Hobbyist xenomorphs Raspberry Pi into Alien-themed DIY laptop
Everything you need to build the PS-85 is available from its designer's website, even if you can't get to space
We've all been there: You're doing maintenance on a Weyland-Yutani hauler dragging mineral ore back toward Earth, and there’s no terminal handy to tap into the MU/TH/UR AI to check ship systems. Lucky for you, one enterprising maker has created just the machine for the job.
Okay, maybe the megacorporations, starships, androids, and hostile xenomorphs of the Alien film franchise aren't real, but the aesthetic popularized by the 1979 film and its successors has captivated plenty of people, including Jeff Merrick, who has a passion for building his own "cyberdecks," custom-designed computers that often mimic cyberpunk and retro sci-fi aesthetics.
The 1970s retro future aesthetic is perfect for an Alien porta-terminal build, which is where the PS-85 comes in.
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Built as a “rugged barebones slate-style portable computer inspired by the Alien universe,” Merrick’s Typeframe PS-85 packs in a small LCD display, a 40% mechanical keyboard with hot-swappable switches, and a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W - a low-power board with 512 MB of RAM - meaning it can't do too much, but it'll sure look cool doing it.
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"With a Pi Zero you're likely going to want to run Raspberry Pi OS Lite and have a command-line only interface," Merrick wrote on his PS-85 build page, where you can find instructions, 3D print files, and everything you need to build your own.
For those wondering about getting some more useful keycaps for yours, Merrick told us that any MX-compatible keycaps will work for the design if you want to forego all the Alien aesthetic for something a bit more useful.
Merrick doesn't just take his look from retro science fiction, either: He's also a lover of retro computing, as seen in the PX-88, which was the predecessor to his newer PS-85 design. Based on the 1985 Epson PX-4, Merrick's PX-88 was a gift for his wife, who wanted a bare-bones cyberdeck for writing.
"I built the PX-88 first and it took a few months of working on it in my free time," Merrick told The Register in an email. "There was quite a bit of trial and error with learning CAD software and just figuring out how everything could fit together."
The PS-85 went considerably quicker, Merrick told us. Whichever one you're interested in building, you're going to have to do it on your own - Merrick has no plans to sell completed units.
"I open-sourced the full plans and files so folks could build their own, and a few people have," Merrick told us, before giving advice that everyone who's monetized a hobby would likely give him. "I plan to keep it solidly as a hobby rather than a business, it's more fun that way." ®