[SpookyZalost]

I've been working on a concept called a cyberdeck for a while now, it's sort of like a laptop only instead of a screen you have a video display that you wear and it's sorta retro-futuristic, and Cyberpunk.



as of now I have all the parts working, I'm currently looking into a case and maybe a better CPU but here's the current list of parts as of now.

Logitech Solar charged Bluetooth keyboard.

raspberry pi Zero modified with composite out.

MyVu Crystal 701 Video display glasses with composite adaptor cable.

currently it outputs a clear and easy to read terminal at 640X480 resolution, I've used it, and I'm probably going to stick with the Command line for now.

OS: Pixel OS/Raspbian for raspberry pi zero.

once I get the case I have planned for it I may upgrade to a Pi 3 but that's down the road.

already took it to work with me and was able to attach sensors and such to it and receive data on the HMD (Head Mounted Display).

let me know what you think and any ideas anyone has as to where I can go from here.

Pictures of the working unit forthcoming later today when I get off work.

[brian51]

This is an amazing achievement !
I cannot wait to see the pics on this, and get a better idea how all this works ..

[SpookyZalost]

and now for some action shots, will have pictures of the display later.
and by display, I mean what I see on screen because that orange thing over my eyes is the display.

[Guardian]

Looks cool! Keep it up!

[brian51]

yes thanks there

the pics show quite well what this is capable of...

[SpookyZalost]

this is merely a technology test, expect upgrades and mods from here, and I promise very soon I'll have some pictures of the display feed so you guys can see what it looks like.


BTW this is some of the inspiration for what I'd like my long term end result to look like.


if you want to see some of the stuff that's inspired me into this direction, check out the cyberpunk database linked over in the cyberpunk general thread, so much data, oh! and I can totally view the forum on my display in it's current state!

not sure if the chat fully works so I will have to come by later when it's more active to see... but I was able to log into it... I think?

also here's the actual cover art from the book which first featured the science fiction concept I'm working on making into a reality.



notice the device in the guy's left hand as well as the display glasses.

[brian51]

yup, another nice update here Spook..

and your rapidly taking this clear into the future now !!

Good set of pics also.., thanks !

[SpookyZalost]

so minor setback, I've been really thinking this through and I've hit a bit of a snag, not one caused by available technology mind you, but instead one of my own ability.
looking at it further if I really wanted to do what I want right, I'm going to need to learn how to build my own system from scratch, Apple ][ style.
the case should be easy enough to make/get.

so here's where I'm thinking of going from here.

I can take two paths.

Path #1.
use a Pi III and build a working though crude and limited system which does some of what I really want it to.

Path #2.
This one's much harder, I would need to really up my understanding of integrated circuits and programming but it's indeed possible to build something from the ground up.

Furthermore if I can get some kind of DIY board going I may even open source it so others can follow in my footsteps and improve on the basic system I come up with.

for path #2 the direction I"m thinking is some form of ARM cpu, one ideally with the ability to accept external ram.

now most of my knowledge is for troubleshooting X86/X64 pc's so bear with me.

arm CPU's have a built in MMU or Memory management Unit, as do most CPU's these days.
however what I would need would be to have some kind of L4 or L5 cache ability using an external MMU connected to DIMM modules.
this would require a custom BIOS and or chipset software which is a hurdle in and of it's self.

I could still go the intel route but intel makes so little of it's processes available to the average consumer that ARM is an easier path right now.

because of this I'm probably going to go that route if I decide to take path #2.

the motherboard would be fairly simplistic, with a GPIO and Dedicated IO pin set on separate parts of the board.
the dedicated pins would work like most modern desktop motherboards (note, I'm talking about the pins that connect to the front panel and whatnot), and hook up the access ports, mouse/touch pad, and integrated keyboard.

