QAZ Is an Ultraportable Cyberdeck with a 35% Keyboard

Keyboards come in many different layouts and most of the more unusual layouts you might come across were developed to save space. But there is a bottom limit to the number of keys a keyboard can have — at least if you want a dedicated key for the full range of alphanumeric characters. If you’re willing to sacrifice that, there is no bottom limit. Tominabox1’s _33-Keyboard manages with a mere 33 keys, which isn’t even enough to cover every English letter and Arabic numeral — much less punctuation and common functions. That made it the perfect layout for Greg Leo’s ultraportable QAZ Personal Terminal cyberdeck.

The QAZ Personal Terminal is just about as small as a cyberdeck can get while still using full-size key caps and key switches. Smaller cyberdecks exist, but they must resort to smaller keys. That size is possible thanks to the 33-key keyboard, an ultra-wide aspect ratio display, and an enclosure that is only slightly larger than the keyboard and display. The 33-key keyboard leans heavily on chording, which means that users have to press key combinations and use layers to access many characters, numbers, punctuation marks, and functions. There is a huge learning curve associated with keyboards like this, so it isn’t for the faint of heart.

Other than the keyboard (which uses Cherry MX key switches) and the display (which is a 7.9 LCD touchscreen with a 1280x400 resolution), the QAZ Personal Terminal contains a small single-board computer (SBC), AmpRipper Li-ion charger/distribution board, and a 3300mAh battery. The demonstrated build uses a Banana Pi M2 Zero SBC, but the QAZ Personal Terminal is also compatible with other SBCs like the Raspberry Pi Zero W 2 and the RADXA Zero. A large copper heatsink and an optional copper case back provide enough passive cooling to accommodate overclocking. The rest of the enclosure is 3D-printable.

We don’t anticipate the QAZ Personal Terminal having very wide appeal, since that 33-key keyboard is guaranteed to intimidate even the most open-minded typists among us. But if you’re looking for an extremely compact cyberdeck and are willing to learn how to use the keyboard, then this seems like the ideal design.