Is Pyra expensive outdated hardware?

[vcoleiro1]

Yes, we will never know what Craig did with the money, even though he should have accounted for it, calls for such were just met with ongoing silence.  As were calls for the 3D printer to be sold.  

 

[MentalFS]

Nope, but there's a grand story behind this many people here are probably eager to tell you about.


It's about Evil Dragon's former business partner Craig Rothwell.


There was a kickstarter for this which reached the goal.

I somehow image people sitting around a fireplace, and one person standing up, taking a lute and beginning to sing the story, bard-like:


Listen up and hear the song of a story I will tell,
of how I lost my innocence: My first Kickstarter fail.

(Yes I'm bad at this)

Anyway I'm glad that's over. But there's a certain Kickstarter coming where I can't wait to put my money in

 

[Natsu]

It's funny. Big companies, like Samsung with all their money, are actually going the opposite direction when it comes to features.

 

[ible]

^until people vote (with their money) for features and freedom, we won't have companies going in that direction.

problem is, most people's idea of features is a powerful processor and super-hi-def screen, and many don't care for freedom...

 

[TrashyMG]

many don't care for freedom...

And many peoples definition of Freedom can be different/twisted as well... 

 

[Luke-Jr]

^until people vote (with their money) for features and freedom, we won't have companies going in that direction.

problem is, most people's idea of features is a powerful processor and super-hi-def screen, and many don't care for freedom...

Just how free will the Pyra be, by the way? Is there a post on this? For example, can I just take a case-design file, modify it to hold a camera, and 3D print it?

 

[Bosbeetle]

^until people vote (with their money) for features and freedom, we won't have companies going in that direction.


problem is, most people's idea of features is a powerful processor and super-hi-def screen, and many don't care for freedom...

Just how free will the Pyra be, by the way? Is there a post on this? For example, can I just take a case-design file, modify it to hold a camera, and 3D print it?

i don't think there's an official statement on that. With the pandora the case design files were made public at a late timepoint (as well as the pcb schematics etc.) I guess modding is encouraged so making a mod with camera is no problem.

 

[_wb_]

IIRC, ED has stated that the hardware design will be released, including the case design.

 

[Caine]

IIRC, ED has stated that the hardware design will be released, including the case design.

Yes, I recall this as well. But, I couldn't locate the post(s) where he mentioned this.

 

[ZXDunny]

many don't care for freedom...

And many peoples definition of Freedom can be bitter and twisted as well...

Fixed that for you

D.

 

[Mr_Loon]

@ danielo515 : Buy a mini usb wifi dongle like this one if you want to vastly improve the wifi performance of your Pandora.

As to your question, expensive? probably yes, but nobody knows what the Pyra will retail for yet. From my perspective, i.e. that of an old git who remembers paying £100 to add 512KB ram to their Amiga, £150 for their first CD writer etc. Then the price of modern hardware often seems mind bogglingly cheap, the mind also boggles at the concept that such a small team could produce a device such as Pyra / Pandora.

In terms of outdated / weak hardware then ED has said that Pyra performance could* be broadly similar that of a nexus 10 as they use a very similar SOC. Search youtube to have an idea how well the nexus 10 performs various tasks.

* If the 3D drivers etc. work properly.

 

[Grench]

many don't care for freedom...

And many peoples definition of Freedom can be bitter and twisted and trademarked and licensed with restrictive terms and conditions as well...

Fixed that for you


D.

And continuing with the repair...

 

[levi]

On that subject, I booted my father's laptop the other day, and when I saw the Windows logo, I instinctively thought the mark on it was a mark on the screen or a dead pixel, and I took to poking at it.

 

[kasp]

Well to go back on point I stopped using the Pandora a while ago because my situation changed and I could use my laptop easily while travelling to work.  Why use a handheld when I can use a kickass gaming laptop with a controller.  I didn't think I would use the pandora again but I have 26 hours of flights to take in a few days.  The Pandora with the superior battery life as well as easily interchangeable batteries (I have 3 all up)  is really my only choice for the trip.

People will use the device that best suits their needs.  I don't crank my pandora out when I feel like watching shows on the train but I will when I feel like playing playstation games.

