Pyra-news August 2014

pyra-news@pyra-handheld.com

1 participants
3 discussions

No time for a break after GamesCom
by Michael Mrozek 26 Aug '14

26 Aug '14

Finally, a new newspost! I have to admit, it took a while since I posted some news - which was simply because GamesCom preparation, the GamesCom itself and catching up with my shop AFTER the GamesCom took quite some time. Still, Pyra development has not halted, so here are some news. But first of all, since I just mentioned GamesCom, I wish to send a [b]big welcome to everyone who joined our boards or newsletter after visiting us there.[/b] I hope you will have a lot of fun and excitement together with us. Okay, on to the news... 1. GamesCom ----------- The GamesCom was a huge success. There were TONS of interested people and they were all amazed by the power the Pyra showed on our FullHD screen (well, we had multiple PSX and MegaDrive emulators running and still a responsive desktop at 1920x1080... - all fullspeed). What most of the visitors found especially great is the replaceable CPU PCB. I was happy that most people love the idea having an upgradeable system instead of producing more and more electronical waste. These days companies tell you that you need at least one new smartphone each year... great that's not the common opinion :) We had a few special guests there - [i]LinuxSWAT[/i] was helping out again, but we also had [i]ptitseb[/i] visiting during the weekend and [i]notaz[/i] was even there the full time and was working there on the devboard. They managed to get some games as well as Reicast and Mupen running, but those still need more optimization. All in all, GamesCom was great - and the retro area was fun. 2. The LCD ---------- We made various tests with the LCD from BOE, and we were really satisfied so far. We tried Sonic 2 - famous on most mobile screens for flickering palmtrees and black ghosting of the rings in the sky. Well, we couldn't see any ghosting and even the flickering was only visible if you knew what to look for. We didn't have the rotator chip working with it yet and Nikolaus was on holidays (as you might remember), but he's now looking into it. There are multiple devices out there using the rotator chip with exactly this one panel, so we know it'll work ;) Additionally, we found the 720p resolution with 5" perfect for a Linux standard desktop. While the default settings have small fonts and icons, they're still perfectly readable (I like it small), with the 1080p LCD, it was just unusably small. We still have the Success panel to test, but the BOE one is already pretty good, and a LOT better than the Pandora LCD. As soon as we have the rotator chip working, I'll make some nice videos for you. I've already ordered a few samples together with touchscreens. 3. The software --------------- notaz got the 3D driver to work together with fbturbo (which is a real fast, NEON-accelerated framebuffer driver for X). The official TI driver uses DRM - which is okay for normal desktop usage, but with that, we can't use the framebuffer directly (which is where Pandoras SDL version gets the speed increase from). So we definitely want to get an X driver working that offers framebuffer usage - and that's why we chose to use fbturbo. As mentioned, the 3D driver is working already, but is still hardcoded to ask for DRM. This is something we'll try to fix, otherwise, all 3D games would need a patch. Another (small) downside is that the 3D driver only works in fulsscreen mode. No big thing, as even apps like Blender can also run in fullscreen mode and games are usually played in fullscreen mode anyways. Still, we'll try to fix that as well. If you really desperately need 3D with windows, you could theoretically switch to TIs DRM driver, as it works there. We'll now concentrate on setting up standard Debian distribution with our own patches for the Pyra. 4. Batteries ------------ I've received two different 6000mAh batteries from two different manufacturers. One is thicker, one is wider. Both have been sent to the case design team. They'll check which one can be easier implemented into our current case design. 5. The Case ----------- Not much has happened here, as the company in Greece is closed for summer holidays. I took the time to write down a list with current issues and a to-do-list which they'll work on when they're back in September. It's not that much left to do, to be honest. I'll continue tweaking the shoulder buttons and I'll also try Fusion_Powers design. 6. The hardware --------------- It's time for testing the main PCB thoroughly, we also still need to add a Wifi chip. Then it's time for the CPU PCB. I'll keep you updated with more news here. That's it for todays post. Now that I catched up with everything, I hope to have more regular newsposts again. Feel free to ask any questions here :) Discuss about that post on the webboards: http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/16903-no-time-for-a-break-after-gamesco… -- Greetings, Michael Mrozek ----------------------- OpenPandora GmbH Geschäftsführer: Michael Mrozek Schäffbräustr. 11 85049 Ingolstadt Deutschland Tel.: 0841 / 13 177 33 http://www.openpandora.de/ HRB 4879, Amtsgericht Ingolstadt ----------------------- eMail: mrozek(a)openpandora.org

