S
hould the world ever be plunged into an
apocalypse, then Jay Doscher should do
just fine. He’s created a rugged-looking
laptop using a Raspberry Pi 4 computer and placed
it within a small, air- and watertight Pelican case.
Aimed at getting technology up and running in the
event of a disaster, it should see him through the
most testing of times.
“Most people prioritise food and shelter in the
event of a disaster, but what do you do when those
are resolved – how do you get technology working
again?” he asks. “The apocalypse is more of a
thought exercise for me, but I’ve certainly created
a very useful computer that is much easier to work
on or modify than a regular laptop.”Past lessons
Jay has been here before. In 2015, he popped a
Raspberry Pi 2 into a weather-resistant enclosure
and created the Raspberry Pi Field Unit that could
run off a 12 V or higher power source, in this case a
solar panel. Perfect for outdoor use, it also utilised
an Adafruit real-time clock to retain accuracy
when off the network. But it was far from perfect.
“The Raspberry Pi Recovery Kit is an evolution
of that previous build,” he says. “Although each
has different goals, I wanted a Raspberry Pi setupJay Doscher’s tough cyberdeck could see you through
the most testing of times. David Crookes logs on
Raspberry Pi
Recovery Kit
Jay
DoscherJay is an IT
professional
and technology
enthusiast based in
the San Diego area.
He likes to focus
on open-source
projects. He’s on
Twitter (@back7co)
and Instagram
(@back7.co).
back7.coMAKERthat could be rugged and work in a more hostile
environment. I also wanted a system that could
serve more than one purpose, since the Raspberry
Pi platform is so flexible.”
One of the first issues he looked to address was
the original lack of a keyboard. This time around,
he bought a Plaid keyboard kit and, to his delight,
noted that it was a perfect fit for his Pelican 1300
case. Jay also chose to use the official 7-inch
Raspberry Pi touchscreen. This did away with the
need for a mouse, while freeing up a much-needed
USB port on Raspberry Pi 4.
With attention paid to tight wiring and realising
that he could get away with powering the unit using
5 V, thereby reducing the need for 12 V circuitry,
it wasn’t long before the project began coming
together. “A Raspberry Pi computer is perfect for
this project because it’s small, flexible on GPIO, andThe Netgear switch
to the left is securely
held in place, while
Raspberry Pi is
mounted on the rear
of the touchscreenThe project uses a compact, smart ortholinear keyboard- that is, one which aligns every key to a strict grid rather
than have a staggered key layout
A Raspberry Pi 7-inch
touchscreen display sits neatly
in a self-contained compartment
that fits the components and can
be pulled from the Pelican case20 magpi.cc Raspberry Pi Recovery Kit
PROJECT SHOWCASE