Got displays, looking for keymats


EvilDragon

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While it's moving a bit slower than before (which is normal - the final few % always take longer than the rest), there's still things that have happened and that should be posted.

 

The displays

 

As you probably remember, the 1080p display caused issues since the rotation of the screen from portrait to landscape slows thing heavily down, therefore we needed to change to 720p screens and a special chip that can rotate the picture in realtime.

 

We found two for us easily accessible 720p displays (well, three, to be exact, but there's no need to test the third one unless none of the two others is good enough for us).

Last week, we finally got all the needed displays (five of each) for testing, as well as non-BGA versions of the rotator chip (we only has BGA samples before).

All other needed parts (like connectors, etc.) have also arrived.

We were lucky with one connector, as it wasn't available within Europe from stock and the only source within the US had a contract so they were not allowed to export it... well, we got it anyways, thank god :)

 

Nikolaus already finished the PCB needed to test the displays and as you can see, we already have them here.

 

DSC01926.jpegDSC01927.jpeg

 

Global Components will populate them next week and then it's time to write the software and try out the displays together with the rotator chip.

 

Well, and maybe find some issues on the display PCB, as these always can happen - but they can be fixed with manual soldering, so that's no big deal.

 

I'll keep you informed and post videos of our display tests, as soon as we did them :) .

 

 

 

The main PCB

 

Nikolaus was mostly working on the display PCBs, so the progress on the main PCB was slower, as you can imagine.

It's still nearly finished - but that 'nearly' are the last percent that always need a lot longer than the rest.

 

 

The case

 

While I'm still trying to find a better hinge (all the laptop-likes are way too big for our small device), the case designers are working on the best way to implement the four shoulder buttons.

This is not as easy as most of you might think, actually. Manually adding shoulder buttons is easy - but finding a possibility to do that in mass production is totally different.

 

 

The keyboard

 

We're still looking for a company that can produce the silicon keymat for us.

While Fatih is in contact with some asian companies, I'm trying my luck with German companies - but it's hard to find one here.

 

Want to help out? Browse the net, look for companies that can do silicon/rubber keymats and post here, so I can get in contact with them.

Preferably in Europe, but anywhere in the world is fine as well.

 

 

The battery

 

We got a 6000mAh battery sample from the same manufacturer as the original Pandora battery and the case designer thinks we can fit it. Unfortunately, we got it without the PCB, even though we should've gotten it with one.

 

So before we can fully test it, we need to wait for a new sample.

 

 

The SoC

 

We're still using the OMAP5, since we don't have much more info on the A80 yet.

AllWinner will not offer Linux drivers, but I plan to get in touch with the Cubieboard designers to ask how they will solve their driver issue - but still, switching to the A80 would delay everything for at least 6 months... not an option for us right now, but maybe sometime in the future.

 

That's it for today, I'll keep you posted.
 
pannam.com
I also ran into this manufacturer as well and they look great. There are tons of options with them :)

Here is another one that I found: http://www.rspinc.com/

They seem to do a large variety of different keyboards and switches. They might be another excellent company to look into.

http://www.sitech-corp.com/ also makes silicone rubber keyboards as well :0 

All are great decisions. If you would like more choices just let me know :)

BTW: great news! As a team we can help speed up the process, and as usual, we are going at such a awesome pace. I am very excited about the Pyra.
 
Wow, there are Companies for everything it seems "Keypad Company", nice. :D

Again, today you can 3D print even rubber materials for prototyping, maybe this can speed up things if these Companies offer these Technics so ED & Co can test different Keymats pretty quick. 

And for the 4 Shoulder Buttons, I guess it's easier to playce them side by side instead of above, which seems to be impossible imho, device is just to small. However, I doubt it's Rocket Science. ;) I really like this solution:

xl_Neo-Geo-X-Bottom-624.jpg
 
I'm curious to know more about the rotation perfomance issue. Does the driver support XRandR/WRandR or is there some other mechanism being used?
 
Silicone keypad? Will this be like the Pandora one??

I was hoping for a harder low profile keypad - Will this be a chunky kbd like the Pand??
 
I'm curious to know more about the rotation perfomance issue. Does the driver support XRandR/WRandR or is there some other mechanism being used?
Problem is that XR&R only works when everything is being done through X, and tends to be rather slow.

Android devices manage rotation by running all display work through the GPU.

The idea here is that no restrictions should be placed on devs to use particular graphics output systems, and there should be no significant performance hit.
 
Wow, there are Companies for everything it seems "Keypad Company", nice. :D

Again, today you can 3D print even rubber materials for prototyping, maybe this can speed up things if these Companies offer these Technics so ED & Co can test different Keymats pretty quick. 

