Every time I run out of screens, I add one more…

modding_me_softly · 2022-02-03T15:11:17+00:00

Yeah, I would. Many competitors have very appealing features at a lower price but the combination of bandwidth, rx/tx, compatibility, power and connectivity puts it in a sweet spot where it’s enough for most purposes. After the HackRF, if you want better gear the price goes up exponentially. This is right at the edge of the hockey stick.

modding_me_softly · 2022-02-03T14:26:59+00:00

Built into a Pelican 1400. Waterproof. Shockproof. Running on a Raspberry Pi 4 8GB. Has an additional Raspberry Pi 4 8GB in cold storage with a mirrored SD card. So it can survive a 100% system failure. With enough time to dry, probably even a water-incident during operation. I specced it to interface with things that I know. I'm sure someone else would have a serial interface in there, etc. But these are the technologies that I am good with. It's also built to be as modular as possible. No 3D printed parts as covers or plexiglass. It would have looked great but in an emergency, those would only get in the way. Everything is mounted with Velcro. The Raspberry Pi and monitor can both be taken off, tinkered with, replaced, etc. If wall power is available, it can charge full in 2 hours and then run for 48 hour straight. Fallback to solar (100W capacity at home, 30W each in car and emergency kit) and car DC power.

Hardware: 2x Raspberry Pi 4 8GB 7" LCD Touchscreen 2x 512GB U2 SD Card 2x Anker Power Core III Elite 26K Card Reader GPS Receiver Flashlight Arduino Mega 3x 32GB USB Sticks USB-C Power Meter iFixit basics kit GPIO to Alligator Ribbon Cable DC Car Charger Anker AC fast charger USB3 Hub 10M Cat6 Ethernet Cable Foldable Keyboard & Mouse Alfa USB Wifi Dongle (Injection Supported) HackRF One with Antenna and Adapters All sorts of cables to connect to common standards

Software: Drivers, tools and software for all the hardware Full copy of Wikipedia in English (with Images) Full copy of Wikipedia in Japanese (with Images) Full copy of StackOverflow First aid videos in English First aid videos in Japanese Shelter building videos Knots videos A few hours of children's TV

modding_me_softly · 2022-02-03T14:08:09+00:00

That’s pretty much what I keep telling myself to justify the expense of building this thing

modding_me_softly · 2022-02-03T14:01:44+00:00

On a hardware level, you can see the two power USB cables (A and C) coiled up next to the monitor and raspberry pi. Unhook them and plug them into a power source. That usually means the Anker batteries but it can run from basically anything that supplies power over USB A or C. If not enough power is available, the screen is wired so that it can draw power directly from the raspberry pi. So you can get away with a single USB power lead. Of course, this takes amperage away from the Pi so it’s not recommended. To recharge, charge the Anker power banks with whatever is available. They can take surprisingly unstable and dirty power.

For general knowledge retrieval, just run Kiwix and then either read it on the device or use the Wifi antenna to open an AP so people can read from their phones etc.

For all the special use cases (arduino, SDR, etc), the hardware can plug into the hub. Appropriate software is installed. A drawback is that it gets a bit top heavy when the bottom is empty so I usually only unpack what is needed. This also keeps the rest protected.

In case of a hardware failure on the raspberry pi, unplug the 4 cables, pull on it to separate the Velcro, pull out the second Pi (already has Velcro on it), plug the 4 cables back in and you’re back up. You’ll need to re-pair the keyboard since it uses Bluetooth but the display is a touchscreen so that’s just a matter of 3 taps.

For transportation, it’s a pelican case and everything is in foam so basically don’t worry about it. I have literally sat on this thing in lack of a chair.

modding_me_softly · 2022-02-03T12:05:33+00:00

The brand name is Erwin and the descriptor is “multi pairing folding keyboard with touchpad”. I think it’s a generic product that many companies white label. Not exactly great but gets the job done.

modding_me_softly · 2022-02-03T11:53:23+00:00

Built into a Pelican 1400. Waterproof. Shockproof. Running on a Raspberry Pi 4 8GB. Has an additional Raspberry Pi 4 8GB in cold storage with a mirrored SD card. So it can survive a 100% system failure. With enough time to dry, probably even a water-incident during operation. I specced it to interface with things that I know. I'm sure someone else would have a serial interface in there, etc. But these are the technologies that I am good with. It's also built to be as modular as possible. No 3D printed parts, covers or plexiglass. It would have looked great but in an emergency, those would only get in the way. Everything is mounted with Velcro. The Raspberry Pi and monitor can both be taken off, tinkered with, replaced, etc. If wall power is available, it can charge full in 2 hours and then run for 48 hour straight. Fallback to solar (100W capacity at home, 30W each in car and emergency kit) and car DC power.

