We've seen our fair share of Raspberry Pi cyberdecks over the years but nothing beats the appeal of a nice Pelican case. Today we've got a great example to share of just such a build created by maker and developer Jake Simek. He's using a Raspberry Pi 4 as the main board and has dubbed his build the Pelican Deck.
According to Simek, this was his first attempt at ever building a cyberdeck. He wanted to create an all-in-one device capable of supporting BadUSB scripts and whatever else he felt like throwing at it. It needed to be portable, durable and offer plenty of compatibility with different interfaces like USB ports, an HDMI output and even Ethernet connections.
Although he's mostly completed the project, there are plans in the works to tweak a few things here and there. For example, Simek would like to add a trackpad which would make it easier to use than requiring a separate mouse. He also intends to put together a comprehensive build guide for anyone that wants to recreate it at home along with schematics of the electronics inside.
The case he chose to use is a Pelican 1150 which is completely waterproof. The Raspberry Pi 4 is the 4GB model and it's connected to a 7-inch display. A couple of 18mm fans and a 30mm fan cool the unit but he hasn't tested the temperature output when the unit is closed. A switch is included that cuts power to the screen when the lid is closed. All of the hardware is mounted using 3D printed components that Simek designed himself using Fusion 360. You could easily print the components on the best sub $250 3D printers.
The cool thing about projects like this is that you can run pretty much any OS you want. Simek has opted to install Kali Linux but you could install Raspberry Pi OS or even make it a dedicated gaming rig with something like RetroPie. You can get a closer look at the build process in greater detail over at GitHub.
If you want to learn more about this Raspberry Pi project, you can read more over at Reddit where he's shared tons of cool pictures and details about its assembly.
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Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.
