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
Well, not that much to report this week.
Nikolaus has populated some PCBs (so I've got something to show at the
GamesCom) and got the BOE display to work (without the Solomon Chip
yet).
As you might be interested to see some pictures of the populated PCB,
you can check them at the blog post (linked below).
I mostly took care of the T-Shirt and merchandising stuff that will be
ready to order for GamesCom (or shortly after).
aTc, lunixbochs and TrashyMG are fiddling around with devboards right
now (well, lunixbochs uses Trashys via SSH) and they got the SGX to
work (with quite a few issues still, but it does work). Maybe I'll be
able to show some 3D stuff at the GamesCom as well - but we'll see that.
Right now it seems Ubuntu ARM is better supporting the OMAP5 than
Debian - so maybe we'll steal some packages from Ubuntu for our OS or
maybe even use a minimized version of Ubuntu (without all the bloat).
It's too early to tell something right now, it's mostly playing around
to see that things are working. Ubuntu and Debian are very close
together, so some exchange between both might be a good idea.
Comment to the blog entry and view the pretty pictures at the boards:
http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/16723-a-bunch-of-pictures/
--
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
A lot of this post doesn't make much sense in a text-only eMail - so if
you want to see the full story, please head to the forum :)
Time for a new summary of the stuff that has happened.
Well, as mentioned, we're mostly working on the display now and
preparing for the GamesCom (where we also want to present the Pyra with
a display, of course)
Let's start with...
1. The Case
-----------
The shoulder button area has been changed and looks a lot more usable
now.
Of course, a test will tell us that.
Not much more has happened here, as we're mostly waiting for the final
PCB and LCD.
2. The PCB
----------
Mainboard Rev3 is finished - which is already pretty advanced. It will
be used to find design flaws, bugs - and then hopefully, Rev4 will be
last.
The PCB will be populated next week.
Next up is a little photo story (well, visit the boards to see the
pictures) showing how Nikolaus populates a display PCB.
Nikolaus bought himself some equipment (a stencil printer) to be able
to populate prototype PCBs himself at home.
Next step: Get the Displays to work :)
3. The GamesCom and other preparations
--------------------------------------
Askarus and I have been working on our GamesCom Booth.
Here is a small overview of what our booth most probably will look
like is attached to the mail.
Additionally, I've opened up the Pyra section in the DragonBox shop:
https://www.dragonbox.de/en/45-pyra
It will be filled with some merchandise products soon.
I'll also put the actual unit on there (of course, it can't be ordered
yet), as the shop supports notification eMails, so everyone who has
interest in the device but doesn't want to follow the development can
inscribe himself into the notification list and get an eMail when
ordering starts.
See you soon :)
To see the post with pictures and comment on it, please visit the
boards here:
http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/16700-a-small-photo-story/
--
Greetings,
Michael Mrozek aka EvilDragon
-----------------------
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
Some PCBs
---------
Nikolaus grabbed some partly-populated PCBs last week (we had an
automatic assembly for the parts that couldn't have been hand-soldererd
easily).
(Note: Please visit the link to the boards if you want to see the
pictures)
We've got a PCB which can be connected to the OMAP5 EVM. It has a
connector for a touchscreen and two different displays (the two 720p
ones I have here for testing). It also has the Rotator chip from
Solomon Technologies installed.
We also got a display PCB which connects the LG FullHD LCD to the
OMAP5 EVM. This is basically just for testing that the PCB works (as we
got the driver for the FullHD one already).
And finally, we also got a very very very first version of the CPU
PCB. You can see the two connectors for the main PCB already and also
pads where the parts will be later. Additionally, there's a third
connector (on the right side) where we can connect the OMAP5 EVM to. So
with that board, we can already test that we got enough space and that
the connectors basically work and are reliable, even though it's not yet
populated but used the OMAP5 EVM as CPU :)
Once that PCB is fully finished... well, then the hardware part of the
Pyra will be mostly done :)
Nikolaus already finished populating the PCBs and made some quick
hardware checks. The hardware seems to be fine, now he needs to code
the drivers. As he is on a (well-deserved) holiday until next Saturday,
nothing will happen this week, but hopefully we've got the LCDs working
next week.
