Pyra-news October 2015

pyra-news@pyra-handheld.com

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Reflect the LEDs!
by Michael Mrozek 24 Oct '15

24 Oct '15

Together with the keymat designer and manufacturer, we worked out a solution to improve the backlit keyboard and make everything evenly illuminated. If you followed the last newspost about the backlight, you know that the lighting doesn't work yet properly, as not enough light gets from the LED to the top of the key. Right now, we've got 1 LED for four keys. Their light is mainly being absorbed by the black paint on top of the keymat, so it's not really distributed and therefore doesn't look good. So, here are the solutions we worked out, that should improve things a lot: 1. There will be a reflective silver layer below the black one. The light is not being absorbed anymore but reflected. 2. The PCB will have a huge white silklayer. Then the light will also be reflected back from the PCB. Thanks to 1. and 2. together, the light will not be absorbed but distributed inside the whole keymat. 3. The amount of LEDs will be increased. Instead of one LED that lights up 4 keys, we now have one LED for 3 keys. 4. The material and printed color on the keymat will be made a bit more transparent. These changes will all be done right away, so that the prototypes will already have them included. My contact in Greece also had a meeting with the mould production company today, so expect some more news from there as well within the next few days. Want to leave feedback? Visit: https://boards.openpandora.org/topic/5600195-reflect-the-leds/

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Total madness!
by Michael Mrozek 21 Oct '15

21 Oct '15

You guys are all totally mad! In a good way - seriously! When I put the pre-preorder up, I was hoping to sell maybe 50 - 60 units. As this was not the normal preorder yet, but a special preorder just for you guys, without a lot of advertisement and with a higher risk, I didn't expect much. But... now they're ALL gone! After a few days. Including 8 prototypes. YOU GUYS ROCK! -------------- Well, have a good rest of your life. I'm off to some lonely island in Hawaii with that money and will close down the boards soon... just kidding :) I just wanted to make this newspost to say thanks to you! Thanks for your trust, support, and everything. Even after the Pandora disaster! You can be sure we're doing the best we can to finish everything up as good as we can and hope to ship mass produced Pyras in Q1 / Q2 2016. We WILL know a more exact date as soon as the prototypes are done. Oh, in case you didn't catch a pre-preorder: In the shop, I already created the preorder products. You can't preorder there right now (you need to wait until the prototypes are ready and tested, probably December), but you can put your email into the notification list and will then receive an email as soon as the preorders go live! Find everything here: https://www.dragonbox.de/45-pyra Some more prototypes might pop up when the production happens - that depends on how many are working or not. So... thanks again to all of you! I'll keep you up to date with news as soon as I get them (there should be some news about the case soon).

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Get ready to rumble!
by Michael Mrozek 17 Oct '15

17 Oct '15

The time for the pre-preorder has arrived! As promised yesterday, here are the two links for the preorders. First, for everyone who wants to get a prototype: https://www.dragonbox.de/en/352-pyra-prototype-pyra.html And here is the link in case you want to make sure you get one of the first 200 mass produced units. You will also receive a special limited dummy Pyra mainboard PCB including a serial number and signatures of Nikolaus and EvilDragon on them. These will ship in November (without any additional costs!) https://www.dragonbox.de/en/353-pyra-voucher-pyra.html Some important notes about ordering the prototypes: --------------------------------------------------- We're planning to produce 18 Pyra Prototypes in November. 10 will go to developers - and 8 will be sold here in the shop. Delivery will happen shortly after the production. In case the prototype production has issues and we won't be able to produce enough units, you'll get your payment back. The prototypes will be fully assembled, already with an injection moulded case and a keymat. They will hopefully be fully working, so that the mass produced units should only have minor tweaks. In case there's a huge issue with the prototype PCB, you will receive a new, fully working PCB for free when the mass production has started. All prototypes will have the 4G module included. Please don't expect fully working software from the beginning. The prototypes are being used by the developers to implement all hardware functions into the OS. So the OS will be working, but some drivers are missing at the beginning. You will be able to update the OS yourself and follow the development. Of course, feedback to improve things is very welcome here! Each prototype unit will also get a certificate of authenticy. Maybe you will even be able to choose your own case color - because with the prototype production run, we'll test multiple colors as well. In this case, we'll contact you as soon as we know more! Some important notes about pre-preordering one of the mass produced unit: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a special voucher for everyone who likes to shout "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!" with every newspost I make about the Pyra. Please note: The Pyra will cost more that that - but whenever the Pyra is ready, you can use this voucher to fully substract the 290 EUR from your final Pyra payment (which won't be necessary until the units are finished and ready to ship!) With this voucher, you make sure that you will get one of the very first 200 mass produced Pyras when it's ready. The faster you order, the lower your serial number will be. This pre-preorder will end October 24th, 3:17pm UTC You can place this order regardless which unit and accessories you want and regardless whether you will still get a discounted unit because you didn't get your iCP2 or Pandora - this will be taken care of with the final payment. Read carefully: Please ONLY place this order in case you don't urgently need these 290 EUR. You can be sure we'll try everything to finish the Pyra, but still, with an unfinished product, there's always the chance it won't work out. In this case, please wait at least until the normal preordering starts (when the prototypes are finished).

