No prototypes for GamesCom, but a Wifi Chip and a Pyra in the dark!

[Luke-Jr]

Are all the keys remappable? Including the power/brightness ones? How about the directional devices? It's not bad, but I like flexibility.

 

[lukey]

About the wifi chip:


- how much does the +14€ on the chip itself add to the final price ? +14€ ? +20€ ? more ?


- I understand the wifi chip is on the mainboard and not on the CPU board.


If it is not upgradable, it might be worth it to get the 5GHz version right away for futureproofing.

I thought the same thing. The Pyra will be expensive anyway so +20-30Euro for a more future proof thing should be O.k.

 

[ashcloud]

Looks awesome. But I'm missing the LEDs at the locations the pandora had. Is this only the rendering, or are there none? The other LEDs are quite unusable, because you can't see them as the case is closed

5GHz wifi would definitely add some value to the pyra, that would be great, even if it costs some more. But whatever you wanna do is fine...

 

[CrazyIvan]

The main problem with 2.4 GHz WiFi is Bluetooth interference. If you have something that constantly sends data over Bluetooth then your 2.4 GHz WiFi could seriously degrade.

For example I had some Bluetooth remote controlling software for my phone on my tablet that made 2.4 GHz WiFi almost unusable especially when it searched for phone.

So it would be better to have 5 GHz WiFi especially considering that it's on the main board that's meant to be futureproof.

 

[Bosbeetle]

Looks awesome. But I'm missing the LEDs at the locations the pandora had. Is this only the rendering, or are there none? The other LEDs are quite unusable, because you can't see them as the case is closed

5GHz wifi would definitely add some value to the pyra, that would be great, even if it costs some more. But whatever you wanna do is fine...

We do have the led on the back of the lid with the pyra logo in it. It has an RGB led so it could give different colors for different things... red charging, orange wifi on, green normal mode, blue just chillin' mode

 

[myNewUsername]

+1 on futureproofing with 5Gh. I have also experienced instability but only under GNU/Linux. On my tablet it works fine so for all i know this can be driver issues and fixes can come for free from Debian. That was my piece of speculation.

also, very nice looking backlight on the rendering, even with the key borders!

 

[Linux Geek]

Thanks to the poll and your comments, we were able to finish a keyboard layout that should be usable and satisfy most of you. We will still work and tweak on the look of some of the symbols and char, but the functionality should be finished (unless someone finds a huge flaw here).

I would prefer two Shift keys on the keyboard but since you don't seem interested in that idea, I would ask that you at least include a key for SysRq which is a vital keystroke in Linux in the case of a crash.

 

[Natsu]

No Prototypes for GamesCom

Not that I'll be there, bit it would have still been nice for you to show off. Disappointing.

The solution for the Wifi Chip

 I'm with the future proofing crowd.

Finalizing the keyboard layout

Oh boy. Depending on some people idea of a major flaw. Lol Looks good to me.

Some renderings for you

Looks good, the case and the lighting. Not sure if this is a placebo effect, but it does look skinner.

 

[Alperoot]

No Prototypes for GamesCom


Not that I'll be there, bit it would have still been nice for you to show off. Disappointing.

I think he will upload some videos of the prototype even if there won't be any prototypes in the Gamescom.

 

[txus]

I'm also in favour of 5 GHz wifi band, even if it costs 14 euros more. Less range, but definitely useful living in a crowded city with dozens of other networks + everything else clogging the 2,4 GHz band.


And about the stability issues, in case you were on Linux, this may be relevant: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-WiFi-5GHz-WPA-Sup


That said, I have had a rocksolid 5 GHz Wifi n network at home for quite a while now. It's actually ac too, which also works perfectly fine with my GF's Macbook and our Androids, but I'm talking about my main Linux PC, a custom gaming laptop, where the (awesome, blob-free, and highly recommended) Atheros card only speaks up to n

 

[dosenfisch]

2.4 GHz is unusable in my location. There are way to much networks in this frequency range to get a fast and stable connection, so I have to use 5 GHz.

 

[FaeMinx]

I've changed my mind.


My vote for the 5Ghz Wifi.

 

[fahrstuhl]

Shame about the prototypes, but I hope you'll have a great time at GamesCom anyway!


I'd pay for the 5GHz, too. I haven't had any bad experiences with my router so far.


Also, the wireless chip seems to be able to act as an AP and a client simultaneously! I've needed this surprisingly often, recently… http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Portable_Wireless_Gateway

 

[sepulep]

I am also slightly in favour of 5Ghz - although I have no super strong preference (the bluetooth interference argument would be a good reason).. would it also need a different  (more expensive?) antenna?

 

[TrashyMG]

Thanks to the poll and your comments, we were able to finish a keyboard layout that should be usable and satisfy most of you. We will still work and tweak on the look of some of the symbols and char, but the functionality should be finished (unless someone finds a huge flaw here).

I would prefer two Shift keys on the keyboard but since you don't seem interested in that idea, I would ask that you at least include a key for SysRq which is a vital keystroke in Linux in the case of a crash.

I've managed to deal without a SysRq button on the Pandora for 5 years without any problems... plus this is a handheld device not some server running vital tasks.

 

[WizardStan]

I've managed to deal without a SysRq button on the Pandora for 5 years without any problems

I've managed to deal without a SysRq button on my desktop for the last 15 years. It's there, and there have been many times when I wanted to make use of it, but I could never get it to work. It was only recently that I learned the reason for that, that the only time I'd actually want to use it is when the system is in such a state that the SysRq cannot work anyway. Personally I consider it an entirely useless feature now.

 

[EvilDragon]

The Alt and Ctrl labels are bigger than Start and Select while I'd consider those as gaming buttons and would prefer them to have the samlabel ordering as the round gaming buttons.

