I have a vague idea of what my ideal Cyberdeck would be, no idea if there's anything like this already:
One of those super-wide small screens, 1920x720 or thereabouts, with the screen split into 2 terminals. Since I'm wishing, I'd also like that screen to have a 300 to 600ppi e-ink screen built in to a layer, so that when the colour screen is off, the e-ink is visible.
A PC, x86_64 or arm64, built into the screen, with lots of ports, IO, compatible with Pi hats/shields. For extra coolness, a pluggable system like Framework so if someone wants a real RS232 port, they can get one. With USB-C power so I can use any powerbank or other compatible power supply.
A Keychron lightweight Alice-style keyboard, folding a bonus, QMK mandatory, standard bluetooth and/or USB.
I wasn't expecting to see buy now links, so I wasn't too disappointed when I did see them but found they both say out of stock - was completely ready to impulse buy the BB Q20 keyboard version (or either, really!) and hope that having registered to hear it more being sold I'll be able to get one.
I'd almost be tempted to try to put one together myself, but it's not something I'd find particularly easy and there's other stuff I'd rather spend time on. But might be tempted...
Yep thanks, I'm indeed hoping to take advantage of that!
But I have a sneaking suspicion it won't be a big enough quantity to satisfy even the people who've seen this HN submission so may well come down to what time of day / how quickly I see the email
Both models say "Sold out since Aug 02". If all the existing stock was bought by HN readers today, then 1-2 weeks isn't bad for the next batch, and today's waitlist can influence batch size. There seem to be lots of BB keyboards on Amazon, so hopefully the constraint is funding and manufacturing, not components. Lots of demand from HN can only help with funding!
I saw this thread almost immediately after it was posted and both versions were already out of stock when I got to those pages minutes later, so my assumption was that there either were very few devices (just a couple of PoCs) or that sales had come from somewhere other than HN, either way leaving the majority of people who want to buy it from seeing this thread on the waiting list with me.
Though maybe I'm wrong about how popular it will be, and actually only the handful of people who've explicitly commented about wanting to buy it, like me, will have joined the waiting list and some may then decide not to buy it having slept on it - but it's definitely possible that lots of people are looking forward to getting one or more!)
I also assumed that it was a fairly DYI project done by a single founder (DYI as in him making them himself one by one, rather than having either a team or an outsourced factory ready to scale up to meet whatever demand is on the waiting list), but again I may be guessing wrong (or may have forgotten something they wrote that shows I'm wrong), but it's a few hours past my bedtime so I'll just hope that when I wake up they might have replied to my message asking if I could reserve one rather than spend more time guessing about their production capacity :D )
This form factor is so tempting. I’ve gotten close to pulling the trigger on the minimal phone like 5 times but just don’t know if I can actually reasonably switch from my iPhone and not end up annoyed with the change (https://www.minimalcompany.com/).
But a calm, keyboard oriented device just seems great.
The GPIO port is accessible under the back cover so I could easily see add-on modules that could piggyback on. Design a small backpack to use the existing latch, add some tiny pogo pins and the module could be easily swapped out. A lorawan transceiver and a GPS receiver would be an excellent pair.
Very similar to the Beepberry. Exciting to see someone else building into that form factor. Also love to fun to see the Nokia BL-5C battery (originally introduced in the Nokia 3650 in 2003) still alive and kicking 20years later.
That appears to have been renamed to the Beepy, and the product page now has the repurposed Blackberry keyboard blurred out. Did whoever owns the corpse of Blackberry go after them for trademark infringement?
Looks super awesome.
I've been slowly working towards building pretty much the same thing, but haven't had enough time to finish.
I added myself to the wait list. Intend to purchase 3 if I'm able to. Getting everything into such a nice packet is very cool.
Wow this is amazing it’s the best cyber deck I have ever seen or would consider using. I wonder if you could get rid of one battery and shove in a 4g LTE modem connected to a usb port.
I miss my Hiptop(s). Nothing has come close to that experience since. I could carry on 10 AIM conversations, IRC, and be doing browsing and email while typing at ~100 WPM.
Pins are still pretty handy though. Tangential to the OPs use case, but I use my Zero 2 as a debug probe (with openocd) for few MCUs (mostly Pi Pico), and it comes out $$$ cheaper than JLink’s official one and analogs
Amazing! How hard will it be to replace the screen to an eInk one similar to the beepberry/beepy? I love everything except the screen, and I assume eInk will be the perfect match considering the terminal and power consumption.
That’s my thoughts as well. I ordered a uConsole from clockworkPI, long waitlist there. This is tempting me again. I feel this may have even better ergonomic qualitty for my personal taste and appeara more portable.
