The 1000-traces-puzzle

[Eight Bit]

I'm wondering...

The plastic keyboard caps, does that mean they can be pulled off the silicon and placed on another spot?

 

[matzesu]

Aktually, i carry a galaxy note 2 (5.5* Phone) and the Revo K101 GBA in even in the Pokets of my Jeans, so i think i will the Pyra fit whitout Problems, as i think it will be about the same sice..


Whit the Pyra as Dealy Carry Handheld, this will be realy cool..

 

[EvilDragon]

Btw are any concept pictures of the caps available?

I wasn't very pleased to hear the key had thick transparent edges around the black paint. I hope this is no longer the case.

 No, that's the reason we're now using plastic caps.

I can make pictures once the design has been changed, which is in about 1,5 weeks (the designer is currently on holidays for this week).

I'm wondering...

The plastic keyboard caps, does that mean they can be pulled off the silicon and placed on another spot?

Not really, but that wouldn't make sense as it's the silicon keymat where the letters are printed on, not the plastic caps.

 

[rygD]

However, if everyone is too scared to order the Pyra because the software won't be completely working from the start, it's Game Over

I am in either way, as long as I have all the money for a preorder.  Edit:  At present everything is looking good for a Pyra preorder (just wanted to try to put your mind at ease).

I'm interested to see a side to side comparison of the final case with the Pandora. The thickness looks like it has increased slightly. Too bad that it may not fit in some of my pockets anymore, but I'll still plan on finding a way to carry it everywhere somehow!

Stop wearing jeans that are skin tight.

 

[NoeleyC]

Btw are any concept pictures of the caps available?


I wasn't very pleased to hear the key had thick transparent edges around the black paint. I hope this is no longer the case.

 
No, that's the reason we're now using plastic caps.


I can make pictures once the design has been changed, which is in about 1,5 weeks (the designer is currently on holidays for this week).

I'm wondering...


The plastic keyboard caps, does that mean they can be pulled off the silicon and placed on another spot?

Not really, but that wouldn't make sense as it's the silicon keymat where the letters are printed on, not the plastic caps.

Is the keymat going to be bascially white with the letters printed on it or will it designed that the keymat is mostly black and the letters are reverse printed to they shine out from underneath? (not sure I'm describing thing correctly though!)

 

[Foxgod]

yeah, only two months left until preorder ,cant wait, but its OK too if it takes three

Thanks for the update.

 

[Michoko]

Thanks ED. Any news about the tearing issue you talked about last time?

 

[fusion_power]

Since June 18th, more than 400 traces haven been routed - and now we're down to about 50!

Things are getting narrow, so we're switching from an 8-layer PCB to a 10-layer PCB.

With that change, the CPU PCB should be finished and going into prototype production about end of this week!

10 Layers, thats alot actualy. I can imagine this is expencive, even for such a tiny PCB. No way to simplify it? Changing the array of the elements on the PCB or something like that? Just aksing because it sounds like an "simple" 8 layer board could be made much faster compared to the 10 layer one. ^^"

A shame about the 3D drivers. I probably won't order before I know we actually will have a 3D driver...

Same here. If I ever order a Pyra, I will wait until all the stuff works that should work. I mean, who would buy a gaming PC if there is no 3D driver for it?

Not really, but that wouldn't make sense as it's the silicon keymat where the letters are printed on, not the plastic caps.

Are at least the four ABXY caps replacable like onto the Pandora? Just for the modding factor.

 

[rygD]

A shame about the 3D drivers. I probably won't order before I know we actually will have a 3D driver...

Same here. If I ever order a Pyra, I will wait until all the stuff works that should work. I mean, who would buy a gaming PC if there is no 3D driver for it?

If it is the size of the Pandora, probably people that like palmtops.

 

[EvilDragon]

Since June 18th, more than 400 traces haven been routed - and now we're down to about 50!

Things are getting narrow, so we're switching from an 8-layer PCB to a 10-layer PCB.

With that change, the CPU PCB should be finished and going into prototype production about end of this week!

