This retro-looking Raspberry Pi-compatible computer kit is fully customizable

image of the Ready! Model 100
(Image credit: Ready Computer Corporation)

If you like the Raspberry Pi 400, here’s a cooler way to transform any single-board computer (SBC) such as the Raspberry Pi into a retro boombox-esque portable computer. 

Set in an aluminum enclosure, the Ready! Model 100 has enough room to take any SBC or a Micro-ITX, and even the Intel NUC, with room to spare for batteries, monitors and other electronics.

The Ready! Model 100 is available in multiple variants, from a DIY kit to a fully assembled gaming computer that sports a AMD Ryzen V1605B SBC, making it usable for all kinds of personal computing use cases.

Multiple variants

On the front, the chassis has space for a small ultra-wide 1920 x 480 resolution HDMI touchscreen and a 64-key programmable mechanical keyboard with RGB lights for every key. The ports of the SBCs break out on the back. The chassis has a dozen ports for HDMI, USB, Ethernet as well as four high-gain antenna couplers. 

On the inside there are a couple of custom made 5w stereo neodymium speakers along with the PCB mounting plate that can fit the standard SBC. The kit also comes with additional support boards.

The modular system gives you the flexibility of removing or swapping out components and the mounting plates ensure that it can be assembled without any soldering.

The Ready! Model 100 is currently crowdsourcing on Kickstarter. The cheapest variant is the barebones Pro kit that gives you the maximum customizability and costs slightly less than $250. The assembled Neo Kit costs slightly over $350 without a SBC and $400 with a 2GB “Raspberry Pi-compatible” SBC.

Mayank Sharma

With almost two decades of writing and reporting on Linux, Mayank Sharma would like everyone to think he’s TechRadar Pro’s expert on the topic. Of course, he’s just as interested in other computing topics, particularly cybersecurity, cloud, containers, and coding.