Whew, I can't understand so much time has passed again already since I did any newspost - time sure flies when you got a lot of work to do!
So, anyways, here's today's update... I hope I don't forget anything, as there's plenty to tell you.
1. The Nubs
Well, as mentioned last time:
We'll order a bit more than 10,000 of the current Nubs so we got enough for the first 5000 Pyras.
After that, we can either use the smaller ones, have high enough order quantities that the current nubs are being produced again or find someone else to produce them (as mentioned, it's basically just a magnet that moves around - no electronics inside).
If the first 5000 Pyras sell fast, we can easily order high enough quantities of the nubs to continue their production.
If they sell slower, we've got plenty of time to find a replacement
So either way, we'll find a solution after that.
One good thing: The smaller nub would fit out of the box - the height form of the pin is EXACTLY the same - so the case wouldn't need to be modified if we'd use that.
(You can see that in the following pictures):
I'll test the small one myself on Tuesday, but I don't think we'd want that - the travel distance really is too small.
2. A puzzling experience
The PCB layout was actually more work than Nikolaus expected.
A LOT more work. Keeping the PCB down to four layers and fitting everything into the small space of the PCB is a complex puzzle.
Nevertheless, each day, less issues are left. And he's still positive that we can get finished, unpopulated PCB just before christmas.
This means though that we won't get a populated one before christmas (unless GC wants to work on December 24th, but I doubt that), but shortly after christmas.
Still a huge step - and still the most complicated thing in the whole Pyra-Creation process.
After that, it's time to layout the CPU PCB - but that's easy compared to the mainboard, as there's more space (and layers), so that should work out a lot faster.
Want an example of the puzzles Nikolaus has to work on each day?
Here you go:
Inside of that picture are at least 3 major and 8 small rule infringements. If we keep it like that, the PCB could not be produced reliably, would get shortcircuits or similar issues.
Moving traces around could lead to other rule infringements - so this is quite a puzzle (high-level Sokoban, eh?)
Each issue needs about 5 - 30 minutes to solve, so it's possible, just takes a loooot of time.
And the more you solve, the more complicated it gets for the remaining ones... fun.
Someone should create a puzzle game on the Pandora based on that
3. The case
According to the case designer, I should receive the case design files with all requested changes tomorrow.
I won't believe it until I get it (as it usually ALWAYS takes longer than expected), but it shouldn't take much longer.
The battery we'll use will probably be a bit wider than the Pandora one, so the case needs a bit of a change here.
The Stylus will probably get a tiny bit thinner and all four screws will be hidden inside the battery compartment (which is nice).
With a small adapter you can also use a Pandora battery, which is great as well.
I should get two different versions of the case with different shoulder button designs.
I'll let you know and show you renderings once I get the design files, that's for sure
4. AC Adaptor and LCD Cables
Fatih is looking for various AC Adaptors. Basically, it's a normal USB plug (with 2A) with replaceable plug, similar to the Pandora (so it works with EU, UK, US and AU plugs).
There are various manufacturers for that and we'll get different samples for testing.
The LCD Cable design has been finished as well and Fatih is getting a quotation for it.
Each trace is wider than on Pandora's cable, the traces are redundant and there's a bit more space to the edge. Also, all edges are rounded - which prevents tears directly at the edges (which was an issue with a lot of broken Pandora cables as well).
The cable also doesn't have any electronics on, so it will be a LOT cheaper (Pandora's cable was 10 EUR production cost each).
These enhancements should reduce the risk of breaking LCD cables to a minimum (of course, you can never reduce that to 0 - everything can break in the world).
5. Software
We now added key signing to our repository, tweaked the scripts a bit more and are now able to create working rootfs to our likings.
If anyone got an OMAP5 devboard: I'll post a link and instructions on how to install it soon, so anyone with a devboard can try it out and help us improving the default setup and tools.
I THINK that's all for now - but as mentioned, so much happened, so I might've forgotten something - but feel free to ask me if you have any other questions.
