The PS-85 is a rugged barebones slate-style portable computer inspired by the Alien universe.
Before I built the PX-88, I tried to modify the awesome Penkesu by Penk Chen to fit a hot-swap keyboard PCB. While I was somewhat successful, I wasn’t happy with the result and it lost the charm of the original. After pivoting to the PX-88, I still had the working guts from my Penkesu experiment - so I decided to design a simple slate-style case around it. You’ll find the parts and wiring are very similar to the Penkesu with a couple of additions.
Features
- Carrying Handle: A sturdy handle for easy transport.
- Exposed GPIO: Access to all GPIO pins for tinkering or addi…
The PS-85 is a rugged barebones slate-style portable computer inspired by the Alien universe.
Before I built the PX-88, I tried to modify the awesome Penkesu by Penk Chen to fit a hot-swap keyboard PCB. While I was somewhat successful, I wasn’t happy with the result and it lost the charm of the original. After pivoting to the PX-88, I still had the working guts from my Penkesu experiment - so I decided to design a simple slate-style case around it. You’ll find the parts and wiring are very similar to the Penkesu with a couple of additions.
Features
- Carrying Handle: A sturdy handle for easy transport.
- Exposed GPIO: Access to all GPIO pins for tinkering or adding your own Bonnets.
- MU/TH/UR LED Matrix: An optional 8x16 LED matrix, just for fun.
- Mechanical Keyboard: A 40% keyboard with hot-swappable switches.
- One Power Connection: A Micro USB port that powers the device and charges the battery.
- Raspberry Pi Zero 2W: Low power and compact.
Caveats
- Lite OS: With a Pi Zero you’re likely going to want to run Raspberry Pi OS Lite and have a command-line only interface.
- No Touch Screen: While the screen supports touch, it requires a separate USB connection. (Doesn’t matter if you’re using the Lite OS anyway.)
- No Hardware Screen Brightness: The HDMI screen doesn’t allow brightness control like a DSI screen.