10 Layers, thats alot actualy. I can imagine this is expencive, even for such a tiny PCB. No way to simplify it? Changing the array of the elements on the PCB or something like that? Just aksing because it sounds like an "simple" 8 layer board could be made much faster compared to the 10 layer one. ^^"

Well, price for the final unit should increase about 0,50 - 1 EUR. 

8 layers would be possible, but it would add a few more weeks of designing. Nikolaus estimated that it would cost about 2900 EUR more for the design.

So it would be 3000 - 5000 Pyra PCBs to compensate that

A shame about the 3D drivers. I probably won't order before I know we actually will have a 3D driver...

Same here. If I ever order a Pyra, I will wait until all the stuff works that should work. I mean, who would buy a gaming PC if there is no 3D driver for it?

A PC is a mass production, whereas a the Pyra is a relatively small project that could need any support it can get, that's a huge difference.

However, as we showed last year at the GamesCom, there IS a 3D driver that can be made to work, but it would need quite a few evil hacks (that said, Pandora has quite a lot of evil hacks as well).

The new one would not need as many hacks anymore.

Not really, but that wouldn't make sense as it's the silicon keymat where the letters are printed on, not the plastic caps.

Are at least the four ABXY caps replacable like onto the Pandora? Just for the modding factor.

No, for the same reason.

Well, or yes, as you should be able to use the Pandora buttons with the Pandora keymat for those

But then you'd lose the backlighting for them.

Thanks ED. Any news about the tearing issue you talked about last time?

 We know how to fix it, but no one is working on it right now.

Nikolaus plans to do it, but his top priority is currently the CPU board

Is the keymat going to be bascially white with the letters printed on it or will it designed that the keymat is mostly black and the letters are reverse printed to they shine out from underneath? (not sure I'm describing thing correctly though!)

The keymat is semi-transparent white, with black, semi-transparent white and semi-transparent color (not sure which color yet) printed onto the mat.

Then we got transparent plastic caps glued on top of them.

 

[Butterkeks]

Hm, I'd love to take that internet offer, but since i'm still a student, I don't think I'll be able to afford it.

Would it be possible to offer a flat with a smaller volume of, let's say 1.5 or 2 GB and a lower price?

Anyway, thanks for the update.

It's great to see the progress

 

[WizardStan]

Same here. If I ever order a Pyra, I will wait until all the stuff works that should work. I mean, who would buy a gaming PC if there is no 3D driver for it?

I honestly don't do a lot on my Pandora that uses 3D, I mainly use it for web browsing, coding, writing, and 2D gaming. If I were to buy a dedicated gaming PC I'd definitely want 3D on it, but a handheld computer that is meant to do so much more than just 3D games? I would be upset if 3D never came but it wouldn't be a deal breaker.

 

[ghostpatch]

^ sounds like the 2D part is open source?

3D performance looks satisfying in last years videos. Where's the big deal? Compared to the Pandora Pyra removes a lot of weaknesses and further improves the assets/strong points, and the Pandora is already awesome. I just don't see the need to complain and ruin the mood by posting you wont buy "her" until the OS is in good shape...  You don't have to. No need to tell everybody

as mentioned before and further ease EDs concerns (a bit), my order is definite (actually, don't know if that makes any sense *thehe* : )

 

[Fixit]

As soon as I save up the cash, you'll have my preorder. I know I haven't been a forum member for long but I have been following since 2012 and this device always seems to amaze me. I'll proudly own a Pyra and probably rock a T-shirt when I walk around with mine! The community here is simply amazing, from the Pandora preorders getting taken care of to this I am just amazed a community of so many different people are banding together not only to support you, ED but everyone else as well. I've seen a lot of problems solved on this forum. I'm sure I'll be here asking questions as well.

 

[Glyph Reader]

Whoo!  Things are closing in!

Sadly, since I purchased the Pandora, I'm probably going to have to wait to purchase the Pyra.  Luckily, my Pandora will fill the gap until that day. 

-Glyph Reader

 

[FaeMinx]

No worries ED. You have my preorder. Obviously I would like the features I would make use of to be as mature as possible... But this has gone beyond concideration of my personal needs. I will be making a donation soon. Thanks for making it possible to do so easily from your shop, I really appreciate that.


