Keyboard Builders' Digest / Inspiration
OGRE cyberdeck
OGRE is a doomsday or simply field cyberdeck, a knock-off of Jay Doscher's Recover Kit. Shared by rmw156.
Published January 2, 2023
The OGRE (Off-Grid Research Engine) by rmw156 is a knockoff of Jay Doschers Recover Kit.
Published in 2019, the original Recovery Kit is a sturdy cyberdeck with lots of features and the ability to run various useful tasks without Internet connectivity.
This was my first go at a cyber deck. I knew nothing about Linux, wiring switches, calculating amps or what a zim file was. But I got a 3D printer and I get seasonal depression so I wanted a challenge – rmw156.
Keyboard wise it features a 12x4 Plaid ortho, but what's more interesting: It has GPS maps loaded for off grid use (foxtrotgps), kiwix with multiple wikis, and all of the Survivor Library’s PDFs.
This would be a benefit to any doomsday prepper if kept in a Faraday cage (EMP protection from a solar flare or high altitude nuclear attack) but in a normal world it would still be useful for camping. You can use it to identify plants, berries, birds and other animals. It allows you to map waypoints on a map via GPS if you have no cell signal. Teaches you what knots you could use for different applications and a plethora of other helpful tools.
The Ethernet ports, more for the doomsday scenario, would allow people to treat OGRE as a server and connect to its network via networking switch. They could access files and useful PDFs that could be share to separate devices.
There are many charging options. 5v barrel jack, USB in so it can be powered by an external battery bank or wall wart, and it also has an internal battery bank.
The switches are a power saving mechanism. The far left is an On-Off-On switch so in the up position it pulls power from the internal battery but in the down position it pulls from the external power sources. The individual switches are just On-Off switches for the Raspberry Pi, Touch screen and Network switch. So lets say I want to power on the raspberry pi and SSH into it but I don't want to use power on the display or the switch, I could just keep those off, or maybe I want to turn on the pi and the network switch but I don't need the screen on. These physical switches give me power saving options while on battery – rmw156.
Resources
- Full part list in Jay's blog post.
- 3D files on Thingiverse.
- More photos in rmw156's reddit post.
Published on Mon 2nd Jan 2023. Featured in KBD #109 (source).
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