Building a Raspberry Pi Cyberdeck with a Custom PCB

For this project, I wanted to build a genuinely useful mini computer — something small enough to carry around, but capable of note-taking, web browsing, watching videos and even a little gaming.

At the heart of the build is a Raspberry Pi 5 paired with a 5-inch touchscreen. One of the biggest challenges, though, was the keyboard. Rather than using another tiny off-the-shelf I²C keyboard, I took apart a TV remote keyboard, mapped its button matrix manually and connected it to an MCP23017 I/O expander. This allowed the entire keyboard to communicate with the Raspberry Pi over just four I²C connections.

Designing a Custom Power PCB

(thank you to PCBWay for sponsoring this project. Check them out at www.pcbway.com) 

I also wanted the cyberdeck to be completely portable, so it needed to run from a single 3.7V LiPo battery. Since the Raspberry Pi requires a 5V supply, I designed my own boost-converter PCB around the Texas Instruments TPS61088.

After working out the supporting components using TI’s WEBENCH Power Designer, I created the schematic and PCB in KiCad and sent the finished Gerber files to PCBWay, who sponsored the project and manufactured the boards.

The ordering process was straightforward: upload the Gerber files, choose the manufacturing options and place the order. The finished boards came back looking extremely clean and gave me the opportunity to incorporate a genuinely custom piece of electronics into the build. PCBWay also offers services beyond PCB manufacturing, including 3D printing, CNC machining, sheet-metal fabrication and injection moulding.

My first revision of the power board ultimately ran hotter than expected, so it didn’t make it into the final version of the cyberdeck — but that was arguably one of the most useful parts of the project. Designing the PCB, having it professionally manufactured by PCBWay and then testing it in a real application gave me a much better understanding of what I need to improve in the next revision.

The finished cyberdeck combines the Raspberry Pi 5, touchscreen, converted keyboard, battery power and a completely custom 3D-printed enclosure into one compact handheld computer — and there are already plenty of things I’d change for version two.