This time, I'm just giving a quick text update again.
No video for two reasons:
1. I'm seriously lacking time (which is also why I didn't post an update earlier)
2. I don't have anything new to show right now
If you followed my various posts here on the boards, you probably know a bit of the current status but I'll try to summarize it here - so hopefully, all questions shall be answered.
If not, let me know and I'll answer
1. The Preorder Prototypes
I still haven't assembled them for one simple reason: Time... and this:
I forgot (yeah, I'm getting old, seriously...) that these PCBs hadn't been checked yet for non-working keys.
As I reported previously, most of the prototypes had the issue that some keys have not been working. This was because at some time during the production run, very tiny diodes have been ripped from the boards and were missing.
We fixed all European Modem PCBs - but I forgot that we didn't do that with the US Modem PCBs yet!
And it turns out that these all have some non-working keys. I have the diodes here and just need to check which ones need to be replaced.
However, I didn't have the time to do that yet (more and that further down in the newspost), so that's the sole reason they haven't shipped yet.
But I WILL make sure every prototype preorder receives his unit before christmas!
2. The status of the cases
The order for 1000 full case sets has been placed, as they work perfectly fine now and look gorgeous.
Azouls will now order the plastics needed and take care of the production run. I might visit Greece again to show you more videos of the production run - but I don't know if I find the time.
December is always a stressful time for an online shop, and I've got tons or work to do at the moment anyways. We'll see.
It should take around 4 - 5 weeks until all sets are finished (depending on how fast the plastic arrives... planning something around christmas time is always messy) and shipping will probably take another 2 weeks, so that means we should have them all here in January, ready to be painted.
I will receive more painted samples (with some other colors) soon and will make more videos of them
3. The status of the remaining parts
Basically, everything is there.
Speakers, logo plates, batteries, bare PCBs, all parts needed for PCB production, LCD Cables, LCDs, Keymats, etc.
So yeah, we're basically ready for production once the cases arrive here.
Nothing more to be done here.
4. The status of the current OS
Well, "OS" is probably wrong, as the OS we use is a standard Debian, so that one is working with all programs you have on a normal Linux system.
So it's the status of the kernel and general drivers.
Toastbucket is helping out a lot! He has almost finished the battery charger / monitor driver, which is not only needed for the end user, but it's also really helpful to when fixing the prototype preorders PCBs because right now, I can only boot the system when a battery is inserted. So I have to assemble / disassemble the unit each time I want to test it. Booting the PCB without any case around it will make things a lot easier here.
aTc and Toastbucket have also worked to make the image building and package creation easier to handle and as automatic as possible.
We also switched to our own kernel GIT (which is based on the Letux Kernel) as the Letux Kernel GIT is too volatile right now. This makes it very hard to fix the remaining issues and get out a mostly working Pyra when the production starts.
It's also a lot easier for developers to help us out, as the Letux kernel git is quite complex due to the large amount of systems it does support. Having one GIT where only the Pyra stuff is a lot more overseeable.
We will also keep an eye open for Pyra fixes in the Letux kernel to pull them over and will also try to provide our fixes to the Letux kernel.
We're using kernel 4.19 for the first release, as this is the one that worked best on our testing units so far.
Our goal is to get this one completely stable with all hardware features first.
After that is done and we have a stable working OS, we will switch to a more recent kernel which will be unstable / testing after everything has been approved to be working and then this will become the next stable one.
The kernels will all be available as Debian package, so anyone can decide for himself whether he prefers the stable kernel or help out finding bugs in the testing one
The kernel git can be found here:
https://dev.pyra-handheld.com/kernel/pyra-kernel
And the U-Boot git can be found here:
https://dev.pyra-handheld.com/kernel/pyra-uboot
So if you want to help out there, you're more than welcome
5. Time issues
As mentioned at the beginning of the post, the biggest issue for me at the moment is: Time!
I'm barely managing to keep up with all the work right now, I easily have enough work that would keep two fulltime employees busy!
Thankfully, I've got a trainee who helps with the office stuff (shipping packages, etc.) and while this takes a bit of workload off my shoulders, there's still a lot more work to do.
Now, I can hear how some are crying "Why are you even working on other things - just get the Pyra out to us, this is most important!".
Well, yes, I can understand where you're coming from.
However, this is exactly what caused the issues with the Pandora back then: Craig decided to spend all his time to work on the Pandora and closed the shop... and that eventually lead to the issue that he ran out of money.
This is NOT what we want to happen!
Unfortunately, the Pyra has turned out to cost A LOT more than planned (due to a lot of bad stuff that happened), so money is tight and the only thing to keep things going is by pulling in money.
For example, I am producing the 2000 cartridges for the EU/US release of the MegaDrive/Genesis game Ultracore (some of you might even have preordered it).
While this eats quite a bit of my time, it actually fully financed the production of the 1000 keymats.
And of course, keeping the shop interesting by adding new interesting products also takes some time but pulls in money.
So in case you're wondering why sometimes things like finishing up the preorder prototypes or news posts take a while: it's not because I want to delay the Pyra for as long as possible (that would be crazy indeed), it's simply because I can't afford to hire more staff right now OR work fulltime on the Pyra.
It's a very delicated balancing between time, money, customer support - and, and, and... (I should run a gofundme))
As you surely can see, things are moving along, even it they sometimes take longer than they should, but I hope you now understand the reason for that.
Okay, I'm off to bed now... it's 5:52am in the morning again... time runs too fast, seriously!
