Finishing up the hardware

[Trickyhero]

Sounds great ED. Hopefully the CPU board goes well, sounds like that is the last big hurdle.

 

[Da Dude]

Any idea about a planning when the mass production will begin?

within 1 year, of within 2 years?

 

[EvilDragon]

As soon as the prototype is confirmed to be working fine.

 

[sebt3]

As soon as the prototype is confirmed to be working fine.

I expect over-testing of the wifi chip

 

[txus]

As soon as the prototype is confirmed to be working fine.

I expect over-testing of the wifi chip

Yeah, now that you mention it... What happened with the wifi chip? The planned one had an unreasonably long waiting time, and the new one (probably WL1837MOD?) was quite a bit bigger. Is this already solved in the latest schematics? Sorry I haven't been paying that much attention during the last weeks...

 

[Da Dude]

As soon as the prototype is confirmed to be working fine.

OK, thanks

 

[Ivididiviividi]

Nikolaus also started to work on the e-SATA adaptor which plugs into our USB port for those who want to connect a SATA device to the Pyra.

But why do we use a hard-to-get port which does not only work not the way SATA should, but also eats up a free USB port with the current adaptor design?

 

[TrashyMG]

Nikolaus also started to work on the e-SATA adaptor which plugs into our USB port for those who want to connect a SATA device to the Pyra.

But why do we use a hard-to-get port which does not only work not the way SATA should, but also eats up a free USB port with the current adaptor design?

Well originally it was going to be a USB2.0/eSATA combo port which is apparently hard to source now.  As for it eating up a free USB port, the thing still would have a free regular size USB port and a USB 3.0 otg port that could be put into host mode. The Pandora only has one regular sized USB port, so it still is better than the Pandora in that regard. You have to realize there isn't enough space to put a dedicated eSATA port on a handheld device.

 

[EvilDragon]

Nikolaus also started to work on the e-SATA adaptor which plugs into our USB port for those who want to connect a SATA device to the Pyra.

But why do we use a hard-to-get port which does not only work not the way SATA should, but also eats up a free USB port with the current adaptor design?

As Trashy said: The USB/eSATA-Comboport is not available anymore (out of production).

And even if it still existed, once you connected a SATA harddisk, you couldn't plug in a USB device anymore, so there's no difference than using the adaptor.

There certainly is no place for a dedicated port - so our current options are:

1x USB + 1x eSATA

2x USB + SATA over adapter in one USB-Port

As two USB Ports are more useful for most than an eSATA-Port, the last solution is the best one.

 

[Ivididiviividi]

Nikolaus also started to work on the e-SATA adaptor which plugs into our USB port for those who want to connect a SATA device to the Pyra.

But why do we use a hard-to-get port which does not only work not the way SATA should, but also eats up a free USB port with the current adaptor design?

 As Trashy said: The USB/eSATA-Comboport is not available anymore (out of production).

And even if it still existed, once you connected a SATA harddisk, you couldn't plug in a USB device anymore, so there's no difference than using the adaptor.

There certainly is no place for a dedicated port - so our current options are:

1x USB + 1x eSATA

2x USB + SATA over adapter in one USB-Port

As two USB Ports are more useful for most than an eSATA-Port, the last solution is the best one.

Sorry for misunderstanding the fact that we are NOT using the combo.

My main point was that it might be a better idea not to use a SATA connector for something what is far from being a SATA port.

 

[_jr_]

Nikolaus also started to work on the e-SATA adaptor which plugs into our USB port for those who want to connect a SATA device to the Pyra.

But why do we use a hard-to-get port which does not only work not the way SATA should, but also eats up a free USB port with the current adaptor design?

As Trashy said: The USB/eSATA-Comboport is not available anymore (out of production).
And even if it still existed, once you connected a SATA harddisk, you couldn't plug in a USB device anymore, so there's no difference than using the adaptor.


There certainly is no place for a dedicated port - so our current options are:


1x USB + 1x eSATA


2x USB + SATA over adapter in one USB-Port


As two USB Ports are more useful for most than an eSATA-Port, the last solution is the best one.

Sorry for misunderstanding the fact that we are NOT using the combo.
My main point was that it might be a better idea not to use a SATA connector for something what is far from being a SATA port.

IIUC the combo port would have been a real SATA port. The SoC has real SATA capability that is now exposed as an actual SATA port by the adaptor making use of the additional USB 3 lanes (that cannot be driven as USB 3, because the SOC provides only one USB 3 port and that is used for OTG, because it is the only one providing OTG support). Possible future SoC upgrades will probably not have SATA but more USB 3 ports.

 

[Majin Wamu]

I can't wait! I can't wait to make a pre order.

 

[WizardStan]

My main point was that it might be a better idea not to use a SATA connector for something what is far from being a SATA port.

It is a SATA port, driven at SATA speeds. The port is normally a USB2 port, but with the adapter becomes a full eSATA port. In the future, this port can also become a USB3 port but the current SoC doesn't have such support so that will have to wait.

 

[Binky]

Could the adaptor break out the USB lines too?

So the not-quite-USB3.0 port on the pyra becomes a USB2.0 port and an eSATA port on the adaptor?

 

[matzesu]

So whit a USB3 OTG to USB 3 Adapter, whe should get USB 3 Speed??


Will the Massproduktion of the Main and CPU and Display Board begin bevore the Case Moulds are ready, or dos it needs a Moulded case to test everything to be good enought for Massproduktion??


Looking forward for the Videos and the Massprodukntion..

 

[Xcl4m4t10n]

 

[_wb_]

Nice!

This is the twitter caption for the above picture btw: "Finished backside of the Pyra, with all ports. The shoulder buttons work REALLY well, btw"

So those ports are, from left to right (and please correct me if I'm wrong) :

• µUSB 3.0 OTG
• full-size USB 2.0 host
• full-size USB 2.0 host with option for non-standard eSATA adapter; above that there's a µUSB 2.0 port for charging and debugging
• audio jack (stereo output + mono input)
• mini-HDMI video out

Why is one of the full-size USB ports in blue and the other one in black? That seems a bit confusing, given that both of them are only USB 2.0 ports.

Is this a 3D print or an actual final case?

Does the bottom half of this base part have a different (slightly darker) color than the top part of the base? Is it going to stay like that?

Will the shoulder buttons have no label engraved or printed? E.g. L1, L2 or perhaps ⇧ ◆.

 

[slaeshjag]

You got the host ports around the other way. The blue port has SATA. It's a USB3 port with the extra pins.

 

[pmprog]

So there's two fullsize USB ports? I didn't know that (or at least, I don't remember, which is more likely)

Also, do we know if either USB port will support 1.0/1.1 without the need of a hub? Because that'd be a big plus

 

[slaeshjag]

afaik, both host ports will support USB 1.x