 

[ekianjo]

I thought I had seen people over there mention Atari. The funny thing is for a while back then I didn't think Atari computers were that popular even though I knew 2 families that owned one, and I knew none that owned Commodore machines. We had an IBM compatible (not really for young hands to touch, though...actually, that is a lie, there was one at each of my parent's houses and I don't think I was restricted from using the one my father had, but I didn't mess with it as much as I wish I had when younger since I was busy doing other stuff), and most schools and libraries had things from Apple (but in my experience it was a rare treat to use them, and that was often restricted to educational games...if you wanted to learn more you had to find another way to get time with them, which I did but it was still not enough to be of much value). Over here almost every family with children I knew had some sort of video game console, so I do think that played a part. I guess our NES was supposed to be fore the kids, and the computer was supposed to be for adults (even if the kids knew better how to use it). Based on conversations I have had as an adult, some people that were a little older than me seemed more likely to have computers when they were younger. That would be people who were able to put them to use in the late 70s up to the mid 80s. It really seems to me that NES and the next generation of consoles took a big chunk of the market. One of my schools even had a subscription to Nintendo Power, and my friends always tried to be the first ones there when a new issue was released. People younger than me were also more likely to have a computer in their home after the WWW became popular, and by that point computers were widely used in school and were present in many of my classrooms, with plenty available in libraries, both in schools and not, but we are talking early to mid 90s here. Since I was already spending all my free time at libraries I just shifted most of my time from books to computers, often helping out the librarians.

I had forgotten about the Apple II it's fair to say, thanks for that!

The older kids having computers while younger more likely to have a NES is probably down to the NES only being released in '85 in the states - after the ST had been released, but before the Amiga. It was cheaper than either I assume though. In Europe the NES didn't come out till '86, and if you wanted a cheap games machine there you bought a Spectrum (or an Acorn Electron, rofl). You also saw a lot of BBC Micros in schools due to the government subsidising them starting in 1981.


The WWW wasn't even a thing until 1990, and Netscape Navigator only came out in '94, mid nineties as you say. By then people were either making do with creaking Amigas and STs or already had a PC (either a 486 or a pricey Pentium). Or had jumped to consoles with the more successful MegaDrive and SNES (or even a handheld like a Gameboy, Lynx or Gamegear).

In 94 people were dropping the snes and megadrive in droves man. The ps1 was coming and the 3do was already out

 

[rygD]

 

I thought I had seen people over there mention Atari. The funny thing is for a while back then I didn't think Atari computers were that popular even though I knew 2 families that owned one, and I knew none that owned Commodore machines. We had an IBM compatible (not really for young hands to touch, though...actually, that is a lie, there was one at each of my parent's houses and I don't think I was restricted from using the one my father had, but I didn't mess with it as much as I wish I had when younger since I was busy doing other stuff), and most schools and libraries had things from Apple (but in my experience it was a rare treat to use them, and that was often restricted to educational games...if you wanted to learn more you had to find another way to get time with them, which I did but it was still not enough to be of much value). Over here almost every family with children I knew had some sort of video game console, so I do think that played a part. I guess our NES was supposed to be fore the kids, and the computer was supposed to be for adults (even if the kids knew better how to use it). Based on conversations I have had as an adult, some people that were a little older than me seemed more likely to have computers when they were younger. That would be people who were able to put them to use in the late 70s up to the mid 80s. It really seems to me that NES and the next generation of consoles took a big chunk of the market. One of my schools even had a subscription to Nintendo Power, and my friends always tried to be the first ones there when a new issue was released. People younger than me were also more likely to have a computer in their home after the WWW became popular, and by that point computers were widely used in school and were present in many of my classrooms, with plenty available in libraries, both in schools and not, but we are talking early to mid 90s here. Since I was already spending all my free time at libraries I just shifted most of my time from books to computers, often helping out the librarians.

I had forgotten about the Apple II it's fair to say, thanks for that!

The older kids having computers while younger more likely to have a NES is probably down to the NES only being released in '85 in the states - after the ST had been released, but before the Amiga. It was cheaper than either I assume though. In Europe the NES didn't come out till '86, and if you wanted a cheap games machine there you bought a Spectrum (or an Acorn Electron, rofl). You also saw a lot of BBC Micros in schools due to the government subsidising them starting in 1981.

The WWW wasn't even a thing until 1990, and Netscape Navigator only came out in '94, mid nineties as you say. By then people were either making do with creaking Amigas and STs or already had a PC (either a 486 or a pricey Pentium). Or had jumped to consoles with the more successful MegaDrive and SNES (or even a handheld like a Gameboy, Lynx or Gamegear).

