... we're still alive!

[Grench]

Well it's still a regular potentiometer connected to an ADC. There technically is a limit to the min and max hardware wise, since there is only so much of a range due to the analog voltages fed to the ADC, but software wise the granularity could be adjusted.

Really? Well that decreases the options a bit from what I thought was there.

So if someone DID want to use it for both screen brightness and volume, it could be a bit messy.

Start: Volume at 25% Screen at 50%.
Objective: Turn screen up to 100%.
Press modifier button and start to turn dial - dial is at 25% so screen immediately drops to 25%.
Turn dial up all the way - screen brightness now 100%.
Release modifier button - volume now at 100% and blowing out your eardrums.

Maybe letting the volume dial just be volume is a practical choice?

 

[TrashyMG]

Yeah it's not as ideal as I'd like. I think it may be best to keep it as master volume.

One benefit I can see is the pop and crackling issue with the volume wheel is a non-issue.

 

[vcoleiro1]

I see ED has updated and locked in the PYRA specs (except for the dimensions of the Pyra - not sure why this can still change)


Technical Specs:

• Texas Instruments OMAP 5 SoC
  • 2x ARM Cortex-A15 @ 1.5Ghz with NEON SIMD
  • 2x ARM Cortex-M4
  • PowerVR™ SGX544-MP2
  • Vivante GC320 2D Accelerator
• 2GB RAM, 32GB internal eMMC
• 720p 5" LCD with resistive touchscreen
• High-Quality speakers, analog volume wheel
• Headset-Port, Built-in-Mic, HDMI Video Out
• Various sensors (accelerometer, gyro-sensor, etc.)
• Vibration motor
• Ultra-portable: approx. 140 x 84 x 29 mm*
• Huge battery for a long battery life (6000mAh)
• Gaming controls (DPad, 4 shoulder buttons, 6 face buttons)
• Two accurate analog controls with push-button
• QWERTY keyboard with backlight
• Integrated Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n (2,4 and 5GHz) and Bluetooth 4.1
• Dual SDXC card slots, one internal MicroSDXC card slot (can be used for the OS instead of the eMMC)
• 2x Full-size USB 2.0 Host (one can be used as eSATA-with a small adaptor), 1x Micro USB 3.0, 1x Micro USB (Debug and Charging)
• Fully configurable RGB-LEDs for notifications
• Optional 3G/4G/UMTS and GPS module

 

[levi]

Yeah it's not as ideal as I'd like. I think it may be best to keep it as master volume.

One benefit I can see is the pop and crackling issue with the volume wheel is a non-issue.

If it's a rotary pot (with end stops at range) connected to an ADC to determine the value, then a speck of dust isolating the pot's slider will still cause a 0 readout on the ADC and a momentary cut-out in the sound. The only benefit I can see it it now being a mono pot rather than a stereo one it won't cut out left and right channels individually, making you think your headphone cable is iffy, and perhaps the wider slider will be more able to push dirt and dust aside.

I dunno, I don't have an experience with mono audio pots, but perhaps with two parallel sliders in a stereo design, there's a tendency for dirt to be pushed between the sliders and get caught, eventually escaping under either one of the sliders causing a crackle.

 

[lulzfish]

Turn dial up all the way - screen brightness now 100%.
Release modifier button - volume now at 100% and blowing out your eardrums.

Maybe letting the volume dial just be volume is a practical choice?

You could make the software so that if the new value is higher when you switch back, you would have to turn it down to the old value before turning it back up.

 

[Blue Shadow]

I see ED has updated and locked in the PYRA specs (except for the dimensions of the Pyra - not sure why this can still change)

Hm.. still no mentioning of the cpu-board (Though the more accurate name might be SoC-Board, as it contains much more than the CPU.)

I think this fact should also be shown on the spec page or at another prominent place. So far i guess it is a bit "hidden" in the Wiki and the Forums, from the perspecitve of a new visitor.

So I would add a line like "Processors, RAM and eMMC placed on an exchangeable daugtherboard for future upgrades."

I also would add the word "removable" to the Battery point.

 

[ible]

Feel free to update the wiki to "Daughterboard" rather than "CPU-Board". On that page you can click "More->Move" in the upper task bar (on the right). You'll just have a lot of random things to update (presumably?).

Also, it appears that the audio section requires some updates. The volume wheel will do things from software, not hardware, so "in the event of software failure" you won't be able to adjust volume via the wheel, right?

Now that the specs are locked in, the calcs can be finalized, and the Pyra can be realized!

 

[Neelix]

The Volume wheel is just a digital input device, whatever it does is entirely determined by the software (you could even use it to play Arkanoid).

Does this mean that you've made a final decision on which set of audio hardware will be used, and that it won't be using the same DAC as the Pandora? I seem to recall that using the volume wheel in that way was only a option in that case.

