“Two years ago, I quickly discovered that using a laptop on the train was pretty uncomfortable when I started a new job that was 1.5 hours away. Either the screen was fully open but the laptop was jammed into my stomach, or I could type comfortably but the screen was half shut. I decided the best solution to this inconvenience was to build my own portable computer from scratch. I call the final product the Commute Deck. The Commute Deck is designed to provide a productive computing experience for UNIX terminal work in tight places, like the train or an economy seat on an airplane. It can be carried by hand or hooked onto a bag. It is robust enough to be jostled, and sealed so it can be carried outside in uncontrolled conditions. The mechanical keyboard is comfortable to type on (in width and layout), and the battery life is sufficient for a cross country flight or a full day at a conference. The theme of this build is to identify the problem you want to solve, then solve that problem. Seems like a tautology, but I find it’s easy to waste time solving problems that don’t really matter. There are a number of areas where I traded elegance for off the shelf components to reduce complexity, cost, and time to completion.”