out.
The cyberdecks from William Gibson's novels are pure function. Deckers in that world cobble their cyberdecks together without any concern for style. But that is, of course, punk rock as hell and stylish in its own apathetic way. Today's cyberdeck community leans heavily into the cyberpunk aesthetic. Very few people build cyberdecks for practical purposes — they'd use a laptop if practicality was their concern. And that is why the hobby is enjoyable, because it gives enthusiasts the opportunity to express their inner dystopian industrial designer. R▲, a Russian "underground cyberpunk artist," took that to heart when they built this wearable cyberdeck called КибердекRA01.
Aside from the brutalist styling, which is a spot-on interpretation of the genre, the Кибердек RA01 incorporates a handful of unique features that we haven't seen in other cyberdecks. The most obvious is the carry strap, which lets the user type away from a standing position. That attaches to the case using two sling mounts that connect to 54mm Picatinny rails (like you would find on a firearm). On the right side of the case, there is a single handle with a bicycle grip. Users can hold that while operating the joystick-style mouse on the left side of the case. There is even a retractable power cord, so the user doesn't have to carry around a separate power adapter.
R▲didn't want to turn to 3D printing for this project and so they repurposed an old, unused Commodore C64c computer case. They heavily modified that case with glued-on ABS sheet to add the handle, sling mounts, and so on. Like most cyberdecks, the Кибердек RA01 contains a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B single-board computer. Power comes from 18650 lithium-ion cells through a 52Pi power distribution and charging module. The keyboard is a Cortex Core 40% mechanical keyboard. The joystick mouse is custom and built with an Arduino Micro development board that reads an analog joystick module from a Sony PSP handheld console. The display is an ultra-wide IPS LCD screen with a 1920x480 resolution. Audio pumps out through the Raspberry Pi's GPIO pins to a small speaker, with a rotary encoder for adjusting the volume.
The Raspberry Pi OS and the software are all standard boilerplate stuff, but that's okay. R▲obviously put their time into the beautiful physical design and construction. The Кибердек RA01's stark, industrial beauty speaks for itself and cements this as one of the most striking cyberdecks that we've seen.