A new case revision
-------------------
The designers finished a new case revision.
They added the transparent Pyra logo to the back of the lid and also a
first version of four shoulder buttons (which I'd probably like to
tweak a bit).
I've already ordered new 3D prints which I should receive within the
next 10 days.
A new theme
-----------
Not sure if anyone already found out - but if you'd like the boards
with a nice Pyra-themed look, you can use "Change Theme" on the bottom
of the page and change it to "Pyra".
If you find any errors or have ideas for improved colors on the boards,
let me know here :)
What's next?
------------
Well, Nikolaus will work on the displays so I can test them and finally
choose the best one. After that, Nikolaus needs to finish the main PCB
and work on the CPU and LCD PCB.
The display we choose needs to get a touchscreen as well, so I'll have
to take care of that. Testing the shoulder buttons and improving them
will be another thing I have to do, as well as discuss the keymat with
the two companies I narrowed down. And I need to figure out where to
best fit the LCD Cable. Of course, the new battery is something we need
to evaluate as well...
A lot of things happening at the same time, but slowly coming together.
Exciting times :)
As usual, you can discuss about that here:
http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/16499-some-pcbs-holidays-a-new-case-rev…
--
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
-----------------------
ICQ: 15691903
MSN: EvilDragon1717(a)hotmail.com
eMail: info(a)openpandora.de
The last week has been another really busy week - not much to show
though, mostly organisational but really important work.
Keymats
-------
We made a huge leap forward finding a keymat manufacturer.
Thanks to you guys and your great findings of keymat manufacturers, we
found a few suitable ones and I'm currently in contact with them to
narrow things down.
I've actually sent out a request to all of them but only three replied
back yet, and one of them can't offer what we need.
However, one the ones who replied (from UK) is especially interesting.
Besides only doing the production, they also offer their knowledge and
tweak the design so the keys will feel as good and tactile as possible.
Of course, DPad and buttons will especially be taken care of. They will
be extensively tested.
Their keymat would be of a silicon material with hard-plastic caps for
the buttons. Yep, not simply an epoxy coating like we have right now,
but real flat plastic. This should improve the look and feel as well as
the usability a lot :)
The keymat will be a bit more expensive than the Pandora keymat, but
still less than 10 USD. This is a nice example how the community can
help us out creating the Pyra :)
Fatih is also working on finding a keymat manufacturer, and there are
also a few suitable ones. However, they will only produce them
according to our design (which is normal for most asian companies).
They don't offer us their knowledge to improve the design. Well, we'll
still keep an eye on them, it's better to have multiple companies at
hand in case it doesn't work out as planned with one.
I'll also have a meeting with a german company on Tuesday about keymat
production. We'll see which one is best. :)
LCD testing PCB
---------------
Nikolaus also was mostly doing organisational stuff instead of
designing. It turned out that the design of the LCD test pcb was
already pretty complex so that it couldn't be populated with the small
machine at GC. Using the big machine needs a more complex process and
would need 3 weeks to get things started.
He is thinking about getting a small prototype machine for his company
(so future boards could be soldered without using an external company),
but he also found one company in Munich that is capable of populating
the boards for us pretty fast. The test boards will be populated next
week and then - hopefully - it won't take too much time to get the LCDs
working.
Shoulder Buttons
----------------
For the case design, we're mostly working on the shoulder buttons
together. It's not possible stacking them virtually - for various
reasons. It'd be very complex and almost impossible with that small
space we got in the hinge area, and on the other hand, it would be very
uncomfortable for most users. I tried out Askarus mod (he modded a
Pandora to have four shoulder buttons stacked up like that) and wasn't
really able to push them without pushing the other ones as well. If you
got a Pandora, try yourself: Open the lid fully and put your fingers
where the shoulder buttons are. Can you think of a comfortable way
stacking two shoulder buttons on top of each other? I can't -
seriously. Unless you have very thin fingers (like Askarus does).
