Crowd Funding the Pyra - Let's help ED make it work

[Blue Shadow]

The Wiki Main Page says

(Forum account logins work on this wiki.)

Just tested, I was able to login with my normal forum account.

 

[levi]

Perhaps, once the Pyra is available and software has been developed for it, a kickstarter could be used to gain funds to build another batch of thousands down the line, or do a KS for a new CPU board for example.

I tend to see the RetroPi KS as being ED's initial trial of using kickstarter, and it's not clear yet that that'll be ready to go live before preorders need to open, according to ED's own timetable. Once he's run a successful KS campaign on his own, he'll be more associated with that than a failed campaign that he took over and made a success, on kickstarter itself at least.

 

[ible]

oh wow, shame on me for not knowing/forgetting about the Pyra wiki.

maybe that can have a link on the main forums page, like the Pandora wiki. (though i see you can navigate to it from "The Pyra" -> Wiki.)

i seem to have misplaced the link to the kernel git repository, too. is there any sense in making github mirror some simpler parts of the pyra OS (like startup scripts, configurators, etc.), so that us tiny mortals might more easily fork/contribute to it without necessarily needing super pyra credentials on the official repo?

i think that part should probably be emphasized too. a lot of KS projects forget how much work software takes, and we have our own repository! and we have a dedicated community of porters, developers, and so on.

 

[vcoleiro1]

Sorry, bit of an off topic question, but I can't seem to find in the specs what emmc storage the Pyra has.

Anyone know?

 

[Mr_Loon]

Sorry, bit of an off topic question, but I can't seem to find in the specs what emmc storage the Pyra has.

Anyone know?

Hoping to hear soon from ED what the cost implications will be for various sizes of Ram & eMMC
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Perhaps, once the Pyra is available and software has been developed for it, a kickstarter could be used to gain funds to build another batch of thousands down the line, or do a KS for a new CPU board for example.

I think the plan is to sell Pyra from stock via Dragonbox (& other distributors?) after the first batch has been funded, however the KS for x86 board development would be a winner IMHO.
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But might an FAQ that in some way links this KS to a previously failed KS be a red flag to some that may not have heard about the iCP2?

Would it not be better to answer any questions if/when they arise?

Good call, it'll be interesting to see if it comes up.
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On the subject of running a successful crowd funding campaign (in house or by established site) I think it would be a good idea to get some professional Photographs of a working prototype to add to the renders & videos on a campaign page. i.e. Well lit photos with the prototype & a plain background and perhaps also some of a Pyra user enjoying using their Pyra, if that user happens to be an attractive female then so much the better in terms of marketing This need not cost a lot of money & I believe it would provide an excellent return on investment.

It's appreciated that using an attractive female to sell the Pyra is both cynical and sexist but that's marketing for you. Perhaps a tongue in cheek caption about the model being a typical Pyra user might redress the balance a little and provide a few smiles as people imagined what a typical Pyra user might really look like. (Looks in mirror, shudders slightly.)

 

[Ian J]

It's appreciated that using an attractive female to sell the Pyra is both cynical and sexist but that's marketing for you. Perhaps a tongue in cheek caption about the model being a typical Pyra user might redress the balance a little and provide a few smiles as people imagined what a typical Pyra user might really look like. (Looks in mirror, shudders slightly.)

I think we should stay away from the "sex sells" it could potentially insult a large amount of buyers, male and female.
I don't know about anyone else but I feel very uneasy about the whole booth babe thing.


I feel showing a killer use for the Pyra would sell more units.

Using it as a full desktop replacement on a monitor would be very impressive.

Dreamcast, Saturn, PSP or N64 emulation that is already very well progressed would be a bonus but I don't know of the legalities of showing these.

Plus promoting the coders that are supporting the hardware: ptitSEB, Exophase, notaz etc etc (Apologies to anyone I have forgotten)

These are the people that have kept supporting the Pandora after all these years, this and the community are the reason to buy a premium price hand-held.

Unlike a here today replaced tomorrow Chinese hand-held the Pyra will have support for many years to come (Pandora as an example) so people aren't just investing in the hardware they are joining a community that will support them with any issues that may arise.

 

[rygD]

@Mr_Loon Before you mentioned the Pyra user I was thinking "hey, now he has someone that can hold it in those pictures of a user at home that you always see". If ED wants to send me a Pyra early so he can have another of those pictures I will do it (but there may be more shuddering when people look at me).

I think some people messing around with the prototypes, and maybe a few blurbs about their thoughts could help, too. Grench was already planning on posting pics and thoughts, so maybe others can do the same. I don't know if ED is planning on going to any shows soon. If so, he might be able to find a couple people that will allow their pics and/or opinions to be put on the site.

 

[Haraldur]

**Disclaimer: I am not a marketing professional. Dunning-Kruger may well apply.**

I suggest caution about making the project look too professional (and using an "implausibly" attractive female -- unless she looks understatedly geeky -- in even the most tame fashion screams "professional" -- "cheap professional"). From what I can see, the Pyra "has a story to tell" -- a well edited story. While it would likely be unwise to open with such exposition, it should not be undermined with marketing that is too smooth (think of those awful corporate websites, and university prospectuses, with multitudes of anonymous, smiling people of a studied mix of skin-colours -- they are ubiquitous and sophisticated consumers [our target audience, I would think] get turned off by them, I think).

The Pyra's story has a number of strengths: made in Germany (sturdy, quality product, made by people being paid a decent wage -- "oh, the price is not so bad"), made by a small team of enthusiasts ("I should support these people", underdog status, "not just another gadget released and abandoned"), and designed with GNU/Linux in mind (this is a niche market, but there are many thousands of people -- at least! -- that really do care about this thing and who are not well served in the market; especially that such an interesting device -- rather than just a laptop -- is designed for GNU/Linux should be rather exciting for these people).