Every time I see a little game/dev device with a square screen I think about pico-8.
The devterm looks like it could be a good device too as you could have pico-8 running on one side with code editor taking up the rest of the screen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XC5lC9nGWM
Sorry to hear. How many months after you ordered it did you actually receive it? Im taking a gamble on this but wasn’t aware they do no testing before shipping.
Isn't that what the PinePhone and Librem 5 are? They don't have an embedded physical keyboard and do have a touchscreen, so the physical features are slightly different, but otherwise they are still a mobile ARM linux computer.
The touchscreen is a big difference though. You need to run some kind of graphical environment to handle the touch input and then it's slow and you have a crappy keyboard. I love my pinephone, but even with sxmo I find it unresponsive and hard.to work on. The keyboard shell for the pinephone is good, but changes the form factor then.
I've been wanting to build my own handheld ever since I picked up a 3d printer so the last few months I've been checking these builds out. The blackberry keyboard is my favorite part of the build, definitely going to do the same for mine. Looks great with the casing.
I am working on the same kind of thing. For me the ideal keybaord/screen combination was the Keyboard Featherwing from Adafruit https://www.adafruit.com/product/4818 . Unfortunately, it is a discontinued product. I managed to snag one of the last ones, but I am reluctant to use something that I cannot get any more of.
There is also the Tindie Null 2 kit - it's built around Rapsberry Pi Zero 2W. I picked one up several years ago and built a gameboy replacement of sorts. It was a lot of fun. Lots of soldering.
See I do have a use for this kind of thing, but not exactly. I have a few desktop towers and Raspberry Pi devices that sometimes due to upgrades or random acts of Zeus absolutely fail to boot up. I want some ability to connect a keyboard and a screen to these so I can see the actual boot screen. Normally for me this involves lugging the device to my office and connecting it to my office monitor and keyboard which is highly inconvenient given that some are in the attic. Instead I want a small screen and keyboard in one device I can hook up to an HDMI or VGA or mini HDMI or just a serial port + USB for keyboard. Something lightweight I can carry anywhere.
And no that doesn’t need its own computer but it might be nice to have one to be able to hook it up to the network and download and transfer files to the broken machine or be able to download and quickly boot off a rescue image or some such.
These are rare enough problems that I don’t actually bother building a device like that but every time they do happen I wish I did.
I can confirm that getting a PiKVM has very much eliminated lugging around my server or a screen. Having some form of display input would be the one feature I would wish to add if given the choice. Not having HDMI-In, e.g. via capture card, makes sense in this form factor and power budget, but would make this an instant buy for me. I would really enjoy having a small, very portable device to debug things with.
I recently got linked to a CCTV tester [1] that at least handles the display part. Sadly it does not seem to have keyboard emulation. It might be possible to hack this in as this is an Android tablet at its core and the USB controller might support gadget mode.
I too have this use case troubleshooting headless computers around the house. I saw an ad for https://www.aurga.com and bought one for $84. It connects to an app on my Android phone as display, keyboard, and mouse. Minor discussion 7 months ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38609526
Long ago I bought a mini keyboard + mouse combo for input; the custom wireless USB dongle edition I have (strongly preferred over Bluetooth when troubleshooting) is no longer for sale. https://amzn.com/dp/B00I5SW8MC
I have that keyboard and gifted one to my parents. Our use case is the odd chance you need to input text or use a browser on a Smart TV. Works so much faster than the on screen keyboard. With many Smart TVs just being Android under the hood, it just works.
I find for server troubleshooting, I usually have no problem grabbing a random USB keyboard. The bigger problem is finding a screen at a convenient location and connecting that one. It often was easier to carry my server to the screen instead of the other way.
On the topic of niche input methods, I also have an "air mouse" [1] with a full keyboard on the back for my Kodi system or when connecting my desktop to the TV. I essentially never need to use it, but it has come in handy.
I have one of these and it's great for this sort of thing. The whole keyboard runs off one AA battery which lasts forever, and it even has a storage spot for the USB dongle.
This looks quite interesting, thanks for the link. It does seem to require a native viewer instead of having a web interface. I would really prefer just a website like the PiKVM. Might still get it.
I have to do an off-topic rant though. The marketing page you linked to does not really state what this device does. It has a nice look into the case and a lot of buzzwords, but nothing like a small section with "HDMI Input" or "USB keyboard emulation". Even the shop page is somewhat light on details, but it at least shows (in GIFs only) that it works as a display and has a USB port. If I wasn't given your comment as context, I would likely not have gotten the use case and closed the tab. Based on the form factor being similar to a Fire TV stick etc. I would have assumed you plug it into a Hotel TV or similar to work on that.