The best solution seems to be stacking them horizontally, beneath each
other. The NeoGeoX has a nice solution for that, but the inner buttons
are too hard to push. I think the inner buttons need a tad lighter push
and it should also have a bit of a concave blob so the finger reaches
it easily.
Of course, that's something we need to test, but it seems like a good
solution to me.
Pheeew, long post with nothing to show this time.
But quite a few topics have moved further along the road and that's
important :)
As usual, you can discuss about that here:
http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/16449-nothing-to-show-but-a-lot-happene…
--
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
-----------------------
ICQ: 15691903
MSN: EvilDragon1717(a)hotmail.com
eMail: info(a)openpandora.de
While it's moving a bit slower than before (which is normal - the final few % always take longer than the rest), there's still things that have happened and that should be posted.
The displays
------------
As you probably remember, the 1080p display caused issues since the rotation of the screen from portrait to landscape slows thing heavily down, therefore we needed to change to 720p screens and a special chip that can rotate the picture in realtime.
We found two for us easily accessible 720p displays (well, three, to be exact, but there's no need to test the third one unless none of the two others is good enough for us).
Last week, we finally got all the needed displays (five of each) for testing, as well as non-BGA versions of the rotator chip (we only has BGA samples before).
All other needed parts (like connectors, etc.) have also arrived.
We were lucky with one connector, as it wasn't available within Europe from stock and the only source within the US had a contract so they were not allowed to export it... well, we got it anyways, thank god :)
Nikolaus already finished the PCB needed to test the displays and as you can see, we already have them here.
Global Components will populate them next week and then it's time to write the software and try out the displays together with the rotator chip.
Well, and maybe find some issues on the display PCB, as these always can happen - but they can be fixed with manual soldering, so that's no big deal.
I'll keep you informed and post videos of our display tests, as soon as we did them :).
The main PCB
------------
Nikolaus was mostly working on the display PCBs, so the progress on the main PCB was slower, as you can imagine.
It's still nearly finished - but that 'nearly' are the last percent that always need a lot longer than the rest.
The case
--------
While I'm still trying to find a better hinge (all the laptop-likes are way too big for our small device), the case designers are working on the best way to implement the four shoulder buttons.
This is not as easy as most of you might think, actually. Manually adding shoulder buttons is easy - but finding a possibility to do that in mass production is totally different.
The keyboard
------------
We're still looking for a company that can produce the silicon keymat for us.
While Fatih is in contact with some asian companies, I'm trying my luck with German companies - but it's hard to find one here:
Want to help out? Browse the net, look for companies that can do silicon/rubber keymats and post here, so I can get in contact with them.
Preferably in Europe, but anywhere in the world is fine as well.
The battery
-----------
We got a 6000mAh battery sample from the same manufacturer as the original Pandora battery and the case designer thinks we can fit it. Unfortunately, we got it without the PCB, even though we should've gotten it with one.
So before we can fully test it, we need to wait for a new sample.
The SoC
-------
We're still using the OMAP5, since we don't have much more info on the A80 yet.
AllWinner will not offer Linux drivers, but I plan to get in touch with the Cubieboard designers to ask how they will solve their driver issue - but still, switching to the A80 would delay everything for at least 6 months... not an option for us right now, but maybe sometime in the future.
That's it for today, I'll keep you posted.
Discuss about that here:
http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/16382-got-displays-looking-for-keymats/
Hi,
Wow, FOSDEM really was impressive this time.
There were so many people interested in the Pandora and Pyra, it's
amazing.
And even though the time for my talk was a bit too short, I think I
made myself mostly clear about what I want. Well, and if not, then you
can always ask here at the boards - and the blog entries will probably
clear up some more mysteries as well :)
Productive discussions about the OS have started on the boards as well
and I will take care about new forum sections for that tomorrow. Thanks
a lot to anyone who wants to help out here :D
One question I've seen quite a few times was "Why use the OMAP5? It has
a PowerVR chip, which doesn't have OpenSource drivers!" As mentioned,
you should take part of the Pyra development and production process -
and of course, also of the things that already happened in the past.
