First look at the new battery cover and a general update

[Neelix]

As I understand it, Letux is based on Debian, and the Pyra OS is based on the Letux kernel and the Debian userspace. There is no conflict there.

-Neelix

 

[Yogendra]

Phewww - moving everything into the new rooms definitely was quite a bit of work.
We had to move back and forth 15 times with the transporter to move everything into the new rooms... and then unpack, sort, and so on.

We're mostly finished. The shop is operating normal again, the repair / rework space is setup again and I'm planning to finish unpacking and sorting everything next week so I can finally continue assemble Pyras.
These are still with the old cases - so it's a lot of manual labour work and will take a while, but I don't want to throw these away and certainly want to ship Pyras until we receive the new cases.

Speaking of the new cases, the new sample is actually already on the way to us, but I received some pictures from Greece upfront where you can see the new battery cover mechanism:

View attachment 37793View attachment 37794View attachment 37795

These pictures are from an early version where you can still see part of the old design. This will be gone in the final version.

View attachment 37796View attachment 37797View attachment 37798View attachment 37799

These are the design files, including a comparison with the original case.
Basically, you put on the battery cover and then slide it in. This should work a lot better and also prevent the tabs from breaking.

Here's also a small video showing how to use it:


I'll do a proper high-quality one as soon as I receive the samples


Okay, so how do we continue from here?

As mentioned, I'll continue to slowly assemble Pyras in around 1,5 weeks, so we get more units shipped out and use up the old cases.
As soon as I receive the sample, I'll test it, make a video and let a new case production start if anything is correct. Once I receive these cases, they'll be coated and then we can finally speed up assembly speed (approx. factor 4 or 5), as no manual labour should be needed anymore.
Boy, I never imagined so many weird issues to happen... geez.


Work has begun on the audio driver

I've made a deal with hns that we works on the audio driver and tries to get the hardware accelearion (AESS) to work again properly. This should not only lower the needed CPU power when playing audio, but might also fix some annoying issues we have (overdriven speakers, sudden noise while playing, etc.). Let's hope he is able to get to work that one
I have to thank him for the offer


eMails not received?

It seems that a lot of the latest final order eMails I've sent out have not reached the receiver. No idea why, as I was using the same tool (mautic) as before.
However, I will set up a small website where users can enter their order number and will receive their final order eMails.

I just need to write a PHP script where I can put the valid order numbers inside a text file and once a user enters it, it should either spit out the link to the orderered unit (4G US, 4G EU or Standard) or let the user know his order number is not (yet) ready.
It shouldn't be a big task, but as I'm not a PHP coder myself, it might take a bit longer.
If some PHP developer reads this and can slap something up (shouldn't take longer than 15 - 20 minutes), please contact me either via PM at the boards or using any of the livechats available on the shop website (https://www.dragonbox.de/)

That's it for now, I hope you like the news - and now it's back to work for me

GREAT NEWS. Well xmas is just round the corner, hope can get my Pyra by then

 

[paralabamba]

Clever design for this new battery cover, I'm always happy seeing improvement in this amazing project. Thumbs up !

 

[kojack]

Yay, the site says I can complete the order!
Found my voucher code, it applied correctly. Went to shipping method... and got "Unfortunately, there are no carriers available for your delivery address."
Australia isn't supported?

(The store's edit address page won't let me enter a state, the list box is empty in both Firefox and Vivaldi. The rest was already correct from years ago. City and post code should be enough)

 

[pimaster]

Australia isn't supported?

Received mine in June to Australia. Doubt anything has changed (although shop has changed location)
I'm amused that my state is left blank.

 

[killmoons]

Hello, I have a question about pyra mobile edition.
I am located in China and the operator is China Unicom, which supports TD LTE 2555-2575 MHz (band 41) and 2300-2320 MHz (band 40); FDD 1755-1765MHz 1850-1860MHz.
I want to know the frequency bands supported by prya US frequencies and EU frequencies, so as to select the version that can be used in China. thanks

 

[levi]

According to the M2M PLS8 datasheet the PLS8-E (the chip inside the EU Pyra) supports LTE bands 20,8,3,7 and 1, and the PLS-8-US supports bands 17,5,4 and 2. In terms of 3G which I guess is your band 40 stat, the -E part supports bands 8, 3 and 1, and the -US part supports bands 5,4 and 2. It doesn't quote 2G frequencies just says dual band for the -E part and quad band for the -US part. Seems to me like the mobile editions of the Pyra aren't suited for China Unicorn, so you may well me almost as good with a standard edition unit.

 

[gpsqueeek]

I thought in a close future there would be a common world 4G edition instead of EU and US...? Where did I read that, dammit?!

 

[levi]

Yes, I think ED teased us with that idea somewhere here in perhaps the past six months. But a union of all the bands that the PLS2-E and PLS8-US support won't help with China Unicorn either.

 

[matzesu]

This would be sad, as i found it quite cool when a Pyra finds its way to China: A Handheld mostly made in Europe, whit an Opensource OS ..
I ditnt find my 4G Modem usefull yet, as it would mean i have to put the SIM Sled of my Iphone (Which also works whit the Needle of my SAK as i found out some month ago), open the Pyra and put it in.., im much faster when i just put my Iphone to Accespoint Mode for use whit the Pyra..

The Advantage of the 4G Pyra for me is that its got the Rumble Feature for some Emulators ^^

 

[docbroke]

As ED posted somewhere, new pyra will have Cinterion PLS83-w series modem with global support.

 

[kojack]

Yay, the site says I can complete the order!
Found my voucher code, it applied correctly. Went to shipping method... and got "Unfortunately, there are no carriers available for your delivery address."
Australia isn't supported?

(The store's edit address page won't let me enter a state, the list box is empty in both Firefox and Vivaldi. The rest was already correct from years ago. City and post code should be enough)

Swapped to Chrome and got the order to work. Yay, one step closer.

Also a little hint for people checking the is it ready site: if there's a space on the end of the order code, it will say the order isn't ready or is invalid. At least in windows a double click select will usually grab a space on the end, so be careful copy/pasting your code.
(That wasn't my original issue, I just ran into it today trying the site in a different browser)

 

[levi]

Looking at the schematics, the GPS system is part of the modem, so you lose that as well with the standard edition. I think you retain the accelerometers and barometer. Now, I don't think anyone's actually used any of those parts in their software projects yet, but LTE support might come more or less automatically as we upgrade netmanager, and there are probably projects out there designed to read GPS detectors over USB or bluetooth and maybe those could be persuaded to use GPIOs as well, and then you just need some mapping app to use that data. The accelerometers (and gyros) I think we're more likely to have to write brand new software to use (unless there's some tarty script that automatically xrandr's the screen when you turn the unit). And the barometer even more so.

 

[Todespreis]

Are there any new updates? This post is already one month old

 

[Young Ace]

As ED posted somewhere, new pyra will have Cinterion PLS83-w series modem with global support.

Wait, what?

 

[docbroke]

THIS

new pyra will have Cinterion PLS83-w series modem

 

[levi]

Is there some source to that quote (that perhaps with my security settings I cant see)?

 

[Djoga'Ro]

I don't think so, to me that's also a referenceless quote.

 

[ClockworkCoder]

THIS

Are you referring to this:

Current State of the Pyra

Great! That should make assembly much easier for you! Is it the Quectel EG25-G? No, the PLS83W, as it's even pin-compatible :)

pyra-handheld.com

 

[docbroke]

I just reiterated what I had said earlier, (in reply to "wait what?" which refers to the link you posted.