We've started to order things!

[Klumpen]

Ok, those pics made me a little bit excited, which isn't an easy task these days.

 

[PowerGod]

The girl in the background seems really happy for the viewing angle !! ... or maybe she's just happy for the lights

As cool as it is with a clear case, the more I see it transparent the more I want it black... I just can't imagine myself using a portable discoteque in public...

 

[levi]

ED has a girl in his room?

/me goes back to check

/me is disappointed

 

[fusion_power]

We've got two MicroUSB ports and want to be able to use both for charging. Sounds easy? Well, yes, at first. But there's no charger chip out there that actually supports TWO USB ports. Addtionally to that, USB needs to negotiate the maximum allowed current... and the USB protocol needs to work as well. No easy task, and a pure custom solution.

To be honest, Who really needs that? If it would have been easier to do 1 chargable port, why not keeping it that simple?

Similar are the SD-Card slots: The OMAP5 doesn't support as many SD Card / eMMC-Slots we're offering. So we need some muxing to be able to handle that. That's also a custom solution that doesn't work out of the box.

Again, who needs that? If one SD-Slot less would have meant less tinkering, then do it the simple way.

Well, finding the chip, implementing it and getting it almost to work (without VSync) took about 6 - 7 months.

Sad thing is, nobody may ever find out why the hell that never really worked at the end, even if it should have. Especialy not the company that actualy BUILT the rotator chip. -_-

BTW: I received a first version of aTc's PyraOS working on the current prototypes yesterday.

Looks good actualy, but like I feared from the beginning: the font is so tiny! No chance I could work with such a tiny desktop. And I doubt Debian can scale everything bigger without loosing menu functionality or causing "exploded" menus. You usualy need an entire mobile-OS for this kind of scaled fonts/menus/desktop usage, sadly.

 

[Taeko]

It would be nice to see what steps have to be done before the mass-production can start. It would be less like a black box.

Why not keep patient. On kickstarter you even might get a black box in the end with close to none updates. Wasn t even sure what was meant with black box.

 

[EvilDragon]

To be honest, Who really needs that? If it would have been easier to do 1 chargable port, why not keeping it that simple?

There are various reasons:

1. If you connect a PC with serial out to the console port and it can't provide enough power, you can power it via the OTG port. (useful for devs).
2. If you connect a device to the MicroUSB-Port, you still want to be able to charge the unit.

Again, who needs that? If one SD-Slot less would have meant less tinkering, then do it the simple way.

Yes, that's something I think as well right now, but now it has happened.

Sad thing is, nobody may ever find out why the hell that never really worked at the end, even if it should have. Especialy not the company that actualy BUILT the rotator chip. -_-

Sure, they do know that.
The chip only supports VSync when running the display in command mode (not video mode), which is something Android can do.
But Linux doesn't have support for the command mode, so that doesn't work.

They never sold the chip to a Linux-User

Looks good actualy, but like I feared from the beginning: the font is so tiny! No chance I could work with such a tiny desktop. And I doubt Debian can scale everything bigger without loosing menu functionality or causing "exploded" menus. You usualy need an entire mobile-OS for this kind of scaled fonts/menus/desktop usage, sadly.

The theme has not been changed in any way (except for the Pyra logo in the background), that's one of the last things you do.
First it's important to get the OS running at all.

 

[Grench]

To be honest, Who really needs that? If it would have been easier to do 1 chargable port, why not keeping it that simple?

I do. Pretty much anyone who wants to be able to both power the device AND utilize the full capabilities of the USB 3.0 OTG port at the same time does. This is a BIG feature for many of us.

Again, who needs that? If one SD-Slot less would have meant less tinkering, then do it the simple way.

