My first impressions of the Pyra


I swear we had a discussion about such a possibility earlier on in this (or very similar) thread...?

You might be thinking of:


I think screen-swapping is more trouble than it's worth. Video signals are a pain to work with, and smartphone parts are not kind to hardware hackers. If you haven't done much of that sort of thing before, you're unlikely to get good results.
 
You might be thinking of:


I think screen-swapping is more trouble than it's worth. Video signals are a pain to work with, and smartphone parts are not kind to hardware hackers. If you haven't done much of that sort of thing before, you're unlikely to get good results.
No it was definitely with regard to the Pyra and it was pretty recent - I think it was in a review thread and @oskda had been asking about the possibility?
Anyway, the conclusion was much the same as what you have just posted here.
 
As im now in Months one, whit my Own Pyra, i can maybe a bit tell about my experience so far:
- Pocketabylity :
Works still good, allthough i see some tiny stratches on my Case, but as the Color is the same as the Coating, this is just visible when you look that close ^^ , i know they who still wait for theyre Pyra would say this is a sacrileg, but well, when i have to chose between some tiny wear and the abillitys this thing gives me when i have it everythime whit me, i will take the abillitys ^^
- Feel after 1 Month:
Slow but steady, i got used to the Keyboard and its Layoat whit Alt and Controll and Shift and FN on the Shoulderbuttons,
the Stylus is still a bit thight, but ditnt need that much force anymore to pull out, and the Hinge works quite good, allthough its not though enough to stay open when you try to use the stylus.. but whit the Nubs its great..
The Nubs works also quite good, allthough they still lack the Click Mapping, and they are still mapped like on the Pandora..
The Shoulderbuttons are realy good, trust, brake, stearing whit the Tail Wing on Ace Compat on the PSX Emu works great,

Batterie needs a bit fine tuning in software, but this was to be expectet, on a early model.. but i never used it that long to see how long my batterie time really is, and the Time on the Batterie Gauge is just a CIRCA Estimation on the Current Tasc..

My Plan was to use it as my HomeOffice Computer and for Games, and as far as whe have now working Games from the DBP Repo, it worked good,
edit some Database on the Internet, make some Text Documents, and sheck your Emails? No problem, allthough the Screen is a bit too small, but i hope HDMI Out will get to work soon...

When i have to use it longer, i just put my Pocket Powerbank on, and its Charges as long as the Batterie isnt too warm..
Internet is a bit divicult: The Usual Sites arend big issues: Facebook, Pyra Boards, Twitter etc, but you cant make DRM Stuff as far as i know, and Youtube is still a bit too slow..
So for Netflix, Prime Disney, etc, i still use my Phone or the Tablet..

Oh and i even got my Airpods Pro to work whit the Pyra ^^
 
I would still love to have a decent camera on the outside of the lid or at the back where the ports and shoulder buttons are, Also a good white and/or amber flash LED. I often take pictures of stuff I need to remember.
I know a lot of people do not want a camera on the Pyra so I figured maybe some add-on can be developed which would be way simpler and cheaper. I just came up with this concept when I read your post :)

May I present: The Pyra Porta-hub!
Put the camera on the backside, it will be much easier to point at things, plus you can press the shoulder buttons to take pictures as with an actual camera ;)
 
I'm not sure if I've reviving a bit of a dead thread, but I needed somewhere to put my unboxing video.
I was doing ok until I forgot how to move a window around on the screen. Finally found it. Alt+Grab+Move
 
I would like to add an impression, the two small extra gaming buttons work really nice, I was sceptical they seem to be out of the way but they are not at all. I've been playing Streets of rage remake a lot and they are completely intuitive, and accessible love the layout!
 
I would like to add an impression, the two small extra gaming buttons work really nice, I was sceptical they seem to be out of the way but they are not at all. I've been playing Streets of rage remake a lot and they are completely intuitive, and accessible love the layout!

I wish moden game controllers had more buttons.
2 grip buttons like the steam controller and 2 more face buttons.
Some modern (PC) games ould benefit a lot from a few more extra buttons.
It's not like those buttons do any harm if a game does not require them.
 
