cyberdeck project

journal sort of deal of trying to learn linux by making a sort-of cyberdeck. to be so real, it will initially mostly be used to update this website and not much else, but i love a good project that i can fiddle with for months. we'll see if it wows me enough to abandon windows for good on my desktop as well.

the victim

a 2018 lenovo thinkpad yoga 11e 5th gen. originally i wanted to go with a crusty old netbook for multiple reasons (price, vibes, pretty much trash, etc.), but decided against it. at some point, i considered a vaio p, but they are unfortunately very collectible and have terrible specs to boot.
i ended up at the lenovo because i love creature comforts like usb-c charging, a touchscreen, usable amounts of ram, decent wifi connectivity, not extremely outdated and obscure hardware to try and resucitate on linux and so on. the nondescript black slab vibe is also very close to my heart, and i have a few good ideas for stickers to make and put on it.

this bad boy was purchased from a hardware recycling company, i go to them for all my dumb old hardware needs. they have been my trusted dealers of weird ass cables and pc add-on cards for many years.

the specs

if the recyclers are to be believed, the specs are the following:

11" screen
intel i5-7y54u
8 gbs of ram
256 gb nvme ssd
1366x768px touchscreen

if i can pull this off, i'm so willing to get a little 8 inch microlaptop thing to fuck around with, but as a first go at this, a geriatric netbook for a tenth of the price is gonna have to do. i looked at all sorts of these mini laptops and even the cheapest ones are expensive enough to make my asshole clench. so ideally, i get to know the basics first, and then i can have the nice things.

goals

i don't expect this to fully take over my daily computer usage, unless i can find a way to beef up the battery so i only have to charge it overnight with it being turned on and on wifi/hotspots the whole day, with about 6 hours of actual usage with the screen on and all. all battery specs i could find were for local video playback (12h) but the internet usage will definitely trim that, let alone the age of this thing. we'll see what aliexpress has to offer on this front, but i don't expect miracles.

what i really want is a little thing to use on the tram while commuting to work and back home. right now this time is taken up by doing things on my phone, but i really want to reduce phone time, and use those two hours to get good at something. the two chosen sometings are html and arch, and if i need to chuck a hundred euros at the problem i will.

the size and new os were pretty much a given. i already have to lug a 14 inch HP latitude with me when i'm going to work, so anything bigger and heavier than this tiny idiot wouldn't have worked. the obsolete form factor also pretty much presupposed the usage of some sort of linux, but with a qualified arch wizard in my corner (my actual best friend), arch was a pretty easy choice. i don't expect this to be easy, i want it to be kinda stupid and difficult and very customized for what i want.

i also hope that this will force me to actually finally set up a small file server, so i can stream the crap i have on my desktop to this little netbook and all my other devices. what good is 800 gigs of movies if you gotta sit in your chair to watch them? i'm a passionate lounger by nature, what can i say.

i might also make a 3d printed case for this eventually. i'll have to see how this goes, and then get really decent at 3d modelling, but i do have a friend with a printer who is willing to print me stuff for cheap. the thing with this is that it will be less durable than the oem shell and definitely more bulky despite that, but it's a thing to keep in mind

my philosophy on this re: the current uptick in cyberdeck building

if anyone i fully understand the need to build a little gadget, however, i do draw the line at building a little gadget for a bunch of money and then having it next to a fancy desktop to look nice. i want mine to be useful and convenient to carry around.

i fully get the aesthetic drive too, tho. hell, the main reason i'm doing this is the aesthetic of using a goober idiot like this on the tram, the damned thing is slower, heavier and probably worse than my macbook in all aspects. i just disagree with the current design of these new wave cyberdecks, and i think there is an argument to be made about the trend aspect of it as well. i hope the people making them are not just setting them on a shelf to then throw away a couple months later when the hype dies and they realize the form factor makes them useless in everyday life. to me, the ones i see online are way too clunky to be useful. i know i could make some similarly freaky stuff very simply, but i'm actively choosing a version that i will actually use. it will not look as cool, it has no chance of looking as nice or as custom on the outside, but i can put all that effort into making the software look and feel the way i want it to, and into actually using it as a daily driver goober idiot.

tldr is: do whatever you want b, just don't make landfill

to do list

get the goddamn thing (hasn't shipped yet)
clean the device physically
scrub the software clean and install linux
fuck around with linux and try to make a custom gui
while on the previous step, try to make all the hardware features work (touchscreen, pen, foldover tablet conversion thing, yknow the works)
while doing everything else: decorate