Cyberdeck

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A cyberdeck is the portable, personal computer of the future, used to jack in to the Matrix. Most that are designed to interface with a datajack are about the size and shape of a computer keyboard, but come in a limitless array of styles. Others are more primitive Virtual Reality setups or (rarely nowadays) sensory deprivation tanks.

Popular Cyberdeck Models

RS-T VR1 "Matrix-Master"

More a collection of connected objects than a single unit, this Matrix interface system consists of a vast, bulky headset, a processor/drive unit, a pair of gloves that bristle with circuitry, and a slew of intertwined cables that connect the lot. The serial number and bar code on the side of the processor unit suggest that this model was manufactured shortly after the fall.

Stimulus "Series II"

The original transparent-chassis cyberdeck, the Stimulus "Series II" is roughly the size of a briefcase, and its interior is almost overflowing with circuitry. Huge RAM banks, leagues of visible circuitry, and a hypnotizing array of internal LEDs and readouts provide instantaneous feedback on the machine's condition. Bulky, barely portable and dated to the late 2010s, the machine is nevertheless very sturdy, and reknown for its reliability.

FPI "Pixellia"

This plastic, electric-yellow box with rounded corners and large, simplistically labelled interfaces seems to have been made with a child in mind. Roughly the same dimensions as a trade paperback, its cover has been adorned with a number of bright and cartoonish stickers, depicting smiling robots and easily-legible datapaths. A single neural interface plug, surrounded by concentric rings reminiscent of an archery target, encompasses the entire face of the deck.

Sjeffor Workshop "Personal"

Navy-blue fiberglass encases this miniature cyberdeck, no larger in breadth than a pack of cigarettes. A few lines of Finnish scroll out in an artful italic along the base of the chassis, but no other features adorn the surface of the deck besides the neural jack at its crown. A tiny flap on the bottom of the deck can be removed to replace its lithium power-core.

Stimulus "Series III"

A large white plastic box, about one foot by one foot, upon which the logo of Stimulus Cybersystems has been stamped. Instructions for the operation of the cyberdeck within have been pasted to the exterior of the box, along with a friendly message that warns the user: SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.

DURA "Free-form"

An odd conglomerate of structural and computational components, this VR station is constituted of a human-sized gyroscopic mount that the user must enter, with gloves and a helmet mounted onto its strata at the appropriate locations. A large tower-box console rests next to the rig, trailing wires into the adjacent rings of plastic circular piping. The letters 'DURA' have been stenciled onto nearly every available space on the components, but the makers went to no further trouble to identify themselves.

Volshebnik "Troika"

Four white plastic cylinders, each the size of a coffee cup and all joined by a lattice of thin blue wires, constitute this cyberdeck. The entire apparatus seems only precariously operable; even the cylinders themselves squeak and flex when handled, as if jarring the deck might seriously damage it. One of the cups has an incongruous steel port embedded in its side that can connect to a standard datajack.

MSL "Focus"

This eight-inch by eight-inch glossy black cube rests on stubby stilts, with three auxiliary wires and a stunted antenna emerging from its underbelly. The logo of Madrigal Sensory Laboratories, emblazoned in gold electroplate, covers the topmost surface of the box. A registration panel and status readout screens are visible beneath the shaded glass of one of the faces.

Tanizaki "Phoenix"

Roughly the same size and shape as a thick frisbee, the "Phoenix" is anomalously constructed, even for a cyberdeck. A single plug for a neural jack rests in the exact center of the device, surrounded by a few rings of kanji script. The chasis itself is unfinished steel, rimmed by a thick strip of shock-resistant black plastic. The deck-statistics and a few status readouts are displayed on the underside of the device.

MSL "Prism" '24

Sleek, black, and boxy, this cyberdeck is housed in a grooved black chassis constructed of some sort of steel alloy. The exterior of the device is practically featureless; only a datajack port and the Madrigal Sensory Laboratories logo are visible on its exterior. When a neural feed with the deck is established, however, a flap on the surface of the deck opens, revealing an attractive display of various connection statistics.

Contraban "Hearse"

A large model car, more than a foot long, that certainly appears to be a landbound hearse. The front of the automobile has a typical Cadillac grill and light array (down to the ornament), but when the hood is lifted, it reveals a datajack port. The back of the car has white curtained windows, and even a miniature coffin inside (which contains, when wheeled out, dual chipslots). Only the underside of the car bears the familiar skull-and-crossed-wires logo of Contraban Ltd.

Sjeffor Workshop "Journeyman"

This long, flat deck cyberdeck is, oddly enough, cushioned. Roughly four feet in width and only three inches in depth, the deck is designed for installation into a vehicle (most like an Aerodyne); vehicle rig wires and an adapter to a locomotive power source are situated along the bottom of the deck, in order to make its integration into the floorboard circuitry of an industrial vehicle convenient. The cushioning both guards the deck from shock and suspension damage and provides seating for up to three passengers, all of whom can jack in simultaneously.

RA Mint I-22

Roughly the same size as a tie-box, this Realities Amalgamated construction is housed in a chrome chassis, on the surface of which is embossed a holographic RA logo. Two chipslots are available on the front of the device, both sessions of which can execute in simultaneously parallel. A tiny label affixed to the back of the device reminds the user that this deck is the property of the Corporation, and is not for public use or sale.

Mainframe and Industrial Cyberdecks

CraySys "Metropolis"

The only sign that the building you are standing in has been equipped with a CraySys "Metropolis" is the innocuous-looking chrome panel situated on one of the walls. A simple numeric keypad (with a thumbprint scanner) adorns the face of the pad, beside a small array of datajacks. The true 'meat' of the computer is completely concealed in the surrounding walls and the superstructure of the building.

Astrix Consensual WG Server

Emerging from one of the walls in the room is a console-unit the size of several large refrigerators. Reclining seats, seemingly built into the mechanism itself, are oriented around maintenance readouts and arrays of neural jacks that have been engineered to produce virtually any known form of I/O. From the top of the console-unit, clusters of thick plastic pipes recede into the ceiling, suggestion that the unit may be more massive still than this mere segment suggests.

Miscellaneous

Internal Cyberdeck

Rare, but not unheard of, it's possible to have a cyberdeck cybernetically implanted.