I do. Pretty much anyone who wants to be able to mount two SDXC cards and move files between them directly does. Having the 3rd internal slot gives us the ability to flip between multiple OS images while still keeping the SD slots available. In theory we will also be able to get the microSD and the eMMC to both appear 'live' through dynamic switching yielding an internal available storage capability of 32GB (eMMC) plus up to 256GB microSD = 288 GB internally plus two SDXC slots at up to 512GB each yields just short of 1.3TB of on-device storage capability. This is a BIG feature for many of us.

Looks good actualy, but like I feared from the beginning: the font is so tiny! No chance I could work with such a tiny desktop. And I doubt Debian can scale everything bigger without loosing menu functionality or causing "exploded" menus. You usualy need an entire mobile-OS for this kind of scaled fonts/menus/desktop usage, sadly.

Fonts in modern Linux installs scale pretty well. The DE guys have really taken the accessibility thing seriously. Apparently you do not own a Pandora. Tiny fonts aren't an issue when you can select with a stylus or control mouse with a nub and run the game pad as arrow keys up and down the menu listings. The fonts should still be very crisp, even if/when scaled to be tiny. If, like me, reading tiny things becomes an age related issue, reading glasses are cheap and progressive lenses (modern bifocals) have become very good.

I/we/you don't need a 'mobile OS' if the screen's touch interface is precise enough (stylus) and the controls are both comfortable and fluid (nubs & game pads).

That said, it's Debian Linux. If you don't like the Desktop Environment (DE), you can download a different one.

 

[Silent-Hunter]

I do. Pretty much anyone who wants to be able to both power the device AND utilize the full capabilities of the USB 3.0 OTG port at the same time does. This is a BIG feature for many of us.

Wouldn't this also be solved by having only the other port accept power, and have the OTG port not support power input?

 

[ImmaculateChimp]

...I do. Pretty much anyone who wants to be able to mount two SDXC cards and move files between them directly does. Having the 3rd internal slot gives us the ability to flip between multiple OS images while still keeping the SD slots available. In theory we will also be able to get the microSD and the eMMC to both appear 'live' through dynamic switching yielding an internal available storage capability of 32GB (eMMC) plus up to 256GB microSD = 288 GB internally plus two SDXC slots at up to 512GB each yields just short of 1.3TB of on-device storage capability. This is a BIG feature for many of us.

Don't forget, Sandisk (supposedly) has 1TB prototype SDXC cards that they are working on, so, more like up to 2.288TB of on-device storage (before whatever potential formatting on the cards). The more potential storage on the Pyra/device, the more potential utility/value it can have (being able to store/run a few programs/whatever vs. being able to store/run EVERYTHING IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE!!!! /evil laughter)

 

[fusion_power]

They never sold the chip to a Linux-User

OK, for future projects: It could help to ask in advance if the Hardware/Software you want to use also works 100% under Linux.

I do. Pretty much anyone who wants to be able to both power the device AND utilize the full capabilities of the USB 3.0 OTG port at the same time does. This is a BIG feature for many of us.

Why not using a dedicated charging jack instead? (to late, I know ) Or the other free USB ports that can't charge? ...Or an simple USB-Hub?

I do. Pretty much anyone who wants to be able to mount two SDXC cards and move files between them directly does. Having the 3rd internal slot gives us the ability to flip between multiple OS images while still keeping the SD slots available. In theory we will also be able to get the microSD and the eMMC to both appear 'live' through dynamic switching yielding an internal available storage capability of 32GB (eMMC) plus up to 256GB microSD = 288 GB internally plus two SDXC slots at up to 512GB each yields just short of 1.3TB of on-device storage capability. This is a BIG feature for many of us.

Who on earth needs so much storage space on a small mobile device? O.O" Wouldn't have 2 SD slots also fulfill your needs instead of 3? (if it would have saved us months of Pyra dev time)

Apparently you do not own a Pandora

Of course I do, since the beginning. And it is a pain in the ass to move around the Desktop menus just because things just do not fit on the screen. High res may solve that but then the fonts are to small. (Standard Pandora Desktop fonts and elements are way to small for me and Pyra res is even higher) If Pyras Debian really can scale up and re-arrange menus for mobile usage, (big buttons, fonts still to fit on screen) I'm happy. I'ts not about hitting tiny buttons in my case, it's only about seeing something comfortably even on a tiny high-res screen.

