What is a Cyberdeck?
Like building a custom desktop tower PC a Cyberdeck is all about giving you total control over every piece that goes into your portable computing device and just like that gaming rig with all its lights, engraved panels, meticulously laid out wiring and water cooling tubes every Cyberdeck's design should be given the same consideration.
Why did you start this group?
Whenever I see "Cyberdeck" in a headline it invokes this nostalgia for the early days of the computer modding scene. What follows after the headline tho is often a project from a lone builder and a load of comments asking for details and help in building their own, today it's all about being portable yet we lack a modding group focused on building portable pc's. Enter the Cyberdeck Cafe.
Where did the name come from?
Well Cyberdeck is a given and who doesn't like hanging out at the local Cafe?
What can be found here?
Here at the Cyberdeck Cafe you will find it full of great projects, our very active Discord server, the Build O Matic is here to help you get started and the The Neon City Mix is filled with member submitted Cyberpunk short stories, How-To's and beautiful Cyberdeck builds. All members are welcome to submit articles to the The Mix as it's truly a community driver effort. Also out back there's a solitary arcade cabinet that only plays ShadowRun. We even started a recipe of the week over at The Bottom Shelf Chef. (Weekly posts not guaranteed)
So is it just a laptop - No
Most electronic projects now involve a SBC (Single Board Computer) capable of running a full featured desktop operating system, typically a linux OS so why not take that very capable SBC and give it the full treatment with a display and peripherals?
Often times projects end up spread across a workbench and can't be easily moved without dislodging jumpers from a proto board and at some point end up in a tangled mess at the bottom of a bin so having a custom enclosure to wrap up everything is an important step and project boxes are just boring.
Could it be a laptop - Yes
It's whatever you want and anyone who tries to define and pigeonhole the term Cyberdeck just doesn't get it and likely never will. Making a custom portable computer, laptop, tablet, umpc, car puter, smartphone, smartwatch, or some other yet to be imagined formfactor is exactly what its about, just build something you want and have fun doing it!
The spirit of the early mod scene lives on with the pi foundation, Adafruit, SparkFun, Outlay Electronics, to name a few of the DIY hardware/kit providers and HackaDay is still serving up a daily dose of community projects.
What do you personally use a Cyberdeck for?
My deck, the “Virtuscope” was built to be a test platform, it holds together all the bits and bytes I'd need for future projects and serves as a means of transporting it out into the real world.