Update time!
So, I guess I got mostly good news for you this time.
It took a while until I could post updates, but that was mostly thanks
to the christmas time. Most companies didn't start resuming work before
January 8th - and FormAction didn't even start until January 15th.
Oh well, at least now we're ALMOST back to normal (except for Chinese
New Year coming up).
Speaking of FormAction, let's start with the case!
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According to them, all changes in the molds have been done and they
already produced new samples, including the sealing for the speakers.
Well, that's what they claimed last week.
I'll check back with my contact if he could already check them within
the next few days.
I will not trust them until I receive them... but basically, they
should have time until February, and you can be sure I'll push them!
Let's continue with the CPU Boards...
-------------------------------------
If you followed the other thread on the boards, you probably know that
the new CPU boards have been ordered.
However... and that's the bad news: Chinese New Year is approaching,
and as the bare boards are being produced in China, they won't show up
until after that.
Well, not much we can do here.
Good thing is that the simulation shows the PCBs should now work fine
with the 4GB RAM, so we only need to wait for them to appear now :)
... on to the mainboards...
---------------------------
The mainboard with the fixes has been tested and so far everything
seems to work as it should!
Also, Wifi is now A LOT better. In our testing environment, we had six
different Wifi networks with different distances and various
strengthes.
Whereas the old mainboard could only find two of them, the new
mainboard instantly did find all six at once, and the signal quality
was a lot better as well.
We still have to do more tests regarding download speed and
reliability, but it's really looking like it's fixed now as well.
That's that.
The only thing left now is getting rid of the sirring noise.
That's mostly trial and error... try as many different capacitors as
possible until we find a combination that works.
Sometimes it's even enough simply using a capacitor from a different
manufacturer... some might remember the whirring noise some of the 1st
Edition Pandoras made. That probably was the same :)
This trying-out doesn't need a layout change and therefore can happen
while the new bare PCBs are being produced.
So yes.
All known bugs and issues have been dealt with. We're not aware of any
issue left right now!
The mainboards should now ALL be 100% correct. It's time to wait for
them to arrive... so we can build one more round of prototypes (which
will finally go to the prototype orders!)... and then we can setup the
mass production.
... tweaking the cooling...
---------------------------
In the meantime, we're working to improve the cooling even more. The
current situation lowers the CPU temperature by 20°C (according to the
simulation), but we're trying to improve that even more while we're
waiting for the new boards.
Thanks to the simulation software Juliano uses, we can easily try out
different scenarios (connecting the Al plate to the OMAP as well, using
one or two heatsinks, etc.) and find the best one possible.
It's both interesting and fun! Those simulations are simply awesome.
They take in account the different conductivities of the materials as
well as the thickness and the OMAP temperature!
... a peek into the future...
-----------------------------
Well, next step is definitely the planned prototype production,
hopefully now with fully working 4GB RAM Pyras with all the bugs
squashed.
The next step beyond is the mass production. Global Components is ready
(and have bought a lot more new machines that help improving the
production quality and testing), and the parts are ready as well.
Similar to the first months of Pandoras life, the software needs a lot
of tweaking as well... but the more people receive a Pyra, the faster
any bugs or annyoances are found and improved.
And then?
Well... there's a possible SoC being released which could become the
first CPU Board Upgrade:
The i.MX8 M QuadLite, which is the mobile version of the i.MX8.
You can find more information about it here:
https://www.nxp.com/products/processors-and-microcontrollers/applicatio
ns-processors/i.mx-applications-processors/i.mx-8-processors/i.mx-8m-
family-armcortex-a53-cortex-m4-audio-voice-video:i.MX8M
It's being released 2018, it's freely available to anyone and while the
raw processing power is not THAT much higher compared to the OMAP5, the
power consumption is significantly lower, it's 64bit, and the 3D chip
(GC7000L) has OpenSource drivers available.
It's most probably the SoC the Librem 5 Smartphone will use as well, so
there would be two devices with the same SoC running Linux, which would
be great :)
Anyways, that's still the future. The SoC is not yet out and we'll
concentrate finishing and delivering the Pyra!
But rest assured: We won't stop when delivery has started... we will
continue our journey so the Pyra will receive nice updates in the
future.
That's it for today :)
So, mostly good news - except for the probable delay of the bare PCBs
because of Chinese New Year.
Everything else should be done and we're already thinking about the
future.
Exciting times are up ahead!
As usual, feel free to ask questions and discuss at the boards here:
https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/threads/getting-closer.82436/
--
Greetings,
Michael Mrozek
-----------------------
OpenPandora GmbH
CEO: Michael Mrozek
Schäffbräustr. 11
85049 Ingolstadt
Germany
Tel.: +49 841 990 5548
http://www.openpandora.de/
HRB 4879, Amtsgericht Ingolstadt
-----------------------
eMail: mrozek(a)openpandora.org
