- We've all got our reasons for needing
a hidden computer that no one else knows about,
but not everybody has the option
of embedding a gaming rig in their ceiling.
Well, remember that old monitor?
You know the one.
You retired it in favor of more pixels
and a higher refresh rate?
Well, what if you could solve two problems at once,
creating a secret, hidden PC,
and keeping that old display out of a landfill?
Well, that is just what we are going to do today
with a little help from our sponsor, iFixit.
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(upbeat music)
Meet our secret PC.
Since our most recent Scrapyard Wars,
this 24-inch Acer gaming monitor
has been just hanging out in our warehouse,
looking all lonely and forgotten.
Which is a shame, because aside from its TN panel,
it's actually still pretty decent.
144 hertz, LED backlight, 1080p resolution.
To turn this monitor into a stealth all-in-one though,
we're gonna need a very small computer
that will fit inside it
with minimal external modifications that would give it away.
We chose the ROCK Pi from Radxa.
It's a single board computer that comes to around $75.
Featuring a six-core, 64-bit ARM processor,
(computer clatters)
four gigs of dual-channel LPDDR4 RAM,
and all the wired and wireless connectivity
you'll ever need,
this is a serious little computer, given the price tag.
And, get this, it supports NVMe storage
with an M.2 SSD slot!
So, yeah. Simple, then.
We just need to take this little guy and this monitor,
and smash 'em together.
Back at the office, Colin popped the back panel
off of our screen, and
there's definitely enough room to fit the ROCK Pi!
Not a ton, but enough.
We really wanted to make use of
the M.2 compatibility of the ROCK Pi,
but unfortunately, adding the M.2 hat to the stack
made it too tall to fit in the monitor.
To get around that, we dug around
for that mini KIOXIA one-terabyte SSD,
and after a quick little zip tie mod to hold it in place,
we're good to go!
The SSD bit, by the way, was totally optional.
The ROCK Pi will run just fine off of an SD card,
but come on guys, this is Linus Tech Tips!
Where's the fun in that?
With the test fit looking good,
it was time to make permanent changes
to the monitor's back panel.
We marked it out with silver Sharpie,
and went over to the workshop to cut an access hole for RIO.
Now, rather than making a mess with a Dremel,
a MAPP gas torch and box cutter was used
to slice along the marks like a hot knife through ...
well, ABS plastic.
From here, we ran all the cables
and used double-sided tape to affix the Pi
to the back of the panel.
Video is handled by running
a short micro-HDMI to HDMI cable,
and then popping it out
where the Kensington lock used to live.
And that's it!
Seal up the back of the monitor, install the stand,
plug in our wireless peripherals for that clean look.
(record scratches)
(groans) Or so we thought.
This is where we hit a bit of a snag.
You see, the ROCK Pi, while very capable,
uses an ARM 64 system architecture.
Now, it is technically compatible with armhf,
which is what the Raspberry Pi uses.
But there are some serious barriers to entry
in order to get there.
That means that, outside of big ticket Linux apps
that have an ARM64 version, we're sorta stuck
without access to the broad Raspberry Pi app ecosystem.
Yes, we could compile them with some elbow grease
to make them compatible, but in the interest
of making this DIY project actually DIY-able,
the decision was made to switch over
to the Raspberry Pi 4B from here on out.
The installation process, thankfully,
is exactly the same for any single board computer,
so we didn't have to re-shoot anything.
And, as an added bonus for you guys,
the Raspberry Pi is cheaper.
We're not going to cover preparing the bootable SD card,
but the Pi Foundation has an excellent guide,
and we'll have that linked below and in a card up here.
All right.
Nope, doesn't come off.
Now we're into Raspbian on what looks like a monitor,
unless you look very closely to realize
that this is in fact two power cords going into it,
not a power cord and a display cable.
Completely stealth.
For the uninitiated,
Raspbian is a great lightweight Linux distro
that comes preloaded with plenty of software
for education, programming, and general use.