No video for two reasons:
1. I'm seriously lacking time (which is also why I didn't post an update earlier)
2. I don't have anything new to show right now
If you followed my various posts here on the boards, you probably know a bit of the current status but I'll try to summarize it here - so hopefully, all questions shall be answered.
If not, let me know and I'll answer
1. The Preorder Prototypes
I still haven't assembled them for one simple reason: Time... and this:
I forgot (yeah, I'm getting old, seriously...) that these PCBs hadn't been checked yet for non-working keys.
As I reported previously, most of the prototypes had the issue that some keys have not been working. This was because at some time during the production run, very tiny diodes have been ripped from the boards and were missing.
We fixed all European Modem PCBs - but I forgot that we didn't do that with the US Modem PCBs yet!
And it turns out that these all have some non-working keys. I have the diodes here and just need to check which ones need to be replaced.
However, I didn't have the time to do that yet (more and that further down in the newspost), so that's the sole reason they haven't shipped yet.
But I WILL make sure every prototype preorder receives his unit before christmas!
2. The status of the cases
The order for 1000 full case sets has been placed, as they work perfectly fine now and look gorgeous.
Azouls will now order the plastics needed and take care of the production run. I might visit Greece again to show you more videos of the production run - but I don't know if I find the time.
December is always a stressful time for an online shop, and I've got tons or work to do at the moment anyways. We'll see.
It should take around 4 - 5 weeks until all sets are finished (depending on how fast the plastic arrives... planning something around christmas time is always messy) and shipping will probably take another 2 weeks, so that means we should have them all here in January, ready to be painted.
I will receive more painted samples (with some other colors) soon and will make more videos of them
3. The status of the remaining parts
Basically, everything is there.
Speakers, logo plates, batteries, bare PCBs, all parts needed for PCB production, LCD Cables, LCDs, Keymats, etc.
So yeah, we're basically ready for production once the cases arrive here.
Nothing more to be done here.
4. The status of the current OS
Well, "OS" is probably wrong, as the OS we use is a standard Debian, so that one is working with all programs you have on a normal Linux system.
So it's the status of the kernel and general drivers.
Toastbucket is helping out a lot! He has almost finished the battery charger / monitor driver, which is not only needed for the end user, but it's also really helpful to when fixing the prototype preorders PCBs because right now, I can only boot the system when a battery is inserted. So I have to assemble / disassemble the unit each time I want to test it. Booting the PCB without any case around it will make things a lot easier here.
aTc and Toastbucket have also worked to make the image building and package creation easier to handle and as automatic as possible.
We also switched to our own kernel GIT (which is based on the Letux Kernel) as the Letux Kernel GIT is too volatile right now. This makes it very hard to fix the remaining issues and get out a mostly working Pyra when the production starts.
It's also a lot easier for developers to help us out, as the Letux kernel git is quite complex due to the large amount of systems it does support. Having one GIT where only the Pyra stuff is a lot more overseeable.
We will also keep an eye open for Pyra fixes in the Letux kernel to pull them over and will also try to provide our fixes to the Letux kernel.
We're using kernel 4.19 for the first release, as this is the one that worked best on our testing units so far.
Our goal is to get this one completely stable with all hardware features first.
After that is done and we have a stable working OS, we will switch to a more recent kernel which will be unstable / testing after everything has been approved to be working and then this will become the next stable one.
The kernels will all be available as Debian package, so anyone can decide for himself whether he prefers the stable kernel or help out finding bugs in the testing one
The kernel git can be found here:
https://dev.pyra-handheld.com/kernel/pyra-kernel
And the U-Boot git can be found here:
https://dev.pyra-handheld.com/kernel/pyra-uboot
So if you want to help out there, you're more than welcome
5. Time issues
As mentioned at the beginning of the post, the biggest issue for me at the moment is: Time!
I'm barely managing to keep up with all the work right now, I easily have enough work that would keep two fulltime employees busy!
Thankfully, I've got a trainee who helps with the office stuff (shipping packages, etc.) and while this takes a bit of workload off my shoulders, there's still a lot more work to do.
Now, I can hear how some are crying "Why are you even working on other things - just get the Pyra out to us, this is most important!".
Well, yes, I can understand where you're coming from.
However, this is exactly what caused the issues with the Pandora back then: Craig decided to spend all his time to work on the Pandora and closed the shop... and that eventually lead to the issue that he ran out of money.
This is NOT what we want to happen!
Unfortunately, the Pyra has turned out to cost A LOT more than planned (due to a lot of bad stuff that happened), so money is tight and the only thing to keep things going is by pulling in money.
For example, I am producing the 2000 cartridges for the EU/US release of the MegaDrive/Genesis game Ultracore (some of you might even have preordered it).
While this eats quite a bit of my time, it actually fully financed the production of the 1000 keymats.
And of course, keeping the shop interesting by adding new interesting products also takes some time but pulls in money.
So in case you're wondering why sometimes things like finishing up the preorder prototypes or news posts take a while: it's not because I want to delay the Pyra for as long as possible (that would be crazy indeed), it's simply because I can't afford to hire more staff right now OR work fulltime on the Pyra.
It's a very delicated balancing between time, money, customer support - and, and, and... (I should run a gofundme
))As you surely can see, things are moving along, even it they sometimes take longer than they should, but I hope you now understand the reason for that.
Okay, I'm off to bed now... it's 5:52am in the morning again... time runs too fast, seriously!