I'm actually quite excited to get a 'raw' Pyra, fresh off the very first production run. It's going to be a great adventure going along with you guys as more and more becomes possible, and things slowly get more polished. And you bet i'll be showing it off wherever I go.


Now that my internet is somewhat more affordable, I will definitely be making an unboxing vid to put on YouTube.


I suspect there will be a mad frenzy when preorders start, and I hope to be there hitting the F5 key like crazy... I would really be super chuffed if I managed to get in on the first few hundred... But knowing my luck, i'll probably be at the tail end of the first thousand... As long as I'm within the triple digits I'll be happy.


If I have enough cash at that time, I will be getting as much kit as possible - SD cards, mug, t-shirt, keychain, etc...


Woohoo!

 

[EvilDragon]

Hm, I'd love to take that internet offer, but since i'm still a student, I don't think I'll be able to afford it.

Would it be possible to offer a flat with a smaller volume of, let's say 1.5 or 2 GB and a lower price?

Anyway, thanks for the update.

It's great to see the progress

I doubt it

That offer is already pretty cheap, I doubt I could get something cheaper, even with smaller traffic.

Compared to other tariffs:

O2 2 go Flat L: 12,49 EUR. You get 5GB, but only 7,2MBit speed - for 4 EUR per month more

Telekom: Data Comfort S: 13,45 EUR (only first 12 months, 14,95 EUR after that). You get 1GB and 16MBit/s speed.

AldiTalk: Internet Flatrate L: 9,99 EUR. You get 1,5GB/month, don't even know the speed.

So... I guess I'm pretty good here

 

[Haraldur]

I eagerly await the preorder process.

I got a second-hand Pandora, with the latest OS etc., I am not familiar with how much it improved over the years. How is the Pyra, early into its commercial existence, likely to compare to the Pandora as it is now, in terms of usability, availability of software etc.? I expect that the use of almost-vanilla Debian will mean that the non-game software availability will be much better immediately, but how quickly should one expect to get usable emulators on the device? How soon should one expect that it would be preferable carrying the Pyra in the pocket to carrying the Pandora around? From the videos I have seen, I have high hopes.

Also, I assume that the phone functionality (in software) will not work immediately, though the hardware will be available for preorder from the start. Is that likely to be true?

With the case seemingly finished, what we need now is a 90-page-long thread, along with a poll, to determine the colour scheme. (I want red and/or black.)

Finally, if the keyboard printing file is to be final next week, then this is the last time I can ask this, probably: will there be markings on the keys in the centre of the keymat (on F and J, perhaps, or some other ones) to aid touch-typing (in the dark! Currently with the Pandora it is much easier to play console games in the dark than DOSBOX games in the dark, because of the lack of markings on the keys near the centre of the keyboard)?

 

[Hồng Thất Công]

Same here. If I ever order a Pyra, I will wait until all the stuff works that should work. I mean, who would buy a gaming PC if there is no 3D driver for it?

Full speed Dreamcast, full speed PPSSPP, and perhaps full speed Yaubause not good for ya? Who gives a damn what's driver is in it? I don't as long as it runs better than the Pandora now, then it is a big step forward. I still kiss my Pandoras goodnight every night as I can stop shaking my head in disblief this little 1GHz, 512MB ram can do so many thing so well. Ed was being nice and tried to be transparent by disclose all things to us so don't discourage him and his team please.

And please preorder in two months please

 

[Butterkeks]

I doubt it That offer is already pretty cheap, I doubt I could get something cheaper, even with smaller traffic. Compared to other tariffs: O2 2 go Flat L: 12,49 EUR. You get 5GB, but only 7,2MBit speed - for 4 EUR per month more Telekom: Data Comfort S: 13,45 EUR (only first 12 months, 14,95 EUR after that). You get 1GB and 16MBit/s speed. AldiTalk: Internet Flatrate L: 9,99 EUR. You get 1,5GB/month, don't even know the speed. So... I guess I'm pretty good here

Wow, I wouldn't have thought that the differences were THAT high :blink:

How are you even able to offer it at this price?