So if all you wanted
was a web browser and YouTube-capable machine
that's hidden away from prying eyes,
you're already done,
and you've spent less than $100 plus that salvaged monitor.
Let's give it a shot.
Internet.
Chromium web browser, here we go.
I'm using a $50 computer right now, ladies and gentlemen.
(keyboard clacking)
Let's check out some tech news, shall we?
The latest on RTX Voice requiring RTX.
Wow, that's a new insult: tide pod.
Where else do people go on the Interwebs these days?
Ah yes,
lttstore.com.
Oh, the Classic Stealth hoodie.
You can get yours for just $59.99 US.
Fun, we all need more fun these days.
What's fun?
Photos of Rihanna are classified as fun?
Okay, The Office cast, That sounds more fun.
That's a pretty cool thing to do.
That is fun.
Seems like a pretty good channel, good taste in apparel.
Let's try full HD playback.
Hey!
It's a little stuttery, but I think it's doing it!
And look at this guy pushing conspiracy theories!
Okay, well I'm pretty happy with the Raspberry Pi 4,
but I'm very disappointed in this YouTube channel.
Poor choice.
Poor choice, Austin Evans YouTube channel.
If you're more into the whole gaming thing
than watching posers talk about gaming,
what Raspbian doesn't have yet is Steam Link,
which is effectively a software replacement
for Valve's own in-home game streaming appliance.
Fortunately, hey, it's Linux, so to install Steam Link,
all we need to do is open up a terminal
and type "sudo apt install steamlink".
That's it.
The Pi will pull all the dependencies,
and you should see Steam Link pop up on the desktop.
So let's go ahead and give that a try.
Slow connection, uh-huh.
1064.
How's your day?
- [Woman] Ugh.
- [Linus] Shopping for furniture, that's tough.
Getting my steps in today, anyway.
Hey, all right, here we go!
Let's play some game you wouldn't normally
be able to play on a Raspberry Pi, huh?
Well, there's your problem.
Now, obviously this isn't gonna work that great
if someone's on your main desktop
while you're using the hidden PC.
But, with a network upgrade,
this is a viable way to expand your gaming capabilities
elsewhere in the house for really not a lot of money.
And, as an extra bonus, this is cool.
If you close your way out of Steam Big Picture,
you will actually be looking at your computer's desktop,
which will allow you to run much heavier workloads
on your secret PC than you would otherwise be able to.
Fire up Adobe Premier Pro!
Obviously my resolution's a bit of a mismatch,
so I would have to adjust that.
Hey, there we go.
Please at least have the A-roll.
This might be on the struggle bus a little bit.
Okay, I'm gonna give it the old reboot.
Casually scrubbing around in video
on a Raspberry Pi 4 running Adobe Premier.
So, cool project, right?
And all with the very most basic tools.
But, it does raise a couple of questions
that we haven't answered yet.
First of all, Linus, why use a Raspberry Pi
instead of something that actually runs Windows,
like a LattePanda?
Well, one of the goals was to make this a project
that people could replicate at home
for under $100 plus the monitor.
And yes, there is a LattePanda for under $100,
but it, one, doesn't come with Windows,
so that's an additional cost,
and two, it only has two gigs of RAM, which does not make
for a very enjoyable Windows experience anyway.
If you have some quarantine cash lying around,
upgrading to a top-tier LattePanda for around $200
would be a super cool spin on this project.
Question number the second!
Why not just use a cheap VESA Adapter or some more VHB tape
to stick the Raspberry Pi to the back of the monitor
instead of cutting it up and putting it inside?
Well that, my dear boy, is a very good question,
to which I will most assuredly have a satisfactory response
after I, uh, ah well...
(computer chimes)
(bleep)
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If you guys end up making something cool
with an old monitor like this,
be sure to post it on our forum, linustechtips.com.
The links to all the files that we used here
are down in the description,
and if you want some pro tips
on getting old hardware for projects like this,
check out the Scrapyard Wars
where we actually acquired this very gaming display
on the very cheap.
We're gonna have that linked below as well.