Discussion

Random musings: 80s hardware, cyberdecks

SauntSolaire: Reminds me of when I visited Huaqiangbei for the first time in 2024. I had a vision of a cyberpunk tech market full of unique hand-soldered gizmos and gadgets, and was very disappointed when I realized every stall sold the same knockoff airpods, electric air blowers, and discount drones. I would have been ecstatic to stumble upon some underground cyberdeck shop there, but alas, just worse quality versions of the same things you could find at Best Buy.

113: I first encountered cyberdecks a while ago and thought they were a fun idea for hacking about but more recently I've started seeing videos of beginners making them by cramming raspberry pis into random cases salvaged from second hand shops.It's been really cool to see people creating hardware without worrying about the usual limitations of soldering or 3d printing. Some have more technical ability than others and have salvaged screens or other bits from random electronics.It feels like a rediscovery of hacker ethos without the slightly toxic baggage of maker culture.

SauntSolaire: I like the look of them, but have never understood what people actually use them for.