In 2023, it's fair to say that the cyberpunk future promised to us by books like Neuromancer and Snow Crash hasn't exactly come to fruition. The wearable computers like "cyberdecks" or even the wrist-mounted Pip-Boys of the Fallout series seem destined to remain the stuff of science-fiction, at least for now. That is, of course, unless you decide to build them yourself, which is exactly what a small group of DIY enthusiasts have done over the past few years.

There's an entire community of talented builders using tiny computers like the Raspberry Pi to build the cyberpunk setups of their dreams. And while none of them are going to replace your smartphone anytime soon, they're not just idle props, either.

Brendan Charles is a tinkerer and hacker who has experimented with miniature computers like the Raspberry Pi for years now. As a fan of cyberpunk movies and TV of the '80s and '90s, Charles always imagined a different sort of future than the one that's come to pass--glitchy CRTs and homemade hacking kits, not identical iPhones in every pocket.