Alternatives to the pyra?

[Grench]

Nope, next is the Sharp Zaurus. Much closer to a Pyra/Pandora. Small ARM computer running Linux. It's just older than a Pandora and without gamepad controls.

Nope.  That Thinkpad had things that make it VERY much a pre-Pyra.


Those circles on the front of it are stereo speakers.


It has 3 slots to load flash memory cards.  (1 CF, 2 PCMCIA).


It has a built in speakerphone and answering machine capabilities - i.e. phone functions.


It ran Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, OS/2, Linux and Unix.


     https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~awb/pc110.html


It had an available docking station.


It had mouse controls in the same physical area as the Pyra's gaming/mouse controls.


It's dimensions weren't far from the Pyra's.


    http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/PC110


Pyra:  140*84*29


PC110:  158*113*33


The PC110 was obscure and only seen by a niche audience.


I had the opportunity to buy one in 1996.  I have kicked myself repeatedly for having not done so.

 

[FaeMinx]

^ If I had known about this machine at the time, I would have desired it above all else...

 

[ptitSeb]

Yeah nice. The screen was probably slow and full of ghosting, but a nice machine for that time!

 

[Grench]

^ If I had known about this machine at the time, I would have desired it above all else...

In 1996 I had the opportunity to buy a brand new one, minimum spec, no dock for $1500.  In today's $$$ that's around $2300.  It would have come with a Japanese language Windows 3.1 based OS installed.

 

[TrashyMG]

Yeah nice. The screen was probably slow and full of ghosting, but a nice machine for that time!

I believe a co-worker of mine still has one in his office, most likely doesn't run. His office is kind of an archive of thinkpads he was issued over the years.

Edit: now thinking about it, most likely not this one, it was the small thinkpad 701 with the keyboard that folded out. 

 

[Grench]

I believe a co-worker of mine still has one in his office, most likely doesn't run. His office is kind of an archive of thinkpads he was issued over the years.

Edit: now thinking about it, most likely not this one, it was the small thinkpad 701 with the keyboard that folded out. 

That would likely be the 701C with a butterfly keyboard.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_ThinkPad_Butterfly_keyboard


Those were awesome.  A mechanism in the hinge would move the two halves of the keyboard out and up/down/together.


The PC110 is a much rarer item.  As far as I know it was only officially for sale in Japan.

 

[slaeshjag]

WOW!  :blink:  Is this an old ThinkPad? Retro over 9000!   Not bad. Could be from an 80's SciFi movie.

Back in the old days, IBM had some real imagination. They released a "laptop" with built in cellphone and thermal printer.

 

[Grench]

Back in the day, I used to have a few pieces of very 'odd' IBM hardware.


PS/2 model 50 - which I swapped the 286 motherboard out for a 486/25DX kit.  It looked innocent, but was quite the machine in it's day.


PS/2 P75 orange screen luggable that I modded out a bit to have a 400MB SCSI, 1GB SCSI, 16GB RAM, 133Mhz AMD 486, 10 megabit ethernet, token ring, a dedicated caching SCSI controller and a dedicated SB16 compliant sound card.  I actually flew with this 45lb behemoth a few times and with the right coaxing it exactly filled the space under the seat in front of me - leaving no place to put my feet on a luckily short 1 hour flight.  In 1992 this was the most powerful portable SCSI server that money could buy and cost nearly $19K.  I bought it in 1996 for $1K stock then spent another $1K modding it.


Server 720 - with 2 of the 6 Pentium CPU cards populated and a few HDD bays filled, a 16 port Arctic card and 128MB RAM - which was an odd beast to have in a residential basement in 1999.  Standing over 3 feet tall, this beast was a processing powerhouse.  If I recall correctly it had 8 32bit MCA AND 8 32bit PCI expansion slots.


Thinkpad 770ED with a DVD ROM and a dedicated MPEG decoder with the gigantic PC sized docking station for it.


Thinkpad 770Z


Thinkpad T61p, which was the only one of this whole list that I bought new.


Thinkpad W500, both docks (big & small)


The T61p and W500 are the only ones I still have.  They're both running Linux Mint on SSD drives and are used regularly.