-Neelix

 

[Eight Bit]

• High-Quality speakers, analog volume wheel

So this should be digital then? Analog volume wheels have audio going through them right?

So I would add a line like "Processors, RAM and eMMC placed on an exchangeable daugtherboard for future upgrades."

I also would add the word "removable" to the Battery point.

This are indeed huge selling points that need to be exploited. The Pyra is upgradable!

 

[Djoga'Ro]

So this should be digital then? Analog volume wheels have audio going through them right?

No, when it comes to input/output analog usually means continuously changing as opposed to stepwise.

 

[rygD]

Plus the pot itself is analog, and that is what is being used to control the volume.

 

[Eight Bit]

Some how I prefer a true analog volume wheel so I can be 100% sure audio is off, or turn it down while the unit is still powered off but I guess I'll live with it being an encoder instead...
[doublepost=1460199559,1460198907][/doublepost]Maybe it's better to call it that... An analog volume wheel encoder

 

[Galaxis]

USB-C can do quite a few things, and right now, the situation with USB-C and "USB 3.1" is not exactly straightforward.

There's some information on USB-C dual-role ports in this G+ post:

It is fairly simple when you plug in devices that are single role into a dual role port. However, Type-C ports allow you to plug two DRPs into each other! You can definitely plug two Nexus 5Xs into each other with a C-to-C cable. What will happen? The result will be random! Some of the time phone A will charge from phone B, some of the time phone B will charge from phone A! It depends on which mode each phone is it at the time of connection.

Benson Leung also runs test series on USB-C cables bought off Amazon, with very mixed results. Lots of them just work in USB2 mode or are completely broken (which has forced Amazon to clarify their Marketplace policies lately).

 

[FBnil]

--pyra ... I strongly wanted analogue dial and audio... I'll stick to Pandora for now...

 

[EvilDragon]

--pyra ... I strongly wanted analogue dial and audio... I'll stick to Pandora for now...

The audio on the Pandora is as digital as on the Pyra.
The DAC converts it to analog audio which is then routed through the volume wheel and to the speakers / headset.

The only difference here is that the analog audio does NOT get routed through the wheel (which should improve the quality, as there are less components), but the exact same volume wheel as we have on the Pandora provides different values (based on the position) to the DAC which changes the volume.

There are NO volume steps like with digital audio wheels, there is no turn-around-forever like with digital audio wheels.

So there's not really much difference.

Audio on the Pandora is also digital, before it goes into the DAC, or how did you think this works?

 

[slaeshjag]

The disadvantage is that a malfunctioning audio driver could lose control over volume, and then the volume weel might do nothing. A malfunctioning audiodriver outputting only noise until a reboot is something I've heard about before happening on the OMAP5 devboards.

 

[Djoga'Ro]

Maybe the wires going to the speakers could be detoured forming a loop outside the case. So in case of emergency we'd be able to cut 'em.

 

[Neelix]

Maybe the wires going to the speakers could be detoured forming a loop outside the case. So in case of emergency we'd be able to cut 'em.

That could be difficult, as there are no wires going to the speakers.

-Neelix

 

[Djoga'Ro]

Well, then let's have their covers weak enough, so we can stab 'em with the stylus.

 

[fusion_power]

I see ED has updated and locked in the PYRA specs (except for the dimensions of the Pyra - not sure why this can still change)


Technical Specs:

• Texas Instruments OMAP 5 SoC
  • 2x ARM Cortex-A15 @ 1.5Ghz with NEON SIMD
  • 2x ARM Cortex-M4
  • PowerVR™ SGX544-MP2
  • Vivante GC320 2D Accelerator
• 2GB RAM, 32GB internal eMMC
• 720p 5" LCD with resistive touchscreen
• High-Quality speakers, analog volume wheel
• Headset-Port, Built-in-Mic, HDMI Video Out
• Various sensors (accelerometer, gyro-sensor, etc.)
• Vibration motor
• Ultra-portable: approx. 140 x 84 x 29 mm*
• Huge battery for a long battery life (6000mAh)
• Gaming controls (DPad, 4 shoulder buttons, 6 face buttons)
• Two accurate analog controls with push-button
• QWERTY keyboard with backlight
• Integrated Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n (2,4 and 5GHz) and Bluetooth 4.1
• Dual SDXC card slots, one internal MicroSDXC card slot (can be used for the OS instead of the eMMC)
• 2x Full-size USB 2.0 Host (one can be used as eSATA-with a small adaptor), 1x Micro USB 3.0, 1x Micro USB (Debug and Charging)
• Fully configurable RGB-LEDs for notifications
• Optional 3G/4G/UMTS and GPS module

What? No "blast processing"?