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  1. Binky

    Am I going dotty? (A tilable pattern)

    I drew a pattern that spells out "DragonBox Pyra" in UTF-8: Maybe it would be useful for promotional material or suchlike? (Really, I've no idea. I'll just leave it here and wait for someone to think of something...)
  2. Binky

    Port Request: Quod Libet (Audio player)

    Hello all! Two questions: Firstly: Would anyone other than myself appreciate a pnd of Quod Libet? I see "spirit" had a go at making it work 6 years ago, with reasonable success. It seems to do a good job of building a sortable index from your music collection, with a few view modes appropriate...
  3. Binky

    Obscure computing device fantasies

    The pandora (and soon the pyra) fills in a gap in the consumer electronics market that not many people care about. A pocket-sized device with open software and with rich and flexible IO hardware is almost exactly what I (and most other people here) want. However there are other (technically...
  4. Binky

    Curious NAND corruption (?) incident

    A few days ago, I picked up my (1GHz, running recent standard firmware, clocked at 1.05GHz) pandora up off the table where it had been charging. The table gets very little direct sunlight, but the day was reasonably warm and humid. I noticed that the whole unit was really quite warm - warmer...
  5. Binky

    Keyboard/game-control modes

    In a device like the pandora, there are more logical input devices needed than physical ones. Pandora software uses keyboard, media controls, game controls and pointer/mouse button control. The current system is rather messy for anything other than the default setup. For example, to get the...
  6. Binky

    What soldering iron, and where to buy one?

    For the last year or two, I've been struggling along with a rather meh soldering iron. It was really cheap at £25 (Christmas sales) It has a well-made, standalone base Its more powerful than the one I had before However, the temperature control is useless. Literally useless. Biggest piece of...
  7. Binky

    Inductor broken off board

    For a few days now I've been experiencing problems that suggest a damaged LCD cable - some colours being displayed incorrectly, things on screen appearing to leave coloured streaks to their right. Then just now, I knocked my pandora quite gently (put it down on a hard wooden table) and the LCD...
  8. Binky

    Additional bleeper?

    (I think this has been mentioned before but not really discussed) I propose that the pyra should have a piezo sounder in it somewhere. It should be connected seperately from the main speakers, appear to software as a PC speaker / system bell, and have a solder jumper for people who want to be...
  9. Binky

    Sane version numbering?

    The pandora had silly version numbering: Classic Rebirth 1GHz These don't follow any obvious scheme, and were never really official until quite late on. I think that, ideally the Pyra should have a logical, consistent version naming system from the beginning. This system should be both a...
  10. Binky

    Indicator LEDs

    According to ED, the pyra will have three RGB indicator LEDs: Two near the nubs One behind the logo in the lid How should they be controlled to maximise the information that they can convey? We might want to display the following: SD1 activity SD2 activity Wifi power status wifi activity BT...
  11. Binky

    Charging connectors

    The Pyra will have a microUSB3.0 (otg) connector - that much is certain. I, and a few others have expressed concern that the microUSB connector may not be strong enough. There have been many cases of products with mechanically unsound µUSB connectors, such as the n900. Equally, there are...
  12. Binky

    [Multichoice poll] What colour should the Pyra's case be?

    Bearing in mind that Pyra branding uses a darkish red colour, and something like bright pink would probably put a lot of potential customers off, what colour would you like the Pyra to be? Select all options that you would be happy with.
  13. Binky

    Would this make a good wallpaper?

    When playing around with The Gimp, I came up with this. Its can be generated procedurally (relying on the randomness of the 'dissolve' blend mode), and (I think) looks quite nice: Question is, what to do with it? It could probably be see as some kind of symbolic reference to retro-gaming -...
  14. Binky

    [unofficial poll] Pyra dimensions

    Before meaningful Pyra concept drawings can be made, one needs to know how big, and what shape the device should be. In the above poll, please vote for any sizes you would be happy with. For reference, the pandora is 14.0cm x 8.34cm x 2.75cm This is purely from a convenience standpoint - what...
  15. Binky

    Thoughts on wireless hardware

    No doubt the Pyra will have various radio hardware. BT and WiFi are a given. However, there are other wireless oddments that could be included. They've been suggested before, but I thought it might be worth discussing them again now the whole product is a serious possibility. A selection of...
  16. Binky

    Open firmware for the various built-in microcontrollers

    First off here are two things I'm not saying: Commercial software is less useful than FOSS Commercial software is immoral or unethical that is not what this thread is about. In the Pandora, there are various binary-blob-driven bits of hardware. They have badly documented firmware, and...
  17. Binky

    Filling small gaps in the case

    Assuming that the Pyra will have a similar structure to the Pandora (that is all main hardware, including UI stuff on a single PCB  in the base, with a battery behind it) then there will end up being gaps, such as those between the smaller external connectors and the battery compartment,  or...
  18. Binky

    A new chapter will be written...

    It looks like the ethereal pandora-successor now has a name... Have a look at pyra-handheld.de, dragonbox-pyra.de. pyra-handheld.com or dragonbox-pyra.com.   A new chapter will be written.   OpenPandora GmbH CEO: Michael Mrozek Schaeffbraeustr.11 85049 Ingolstadt Germany   Then (for no...
  19. Binky

    Colour scheme for marketing / logo?

    The pandora uses a sort of soft blue, and darker versions thereof for most of its marketing material. It's a nice colour, but I don't think it should be reused for the miriad/pyra What colour should its successor use? or colours? I quite like indigo (it looks higher-quality than the...
  20. Binky

    Christmas avatars at the ready!

    I suggest that them as wants to start using suitably seasonal / festive avatars at the end of this week. Here's mine:
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