Still, I wish I had that PC110 back in the day.

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

For all who search the Playstation 2 OpenSource Emulator.


The Name of it is "Play!"


And you can find many more Informations on their Site: http://purei.org


Ptitseb know this too and maybe we can get it on the Pyra too.


And i hope for a Just for Fun Pandora Version


Shurly with a few FPS but maybe 2D Games work slowly without Sound

What are the chances of it running full speed on the Pyra, I wonder?

 

[WizardStan]

What are the chances of it running full speed on the Pyra, I wonder?

zero

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

zero

Good bud nipping skills. :lol:

 

[RubisDrake]

I really hope there will be good Pyra alternatives that are powerful enough, and, most importantly, freedom respecting.

I don't consider it competition if someone wants to come out with something like the Pyra, I consider it grounds to flourish new ideas into the portable handheld market, and that's very important for me to see happening. I see a great community here full of Pandora users who are thrilled to use the Pyra, and I just hope people learn, develop, grow and want to start their own tech projects like this someday.

Along with the Pyra, I also plan to get a Galaxy Note 4. Why? Well because I love that smartphone a whole lot, and I can use it as like a mini-tablet computer.
It has a stylus, which I find very useful, though most of you may know why, since the Pandora has one. However, there's a lot of things about the Pyra that are even more useful as a heavy-duty portable gaming device with its pre-announced 10h battery life.

I already jumped ship on the New 3DS XL and I love it. I couldn't just give up Monster Hunter after playing MH3 for so long on the Wii, so I went through MH4U and got to G rank in a week. There's plenty of other lovely games I'm willing to try on the 3DS.

Maybe I'm just a high-tech gadget lover (which sounds stupid) but I love it. I must have moar, and I'm willing to pay more money for something both technologically advanced, and as free as a Ben NanoNote, seriously.

If I had the money, I'd buy a Librem laptop, but my trusty X201 Tablet works just fine at the moment for me now so, ha ha!

 

[SNESFAN]

Saw this on dingoonity, GPD is making a Windows 10 x86 atom handheld. Look like actual unarguable competition

 

[Faust]

The important point is : what about the size?

Envoyé de mon 6039Y en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[EvilDragon]

It looks similar in size as well, yep.
Might be a good thing for my shop if it takes off.
I hope I can install linux on there.

Edit: Checked on Dingoonity - right now, it's only a preliminary conceptual design, so still a bit off.
And a lot of users tell them to look at the Pandora and Pyra for a better keyboard layout

 

[Yoyobuae]

And a lot of users tell them to look at the Pandora and Pyra for a better keyboard layout

Yep, that keyboard looks quite cramped.

 

[SNESFAN]

It looks similar in size as well, yep.
Might be a good thing for my shop if it takes off.
I hope I can install linux on there.

Edit: Checked on Dingoonity - right now, it's only a preliminary conceptual design, so still a bit off.
And a lot of users tell them to look at the Pandora and Pyra for a better keyboard layout

Yea, but they went from this same stage to device in hand in less than a year, they seem to have the right pieces in the right areas.

There are things I like about the pyra over this, specifically the keyboard and game controls, however I like very much the fact that this is Intel.

Physically can't make a decision on my preference until prototypes exist.

 

[WizardStan]

And of course gotta wait for the price.

 

[vcoleiro1]

GPD are taking input on the concept that SNESFAN showed. It will be a Windows 10 gaming handheld the same size as the GPD XD - thats generally the idea from what I gather. They will probably go with a cherry trail SOC. They are fielding for input on it - particularly the KB (who wants a KB etc) , so if you have ideas to share with them , I think this is the thread http://boards.dingoonity.org/gpd-devices/preliminary-concept-design-of-windows-10-handheld-device/. Or even this thread http://boards.dingoonity.org/gpd-devices/windows-handheld-device/120/

Not sure what the mods there are doing to allow duplicate threads/discussion - probably eating XMas Turkey

 

[WizardStan]

I wonder if they'd be interested in partnering with ED. Rather than design something entirely from scratch they could design a module for the Pyra.
That may be premature thinking, though. Might be worth mentioning anyway.