Waiting in October


EvilDragon

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It looks like October is the month of waiting..
Waiting for the case, the keymat and the PCBs.

The keymat should be finished until October 17th, the case moulds will probably be finished early November (though I should receive some pictures of them upfront, during production) and the PCBs should also arrive early November, waiting to be populated.

Not much we can do about that - these things take time.

But I still got some info for you.

The case and its colors

The layout of the moulds has been fixed, which means we can also think about colors.
The nubs, DPad and shoulder buttons will all share one mould, so they will all have the same color.


The big case parts will also share one mould, so they will also have the same color.

That means the small parts can have a different color than the main case color.
So... time to discuss about colors, eh? :)


Signal integrity of the CPU board

Sometimes the world is full of pleasant surprises, and here is one we encountered: A member of these boards here, Juliano, contacted us that he could do a thorough signal integrity analysis if we provide him with board data and so-called IBIS-files.
Thes are basically data files from chip manufacturers which make it possible to run a simulation before actually producing the hardware in order to find out whether there will be any signal problems.

He ran that test on the CPU board, which means that every single memory chip (of which we have four) has been tested and analyzed together with the OMAP5.
With these tests you can be sure that all traces are compliant and won't cause any issues (so they are not too long, not too thin, etc.)
I'm sure Juliano could explain that a lot better than me. And in case I got something wrong here: Feel free to correct me :)

Well, the good thing is: Our PCB passed without any issues, so we can be sure there are no signal integrity issues between the CPU and the RAM.

For the techy guys I've attached the results of all four memory chips.
 View attachment ComplianceReport1.pdf
 View attachment ComplianceReport2.pdf
 View attachment ComplianceReport3.pdf
 View attachment ComplianceReport4.pdf

Juliano also got the case files from me as he can do a thermal analyis as well (and that one will be interesting!

Oh, and he also created a neat video, showing all layers of the CPU board and where the connections are :)

Enjoy the video :)
 

https://www.youtube.com/embed/qxW7bmmMi4w?feature=oembed

View attachment ComplianceReport1.pdf

View attachment ComplianceReport2.pdf

View attachment ComplianceReport3.pdf

View attachment ComplianceReport4.pdf
 
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Yep! Agree! Long process!
Can't wait for the preorder day so I can have one allocated and waiting for it's new home!

Any chance on the nice wooden boxes (pandora ones)?
 
Awesome video, thanks!  I won't pretend I understood much of what I saw, but at least the music was cool ;)

Two weeks doesn't seem too long to wait for more developments, and I hope they're all as positive as this one!
 
EvilDragon, what will the surface texture of the cases be (smooth and shiny, matte and slightly rough, more rough/uneven like a gameboy, etc)?  What colors can they do with the type of plastic that will be used?  Will any colors weaken the case?  What colors would you be interested in?
 

Before matters of colour drive us apart, I propose a strictly white and black scheme. Divided, for the out-most contrast.

Putting aside my personal dislike of white electronics for a minute:  I think white might not be the best option for a pocketable handheld device since there is a good chance it will show when it is dirty or stained easier than other colors.  I was thinking it might work as the secondary color, but those things are where we will be putting our filthy figers and thumbs (at least for me my fingers tend to get dirtier than most of the rest of my hand, and yes I wash my hands several times throughout the day).  If we go with white for one of the colors I would still prefer white for the dpad/nubs/shoulders, not the main body (which I gather is what you want for contrast with the black keyboard).

Grey or beige might work in place of white, although I don't think beige and black, or the other way around, would look good.  How about beige and brown?

I can't remember (or be bothered to verify) case color poll results, but I thought one had red and black as top picks.  Red and black or black and red both sound good.  I am more fond of dark red.  I think black might be the better choice for the case due to the RGB glowing logo.

I still like dark greys, gunmetal, etc. I hope we don't end up with certain combinations like blue and yellow or green and red.  The right choice of pink might be ok (hot, deep, Pantone, Mexican, Barbie, bright, ultra, shocking, and maybe steel from Wikipedia's list for "shades of pink" might be fun).  Are there many/any people that would seriously want something translucent or transparent (remember the logo, indicators, and backlit keymat)?
 
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So... time to discuss about colors, eh? :)
...
Juliano also got the case files from me as he can do a thermal analyis as well (and that one will be interesting!
...
Enjoy the video :)

What rygD said (regarding surface texture and color): Please get a list of what colors are possible (and best, rule out some colors that you are not comfortable with before presenting it) so this time discussion may not stroll too far off.
If only we had a pink pyra for every overly male attempt at humour, we would be far into the second batch already.

How we would all love to be the butt of that joke.

+1

Dark dark velvety matte NOT grey.

better
 
Yep nice video, and thanks for the testing,

Anyway how long it takes, i have a lot Discworld Books to read, therefore November will be more interesting..

Colorwise, i hope for Blue but i would be fine whit a mate black Case and silver Gamingbuttons..
 
The layout of the moulds has been fixed, which means we can also think about colors.
The nubs, DPad and shoulder buttons will all share one mould, so they will all have the same color.


The big case parts will also share one mould, so they will also have the same color.

That means the small parts can have a different color than the main case color.
So... time to discuss about colors, eh? :)

So what exactly are the small parts then? One of your earlier case assembly video only showed large parts (two halves of the bottom, two halves of the lid and the battery cover).
 
Colour is the new "two months" tm!  ;)

I'm having to sit on my hands here. Great news ED! So we could still be in with a chance of early test Pyras by the end of the year?
 
 
It would be nice if someone with CAD skills provides a whole bunch of cases with all colors and combinations thereof so we can see how different colored Pyra would look.  I think Fusion_Power? ;)

It amazed me that Nikolaus got the multilayeref board passed the tests at first shot!
 
Will color topics be the new keyboard layout topics ?

Only after the RAM quantity is decided. ;)  (To be more clear, I am joking.  Unless ED states otherwise I expect 2GB.)
 

The layout of the moulds has been fixed, which means we can also think about colors.
The nubs, DPad and shoulder buttons will all share one mould, so they will all have the same color.


The big case parts will also share one mould, so they will also have the same color.

That means the small parts can have a different color than the main case color.
So... time to discuss about colors, eh? :)

So what exactly are the small parts then? One of your earlier case assembly video only showed large parts (two halves of the bottom, two halves of the lid and the battery cover).
The small parts are the things listed in the first paragraph by ED that you quoted.

 
 
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