Preparing for a Prototype

[Wrath Of Khan]

Lights, cameras, action... well almost!

 

[levi]

That's a good point; I'm hoping for some decent prototype videos from as many of you prototype users as possible. Pandora proved a little tricky to use and film at the same time, so some thoughts on how you'll film it are probably due.

 

[Grench]

ED recently released a video of a prototype running on it's own self-contained power. This leads me to all sorts of questions that I don't want to bother ED with unless he's got the time to be browsing this little blog-esque message thread.

Did Dr N create a hardware testing program that can be run on each prototype as it gets produced to validate hardware function? I figure the prototypes are gong to be a fairly intensive process with some hand population - they will likely need a testing process applied to make sure they check out. That can then be used to check production units when that starts up.

Is the process to populate/fix the prototype boards on-going then or is there anything getting in the way of that? I.e. now that they have figured out what was needed to take one of the 1st run prototype population boards and make it fully function, what is left to do on the rest of the prototype boards to have equivalent working electronics?

The lid in the video was 3d printed and nub pads are missing (stating obvious). The shoulder buttons are clear plastic - but I don't recall seeing ED use the shoulders. For some reason I had thought those would be the same rubberized material as the nub pads. How do the clear plastic ones work/feel? I.e. are those 'good to go'? Has the plastics company given any indication of when they can prepare examples of the remaining pieces? I know it is a slow process - it is starting to feel glacial on those plastics.

The screen looks great. The two LEDs on the back side of the screen are much smaller and closer together than I had thought they would be. Not a big issue, but if they were separated by 1cm or so, their positional relationship can have meaning as well. For example, right now if there were a green blinking light showing, I would find it hard to tell at a glance if the left, right, both together or both alternating were blinking. I'm not even sure if they're left/right or over/under. This shouldn't drive a change to that board - but if there are going to be other changes to it anyway, maybe consider a bit more separation in those LEDs?

It feels like prototypes are likely less than 4 months and more than 4 weeks out.

Looking forward to the next update.

 

[levi]

I'd expect testing currently is just in the form of a script that will be manually tested, for such a small production run. But by the time the first batch is done, I'd expect that to have been coded up into something a lot more automatic, in the way it was done for the Pandora.

I'm not sure the nubs are going to be rubberised, so I'm not sure the shoulder buttons are ether. In fact, I think we've seen 3d models with different textured plastic on each shoulder button in the pair on each side, so I wouldn't expect that to be coated, and thus lose some of the definition of those textures. They weren't coated on the Pandora - they're simply marked by the letter L or R in relief, then a small pill shaped relief to mark where to place your fingertips.

The lights on the back of the lid looked quite widely spaced to me, seeing them behind the logo. While one LED looks pretty much dead center, the other isn't even visible from many angles. I guess the latter is intended to provide a backlight, while the former will be for higher priority signals.

I thought I read somewhere the ED had already send out some of the prototypes, but i can't find that posting at the moment.

 

[Grench]

Wow - yes there is more distance between the lid LEDs. I knew there were two and had only seen one in the video. If you look VERY carefully you can see the 2nd one flashing red/orange about 1.5cm lower than then blue/green flashing one. It is right at the edge of the logo hole.

As I understand it, no purchased prototypes will ship until the case plastics are completed. It may be possible that some 3d printed case or even bare board-type could have gone to a developer short list - I wouldn't be informed of that. I suspect, though, that the one shown in that video is the -only- one at this stage.

 

[Grench]

5. Protoype units and a preproduction run

We were able to create 10 working PCB sets from the prototype run. This is enough for the developers, but not yet for all the ordered prototypes.

However, we still have a few fixes and the ordered prototypes I want to ship should have a full case and a fixed keymat (though I'll also throw in the old one in case you want to compare it).
So they'll still take a while, but you'll still receive them before anyone else, no worries.

I'm glad that there was enough yield from the prototype run to produce enough units for the devs - that was the primary purpose.

Going into this I knew there was a pretty good chance that there would not be enough hardware to make my prototype and that I'm essentially #18 or so in line (10 devs then I'm the last in line of purchased prototypes). What I was never sure of is what would happen to my prototype order if there was not enough successful hardware from the prototype board population run to fulfill the purchased orders.