 Yes, that's some of the tweaks I mentioned that will still happen. 

I looked at the keyboard poll, but I cant find this layout there.

It never was intended to use the final layout (I even posted that in the intro post).

The best results and the comments from the users were used to create the current layout, which should work well for everyone.

I dont like the F11 and F12 key upper right there. F11 and F12 dont need an extra Button; its wasted.

F11 is fullscreen for almost any X11 program. It's one of the most used keys on my Pandora when I do office work with multitasking. 

How does the Screen Brightness Button work? Its only one Button for lighter and darker? 

Its not logically for me to put them both on one Button.

That was actually a long discussion. It was on two keys, but we wanted to keep a user defined key as well.

Normal press increases brightness. Once it's on brightest setting, it loops back to lowest brightness.

With Shift, you can lower the brightness.

If you additionally press Fn, you will change the keyboard brightness. 

Left Button Brightness down and F11, right Button Brightness up and F12. 

Would be much more logically, easier to use and would look better!

You would be missing the keyboard brightness. 

There will be no "Hardware" Power-On Switch like on the Pandora anymore? I liked that! 

It was also very usefull if the Pandora freezed. Can we make a Hard-Reset with this Power-On Button on Pyra? 

And can we go in Standby with this Button?

There never was a hardware power-on switch on the Pandora anyways

It was a slider that triggered a signal, so technically, it's the same here.

Instead of a slider that triggers a signal, you got a button that triggers the signal. The behaviour (incl. hardware reset and standby) is exactly the same.

The LEDs are gone? 

On the Pandora we had LEDs for Bluetooth, Wifi, Power-On/Standby, Charging, SD-Card-1, SD-Card-2, .. 

Now we only have two LEDs?

Two RGB LEDs, so you could color code anything.

i.e. the left LED could blink red for SD-Card 1 and green for SD-Card 2 (colors can freely be defined, of course).

Same for bluetooth and Wifi activity, etc.

The LEDs on the Pandora were nice but added quite a bit of costs in production (assembly, more parts, etc.)

I read the keyboard is backlighted. How does this work? Do we have a semitransparent keymat and LEDs under the keymat?

Yes. 

How do you guys think does Debian work with Pyra? There a many specially adapted softwarepackages like the PSX emu for Pandora. Would they be ported?

Yes. Debian is used as a base, but we got dbp (a similar packaging system like PNDs) already working on the Pyra, so there will be optimized ports for everything. 

The CPU PCB WAS to complex - the company that promised to be able to produce them within 5 days (for double the price) found out they couldn't.

They further increased the price and pushed back the delivery date to July 24th - but apparently, that still wasn't possible... we still didn't get the bare PCBs yet.

I hope it wasn't the company I suggested (contag), they seemed like a very nice company to work in, did not think that they would have totally opposite politics regarding their customers.

It was, but it seems they just underestimated the complexity of the PCB this time (seemt to happen often with our PCBs)

Global Components had already worked a few times with them and they never had any issues.

Right now, they still demand the full payment even though they missed their own two deadlines, so we need to discuss a bit more here.

What do you think? Do you use 5GHz Wifi?

5Ghz support is definately a nice to have feature. What was the per unit price for the originally intended chip? If it was higher, could leaving out the 5 Ghz band give you more "room to breath" - on the final price calculation side of things ? I would rather see this spend either on improving something else, or just lowering the final price (even if its just a few bucks)

The problem is the first order.

Money is tight with the first 1000 Pyras, after that, things will be easier.

We need to make enough money to also fund the next 1000 Pyras.

And 14 EUR more results in 14,000 EUR more to pay. This doesn't sound like that much, but it simply adds up.

- One user requested to have some kind of marking on two keys to find keys more easily without looking, the user "Saber" wrote that you are looking into it, could you comment on that ?

 I think we'll have either tiny blobs or regressions there, need to check that. 

Whoa! That's a very bright keyboard in the dark.

If the outline of the keys is going to be that pronounced, I see myself always keeping key brightness on lowest setting.

It's a rendering, so we don't know yet how bright it'll be in real life

Does the outline have to be *that* noticeable?

I was hoping for a more subtle effect.

No, it doesn't. Right now per design it got 0,8mm outline (which is what you see in the rendering as well).

If that's too much, the keymat can be printed using a mask to completely remove that outline as well.

We can tweak that after receiving the prototype.

In terms of Wifi.... I will take stability and range over speed anyday.

Please choose the chip that can be proven to be more reliable.

Thanks.

It's the same chip, just with different versions.

Looks awesome. But I'm missing the LEDs at the locations the pandora had. Is this only the rendering, or are there none? The other LEDs are quite unusable, because you can't see them as the case is closed

You got two RGB LEDs behind the logo in the back which can be used for anything you like.

 

[Eight Bit]

Can I connect to 2.4GHz wifi with the 5GHz chip?

If so, I'd vote for the 5GHz. If not, I would have to think it over a bit more...

I like the renders but I miss the switch on the outside of the case. On my Pandora I use it often to switch it to standby with the case closed. I guess the LED's function can be taken over by the RGB led in the lid so that's not an issue for me

 

[Askarus]

Can I connect to 2.4GHz wifi with the 5GHz chip?

If so, I'd vote for the 5GHz. If not, I would have to think it over a bit more...

I like the renders but I miss the switch on the outside of the case. On my Pandora I use it often to switch it to standby with the case closed. I guess the LED's function can be taken over by the RGB led in the lid so that's not an issue for me

The 5GHz Chip also supports 2.4 GHz AFAIK

 

[TrashyMG]

Leds can be reprogrammed for different uses too.