It didn’t take long for the computer industry to settle on something resembling an optimal form factor for portable computing. In the late ‘70s and through the ‘80s, there was a lot of experimentation. We saw huge suitcase-style luggables and svelte (but poorly performing) slab-shaped models like the classic TRS-80 Model 100. But by the ‘90s, the clamshell laptop form factor that we still know and love today began to gain dominance. Now, it is difficult to find a portable computer in any other form factor, which forced Redditor Wolfebaine to build this cyberdeck when he wanted something really, really long.
Length is, of course, a matter of perspective and orientation. Maybe you’d prefer to call this “wide” — or even “tall” if you’re really weird. In any case, this cyberdeck has unusual proportions. There is a handle on the far-left side, a screen to the right of that, a keyboard to the right of that, a Griffin Powermate knob to the right of that, and another handle to the right of that. There is a whole bunch of stuff in one long row, resulting in a fun new shape previously unknown to science.
Despite the meme-inducing shape, Wolfebaine did have some practical applications in mind when they designed this cyberdeck. It is an “off-grid” system meant to provide many of the tools one might want if their country or the entire world were to take a sudden turn south, so Wolfebaine named it “ApocalypseLater.” It has software-defined radio functionality and can act as a server for movies, music, books, wiki-style encyclopedia content, and more. With a 2TB SSD, it can contain a hefty chunk of humanity’s knowledge, assuming that Wolfebaine doesn’t get greedy with the hi-def movie rips.
Wolfebaine built the entire thing around a Raspberry Pi 400, which is a Raspberry Pi single-board computer in an enclosure with a keyboard. The display is a 7” touchscreen and power comes from a USB battery bank. There is an RTL-SDR module and Wolfebaine even included a place to store a Vufine display. That is a HUD (Heads-Up Display) device that can attach to the frame of glasses.
The Griffin Powermate is an interesting device that we don’t often see these days. First released in 2001, it is a (now discontinued) multifunction knob-style input device good for scrolling and such.
All of those components attach to a 3D-printed frame with a color scheme that seems to have been inspired by Iron Man. And it is safe to say that this is one of the most unique cyberdecks we’ve come across.
