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Cyberpunk Cyberdeck

A cyberdeck inspired by Johnny Mnemonic

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I've been into cyberpunk for ages but now that i'm deeper into tech I can finally make things happen. This winter I decided it was time to make a true cyberdeck.

I started this one on a whim with winter break coming and it all kind of came together. What's currently up there now is the beta version but it is going to be upgraded soon. Ever since watching Johnny Mnemonic as a kid the internet headset he uses has fascinated me. Now that the tech has caught up to the present I thought it was finally time to make one.

View all 6 components

  • Camera Module

    jordanbrandes01/08/2021 at 14:50 0 comments

    A colleague mentioned that adding a camera might be a good idea so that's exactly what  I did. I connected a small Arducam to the Raspberry Pi and was able to stream it to a site which is running constantly. I have that on one of my other desktop environments so now I can see the outside world or even hold full conversations with the HMD on.

  • Bluetooth the Rescue

    jordanbrandes12/28/2020 at 16:05 0 comments

    After realizing  my USBs might be covered up once I put them in the goggles I needed an alternate way to connect to the Pi. More than that, I wanted something small that would do a lot. Enter bluetooth. Not only did the addition of Bluetooth headphones (from Five Below, cheap but great) create fantastic sound but the Bluetooth keyboard/touchpad allowed me to make the entire thing much smaller and far more portable.

View all 2 project logs

  • 1
    Connect Pi 4 to Monitor

    This is basically plug and play. The HDMI to mini-HDMI adapter is needed to bridge the two components.

  • 2
    Connect Keyboard, Mouse and Ethernet

    Need these to get started on the Pi

  • 3
    Load Micro SD

    I'm using the Pi Etcher version of Ubuntu 20.10 on my device.

View all 4 instructions

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Discussions

soulmanpt wrote 02/03/2021 at 16:52 point

I purchased the headset from Walmart. I have a large head and I am super duper near-sighted (myopic) so one thing I noticed almost immediately is that this headset can't be worn with glasses on (unless you are good with a Dremel and can widen the eyepiece area carefully and re-pad it)

I also went with a different screen that has HDMI in and audio out on the board. I have ADD and would like to see if this could help me focus. Rather than being able to mount the pi on the back of the screen, my plan is to just mount the screen to the goggles and then run the cables for power and video signal over the central headstrap into a pack I can wear on my back or chest. I know it gets a bit messier this way, and I'm still  not sure this is what I will ultimately do, but it'll give me the option to plug it into a laptop or other video source. What you did with the pi though is great, it adds almost no extra weight. The tradeoff is that the USB ports could be hard to get to and/or you don't want cables hanging as much as you can avoid it.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Kevin Fusselman wrote 01/04/2021 at 22:33 point

I've been thinking about HMD for PC, but all of the cheap smartphone headsets I've seen use 2 lenses internally to accommodate split-screen "Google Cardboard" type applications.  Is this headset different off-the-shelf, or did you have to modify it somehow?

  Are you sure? yes | no

roleohibachi wrote 01/05/2021 at 17:02 point

Me too! From the video, 1:30 gives a glimpse inside and shows that it's one big lens, rather than two separate ones. So no 3D effect is possible, but it's much simpler to configure.

  Are you sure? yes | no

jordanbrandes wrote 01/05/2021 at 19:11 point

That's partially why I did it. Getting the 3D effect on a Pi was overly complicated but the large lens allows me to get a great view and still get work done. I watched a full movie on Netflix with the rig and I have to admit i was like being up close at a movie theater.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Kevin Fusselman wrote 01/05/2021 at 20:59 point

Lack of 3D effect is hardly a bad thing, when it comes to just being a "regular PC" er cyberdeck :)  As Jordan points out, it really simplifies the software layer.

Even knowing that such a headset exists, I can't seem to find one on Amazon :(  Maybe will be easier to find than some high res 2" LCDs and an hdmi splitter though :)

  Are you sure? yes | no

jordanbrandes wrote 01/05/2021 at 19:14 point

This worked the way I needed it to out of the box. It's missing the monitor that comes with it so I just put my screen on top of it. The sizing wasn't exact so I used super glue tape to make sure it stayed on. That worked wonders. The only glitch was the original goggles had latches on it but those were easy to cut off.

  Are you sure? yes | no

roleohibachi wrote 01/09/2021 at 01:49 point

Some specs on the Walmart-distributed headset, in case they help you.

Part numbers: 22630, 13056(A, B) in the castings

Brands: Toy State, Nikko. Made in Shenzhen but the company is based in Netherlands.

Keywords from the packaging:

The opening for the display is 60x100mm, but could be dremelled out to about 75x120 without any damage to the case. There would be some distortion from the edges of the lens, but it would work.

Inside is just a simple fresnel lens, rectangular. You can purchase one (sold as a "page magnifier") and build this whole thing yourself.

  Are you sure? yes | no

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