Project Logs

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• Physical Design Stage

  Jordan • 01/24/2023 at 14:42 • 0 comments

  It has taken a few months to get past the Research Stage, but I am finally at a point where I think I have enough information to get started building. 

  The first part of this stage was focused on finding the right housing for the project. This project was meant to be viable off-grid, in the great outdoors, and other reasonable scenarios that are not ideal for a computer to be in. With that in mind, a crucial aspect of the housing would be that it would combat, or at least mitigate, the most common ways that electronic equipment might fail in these conditions. Ideally, this means that the housing would be weatherproof, impact-resistant, and water resistant among other things. The housing would also need to be conveniently portable so that it isn't a pain to move. 

  One of the first products that came to mind was the Pelican Case. These cases seem to fit most, if not everything, that the housing was required to be. I began looking at the Pelican website to see if they produced a suitable case. I found one, the Pelican Ruck 60 Case, that I thought might be suitable for the needs of the cyberdeck. The only problem that I ran into was that I didn't know where I might be able to actually hold this case before I bought it. I kept looking around, but I eventually bought the Ruck 60.

  Once the Ruck 60 came in, some problems in laying out the components became apparent after being able to actually get my hands on it. The first, and most troublesome, is that the insides of the case are tapered. Because the ruggedness of the case was one of its most desired traits, drilling through the outside will only be done if there are no other options. To get past this obstacle, I decided to try a tray or caddy system that is friction-fit in the bottom half of the case. This caddy system also allows for easier upgrade and repair as it can simply be pulled out without tools or solvent. However, there is a challenge in this solution. After some quick observations on the case, a friction-fit system is going to be more difficult to design because of the weird geometry and also because the case is tapered on the inside.

  Currently, my focus is on the caddy system. I am hoping to make it work as best as I can, but I am not sure whether it will or not. If the caddy system doesn't work out, the next step would be to figure out whether buying a new case or modifying the Ruck 60 would be the best solution. Little to no software will be developed for the cyberdeck until I can get the physical aspect of the project completed. More updates will continue to come in as I can get the work done. 

• Starting "Cyberdeck"

  Jordan • 09/07/2022 at 16:46 • 0 comments

  In the years preceding the start of this project, I began to collect different components that might be useful to my daily routine or in extreme cases or conditions. These components make up my current setup, but I wouldn't consider it a Cyberdeck yet. Most of the components that I had gathered are likely to be included in the actual cyberdeck at one point or another. The goal is to start with what I have and then upgraded when needed. 

  Pictured below is the current setup as assembled: 

  The current setup consists of a Raspberry Pi 4 4Gb, TPlink Mini Router, wireless handheld keyboard, and multiple distributions of Linux on the SD cards. The case is a hard plastic that is supposed to be waterproof, but I have not really done any testing on it yet. 

  Below is the current setup when stored or traveling:

  As seen in the pictures above, there are many things that can be added and upgraded. First and foremost, this whole setup takes considerably more effort than a standard laptop. It also lacks video and audio output. After doing some research, the plan moving forward is probably going to be for me to start choosing a hard case for the Cyberdeck. I am hoping that I can find one relatively cheap and that is bigger than the one pictured. Once I have the case, I can start modifying it to fit the different pieces of hardware. Once everything is situated within the case,  I am going to be adding a screen, 1Tb portable hard drive, and a SDR for simple listening. The plan is also to upgrade the power distribution within the cyberdeck (current has a Micro-USB going from the Pi to the router purely for power), to upgrade the cables to ones of better quality, and then to upgrade the keyboard to one better suited for long-term typing. What happens after that depends on the needs of the cyberdeck, time, and money. For very long term goals, I am hoping to upgrade the Raspberry Pi to something along the lines of the LattePanda 3 Delta (or whatever the current equivalent is).

• Research Stage

  Jordan • 09/02/2022 at 15:33 • 0 comments

  This project is in the very early stages of development. I have been wanting to build one of these for a long while now, but I never really had a reason to start one. That reason came recently in the form of "Who needs a reason? Just do it because you want to."

  With that being said, I have begun to do research on multiple different aspects that are to be incorporated into the cyberdeck. I have decided that, at least for now, I am not going to limit myself on either the amount of money spent or the amount of time used for this project. Obviously there are going to be reasonable limits to this project, but I wanted to see what I am capable of creating.

  The different aspects are:

  • Computer - The computer is the basis for the entire project. I am looking into both Single-Board Computers (SBC's) and Mini-PC's as possible candidates for the cyberdeck. I have found multiple of each that would fit the project well, but I don't think I am going to be able to choose a specific one until I know exactly what the functionality is going to be. 
  • Form Factor - The form factor is the physical basis of the project. It will determine different things like the available space for hardware, durability and mobility. Many people choose to either 3D print theirs or to find ready-made cases to simply attach everything to. I think the obvious choice for this cyberdeck is to use a pelican case, but I wanted to be sure before making any purchases.
  • Communications Array - One of the main goals of this cyberdeck is to make sure that stable communications are always available regardless if the system has to provide its own. With that in mind, I am researching the most effective method(s) to bring this about. I am hoping to be able to interface with different radio protocols (after proper licensing) as well as the more standard ones like Wi-Fi or GPS. 
  • External Device Connectivity - I wanted the cyberdeck to be able to interact with the world around it to further help its user. Because of this, having the ability to take measurements or to control smaller mechanical devices. Research is ongoing to determine the different protocols (i.e. UART, I2C) that are needed for such devices. Whatever is needed here is going to play a big role in choosing the final computer for the cyberdeck as some computers make this considerably easier than others.

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