I'm not sure gaming has actually been improved by the addition of more buttons. The most face buttons you ever need is 6 for street fighter, and two or four shoulder buttons is probably enough to bother with. Almost everything else can be implemented in a pause menu, which at least keeps it clearer to a sedentary viewer what you're doing. There are exceptions to that rule though, and the most obvious one I can think of is Elite, and for the Pandora port of Oolite I made an overly complex chording layout that provided quick access to pitch (up/down), roll (left/right), yaw (left/right), speed (up/down), laser, ecm and a few other functions. Hopefully on the Pyra it'll be more convenient to keep some of those as keyboard keys, since they are now made of the same stuff as the game buttons.
 
I wish moden game controllers had more buttons.
2 grip buttons like the steam controller and 2 more face buttons.
Some modern (PC) games ould benefit a lot from a few more extra buttons.
It's not like those buttons do any harm if a game does not require them.
More buttons can be used only on d-input devices, but must be configured for each game, because there is no standard about what code is used for what button/trigger/directional thing on those gamepads.

On x-input devices the limit is xbox buttons, and that's it, no way to use more... the good thing is that you just plug it in and everything is already configured.
 
More buttons can be used only on d-input devices, but must be configured for each game, because there is no standard about what code is used for what button/trigger/directional thing on those gamepads.

On x-input devices the limit is xbox buttons, and that's it, no way to use more... the good thing is that you just plug it in and everything is already configured.

Well, that is not a reason.
Why can a software not support more buttons?
If there were more buttons on standard PS5/Switch/Xbox Consoles, I'm pretty sure, there would be software support for it.
 
Well, that is not a reason.
Why can a software not support more buttons?
If there were more buttons on standard PS5/Switch/Xbox Consoles, I'm pretty sure, there would be software support for it.

If in a software they use x-input (the only method officially supported my Microsoft), then no, there is no way to use more buttons, the library doesn't have the functionality.

If they support ALSO d-input, then yes, they "could" implement other additional inputs, but those will work only for d-input devices (so this excludes almost the totality of xbox-like controllers that can't work that way).

I have the feeling that the Xbox by default doesn't support d-input (but maybe could be hacked for that), anyway the developers make things for the majority of the users, and those are using "standard" libraries and "standard" xbox controllers.

I don't know what input system uses the PS5, but I suppose D-input, because if I'm not wrong it should have a *nix OS, and also because the later gamepads have advanced functionalities like the touchpad, that is not supported by x-input as of now.

About the Switch I'm not sure if it uses a different protocol from the previous 2... The 8BitDo gamepads have a different mode for the Switch, but I don't know the limits/functionalities of it.

So, if a game is developed for more consoles at the same time, including the Xbox, maybe the controls are just standardized for the one that have the less functionalities (that right now is the Xbox)...
 
Last edited:
I just wonder why Nintendo does not add more buttons.
They always do what they want.

At least some third party developer could make one and add its own software like Valve did with the Steam controller.
The controller was a bit ugly but the additional buttons were a blessing for many PC games.
 
So, Pyra is XInput, dos this means if i would plug in my XBOX 360 PC Controller, or Connect the XBOX ONE Controller, whyle i run some Emulators via HDMI it may work out of the Box??
I remember that the Pandora Gaming Buttons where just mapped Keyboard Buttons..

And the GPD Win had a Switch to change between X Input, Mouse Mode, and non X Input..
 
No, as far as I can tell, xinput is the follow on to directinput which is part of directX which is therefore a microsoft thingy. There is a *nix tool called xinput, but that's for listing and configuring inputs to your X install, so is more concerned with keyboards and mice in the main. In my experience plugging xbox 360 wired controllers into linux boxes gets recognised just fine, although it depends on the emulator whether you'll be able to make use of the controller buttons or not.
 
There is the xpad kernel module, which seems to basically be a Linux equivalent to Microsoft's Xinput. When I plug an XBOX controller into my Gentoo laptop and run Steam games, it just works exactly the same as on Windows, the games automatically know it's an Xinput controller and act accordingly.
 
Back
Top