Part of what made the purchase valuable, though, was to actually have a unit to participate in the prototype release and developments. If this stretches out to be an 'early production unit', is it still a 'prototype'?

I haven't heard/seen anything about a 2nd round of prototype board production. No, I don't want an immediate refund - ED needs that money on account to keep the project going. However, if it's going to stretch out to where the units will essentially be the first units off of the production line, that isn't really what I paid for. At that point maybe the prototype purchase attempt gets converted into multiple first batch retail units?

We'll see where this goes. Maybe the situation isn't as I am interpreting it.

 

[rygD]

I figured when he said "not yet" that another prototype run would be done. Good luck.

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

I'm glad that there was enough yield from the prototype run to produce enough units for the devs - that was the primary purpose.

Going into this I knew there was a pretty good chance that there would not be enough hardware to make my prototype and that I'm essentially #18 or so in line (10 devs then I'm the last in line of purchased prototypes). What I was never sure of is what would happen to my prototype order if there was not enough successful hardware from the prototype board population run to fulfill the purchased orders.

Part of what made the purchase valuable, though, was to actually have a unit to participate in the prototype release and developments. If this stretches out to be an 'early production unit', is it still a 'prototype'?

I haven't heard/seen anything about a 2nd round of prototype board production. No, I don't want an immediate refund - ED needs that money on account to keep the project going. However, if it's going to stretch out to where the units will essentially be the first units off of the production line, that isn't really what I paid for. At that point maybe the prototype purchase attempt gets converted into multiple first batch retail units?

We'll see where this goes. Maybe the situation isn't as I am interpreting it.

Hopefully there are some differences in your prototype- an exclusive colour scheme for one. Judging by how ed has described the current Pyra software, I think it will be a while before us pre-orderers will receive units- presumably You will get a prototpye earlier but the software will be much rougher at that stage?

 

[Grench]

Hopefully there are some differences in your prototype- an exclusive colour scheme for one. Judging by how ed has described the current Pyra software, I think it will be a while before us pre-orderers will receive units- presumably You will get a prototpye earlier but the software will be much rougher at that stage?

The color scheme wasn't really open to the custom options you're likely envisioning. It will more likely look pretty much like the production units.

Part of the idea with getting a prototype was to get involved with testing and new developments during that rough stage. There is a good chance I'm the exception, but I wasn't planning on buying a prototype to sit on a shelf or sell on ebay. My plan was to -use- it, rough or non-existent software state and all, while making myself and my Pyra prototype available for a 2nd tier of devs to get some form of early testing/access in.

I'm disappointed in the delay, but I understand the reasons for it. If the delay winds up meaning that the prototype units are more or less the same as and scheduled within days or weeks of the first batch production - then is it still a prototype?

I'm sure ED will 'do right' for the prototype purchasers in the end. These questions wind up being more existential than useful. I'm still looking forward to getting a Pyra. Not having a Pandora right now probably exasperates the wait.

My Pandoras (CC and 1Ghz) are both broken right now - my fault. I had been debating on whether to send them in for repairs. It seems that I mistakenly plugged them into 12VDC and 14VDC barrel connectors instead of their proper 5VDC chargers. Yeah, they're dead. This is an important reason why the Pyra having microUSB ports for charging is a -good- thing. No chance to grab the wrong barrel jack adapter. By the time I would pay shipping and likely motherboard repairs or replacements, waiting for the Pyra prototype instead seemed like a good option. Now... I'll probably have to send them in to Germany and hope that one or both are repairable. Too many toys and getting the chargers mixed - very much first world problems. On the bright side, my 153Wh (42500mAh) battery pack charged fine (no idea how long it took) off of the Pandora's barrel charger - which is pretty impressive.

 

[levi]

If the delay winds up meaning that the prototype units are more or less the same as and scheduled within days or weeks of the first batch production - then is it still a prototype?