So, anyways, here's today's update... I hope I don't forget anything, as there's plenty to tell you.
1. The Nubs
Well, as mentioned last time:
We'll order a bit more than 10,000 of the current Nubs so we got enough for the first 5000 Pyras.
After that, we can either use the smaller ones, have high enough order quantities that the current nubs are being produced again or find someone else to produce them (as mentioned, it's basically just a magnet that moves around - no electronics inside).
If the first 5000 Pyras sell fast, we can easily order high enough quantities of the nubs to continue their production.
If they sell slower, we've got plenty of time to find a replacement
So either way, we'll find a solution after that.
One good thing: The smaller nub would fit out of the box - the height form of the pin is EXACTLY the same - so the case wouldn't need to be modified if we'd use that.
(You can see that in the following pictures):
I'll test the small one myself on Tuesday, but I don't think we'd want that - the travel distance really is too small.
2. A puzzling experience
The PCB layout was actually more work than Nikolaus expected.
A LOT more work. Keeping the PCB down to four layers and fitting everything into the small space of the PCB is a complex puzzle.
Nevertheless, each day, less issues are left. And he's still positive that we can get finished, unpopulated PCB just before christmas.
This means though that we won't get a populated one before christmas (unless GC wants to work on December 24th, but I doubt that), but shortly after christmas.
Still a huge step - and still the most complicated thing in the whole Pyra-Creation process.
After that, it's time to layout the CPU PCB - but that's easy compared to the mainboard, as there's more space (and layers), so that should work out a lot faster.
Want an example of the puzzles Nikolaus has to work on each day?
Here you go:
Inside of that picture are at least 3 major and 8 small rule infringements. If we keep it like that, the PCB could not be produced reliably, would get shortcircuits or similar issues.
Moving traces around could lead to other rule infringements - so this is quite a puzzle (high-level Sokoban, eh?)
Each issue needs about 5 - 30 minutes to solve, so it's possible, just takes a loooot of time.
And the more you solve, the more complicated it gets for the remaining ones... fun.
Someone should create a puzzle game on the Pandora based on that
3. The case
According to the case designer, I should receive the case design files with all requested changes tomorrow.
I won't believe it until I get it (as it usually ALWAYS takes longer than expected), but it shouldn't take much longer.
The battery we'll use will probably be a bit wider than the Pandora one, so the case needs a bit of a change here.
The Stylus will probably get a tiny bit thinner and all four screws will be hidden inside the battery compartment (which is nice).
With a small adapter you can also use a Pandora battery, which is great as well.
I should get two different versions of the case with different shoulder button designs.
I'll let you know and show you renderings once I get the design files, that's for sure
4. AC Adaptor and LCD Cables
Fatih is looking for various AC Adaptors. Basically, it's a normal USB plug (with 2A) with replaceable plug, similar to the Pandora (so it works with EU, UK, US and AU plugs).
There are various manufacturers for that and we'll get different samples for testing.
The LCD Cable design has been finished as well and Fatih is getting a quotation for it.
Each trace is wider than on Pandora's cable, the traces are redundant and there's a bit more space to the edge. Also, all edges are rounded - which prevents tears directly at the edges (which was an issue with a lot of broken Pandora cables as well).
The cable also doesn't have any electronics on, so it will be a LOT cheaper (Pandora's cable was 10 EUR production cost each).
These enhancements should reduce the risk of breaking LCD cables to a minimum (of course, you can never reduce that to 0 - everything can break in the world).
5. Software
We now added key signing to our repository, tweaked the scripts a bit more and are now able to create working rootfs to our likings.
If anyone got an OMAP5 devboard: I'll post a link and instructions on how to install it soon, so anyone with a devboard can try it out and help us improving the default setup and tools.
I THINK that's all for now - but as mentioned, so much happened, so I might've forgotten something - but feel free to ask me if you have any other questions.
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