One thing that has consistently bothered me about cyberdecks is usability. I have typically viewed them as an art form; cool looking, minimally functional things.  I know there are exceptions to this of course.  I wanted to make something weird that was as functional as possible.  I wanted ergonomics, and I didn't want a tiny little screen.  I wanted to be able to use it while lounging comfortably on the couch, and I wanted it to have more capability than a laptop.  Also, I want to be able to upgrade parts or swap them out at will; I don't want everything soldered into a tight fitting case that can only accommodate the exact combination of parts that the project started with.

Stuff I had lying around unused:

I originally envisioned attaching all of this to a jacket, but found the idea of having to always wear the hardware encumbering especially in the southern heat of a Savannah summer.  Also every time I mocked it up, the process of putting it on and taking it off was comically awkward and clanky.  I remembered a nice backpack I used to commute with in The Days Before which had been collecting dust in the closet for over 2 years.  This could work!

Also I have developed a new interest: a deeper understanding of wifi, and control of my own home network even if my teenage kids become hackers.

How can I combine all of the above into a cyberdeck? After some research into a VR solution using an application called `Immersed` on the Quest 2, I found that a) it doesn't run on an rPi, and b) a windows PC runs the software a lot better than a linux machine so I decided to buy:

I stuffed everything into the backpack in what I thought would be logical places, and cut some holes within the backpack to internalize some wiring.  Purchased some specific cables to improve wiring efficiency and some AC plugs that would actually fit in the backpack ... which still had to be whittled down a little to fit (that's safe right?).

Fun details:

Here it is in full portable mode:

The quest 2 just about fits inside.  I have a very comfortable halo head strap that is also pretty bulky.  I could definitely find something collapsible that would fit inside the pack completely.  Thinkin' about it.

One neat detail: the pack was designed for cyclists, and has a feature on the back designed to secure a helmet to when not in use.  I designed a slot in the terminal that affixes to this feature for carrying.  It's a little sketchy since the terminal is heavy, but it works.  Here's a detail of that:

I did have a crash a couple years ago while wearing this bag in its previous life as just a bag.  This scraped a hole in the side pocket, but gives a nice war torn location for the onboard wifi 6 / gigabit ethernet router.  Also behind the router is a hole in the bag I cut to view the battery charge percentage:

I am not smart enough to design and build a battery pack with in built power supplies designed for each of these components, so I've just used the stock ones plugged into the AC ports of the giant battery in the bottom of the bag.  It gets warm in there, especially when I plug the battery in to charge it while running everything, including charging the quest 2 (which is a hog).  Cooling was required, and I essentially leave the main compartment of the bag open when in use to maximize air flow.

I love toggle switches, so I had to build some into the pack.  I love the way they look and feel.  Functionally, they supply power to:

I like the bolt on look of this, as well as for the umbilical connection on the pack:

I had a tough time figuring out a good place to put the Pi.  At first it was just crammed in the mesh pocket with the PC, but that was a little awkward.  After some hemming and hawing I remembered I had a little shoulder strap pouch thing from another bag that I never used, which fit the SATA drive I wanted to run Kali off of perfectly.  I 3D printed a little bracket to secure the Pi to the outside of the pouch, and gave it a new home on the shoulder strap.

The Antennae for the Pi's wifi module and the Pineapple's 5ghz module attach to a series of rp-sma connectors I affixed to the shoulders of the bag via some 3D printed scaffolded backing within the skin of the bag.  Also a little status LED glows up here when the PC is on, just for fun.

The antennae themselves go in this little pocket up top that seems perfectly made to hold a pile of antennae.

One thing I'm weirdly proud of is the super useless skill I developed while building this thing: twisting sets of cables into a nice cable rope. The umbilical is 3 x 8 foot cables (2 usb and one hdmi) which after twisting is about 6 feet long.  Fun.

At a local used art supply store I found this awesome bright pink faux leather lacing.  I decided to use it everywhere, and color coordinate all the LEDs on the build with it.  Also seen in the wrapping is a wax lace of some sort.  I dunno it seemed to fit.

Finally, here's the thing in all its glory, spiky and ready to hack stuff.

Here's an image with the lights off because moody is rad:

Coming soon will be footage of what it looks like to use the Immersed application in VR.  It's pretty rad.