Preparing for a Prototype

[God Ginrai]

3rd - Bakelyte (which would either be mixed color pellets or a surface treatment)

Like the stuff they used in old mahjong sets?

-God Ginrai

 

[Grench]

When I think of Bakelyte I think more of the old radios like this one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite#/media/File:Bakelite_radio.jpg

 

[God Ginrai]

So that brown casing in that image is bakelite?

-God Ginrai

 

[Grench]

Yes - that image is from the Wikipedia page on Bakelite and apparently that radio is in the Bakelite museum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite

 

[levi]

Yes, traditionally bakelite is that type of varnish brown colour. And traditionally, mahjongg sets are made from ivory. The first ivory replacement plastic was celluloid, which does tend to age to that sort of colour. I'd be careful actually playing a game using that set, as the shuffle can be quite violent, and celluloid does tend to decompose to various forms of nitrocellulose which can ignite rather easily then burn quite merrily.

 

[rygD]

Vigorous shuffling or close proximity to the Pyra might be a problem, I guess (not familiar with shuffling physical mahjong tiles).

Since I didn't have anything meaningful to say, I really appreciate you sharing your experiences with us, and even more so that you will actually be using the prototype for everyday purposes. I am really looking forward to what you find out about cell service (text is most important to me, with calls being next, so those are more relevant than data for my needs). I can't remember the info, but I prefer to stick with who I have (a Sprint MVNO) or T-Mobile.

 

[Grench]

To my understanding, the US module is a GSM '4G' version of the same GSM chip they're going to use in Europe. That means that Sprint, US Cellular and Verizon, being CDMA providers, won't work. AT&T and T-Mobile are more likely to work, but how cooperative they're going to be with getting a botique device like the Pyra onto their network, I'm not sure. I'll likely be one of the first to find out though.

l need my phone and it's Android install for work related things, so I need to keep my main phone line active. That means that I'll need to add a 5th line to my family plan for just the Pyra - at least until/if/when Android VMs under Debian on the Pyra can become a thing. Then I might be able to ditch my Android phone.

There will need to be a fair amount of device infrastructure programming done to get there. Things like the Pyra's Debian OS will need to be running a program to default to the 4G data connection, but only when a known WiFi network is not in range, but only if a USB Ethernet dongle is not plugged in. To do the VM trick as above, it would then need a software bridge to link whatever network that is that it can connect to the VM manager, which still needs to be developed to even work with the platform, which does not have 3d drivers yet to even plug any of that into... So, I'm not expecting to be able to run my dream of 2 Android VMs inside the Debian host for a long long time. Someone please surprise me on this.

Back on topic for rygD's question though - I don't expect the Pyra to work much or at all on anything but AT&T or T-Mobile - and even those two could be difficult about it depending on who you talk to.

 

[Silent-Hunter]

Cricket is an AT&T lessee, and they said if it is GSM they will allow it.

 

[rygD]

I just remembered, my MVNO also has T-Mobile access, so it may not be much of a problem with my cheapskate stuff. They have done great imo, so they may work with me, and if not I can just add it to the family plan we have with T-Mobile (although that will cost more).

 

[jutleys]

I want one.

 

[matzesu]

Well, when your Usecase als include some of these Thinks:

- How dos the Pyra fits in Pokets of our workpant, Jeans, Outdoor Pants, etc,
- Ho long dos the Batterie left for Pandora Tasks
- How visible is the Screen in sunshine
- What do your enwroiement says about the pyra,
- How long dos it take, to reload your pyra whit the inkludet wallplug??
- How good are the controlls, compare to the pandora
- and how good fits the screen hinge..

These questions should you get busy for at least 2 Months (tm)

 

[levi]

- How visible is the Screen in sunshine

I would love to know this! While the screen of my Pandora was usable, it was a frequent bane of mine to find a suitably shaded place to read what music track I was playing, or to turn wifi off to save battery; let alone trying to do anything more complex with my device out of doors.

Also, enwroiement? What do you mean by this?

 

[matzesu]

Enwroiment: "Umgebung" "Umgebung = the peaple around you "
Environment due to google translater..

 

[levi]

Ah, okay, 'colleagues' is probably the most natural translation I can think of, assuming I've not missed any context there.

 

[God Ginrai]

To my understanding, the US module is a GSM '4G' version of the same GSM chip they're going to use in Europe. That means that Sprint, US Cellular and Verizon, being CDMA providers, won't work. AT&T and T-Mobile are more likely to work, but how cooperative they're going to be with getting a botique device like the Pyra onto their network, I'm not sure. I'll likely be one of the first to find out though.

I can't speak for Sprint and US Cellular, but Verizon's LTE technology is actually based on GSM, not CDMA. They even have SIM cards and everything. Most older VZW 4G phones used GSM for data and CDMA for voice. With the introduction of VoLTE, they should have introduced a number of completely GSM phones, at least for 4G. Getting a Pyra on their network might still be a problem, but Verizon should be much more likely nowadays. I intend to research this as soon as I get my Pyra. However, since I am waiting on the round of orders after the prototypes, I won't have mine for a while yet.

EDIT:

@levi, @matzesu: You guys are probably looking for the word "peers"

-God Ginrai

 

[matzesu]

Family, friends, the peaple who accidental sees you playing tetris on your weyrd little notebook thing
Took my Pandora whit mee, some yeahrs ago on a Unimog meeting, and got ask what this for a handheld is..

 

[Plume]

Seriously, what is wrong with the mobile phone network in the US ?

There will need to be a fair amount of device infrastructure programming done to get there. Things like the Pyra's Debian OS will need to be running a program to default to the 4G data connection, but only when a known WiFi network is not in range, but only if a USB Ethernet dongle is not plugged in. To do the VM trick as above, it would then need a software bridge to link whatever network that is that it can connect to the VM manager, which still needs to be developed to even work with the platform, which does not have 3d drivers yet to even plug any of that into... So, I'm not expecting to be able to run my dream of 2 Android VMs inside the Debian host for a long long time. Someone please surprise me on this.

I think that NetworkManager does that (among many other things).

 

[God Ginrai]

Seriously, what is wrong with the mobile phone network in the US ?

In what manner?

-God Ginrai

 

[thatgui]

In what manner?

Not beeing the same as in Europe

 

[Grench]

Assuming that I follow my current plan, I'll be putting in a 200GB microSDXC internally and have at least one 256GB card in one of the SD slots. So, I started thinking, which isn't always a good thing. What could I put on a Pyra that would be useful, entertaining and in some way justify the storage space? Yes - with games, music, photos and video the entertainment side is pretty covered. But what about useful in the Hitchiker's Guide perspective?

Entirety of English Wikipedia. Supposedly this fits inside of around 100GB. Has anyone ported Xowa to the Pandora?

All of Project Gutenberg. I understand this to only be something in the range of 60GB.

OpenStreetMap of the world. This one is 617GB uncompressed - will likely have to be more selective on that.

What are some other large but potentially useful programs or databases?