I wish you could feel things through the internet!


Yeah, seriously, I get the feeling that going back to ED's insistence of a shift key on the key area (he ideally wanted two of them originally IIRC), combined with the stiff hinge and now the soft keys means finger typing on a desk might actually be workable with the Pyra! As for touch typing, I'm not sure many people will be able to get their fingers on all the right keys in the home row, but pecking at keys with your fingers should be mechanically possible at least.
 
:( seems like we are still waiting on the same stuff.
1. Case needs to be checked
2. Keymat needs work
3. Board is still being checked
 
:( seems like we are still waiting on the same stuff.
1. Case needs to be checked

But they finally have been shipped, which is a lot better than "they should ship soon", is it not? :)

2. Keymat needs work

Keymat itself doesn't, only one of the caps. And that's why I said: It would be great if you could feel it... if you could compare the old with the new keymat, then you would've also said that this was totally worth it :)

3. Board is still being checked

Yes, but we already applied a lot of fixes and they are at zmatt's place so he can do more low-level tests.

These are all updates, even though the topic itself isn't finished yet, these are advancements.
If I would only post when something is completely finished... well, then you wouldn't have received news for a few years I guess :)
 
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Is the current plan to send paid prototypes out with modified versions of the existing boards or wait for the next board revision?

Most probably with the modified versions :)

Mmm... maybe sooner rather than later then.... Very nice.

I'm still wishing for the opportunity for you to take a 'group photo' of the development prototypes all 8+ paid prototypes.
 
I've only had a handful of Pandoras in my hands so far, but the keymats were not really consistent when it came to required pressure. The one on mine is quiet soft, others took a bit more force, which I guess may have been the norm. Didn't exactly mind either, but I can't really imagine the Pyra keymat's pressure now. :p
I'll just go with "it's gonna be good" for now.
 
But they finally have been shipped, which is a lot better than "they should ship soon", is it not? :)



Keymat itself doesn't, only one of the caps. And that's why I said: It would be great if you could feel it... if you could compare the old with the new keymat, then you would've also said that this was totally worth it :)



Yes, but we already applied a lot of fixes and they are at zmatt's place so he can do more low-level tests.

These are all updates, even though the topic itself isn't finished yet, these are advancements.
If I would only post when something is completely finished... well, then you wouldn't have received news for a few years I guess :)

I know it is advancement, and I know everybody involved in this aren't big companies and are helping out. I also do appreciate the transparancy, and I know you will put out a good product.


But I am still getting a bit discouraged at what else will pop up or need to be fixed and how much longer that will take. I realize that is beyond your control as well.
 
My Pandora keyboard is stiff enough that I can't really type on it using my fingers, but it's no problem with my thumbs which have been trained throughh years of d-pads and joypad buttons. The only real problem it has is that the glossy surface now seems to be degrading (not sure if it's through skin oils or abrasion or light or just time), which doesn't affect its use just doesn't look very pretty. The pyra presuambly won't have that problem with polycarbonate (?) caps on the keys.
 
If I imagine it, I think there is such thing as too soft.

[EDIT] But Pandora's was def. too hard/stiff.

[]EDIT2] The display cable seems great - I love the redundant traces idea. BUT! -- I don't have a mental picture of what a 'rolled' LCD cable would look like (why not have it run basically straight, with a curve equal to that of the hinge angle?) Te way is see it, there is just as much vertical distance to cover, whether there is a skew to the left or not, so how does this reduce the effect of 'rolling' (curve in the Y-axis?)
 
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Thanks for the update as always :)

I feel we're on the right track although some things are taking longer that expected.
It would be nice if more people could test the keymat / gamepad. That being if you are happy with it , I am sure it should already be quite good.

I hope we will see more video of the Pyra soon. Should keep people interested in the project and maybe get more people interested. Also I am sure there is plenty of work to do on the OS...
 
I hope we will see more video of the Pyra soon. Should keep people interested in the project and maybe get more people interested. Also I am sure there is plenty of work to do on the OS...

Youtube search for "GPD Win" yielded 31,200 results for me. Search for "Dragonbox Pyra" yielded 739.

I hope this ratio evens-out a bit once Ed starts shipping..

(Edit: Is IngoReis getting an early unit?)
 
[]EDIT2] The display cable seems great - I love the redundant traces idea. BUT! -- I don't have a mental picture of what a 'rolled' LCD cable would look like (why not have it run basically straight, with a curve equal to that of the hinge angle?)

That won't work, as either the traces would be too thin to work or the cable would be too wide to pass through the hinge.

Te way is see it, there is just as much vertical distance to cover, whether there is a skew to the left or not, so how does this reduce the effect of 'rolling' (curve in the Y-axis?)

There is a difference having two half-rolls in a trace or three full-rolls :)
 
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finger typing on a desk might actually be workable with the Pyra!

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There is a difference having two half-rolls in a trace or three full-rolls :)

I'm slightly concerned about the action opening and closing the lid will have - I assume this two half-rolls is when assembled open, so that will increase to three half-rolls with the lid closed. On a three full turn pandora that's six half-turns when open increasing to seven half-turns when closed. The Pandora's curve only changes by 12% when open/closed while the Pyra's will differ by 50%. Still, that only really affects the traces that go vertically across the roll (past the corner turns on each side), while the ones aligned with the roll axis should be less affected, and the redundant interconnected traces is a great idea. It remains to be seen how much better than the Pandora's flakey LCD cable it is, to me.
 
Unfortunately that's an old video with the old LCD cable design which still has the redundancy, but when you get to the installation part, it was still designed to be rolled three times (and you can see he makes a bit of a mess of it there too!).
 
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