I've made my fair share of custom electronics. Hand-wired Gameboy Zeros, ruggedized video players for my brother with special needs, A MAME cabinet with a giant CRT back when the cabinet was harder to come by than the CRT. I loved seeing the decks built by others, but had little desire to make one of my own since I figured it'd just be a retread of other projects done better by people who had need of them if I was just tossing a newest-model raspberry pi into a shell and trying to hide it.

One of the more recent things I've gotten familiar with though is the mechanical keyboard scene. I have a few friends who've been building their own keyboards since that scene really took off a few years back. Neat hobby, but not something I have had much need for. That said, seeing their chatter about keyboards and having made my own custom arcade controls in the past was a good primer for my own slow-growing thoughts of wanting to build a custom slick looking portable computer.

At some point I decided if I could find a *COOL* enough looking old computer I'd make it into a cyberdeck and pit my skill against my instinct to "just get it done!", and try to make something that looked like a super cool deck pulled off the shelf of an expensive computer shop the end of act 2 of a Stephenson book and handed to the plucky hacker after a hoverbus smashed over their beloved cobbled-together rig.

I poured over any retrocomputing stuff I could find looking for a good donor candidate. More common 80s computers seemed too familiar, even if dolled up with a paint job and screen. 80s era Soviet block computers are all over ebay, and they have all kinds of different builds and styles, but they have a blocky, "be thankful for any computer" look to them.

How about a Japanese computer from the 80s? Cool modern for the time designs, kanji on the keycaps, and not super recognizable to western onlookers. The MSX compatible line of computers was a great pool to stare at, but importing them is a bit tricky, and the 80s nostalgia pricing is in full swing.

After some more ebay searching though, I found that MSX computers also saw use in a lot of Arabic speaking nations with Arabic software and keycaps. Neat! Instead of a Japanese HitBit, I found the Al Sakhr AX170. Cool asymetrical design, full sized keyboard, and room enough to house a lot of modern hardware without being huge.