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Improving the keyboard background light
by Michael Mrozek 17 Oct '15

17 Oct '15

Nope, this is not yet the pre-preorder link (still got a bit of time before that), but as Nikolaus tested the keymat with the real unit, it's time to report back on that. Unfortunately, the backlight doesn't work as good as we hoped yet, but we are already working on improvements. Right now, we have 1 LED for four keys - but the light is not diffused enough to properly lighten up all keys. There are multiple solutions to fix that: * Increase the amounts of LEDs * Try to find a keymat material that improves light distribution (I know there are foils, but I don't know if rubber can be created in the same way) * Change the keymat so that only the key top is colored with black. This will improve the light distribution A LOT, but will also mean that the surroundings on the keys light up as well (which is the case on mostly every backlit keyboard I've seen, so no big deal). We'll probably do a mix of all of those. Instead of 1 LED for 4 keys, we'll use 1 LED for 3 keys. The downside is that this will increase the costs of the Pyra a lot... by 0,40 EUR. ;) Power consumption wouldn't be a problem, as each LED wouldn't need to be as bright as before, so each LED needs less power. I've also asked the company to check whether there's some material available that distributes the light better. Only printing the keys in black is easy as well: The mask needs to be changed so that only the tops will be covered with color. The reason this improves lighting a lot is simple: The further away you are from the LED, the larger the area the LED actually emits light to. You can easily check this with a flashlight yourself: Make a spot on the wall. The closer you get to the wall, the smaller the spot gets. If you move away, the spot gets bigger. Right now, the black paint stops the light of the LED after 1mm. If that's removed, then the light of the LED will go all the way to the top of the keymat - which is about 7mm further away. The spot becomes bigger, the lighting is more evenly distributed. This is planned to happen next week and shouldn't delay things, so we're still planning November for the prototypes :) I'll keep you informed, as usual! Want to leave feedback, comment or see the pictures? Visit: https://boards.openpandora.org/topic/5600167-improving-the-keyboard-backgro…

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Two preorders approaching
by Michael Mrozek 16 Oct '15