I've also got some idea about GPU, I can take two paths on this, I can either use an ARM chipset with a built in GPU (most come with them these days I believe?) or I can see about integrating some kind of PCI-Express interface with a DIY south bridge of some kind.

suffice to say it's going to take a while.

anyway let me know your thoughts and where I should go from here.
Zalost, Out.

[brian51]

Well as you know I am limited quite a bit on my Tech knowledge here..

But I am sorta old fashioned, in that i like to go the longer more challenging routes in order to end up with the best quality results..Not sure this gives you much input to go on, but the best I can do my friend..

[Darth-Apple]

Did you actually build that from scratch for the prototype! I love the concept! Curious what kind of VR are you using?

What is the purpose of being able to have external RAM?

[SpookyZalost]

Did you actually build that from scratch for the prototype! I love the concept! Curious what kind of VR are you using?

What is the purpose of being able to have external RAM?

well I've been looking to build a new board from scratch because what's on the market is insufficient for my needs, but I do have some ideas for innovation in the process that might make DIY motherboards more accessible to the consumer and not just manufacturers, such as a way to do it solderless.

at the moment I'm running it off a Pi Zero which is insufficient for anything but command line work, I've spent most of the last week studying stuff like DIY arm boards and such.

external ram, well upgrade-ability mostly, if you design your own board, then it stands to reason you can tweak and modify to upgrade indefinitely ya?
though 16gb is good enough for almost anybody who isn't a gamer, and in linux that's overkill. so let's make that a good point to work towards.

as for the CPU... I have a couple ideas, the first is coming up with an ARM processor slot similar to how INTEL and amd and such do their thing, which I'm pretty sure exists? but I'm not 100% on that... the other is a variant of the Compute module raspberry pi came up with, the form factor seems both efficient and easy to setup, with maybe a quad compute module core.
if I were to go with just Pi III compute modules for example and setup 4 of them in tandem along with 16gb of ram and a flash able BIOS dip chip I'd have 12 cores total across 4 cpu's at 1.2ghz per core for a total of 13.6ghz total CPU power, that's actually pretty decent for a portable, with the CPU modules costing about $30 a piece at the moment and setup to go down in price.

I've got a lot of sketches and designs for this and will upload and share as soon as I can get my hands on a scanner.

Compute Module:


Upgradeable Bios chip from back in the day:



anyway that's where I'm at with the design concept, it's still a work in progress but I've a very idea how to get where I want to go, so I'm studying what I need to know to design my own board right now, the case is already designed I just need to have a 3D printer make it.

[brian51]

ya you have several great ideas, plans and options here

its all great stuff really !

[SpookyZalost]

Arigato

[Darth-Apple]

Sounds fun! Are you literally building the entire motherboard from scratch?

[SpookyZalost]

Sounds fun! Are you literally building the entire motherboard from scratch?

I'm actually looking into that yes, though there are tools to ease this a bit, but I can't decide if I want to go with a pi3 compute module or if I want to actually buy an ARM chip and try to build around it.

if I go with the compute module I can actually design a board and have it made though.

[SpookyZalost]

so I'm kind of torn right now, trying to decide between staying with the command line or using the graphical interface I have working with it, both are functional but one is a lot slower than the other.

is anyone here handy enough with the born again shell to give me some great ideas for making the command line even more intuitive?

I've been looking for programs like scripts that can handle the overhead of logging into wifi networks and stuff, simple weather apps, and maybe some kind of ASCII windowing system but that's up in the air and mostly old dos stuff.

also maybe a way to run dosbox from command line as that would be super useful

any ideas you guys have would be great.

Zalost - out

[Guardian]

Powershell a possibility?

[SpookyZalost]

maybe, I've been experimenting with some ideas and If I can customize it a bit I might use this TUI I've found.

It's called TWIN or Texmode WINdow Environemnt and it runs inside terminal interfaces.




maybe I can use it coupled with Screen or something to have multiple desktops but given the glasses interface screen space is at a premium.

still adapting this would mean the most light weight interface, and it's Ncurses based!