• Cyberdeck
    Cyberdeck

    Introduction

I realize I am late to the Cyberdeck build, but I was inspired by a number of builds I saw online. The one good thing about being late to the build game is you can take inspiration from the other builds and add in your own ideas. As everyone has a slightly different use case, I thought I’d give it a go.

I would not consider myself a prepper, but I do like the idea of self reliance. The goal here was to build a computer, stuff it full of radios and pour it into a rugged case that could be pulled off the shelf at a moments notice.

The computer needed to do the basics, create documents, run spreadsheets, have the ability to navigate via GPS include a offline map database, include an offline version of Wikipedia, the ability to at least listen to communications in the VHF and UHF bands as well as be able to “text” others over LORA networks using Meshtastic, the ability to write and compile programs, etc. The computer also need to act as a network in a box, with the ability to connect other devices through WiFi hotspot or via the built in ethernet switch.

I wanted the ability to have a removable keyboard, I found a compact keyboard from Amazon. I also wanted the enclosure to have space to store a bluetooth mouse. The removable keyboard was important to me as I didn’t want to have to type from a keyboard that was permanently mounted in the case. I found trying to type using the keyboard in the case extremely awkward.

I wanted the Cyberdeck to focus on the ability to act as a data repository, as well the ability to listen to communication services, and/or connect to other wireless services. The Cyberdeck needed to include the following :

I also wanted to integrate components and radios that I already had on hand. So I started off with the following:

So that’s it for this one. In the next part we’ll start to cover the hardware in detail. Cheers.