EDIT: Saw your edit now and I think it is kind of funny that the old HN thread is also mentioning the marketing.
Those combo devices are incredibly useful in a pinch -- I keep one in my backpack. I've used it countless times while working on interactive installations and also while messing around with Pis at home.
If you don't want to spend a lot of money on this:
1) Get a Bluetooth adapter.
2) One of those cheap Chinese keyboard/mouse combinations like the one you linked (the are many more).
3) Get a cheap Chinese portable monitor with HDMI/USB-C.
4) Optionally, a powerbank for the monitor. Or get one with a battery.
You'll be done with a similar price as this 'Aurga'. Back in the Nokia days, you could use Nokia Linux device as a remote keyboard/monitor/mouse, too. So e.g. Nokia N800/Nokia N810 a better cyberdeck than a Sharp Zaurus.
From what I understand, KVM setup is what is used. In the olden days it used to be a keyboard and monitor in every rack with a switch to connect to all the machines in the rack. Nowadays I’m sure it is more software than hardware but same principle. A home setup would be a laptop form factor device that can take in different video inputs and has a keyboard. A mouse wouldn’t even be required but I guess wouldn’t be hard to add. It would need a battery for the monitor but really would need no brains at all.
Another option would be a computer that can do video in and act as a USB HID for the keyboard/mouse but then allow you to connect to it via VNC. This really could be amazing if you could just plug in two cables and then go to your laptop to connect to it.
iPad + HDMI input dongle can be an HDMI monitor. iPad + GetConsole app + Redpark [1] USB-serial cable = serial console. The missing piece is USB keyboard emulation, but serial->arduino [2] might work.
iPad + $40 RISC-V piKVM-alike [3] is another option.
They make USB KVM devices. Run an application on your computer to send input / receive output. Then you can use whatever laptop you want. That said, I've only used them on Windows, so drivers might be an issue.
Yes, the pikvm (or nanokvm) devices are cheap KVM over IP and they take input from the HDMI output of the server/pc, so you see just the same as you would if you were stood in front of the physical monitor plugged into the HDMI. They also come with the motherboard connector so you can do a power-off/power-on remotely. You can change BIOS settings and even do a full OS install remotely.
It looks cool, but I've found the Steam Deck is the only portable computer that's versatile enough for me to actually use for all sorts of different stuff.
Anyone know if steam deck can act as a USB OTG keyboard?
I remember this being a cool feature of those GPD Pocket computers. It would be cool to hook something up to the USB and send keystrokes from the steam deck (not necessarily from the touchscreen keyboard, but by scripts).
>> Steam Deck is the only portable computer that's versatile...
Would you clarify your categorization?
I personally consider 'portable computer' to be any computer with an internal battery (including laptops etc). I don't find the Steam Deck especially versatile in that category.
A separate/sub-category for me would be 'pocketable computers' (like this Hackberry-Pi_Zero, the GPD Win mini etc) for which the Steam Deck would be unusually versatile—albeit the Steam Deck does NOT fit in any of my pants or jacket pockets.
160 comments
[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 214 ms ] threadI know how hard it is to do these right and I’m impressed.
One of those super-wide small screens, 1920x720 or thereabouts, with the screen split into 2 terminals. Since I'm wishing, I'd also like that screen to have a 300 to 600ppi e-ink screen built in to a layer, so that when the colour screen is off, the e-ink is visible.
A PC, x86_64 or arm64, built into the screen, with lots of ports, IO, compatible with Pi hats/shields. For extra coolness, a pluggable system like Framework so if someone wants a real RS232 port, they can get one. With USB-C power so I can use any powerbank or other compatible power supply.
A Keychron lightweight Alice-style keyboard, folding a bonus, QMK mandatory, standard bluetooth and/or USB.
I'd almost be tempted to try to put one together myself, but it's not something I'd find particularly easy and there's other stuff I'd rather spend time on. But might be tempted...
But I have a sneaking suspicion it won't be a big enough quantity to satisfy even the people who've seen this HN submission so may well come down to what time of day / how quickly I see the email
Though maybe I'm wrong about how popular it will be, and actually only the handful of people who've explicitly commented about wanting to buy it, like me, will have joined the waiting list and some may then decide not to buy it having slept on it - but it's definitely possible that lots of people are looking forward to getting one or more!)
I also assumed that it was a fairly DYI project done by a single founder (DYI as in him making them himself one by one, rather than having either a team or an outsourced factory ready to scale up to meet whatever demand is on the waiting list), but again I may be guessing wrong (or may have forgotten something they wrote that shows I'm wrong), but it's a few hours past my bedtime so I'll just hope that when I wake up they might have replied to my message asking if I could reserve one rather than spend more time guessing about their production capacity :D )
But a calm, keyboard oriented device just seems great.
