Just a quick newspost to give you some more information about the
prototypes
1. PCB production
-----------------
All parts as well as the bare PCBs have arrived. GC plans to produce
the prototype PCBs this week, but I don't know what exact day yet. You
can be sure I'll be there and have my video camera ready, so you will
also be able to see the birth of the first real working Pyra PCBs
(well, hopefully working!)
2. Improved keymat samples
--------------------------
The new, improved keymat samples should arrive December 12th.
As mentioned in a newspost before, they will have an additional
reflective layer to improve the lighting and it will also have improved
tactile feedback.
3. The case
-----------
The case moulds are also being worked on, I should get a status update
and a date when everything should be finished this week. My plan is to
take the keymat samples and PCBs and fly over to Greece to test and
tweak the case with those. Hopefully, we will get the prototypes out
before christmas, but it will really be narrow.
4. Pre-Pre-Order PCBs
---------------------
The special Pre-Pre-Order PCBs should also arrive within this week,
then it's time to sign and ship them all to you.
Just some short and quick information, but I wanted to keep you in the
loop :)
Want to leave feedback? Visit:
https://boards.openpandora.org/topic/5600292-some-more-prototype-info
Updates on Prototypes
We have a busy week behind us, doing some last minute tweaks to improve
the backlighting (as mentioned in the last newspost), but I'm happy
that I can give you some dates.
1. The PCBs
-----------
Finally, we were able to submit the updated mainboard (with all updates
for the backlight) on Thursday. According to the manufacturer (which
will be the same as for the mass production PCBs), all PCBs will arrive
until November 25th. The parts will arrive before that, so the PCB
production at Global Components can happen end of November.
You can expect that I'll be there with a camera and will document the
first Pyra that comes to life!
2. The Case
-----------
The case moulds are also in production and are expected to be finished
end of November as well. That means that I can pick up the prototype
PCBs, take a plane to Greece and assemble them, doing final tweaks to
the case if necessary directly at FormAction. My guess is that this
will happen early December. Yay.
And yes, I'll take some videos as well for you.
3. The Keymat
-------------
I don't have a date for the updated keymat yet, but I should get one
this week. Hopefully, it will also be finished within November, so I
can take it with me as well to Greece. I'll update you on that!
4. Heat
-------
When the prototypes arrive and the case is done, it's also time to make
proper tests with the heating. We've done quite a few things to make
sure it shouldn't heat up too much.
* We've got large layers of copper inside the PCBs which will be used
to spread the heat (to prevent hot spots)
* We've also got thin sticky heat dissipation tape that we can use to
move the heat away from the CPU to the SD Card cages
* In the case which is between the PCB and the battery, there's 0,5mm
space to add heat isolation (so it doesn't heat the battery) and / or
a thin heatsink as well
With all that combined, we can surely manage the heating.
5. Who will get prototypes?
---------------------------
Some have already discussed about which devs will get prototypes.
Well, the list is not yet set in stone, but here's my current plan (in
alphabetical order):
* aTc (working on the OS)
* codifier (working on kernel drivers, did a successful Wake-On-Timer
on the Pandora, for example)
* EvilDragon (stress testing case and hardware, testing software, quality assurance)
* hns (extensive hardware testing, also some work on drivers)
* lunixbochs (porting glshim and will try to get the SGX driver to
work)
* notaz (some hardware tests, driver inclusion, etc.)
* ptitseb (also working on glshim, will also make sure a lot of stuff
is available from the start)
* One developer who works for TI who has helped us a lot already.
We might also hire one kernel developer (Nikolaus worked with him
already) so we have someone who can work full time on it.
I'll start setting up some developers ressources, a mailing list, etc.
so that we can somehow coordinate the development. This will be quite
some work, but I plan to work hand in hand with the developers so we
can create a productive environment.
Those are the news for today! I'll let you know as soon as I know more!
Want to leave feedback? Visit:
https://boards.openpandora.org/topic/5600195-reflect-the-leds/