16 Oct '15

Well... with each newspost I did lately, some of you guys cried for preorders. As said, I didn't want to make preorders before the working prototype is ready - but I decided to do a round of pre-preorders - for everyone who wants to do that! The link for both preorders will be posted as a new newspost here tomorrow then it starts! 1. What's the Pre-Preorder and how risky is it? ----------------------------------------------- The Pre-Preorder is for the brave ones of you. The ones who have too much money and want to throw it at me. I do this, because so many people here asked whether they can preorder already. If you're not one of them, don't pre-preorder :) If you're lucky, you will get a Pyra with it in the end. ;) Well, hopefully, it'll not be that bad, but I'd say it's about as risky as the Pandora preorder was. So if money is tight with you and you seriously need it, don't go for it, but wtait for the normal preorder which will take place once the Pyra prototype is up and working. If you're feeling risky today and would be sad if the money is lost, but could live with it, you're welcome :) Of course, you can be sure I'll try anything to make the Pyra happen, but you never know how many volcanoes are out there... ;) So, what do you get with that pre-preorder and when does it start? * You will get a specially produced Dummy-PCB of Pyras Mainboard, but with a special "Preorder"-imprint as well as signatures from Nikolaus and me. It's also limited to 200 pieces and numbered. The first one to place the order will get Nr. 1, etc. * The first ever produced Pyras from the production run will be reserved to the ones who pre-preorder. In case of shipping, that probably doesn't make much difference (as we probably get 100 per week), but the serial number tells that! * The pre-preorder will start October 17th, 5:17pm UTC (17:17 in Germany) and end exactly one week later (or until 200 units are gone) * The costs for the preorder will be 290 EUR. The remaining payment doesn't need to be done until all units are fully produced and ready to be shipped. In case you're one of the iCP2 Backers: You can pre-preorder this as well. You're iCP2 voucher can be substracted from the remaining payment. Any questions? Feel free to ask them at the boards! 2. The Prototype-Preorder ------------------------- The second preorder that will start at the same time tomorrow is the preordering for the Prototypes that will hopefully be finished in November. This is limited to 8 right now (though it might go up to 10 in case all prototypes work fine). What you will get: * 1 fully assembled Pyra, including injected plastic mold case, keymat and all PCBs, all from the prototype run (so it could be you'll get a case color that will never exist again later). * If possible, we'll let you choose a color for the case! * A document confirming the authenticity of the unit * Price will be 1400 EUR (as mentioned - prototypes are expensive to produce). I don't expect to sell all prototypes or all pre-preorders - but who knows :) But don't worry - even if we won't sell a single one of those, Want to leave feedback, comment or see the pictures? Visit: https://boards.openpandora.org/topic/5600165-two-preorders-approaching/

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A first look at the new Keymat
by Michael Mrozek 15 Oct '15

15 Oct '15

The first samples of the keymat have arrived, and you can see some nice pictures of it here: https://boards.openpandora.org/topic/5600157-keymat-sample-pictures/ Additionally, I made a nice video about it here: https://youtu.be/MmeOIYr4yjM Now - the most important thing: How does the keymat feel? I'm happy to tell you that the keys itself feel great! The flat plastic caps have rounded edges, so they're not too sharp, and the material feels very nice. The look of it is also gorgeous. The action buttons also feel great. They're not totally flat, they have a little convex curving which feels nice. They are a bit higher than the keyboard keys, but I probably want to make them a bit more high. The mat itself is a bit less stiff than Pandoras mat, so the keys are a little lighter to press. However, tactile feedback isn't great yet. It seems the travel distance for the keys and especially the action buttons is not far enough. This can easily be proved: When the keymat is lying on a flat surface, the keys feel a bit squishy when you press them. If you put the keymat on a flat surface but have a hole below the key you want to press, then it feels great. A perfect proof that the carbon pad reaches the PCB before the button is fully pressed. My guess is that the manufacturer followed my design guide for the travel distance WITHOUT the carbon pads - and then, with the carbon pads added on top, the travel distance went lower. That's no big deal though, I can easily measure how much travel distance is missing and it will be removed for the next sample. After all, that's what samples are for - if you were sure everything worked from the very beginning, then you wouldn't need samples :) So, all in all I'm very happy with the first sample. It looks great, it feels great, it fits perfect, the lighting works fine and only the travel distance needs to be increased. That's a good start! Want to leave feedback, comment or see the pictures? Visit: https://boards.openpandora.org/topic/5600159-a-first-look-at-the-new-keymat/

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Waiting in October
by Michael Mrozek 06 Oct '15

06 Oct '15

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 at the forum post. You can download them from there.. 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: https://youtu.be/qxW7bmmMi4w Enjoy the video :) Want to leave feedback, comment or see the pictures? Visit: https://boards.openpandora.org/topic/5600103-waiting-in-october/

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Pyra-news October 2015