And for the 4 Shoulder Buttons, I guess it's easier to playce them side by side instead of above, which seems to be impossible imho, device is just to small. However, I doubt it's Rocket Science. ;) I really like this solution:

xl_Neo-Geo-X-Bottom-624.jpg
Do you know what device that is?  I can't tell from the angle it is at. 

-Glyph Reader
 
Wow, there are Companies for everything it seems "Keypad Company", nice. :D

Again, today you can 3D print even rubber materials for prototyping, maybe this can speed up things if these Companies offer these Technics so ED & Co can test different Keymats pretty quick. 

And for the 4 Shoulder Buttons, I guess it's easier to playce them side by side instead of above, which seems to be impossible imho, device is just to small. However, I doubt it's Rocket Science. ;) I really like this solution:

xl_Neo-Geo-X-Bottom-624.jpg
This horse was beaten to death before.  I don't think the community wants side by side shoulder buttons like this.  That's why Ed wants to make it like Askarus' shoulder button mod.
 
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I'm not saying that the two or four button solution is better.....just that I've been watching it.


Nor do I vote for a certain alignment structure. I just want this community to continue and for ED to create great products. I am a sucker......a sucker for great shit. The people that frequent these forums also seem to like the shit that I like. We're all goofballs, and eccentric, and silly people that just like what we like. Nobody can tell us different. Yeah...so go fuck off.


I'm sorry for that last fuck off. Nobody knows how sad that your sad life is....so shut the fuck up.


I apologize for that last comment.... I didn't know how stupid you were....

While it's moving a bit slower than before (which is normal - the final few % always take longer than the rest), there's still things that have happened and that should be posted.


The displays


As you probably remember, the 1080p display caused issues since the rotation of the screen from portrait to landscape slows thing heavily down, therefore we needed to change to 720p screens and a special chip that can rotate the picture in realtime.


We found two for us easily accessible 720p displays (well, three, to be exact, but there's no need to test the third one unless none of the two others is good enough for us).


Last week, we finally got all the needed displays (five of each) for testing, as well as non-BGA versions of the rotator chip (we only has BGA samples before).


All other needed parts (like connectors, etc.) have also arrived.


We were lucky with one connector, as it wasn't available within Europe from stock and the only source within the US had a contract so they were not allowed to export it... well, we got it anyways, thank god :)


Nikolaus already finished the PCB needed to test the displays and as you can see, we already have them here.


attachicon.gif
DSC01926.jpeg
attachicon.gif
DSC01927.jpeg


Global Components will populate them next week and then it's time to write the software and try out the displays together with the rotator chip.


Well, and maybe find some issues on the display PCB, as these always can happen - but they can be fixed with manual soldering, so that's no big deal.


I'll keep you informed and post videos of our display tests, as soon as we did them :) .


The main PCB


Nikolaus was mostly working on the display PCBs, so the progress on the main PCB was slower, as you can imagine.


It's still nearly finished - but that 'nearly' are the last percent that always need a lot longer than the rest.


The case


While I'm still trying to find a better hinge (all the laptop-likes are way too big for our small device), the case designers are working on the best way to implement the four shoulder buttons.


This is not as easy as most of you might think, actually. Manually adding shoulder buttons is easy - but finding a possibility to do that in mass production is totally different.


The keyboard


We're still looking for a company that can produce the silicon keymat for us.


While Fatih is in contact with some asian companies, I'm trying my luck with German companies - but it's hard to find one here.


Want to help out? Browse the net, look for companies that can do silicon/rubber keymats and post here, so I can get in contact with them.


Preferably in Europe, but anywhere in the world is fine as well.


The battery


We got a 6000mAh battery sample from the same manufacturer as the original Pandora battery and the case designer thinks we can fit it. Unfortunately, we got it without the PCB, even though we should've gotten it with one.


So before we can fully test it, we need to wait for a new sample.


The SoC


We're still using the OMAP5, since we don't have much more info on the A80 yet.


AllWinner will not offer Linux drivers, but I plan to get in touch with the Cubieboard designers to ask how they will solve their driver issue - but still, switching to the A80 would delay everything for at least 6 months... not an option for us right now, but maybe sometime in the future.


That's it for today, I'll keep you posted.
This is ridiculous. You (should) have a good guy in house (Notaz?) that can write machine code level stuff that takes care of this - are you trying to just be a a kickstarter campaign, or are you ready for the BIG LEAGUES? Pay good people to do good work.


I'll enjoy any retort....


Merged 5 posts - Binky
 
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