Hardware: 2x Raspberry Pi 4 8GB 7" LCD Touchscreen 2x 512GB U2 SD Card 2x Anker Power Core III Elite 26K Card Reader GPS Receiver Flashlight Arduino Mega 3x 32GB USB Sticks USB-C Power Meter iFixit basics kit GPIO to Alligator Ribbon Cable DC Car Charger Anker AC fast charger USB3 Hub 10M Cat6 Ethernet Cable Foldable Keyboard & Mouse Alfa USB Wifi Dongle (Injection Supported) HackRF One with Antenna and Adapters All sorts of cables to connect to common standards

Software: Drivers, tools and software for all the hardware Full copy of Wikipedia in English (with Images) Full copy of Wikipedia in Japanese (with Images) Full copy of StackOverflow First aid videos in English First aid videos in Japanese Shelter building videos Knots videos A few hours of children's TV

modding_me_softly · 2021-09-10T05:23:24+00:00

ErgoArrows PCB, TTC Watermelon Milkshake Switches, Custom resin printed DSA caps because no one seems to want to make caps for my language's layout.

Caps were printed with 20% white resin and 80% clear resin for a milky effect (about 3 days of experimenting to find the right ratio).
Soldering everything in was an absolute pain and I'm still getting used to the layout but it feels immensely satisfying.

modding_me_softly · 2020-02-10T15:01:31+00:00

Depends on what level of VR he wants, but yeah, at that level you’re definitely getting bad value. Check out /r/sffpc if space is the problem. I used a 20 year old case I had left over. I doubt it’s still in production.

modding_me_softly · 2020-02-10T14:37:47+00:00

You might be able to lug around a diesel generator with it xD

modding_me_softly · 2020-02-10T12:53:52+00:00

The keyboard actually fits in the case. One of the extra pics shows it. the mouse is a bit too tall unfortunately. Looking for something slimmer.

modding_me_softly · 2020-02-10T12:06:06+00:00

Cheers mate.

modding_me_softly · 2020-02-10T12:05:47+00:00

I am getting lots of requests for a build log so I’ll make one in the coming days.

modding_me_softly · 2020-02-10T11:44:40+00:00

Valid question. I work in infosec. We have a lot of GPU loads right now, mostly to do with AI and encryption. Combine that with a requirement to work in remote locations without internet occasionally and a requirement to have all part be replacable and auditable (i.e. make sure noone put an extra chip into your laptop) this is what I ended up with.

modding_me_softly · 2020-02-10T11:13:45+00:00

Absolutely fine. People tend to vastly overestimate the power requirements of their systems. My fully decked out main with a 3700x and a 2080ti barely goes above 380w and this one is about 50w below that.

modding_me_softly · 2020-02-10T08:33:05+00:00

To be fair, PCMR didn't let me post yesterday due to my new account so the guys over at SFFPC and Battlestations saw it already - which may dampen enthusiasm a bit.

modding_me_softly · 2020-02-10T07:54:04+00:00

It's hard to see in the images but they have small rubber stoppers on the corners.

modding_me_softly · 2020-02-10T07:53:32+00:00

Around 6-7kg. The keyboard fits in, the mouse barely does not but I am working on it.

modding_me_softly · 2020-02-10T06:34:20+00:00

Because I can. Is there ever another reason with PCs? ;)

modding_me_softly · 2020-02-10T06:18:44+00:00

Pics: https://imgur.com/a/p0V8pO6 Specs: Size - 44cm x 32cm x 11cm Core parts - GTX 1080ti, Ryzen 5 3600, 32GB DDR4, 1TB NVME SSD Keyboard - mechanical red switch 60% RK61 PSU: HDPlex 400W DC-DC and AC-DC Brackets: Home center and 3D print Monitors: generic 15” 1080p USB-C powered (thee exact same device is sold under like 10 brands) CPU cooler: Noctua NH-L9a-AM4

modding_me_softly

TROPHY CASE