There was a team trying to bring it back to life (neo900)
Also battery life would probably sink.
https://blog.beeper.com/2023/05/16/beeper-x-sqmfi-beepberry/
https://beepy.sqfmi.com/
If not, this might be a good second option for hacking together a chat device for LLMs with notes
I had been thinking about using https://www.lilygo.cc/products/t-deck as a base - but prefer using Linux to microcontrollers
It is a shame, though, to use an RPi and not exploit the GPIO pins a little more. Maybe add a slot on the side to fit some probes or something?
I guess the Pi is all digital anyway so maybe the pins are not as interesting…
Fairberry has a PCB design for adding Q10 keyboard to any mobile phone with a USB port, https://github.com/Dakkaron/Fairberry
The readme is unclear on this subject, they advertise "original keyboard".
It’s an original new old stock BlackBerry keyboard, packaged in a good 3d printed case with Bluetooth, USB and battery charger.
The devterm looks like it could be a good device too as you could have pico-8 running on one side with code editor taking up the rest of the screen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XC5lC9nGWM
Know any surplus stores that carry BB keyboards?
https://www.tindie.com/products/ampersand/null-2-kit/
I've added myself to the waitlist already.
And no that doesn’t need its own computer but it might be nice to have one to be able to hook it up to the network and download and transfer files to the broken machine or be able to download and quickly boot off a rescue image or some such.
These are rare enough problems that I don’t actually bother building a device like that but every time they do happen I wish I did.
I recently got linked to a CCTV tester [1] that at least handles the display part. Sadly it does not seem to have keyboard emulation. It might be possible to hack this in as this is an Android tablet at its core and the USB controller might support gadget mode.
[1] https://www.rsrteng.com/products/ipc-9800movtadhs-pro
Long ago I bought a mini keyboard + mouse combo for input; the custom wireless USB dongle edition I have (strongly preferred over Bluetooth when troubleshooting) is no longer for sale. https://amzn.com/dp/B00I5SW8MC
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Keyboard-Touchpad-P...
I find for server troubleshooting, I usually have no problem grabbing a random USB keyboard. The bigger problem is finding a screen at a convenient location and connecting that one. It often was easier to carry my server to the screen instead of the other way.
On the topic of niche input methods, I also have an "air mouse" [1] with a full keyboard on the back for my Kodi system or when connecting my desktop to the TV. I essentially never need to use it, but it has come in handy.
[1] https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B0B1HKWFQV
I have to do an off-topic rant though. The marketing page you linked to does not really state what this device does. It has a nice look into the case and a lot of buzzwords, but nothing like a small section with "HDMI Input" or "USB keyboard emulation". Even the shop page is somewhat light on details, but it at least shows (in GIFs only) that it works as a display and has a USB port. If I wasn't given your comment as context, I would likely not have gotten the use case and closed the tab. Based on the form factor being similar to a Fire TV stick etc. I would have assumed you plug it into a Hotel TV or similar to work on that.
EDIT: Saw your edit now and I think it is kind of funny that the old HN thread is also mentioning the marketing.
https://gpd.hk/gpdpocket3
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804879544433.html
1) Get a Bluetooth adapter.
2) One of those cheap Chinese keyboard/mouse combinations like the one you linked (the are many more).
3) Get a cheap Chinese portable monitor with HDMI/USB-C.
4) Optionally, a powerbank for the monitor. Or get one with a battery.
You'll be done with a similar price as this 'Aurga'. Back in the Nokia days, you could use Nokia Linux device as a remote keyboard/monitor/mouse, too. So e.g. Nokia N800/Nokia N810 a better cyberdeck than a Sharp Zaurus.
Another option would be a computer that can do video in and act as a USB HID for the keyboard/mouse but then allow you to connect to it via VNC. This really could be amazing if you could just plug in two cables and then go to your laptop to connect to it.
iPad + $40 RISC-V piKVM-alike [3] is another option.
Yes, I'm dreaming too.
I remember this being a cool feature of those GPD Pocket computers. It would be cool to hook something up to the USB and send keystrokes from the steam deck (not necessarily from the touchscreen keyboard, but by scripts).
This is cool https://github.com/Frederic98/GadgetDeck
Would you clarify your categorization?
I personally consider 'portable computer' to be any computer with an internal battery (including laptops etc). I don't find the Steam Deck especially versatile in that category.
A separate/sub-category for me would be 'pocketable computers' (like this Hackberry-Pi_Zero, the GPD Win mini etc) for which the Steam Deck would be unusually versatile—albeit the Steam Deck does NOT fit in any of my pants or jacket pockets.