 

[EvilDragon]

It would be nice to see what steps have to be done before the mass-production can start. It would be less like a black box.

Well, hard to tell.

1. Wait for the case. If it's fine: Done. If not, then I can tell what issues it has.
2. Same for the keymat.
3. Same for the revised LCD Cable.
4. We're currently heavily working on finding any remaining issues on the hardware (zmatt, aTc, slaeshjaeg, hns, me and some others are heavily working on that and discussing about it). So far, most of the issues we found have simple fixes (remove a resistor here, etc.). There's only one that might be a bit more complicated, but we could still produce the first 570 units with some restriction (more about that in the newspost)

Well, apart from writing a manual, producing the boxes, etc., that should be it.
As long as we don't find tons of other bugs, the hardware is pretty much done. We've found quite a few last and this week, but the things to poke around and test are fewer and fewer now, so it's less likely each day we find anything else.
[doublepost=1490225270,1490225064][/doublepost]

OK, for future projects: It could help to ask in advance if the Hardware/Software you want to use also works 100% under Linux.

Well, the problem is: It doesn't make sense. If the rotator chip would simply use the sync it receives from the video data (which is what any sane person expects), then it would work with whatever you use to throw video data at it
No one knows why the rotator chip uses it's own clock and wants to sync the system to itself instead of using the sync from the video signal as clock... that was unexpected.

Why not using a dedicated charging jack instead? (to late, I know ) Or the other free USB ports that can't charge? ...Or an simple USB-Hub?

Where should the charging jack be? To add it, we would need to remove one of the USB ports. So it's better that the USB port can be used both for charging AND serial out.

 

[vcoleiro1]

@ED

Do you have any marketing plan to tap into the huge Japanese UMPC market when the Pyra does launch. As we have seen with the WIN, Pocket and Gemini - about 60% of backers are from Japan.


It would also require Japanese certification

 

[Linux-SWAT]

It would also require Japanese certification

Does it mean defeating some kind of ninja ?

 

[Kippykip]

An extra SDXC slot means more PS1 ISOs

 

[jeeks]

An extra SDXC slot means more PS1 ISOs

and a ton of movies you can watch either on the go or on a big screen thanks to the mini hdmi out

 

[Klumpen]

and a ton of movies you can watch either on the go or on a big screen thanks to the mini hdmi out

...or this kind of screen:
https://www.pyra-handheld.com/boards/threads/avegant-glyph-as-a-pyra-companion-device.75673/

 

[jeeks]

@Klumpen oh yessss! instant movie night anywhere (except in public places, or the GEMA or something will send a hit squad)!

 

[kabaiakh]

@Klumpen oh yessss! instant movie night anywhere (except in public places, or the GEMA or something will send a hit squad)!

And some planes, sadly ... :=/

 

[Haraldur]

I plan on improving the case later when the Pyra is selling well (it can be made at least 3 - 4mm thinner, but would need some redesigns that require new molds).
The case is changeable though, so I can offer it to everyone who already has a Pyra at that time.

Awesome! I look forward to it. About 10% less thick?

 

[zmatt]

Pretty much anyone who wants to be able to both power the device AND utilize the full capabilities of the USB 3.0 OTG port at the same time does. This is a BIG feature for many of us.

Actually, for that the USB consortium invented the Accessory Charging Adapter, which sits between the OTG port and any attachment, and additionally has a charger port.

And if you can't be bothered to buy a proper ACA, the interwebs helpfully provides this diagram:

Just to be clear, this is not valid ACA. It is bad. It is wrong. It is non-standards-compliant.

... It probably works fine as long as you connect the charger first.