Building a cool, Cyberdeck, based on a Raspberry Pi 5 and using a Waveshare 6.25″ LCD touch screen, to use as a portable writing computer, that will run off of a power bank.
You know me, a wannabe ‘techie’ just dying to try the latest gadgets & electronic gizmos.. a bit like the hero character in my series of Adventure novels – Price: World, Price: Polestarr & the latest Price: Dark Crater, with book 4 well underway (due Spring 2027).
There’s hundreds of videos, self-help tutorials etc dotted around the web, Google, Youtube & TikTok etc. but like all videos, they often gloss over one detail or another, that’s really critical to the build, and seemingly impossible to work around, especially when you’re ambition is greater than your computer prowess.
Still, thank goodness, that doesn’t stop us trying.
I’m posting some video ‘shorts’ to the Price: World Youtube channel and hopefully they’ll answer some of the more unusual questions or at least give you a visual clue as to how to get around a certain problem.
Like Dr Adam Price’s AI in my novels, I wanted my own version of A.M.I.e (Advanced Machine Intelligence experiment).
So let’s jump write in to how I built my very own Cyberdeck, using a Raspberry Pi 5 computer.
List of parts for the essential build of Cyberdeck + Sense Hat display:
Raspberry Pi 5: (note the Pi 4 is recommened for these builds because of its lower power consumption, however I had a 5 so I used it!).
The Screen: It depends what you’re using your Cyberdeck for. For me, it’s writing the Price: World novels when I’m out & about, wanting an independent writing PC that would run off of a power bank. (I know there are plenty of note / dictation gadgets – even your mobile phone, but I wanted to build a Cyberdeck). So resolution was very important to me and I opted for the Waveshare 6.25″ LCD touch-screen, which for Raspberry Pi 5, uses a ribbon cable connector and takes it’s power from the first 4 GPIO pins, by means of sprung mounted pins that connect when the Raspberry Pi is mounted to the back of the screen. A power cable / connector is also provided if you’re mounting them seperately.
Case: I used the perspex layers from a Raspberry Pi case, to provide a safety cover at the rear of the Raspberry Pi and something for the Velcro / magnetic mounting to fix to.
Stand: I wanted something that would fit with my ‘bare bones’ aesthetic of the build with, as C3-PO would say, ‘all the parts showing’. I chose the double extending boom armed Cooper 360 degree stand. It has a solid metal base, a nice clicking action to the main arm swivel and friction joints at the elbow and the face plate/holder.
Additional Pieces:
Raspberry Pi Sense Hat V2 – to provide some fun and additional information to anyone looking at the rear of the screen. Currently I’ve programmed a clock / weather display with occasional animated R2-D2 & C3-PO characters.. just a bit of fun.. what would you display? Chapter title you’re writing perhaps?
40 strand male to female ribbon cable: I’d intended to use the GPIO extension ribbon cable but with the brass spacer screws attaching the screen to the Rasperry Pi, there isn’t enough clearance to fit any kind of HAT extension.
After a lot of research, I hit upon the idea to use the 40 strand ribbon connector with individual male & female pin connectors. Warning – you’ve got to get the pin to pin connection absolute right or you risk damaging both components when powered up.
Its quite easy if you lay the Sense Hat on top of the Pi first ( as it would plug in directly), then flip the Sense Hat over 180 degrees so the two connectors are side by side. If you imagine you’re then looking at the fold gutter of pages of a book, connect the two inner pins (nearest the fold first) then the the two outer pins (furthest from the fold).
Check frequently you haven’t skipped a pin and go slowly and carefully to avoid cross-wiring.
Once you’re happy the connections are all correct, power up the Cyberdeck and check the Sense Hat is also working.
That’s all for now. I’ll be back with more adventures in Cyberdeck building for indie authors, using the versatile Raspberry Pi 5 computer soon.
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