Jetdeck SCOUT

Description

Hey there!

I'm a hardware hacker and maker who loves tinkering with tech, designing cool gadgets, and now bringing a bit of my love for cyberpunk and open source independence into a design project. I built the JetDeck SCOUT because I wanted a slim device that could truly do it all, from gaming, to network diagnostics, IoT projects and mesh networks.

SCOUT is designed to be hackable, extensible, and community-driven. It offers a rich feature set and loads of connectivity and was designed from the start for maximum usability and to address the challenges of using a desktop OS on a small device.

SCOUT has a fully custom mainboard which runs a Rpi CM5 or 3rd party compatible. It has IR, NFC, decent speakers, HDMI out, ethernet, 5Gbs USB3.0, a QMK keyboard, gamepad that doubles as a mouse, M.2 pcie slot, M.2 B-key slot for 4G WWAN, 6 amp 5v / 3.3v rails, and PD USB-C charging with 8000mah battery.

Check out https://jetdeck.io to join the Kickstarter! Thanks for looking

Details

Specs:

Processor	Raspberry Pi CM5 (CM4 compatible*)
Cooling	Aluminum rear housing + integrated fan
Storage	NVMe M-key 2230 / 2242 PCI-e slot for SSD
MicroSD	TF / MicroSD card slot (CM5 without MMC)
MCU	RP2040 MCU (used for gamepad, customisable)
LoRa Radio	RAX4630 - standalone nRF52840-based mesh network radio

Display Output	Mini-HDMI 2.0
USB 3.0 5Gbps	1x USB-C port, 1x USB-A port (CM5 only*)
USB 2.0	4x ports (2x USB-C, 2x internal)
Ethernet	10/100/1000 Mbps RJ45
Audio	3.5mm headphone jack, S/PDIF out, line-in
Wireless	WiFi 6 / BT 5 (with wireless CM variant)
NFC	NFC reader / writer (*maybe - see Kickstarter)
GPIO	40-pin Raspberry Pi header (top edge)
Infrared	940nm TX/RX
MIPI	2x 4-lane (camera and display)
Optional 4G/LTE	M.2 B-key for WWAN module + micro SIM slot

Battery	10,000mAh Li-ion (2S configuration)
Charging	Bi-directional up to PD 15W
Accessory Power	6 amp 5V and 3.3V rails
Included Cable	USB-C with voltage/amps/watts display

Display	4.3" 800x480 IPS QLED
Camera	5MP 72-degree with autofocus
Keyboard	Backlit full QWERTY (QMK firmware)
Gamepad	Nintendo Switch-style joystick (mouse control)
Audio	High-quality DAC, Class-D 5W amplifier
Speakers	High-quality stereo speakers
Volume Control	Tactile analog wheel
Torch	High brightness LED

Dimensions	120W x 180H x 18D mm
Weight	260g

Project Logs

Collapse

How it started...
tangles • 05/29/2026 at 05:07 • 0 comments

The Scout started as a janky abomination of aliexpress modules and kapton tape. I posted it to the cyberdeck subReddit for a laugh and was surprised to see it somewhat applauded for its vibes <3
It was centred around a Radxa Zero 3W and actually was pretty usable. Once I'd proven the modules worked, I immediately decided the bluetooth keyboard was not gonna work for me. I dove straight into designing a replacement PCB that offered USB connectivity while using the same keysheet and sticky sheet of tactile domes. I used QMK firmware for the keyboard and while I was at it, added a gamepad, audio DAC + Amp, and USB-C downstream port to it:
As you can imagine I also moved immediately onto 3D printing a case for it. That turned out something like this:
During that PCB design I'd prototyped the audio + DAC on its own, coming up with what turned out to be quite a nice little USB-C sound card (bodge fixes visible!):
While I was doing the PCB design I realised at that same moment that having to connect accessories to the "zero" form factor using USB and HDMI display connectors internally kinda sucked. I switched to an Rpi Compute Module 5 and the smallest carrier board I could find, a Waveshare "Nano B".
I think at that point I was looking at this thing and seeing how much space inside was being wasted by the constraints of the ports and component layouts, so formed the idea to go the whole hog and design a mainboard. I'd be able to make it way slimmer and fit in way more features!