In 94 people were dropping the snes and megadrive in droves man. The ps1 was coming and the 3do was already out

I don't remember what was going on in the gaming scene where I lived at the time.  I didn't get back to it a lot until a few years later, and even then there weren't too many games I was very interested in.  The N64 had enough to keep me happy, and for other games I would just use someone else's console, play arcade games, or stick with games I had played for years (sometimes playing games on computers that were designated for educational or research purposes).  I think my aunt was really into Quake II when it came out, so I played that when I was in the neighborhood until I bought my own computer.

 

[TrashyMG]

 

I thought I had seen people over there mention Atari. The funny thing is for a while back then I didn't think Atari computers were that popular even though I knew 2 families that owned one, and I knew none that owned Commodore machines. We had an IBM compatible (not really for young hands to touch, though...actually, that is a lie, there was one at each of my parent's houses and I don't think I was restricted from using the one my father had, but I didn't mess with it as much as I wish I had when younger since I was busy doing other stuff), and most schools and libraries had things from Apple (but in my experience it was a rare treat to use them, and that was often restricted to educational games...if you wanted to learn more you had to find another way to get time with them, which I did but it was still not enough to be of much value). Over here almost every family with children I knew had some sort of video game console, so I do think that played a part. I guess our NES was supposed to be fore the kids, and the computer was supposed to be for adults (even if the kids knew better how to use it). Based on conversations I have had as an adult, some people that were a little older than me seemed more likely to have computers when they were younger. That would be people who were able to put them to use in the late 70s up to the mid 80s. It really seems to me that NES and the next generation of consoles took a big chunk of the market. One of my schools even had a subscription to Nintendo Power, and my friends always tried to be the first ones there when a new issue was released. People younger than me were also more likely to have a computer in their home after the WWW became popular, and by that point computers were widely used in school and were present in many of my classrooms, with plenty available in libraries, both in schools and not, but we are talking early to mid 90s here. Since I was already spending all my free time at libraries I just shifted most of my time from books to computers, often helping out the librarians.

I had forgotten about the Apple II it's fair to say, thanks for that!

The older kids having computers while younger more likely to have a NES is probably down to the NES only being released in '85 in the states - after the ST had been released, but before the Amiga. It was cheaper than either I assume though. In Europe the NES didn't come out till '86, and if you wanted a cheap games machine there you bought a Spectrum (or an Acorn Electron, rofl). You also saw a lot of BBC Micros in schools due to the government subsidising them starting in 1981.


The WWW wasn't even a thing until 1990, and Netscape Navigator only came out in '94, mid nineties as you say. By then people were either making do with creaking Amigas and STs or already had a PC (either a 486 or a pricey Pentium). Or had jumped to consoles with the more successful MegaDrive and SNES (or even a handheld like a Gameboy, Lynx or Gamegear).

In 94 people were dropping the snes and megadrive in droves man. The ps1 was coming and the 3do was already out

I don't remember what was going on in the gaming scene where I lived at the time.  I didn't get back to it a lot until a few years later, and even then there weren't too many games I was very interested in.  The N64 had enough to keep me happy, and for other games I would just use someone else's console, play arcade games, or stick with games I had played for years (sometimes playing games on computers that were designated for educational or research purposes).  I think my aunt was really into Quake II when it came out, so I played that when I was in the neighborhood until I bought my own computer.

1994 I was was PC gaming on my 386 custom machine my brother and I spent most of our money on, for console, I still used my Sega Genesis(MegaDrive). Most of the people I knew still either had a SNES or Genesis, Hell Super Metroid alone was one the best releases of 1994... 3DO was a console that the one rich kid in town owned and he owned a Neo Geo as well just to piss you off, no one was ditching their other consoles for it, especially how limited the selection of games was... 

 

[Chip]

Speaking about outdated: By raw numbers... yes. Especially the display when people want 4k now with 5"

...


The SoC is not that outdated actually, it's still the same or more than normal mid-class phones have.

...

One of the main features however is the upgradeability.


The Pyra has been designed that it can be upgraded by the user.


You can simply buy a new CPU board, mainboard or LCD and replace it yourself, without having to buy a completely new device.

I think these are the important points.  The pyra is as up-to-date and inexpensive as it can be, all things considered.  A larger manufacturer could certainly make a cheaper device with a more modern SoC, but since none of them can be bothered, this is the best that is possible.  While you don't get a 2.5GHz octacore CPU or a WQHD display, you do get a device that was actually made with gamers (specifically retro gamers) in mind.  You get upgradability, a proper linux distro, and actual hardware and software support from both the manufacturer and the community.  You can't get those things from any other device at any price or performance level - unless you count the pandora.