1 0

GamesCom, Shoulderbuttons and Heating
by Michael Mrozek 11 Aug '14

11 Aug '14

Well, there weren't posts for a while, since we've been busy preparing flyers, etc. for the GamesCom. And that took a lot of our time. The shoulderbuttons ------------------- In the meantime, a green case arrived - the latest revision with the new shoulderbuttons. Do they work? Well... yes, basically, they do. However, there's one thing I can tell you after having assembled the case: While we've got four shoulder buttons and all of them can be pressed, it won't be comfortable to use the upper ones when gaming. It's not possible with the extremely small and cramped space we got up there. The lower ones need a bit of tweaking but will work comfortably then, but for the upper ones, you will have to bend your fingers a bit, which is not nice to do for extended periods of time. They will be fine for functions you don't need that often in games and they will work fine as modifier keys when typing (as your thumbs are lower when you're typing than when you're playing). If you're coming to the GamesCom, you can test them yourself and let us know if you got anymore good ideas, but we already discussed that with multiple users here, and no one got an idea how to solve that in a comfortable way. The Heating ----------- There's been a lot of discussion about heatsinks, special materials and even tiny fans on the other thread, since it seem the OMAP5 will get a lot hotter than the OMAP3. Well, I finally found the time to properly measure it with a professional IR thermometer (without heatsink). The result: The OMAP5 internal measurement seems to be off quite a bit. When it shows 80°C, it's actually 55°C on the surface of the SoC itself. With 112°C (the maximum I could reach with maximum stress on both CPUs yet), it's 84°C. The OMAP3 in the Pandora has a maximum of about 70°C, so it seems the OMAP5 (under full load) is about 15°C higher. That's not that much. The Pandora doesn't use any heatsink, so a few copper layers as heatsink should be enough. aTc also did some tests with his devboard. The heatsink on the OMAP5 doesn't do much cooling actually - unless you use a fan. So the only real way to lower the temperature a lot would be using a fan. We probably don't want that, so the best thing we can do is distribute the heat inside of the case to prevent hot spots. Shouldn't be much of an issue though. The GamesCom ------------ We're leaving for GamesCom tomorrow morning and hope to meet some of you there. We'll have a Pyra devboard there as well as the prototype case and some nice PCBs to look at (and see how the CPU board will work and look like). We'll take pictures as well, and I'll try to write small reports for you. Discuss about that post on the webboards: http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/16809-gamescom-shoulderbuttons-and-heat… -- Greetings, Michael Mrozek ----------------------- OpenPandora GmbH Geschäftsführer: Michael Mrozek Schäffbräustr. 11 85049 Ingolstadt Deutschland Tel.: 0841 / 13 177 33 http://www.openpandora.de/ HRB 4879, Amtsgericht Ingolstadt ----------------------- eMail: mrozek(a)openpandora.org

1 0

Populated Mainboards
by Michael Mrozek 02 Aug '14

02 Aug '14

You probably all seen the latest pictures of the PCB, but as I visited Nikolaus today and grabbed some things for the GamesCom, I've made some nice photos for you :) Similar to the last pictures, you should visit the boards (link at the end of the mail). 1. PCB Status ------------- We got multiple populated main PCB Rev. 3 now. They are not fully finished yet - the Wifi module is still undecided (we still have 2 to evaluate) and we didn't populated the 3G chip on all of them. The one I took pictures of has most of the parts missing, as it's the dummy I can show around at GamesCom and send it to the case company so they can do the final design tweaks to the case as well. All the components on the PCB will now be tested (there are some more surprises for you hidden on them), and then it's time to design the CPU PCB. 2. The displays --------------- The BOE display is working, the one from Success is still staying black. Something in the code sequence we got is still wrong, but we're hoping to get more details here. But at least we got the BOE one working fine, and honestly, Half HD suites the screen size much better than Full HD. The rotator chip seems to have some timing issues right now - probably some traces on our PCB are too long or not properly shielded, so it has issues receiving the signals. We're getting awesome support from Solomon though, and they sent us an accurate design guide now. So we probably need to update the display PCB once more, but right now, these PCBs are for testing anyways, they're not in their final design yet. 3. Heating ---------- I'll do some more heat tests soon, but from what I've tested so far, things are looking good that we can handle the heat properly. I've got a testing algorithm from notaz that stresses the CPU including NEON, so that's the worst case scenario the SoC can get into. It works fine without downclocking, even without heatsink, and with plastic inbetween, the plastic didn't even get too hot - I could still touch it with my fingers. It gets pretty warm, yes, but not unbelievably hot. Still, we need to distribute the heat as much as possible, and we've got some good plans for that. First, we'll have multiple layers full of copper in the PCB which we'll use for heat distribution. The top of the CPU board will also have a copper layer, so we can still add something more there as well (or connect the copper to the SD Card cages, etc.) This way, the Pyra should get mildly warm when you fully use it for a longer period of time (which you'll probably never even do), but it won't get too hot. 4. GamesCom and Holidays! ------------------------- Nikolaus will go to a well-deserved holiday until August 17th while I be at the GamesCom, showing the Pyra to everyone who wants to see it. We'll have a devboard there, so you can test out the speed. We'll have a near-final case there (including the new shoulder buttons), including a dummy keymat so you can test the new keyboard as well. I hope to meet as many of you as possible there :) That sure will be fun :) So, work will resume after the GamesCom - but I'll make some pictures there for you as well. Comment to the blog entry and view the pretty pictures at the boards: http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/16746-populated-mainboards/ -- Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Michael Mrozek ----------------------- OpenPandora GmbH Geschäftsführer: Michael Mrozek Schäffbräustr. 11 85049 Ingolstadt Deutschland Tel.: 0841 / 13 177 33 http://www.openpandora.de/ HRB 4879, Amtsgericht Ingolstadt ----------------------- eMail: mrozek(a)openpandora.org

1 0

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

Pyra-news August 2014