So, if there is a female "user" model, perhaps it should be ED's wife, rather than someone with no connection to the project. It is a shame that the prototype is too late for FOSDEM (I found out about the Pyra from a video from FOSDEM 2014), but a conference video about the Pyra, with a prototype, that is then linked to from Slashdot, Hacker News, Phoronix etc. should spread the message well for an audience that I think would be ideal. All the videos that ED has produced about the production process -- which are interesting in themselves -- should be embedded in the pre-order/advertising page: they show that a) this is not vapourware or a scam, b) that this is both small scale and professional-looking (the Global Components pre-production run video) and c) that the producers really care about their product.

Oh, and though I know little about UAVs, a video of a drone being controlled using the DPAD and other controls of a Pyra would be really cool.

 

[Mr_Loon]

I think we should stay away from the "sex sells" it could potentially insult a large amount of buyers, male and female.
I don't know about anyone else but I feel very uneasy about the whole booth babe thing

Same here, just to be clear I was not talking about something like this :

More something like a slightly geekier version of this:

rather than something like this

So, if there is a female "user" model, perhaps it should be ED's wife, rather than someone with no connection to the project.

I thought it, you said it

 

[Neelix]

Dreamcast, Saturn, PSP or N64 emulation that is already very well progressed would be a bonus but I don't know of the legalities of showing these.

Actual legalities aside it's probably best to steer best to steer clear of using emulation to advertise the Pyra. Doing so may lead some to erroneously dismiss it as a piracy device. In marketing perception is everything.

-Neelix

 

[Mr_Loon]

Actual legalities aside it's probably best to steer best to steer clear of using emulation to advertise the Pyra. Doing so may lead some to erroneously dismiss it as a piracy device. In marketing perception is everything.

I'm pretty sure that anyone who believes that Emulation=Piracy is not really the target market for Pyra. I'm not saying it should be sold as the ultimate emulation device as per the Pandora but the ability to emulate older systems, even those with keyboards, is undoubtedly one of the many strong points for Pyra and IMHO it would be most foolish to steer clear of this based on possibly offending someone who probably would not buy it anyway.

 

[Klumpen]

Same here, just to be clear I was not talking about something like this :
View attachment 28004
More something like a slightly geekier version of this:
View attachment 28005
rather than something like this
View attachment 28006

I thought it, you said it

Now this thread is becoming sexist.
Men can be good-looking too, you know?
ED could pose with his hair in action while breaking the NubNub records with the new nubs.

I'm pretty sure that anyone who believes that Emulation=Piracy is not really the target market for Pyra. I'm not saying it should be sold as the ultimate emulation device as per the Pandora but the ability to emulate older systems, even those with keyboards, is undoubtedly one of the many strong points for Pyra and IMHO it would be most foolish to steer clear of this based on possibly offending someone who probably would not buy it anyway.

One has to be very careful not to advertise the Pyra as an emulation device if one wants to be able to use PayPal to buy it afaik.
Not that I care much about this subsidiary enterprise of the J.P. Morgan Chase bank.

 

[vcoleiro1]

I imagine a Fabio style shot with ED riding a white horse on the beach with his hair flowing in the wind. Of course using his Pyra at the same time

 

[Neelix]

I'm pretty sure that anyone who believes that Emulation=Piracy is not really the target market for Pyra. I'm not saying it should be sold as the ultimate emulation device as per the Pandora but the ability to emulate older systems, even those with keyboards, is undoubtedly one of the many strong points for Pyra and IMHO it would be most foolish to steer clear of this based on possibly offending someone who probably would not buy it anyway.

Maybe. It's not just customers that you have to worry about though. Such a perception also could affect ED's ability to build business relationships with other companies. (e.g. potential future retailers)

I'm not saying not to advertise the capabilities mind you, just that we need to be careful as to how it is done. There's enough variety in the existing software ecosystem that will be effectively inherited from the Pandora to do that without having to specifically mention console emulation.

-Neelix

 

[rygD]

Now this thread is becoming sexist.
Men can be good-looking too, you know?
ED could pose with his hair in action while breaking the NubNub records with the new nubs.

What about a nearly nude pic of him on a bed with a Pyra next to him? Maybe that could be the default desktop background too.

I imagine a Fabio style shot with ED riding a white horse on the beach with his hair flowing in the wind.

Damn, I thought I was being clever, but yours is way better...just make sure the Pyra is visible.

 

[Neelix]

I imagine a Fabio style shot with ED riding a white horse on the beach with his hair flowing in the wind.

You mean like this?


-Neelix

 

[directive0]

Only way I'll do a Pyra kickstarter is if they make the tragic decision to not produce a clear transparent case for the production run and we have to organize our own.

 

[Haraldur]

The Pyra is/will be a computer*.
Of course it can display websites.
Of course it can play video and music.
Of course it can play games.
Of course it can compile software.
Of course it can run office software.
Of course it can mimic inferior electronics systems** (and other computers).
What can it not do?

*informally, a computation device that can flexibly carry out a multitude of tasks for the user, designed to do tasks it is not designed for. ;-)
**those that are not computers, including dedicated video gaming devices, handhelds or not, and smartphones.



What can it not do?

The Pyra cannot drive you home.
The Pyra cannot buy you a house.
The Pyra cannot dance.

(Challenge accepted, anyone?)

 

[Caine]

What can it not do?

Take pictures.

 

[SNESFAN]

But can it run crysis?