I'm pretty confident that ED's wording of you getting your prototype 'before anyone else, no worries' mean you'll be getting your preorder well before anyone else. I don't know how much time ED has committed to testing the prototypes, or getting the software ready before mass production starts, but I'd expect it to be a matter of weeks. It is a shame you'll only be getting in on the second round of prototypes with the new keymat, but at least it should have a proper case. I wouldn't worry too much about missing out - the Pandora was incredibly shaky software-wise in the early months. Pyra should get something of a head-start, since people have been developing on devboard already and hopefully have all the source code for their pandora projects, but even though I only got my Pandora two or three years after the first ones had been out, incredible things have still happened to it during my time.

 

[Askarus]

Update on the SD-Card side: 512 GB for 171€ on Amazon: Link
These Cards are getting affordable now.
Let's make a real MEGA Pack and sell the Pyra with 2 of these...

PNY also has one now: Link
I'd prefer the Kingston Card.
I got one of the cheap 256 GB PNY Cards and loose some Data from time to time.
It's a mainly read only Music card and some files get lost from time to time. Maybe it only needs to be formatted.

 

[levi]

Curiously, on amazon's UK site, in GBP, that Kingston card's cheapest at 256GB per byte, and the 512GB card still has about a 30GBP premium on two 256GB cards. On even more reliable brands 256GB still seems the sweet point.

Even more curiously, typing '512GB SD card' into the search box there seems to bring all the scammers out of the woodwork, with someone claiming to sell an unbranded 512GB micro SD card, and some weird discounted 64GB microSD card where you need to apply for some peculiar 'voucher' to get it cheap.

 

[Grench]

Amazon needs to get it's head out of the sand and realize that this bazar type unsupervised marketplace is ruining their reputation. The fact that SD card scams pop in search so heavy - there is no way they don't know about the problem.

 

[_jr_]

Amazon needs to get it's head out of the sand ...

Actually I think it's people that need to get their heads out of the sand.

 

[Askarus]

Actually I think it's people that need to get their heads out of the sand.

I'd also say so.

Never had a bad experience with Amazon Marketplace.
Always very good stuff.
Once I had a game that was claimed to be "very good" but it was damaged. Got a refund without any issues.

I'm trying out AliExpress right now. Curious if the Chinese do deliver good stuff as well. At least it's a lot cheaper than German ebay and Amazon for exactly the same goods. Of course you need to order the right things .

 

[Grench]

I'd also say so.

Would you happen to know if any of the early dev prototype units has gone to a US dev who has/could/can test the US 4G GSM on a carrier?

 

[levi]

I'm trying out AliExpress right now. Curious if the Chinese do deliver good stuff as well. At least it's a lot cheaper than German ebay and Amazon for exactly the same goods. Of course you need to order the right things .

About a third of the items I've ordered on amazon marketplace over the past six months have been sent out from China, either mainland or Hong Kong. Takes a little while to arrive, but I'm always amazed that they can send things so far so cheaply out there, as usually the item is cheaper that one ordered from elsewhere and also has 'free' delivery included.

 

[Grench]

About a third of the items I've ordered on amazon marketplace over the past six months have been sent out from China, either mainland or Hong Kong. Takes a little while to arrive, but I'm always amazed that they can send things so far so cheaply out there, as usually the item is cheaper that one ordered from elsewhere and also has 'free' delivery included.

Because of the weird way that international mail and postage works, a Chinese company can ship a dongle in a bubble envelope to me in the middle of the US far cheaper than I can send the same 'package' accross town.

 

[Askarus]

Would you happen to know if any of the early dev prototype units has gone to a US dev who has/could/can test the US 4G GSM on a carrier?

Nothing to the US for now. Don't know if there's a US developer.

About a third of the items I've ordered on amazon marketplace over the past six months have been sent out from China, either mainland or Hong Kong. Takes a little while to arrive, but I'm always amazed that they can send things so far so cheaply out there, as usually the item is cheaper that one ordered from elsewhere and also has 'free' delivery included.

It is strange.
I've ordered a plush Pokemon for about 3€. It has free shipping to Germany.
Ok, it's Chinese Air Mail and takes some time to arrive but how can that be??

 

[TrashyMG]

Nothing to the US for now. Don't know if there's a US developer.

I believe Lunixbochs ( _aegis_ ) resides in the US..., Someone from Ti I believe will get a unit as well I think.