Especially, since that basically answers the above question as well -
so follow me on a journey...
From OMAP5 to everything else and back
Back in 2011/2012, when the OMAP5 had just been announced, we decided
to use it for the successor. It was, once again, faster than anything
else. But it seemed like TI would never even release the OMAP5...
Early 2013, TI still couldn't give any clear dates - and now Samsung,
NVidia, MediaTek, etc. were all catching up. It was clear for me that I
WILL work on a successor - and it was pretty clear that the most
complicated things to source would be the SoC and the LCD. So I started
as early as I could and contacted various other companies.
Samsung was the first company I contacted, since the German
Headquarters are in Munich, just 45 minutes away from me. The german
team did pay me a visit and they really liked the Pandora and the idea
to use a Samsung SoC for the successor. They did their best to convice
the Korean HQ, but without success. Samsung did not want to sell us
their SoC.
So I continued to search for companies.
I contacted the Freescale distriubtor, as their Cortex-A9 SoCs can be
bought without any registration and in small quantities - but
unfortunately, they decided to not produce a Cortex A15. Next stop:
MediaTek. Asian company, so probably easier to get than from the huge
global players. However, MediaTek only offer Android drivers, and they
do not plan to support Linux - well, not for our small quantities
anyways. So they decided to not sell them to us as well.
I knew from some developers that Rokchips English design manuals were
never really usable - so even if we could get the chip, we couldn't
make the hardware design without a good manual.
I tried to call nvidia a few times, but the German Headquarters never
really picked up the phone. Thanks to some contacts I had, I finally
got the right persons from nvidia worldwide headquarters on the phone -
however, only to get another "no". They explained to me that in order
to be able to use the Tegra, I need to let the hardware be designed and
produced by a contracted partner company from them. That's certainly
not what we want - and my guess is that no company would do such a
complex design as we need for such a low quantity anyways.
Things didn't look good here. There were still a few more companies who
licensed ARMs big.LITTLE architecture, so I contacted them one after
another. Most of them were in industrial / automotive business, and
they planned to have their SoC ready in 2016... a bit too late for us.
Then TIs distributor contacted us - apparently, the OMAP5 was finished
and will go into mass production in November 2013. We can still get it
if we want.
Well, we talked about the various options.
PowerVR doesn't have the sourcecode released - but then again, all
other GPU drivers in SoCs are closed source as well. I know a few will
now shout "But for MALI there's an OpenSource driver available!" -
well, yes and no. Yes, there's a driver available - but it's for the
old MALI GPU. Not a single Cortex-A15 SoC uses the old one. And it's
unknown when and whether there will be an OpenSource driver for the new
Mali as well.
TI offers Linux drivers. for their SoC and for the PowerVR.
One thing that's good about the PowerVR is that the kernel part of the
driver is not closed source - which means: While you need a binary blob
for the 3D driver, it can still be used on any compiled kernel or OS.
So when PowerVR stops development for the SGX driver, it doesn't mean
we cannot update the kernel or OS. We can. Only the 3D driver will not
be updated anymore.
While a fully OpenSource driver would be nice, there just isn't one out
there on an ARM SoC. We can't fix bugs in the 3D driver, but we won't
be stuck with an outdated kernel ever either.
You can see that on the current Pandora:
There's a small application available which lets you change the 3D
driver version on-the-fly in the running OS. Each version has different
bugs, advantages and disadvantages - but they can be run, regardless of
the kernel version.
We had a long journey, and I talked to various SoC manufacturers - and
TI turned out to be the only feasable for us. I'm pretty sure even
though it has its flaws, it will be a neat chip for our next handheld.
The horsepower I've seen so far is impressive!
Oh, and about "Why not using an Intel?"
Well... to be honest: I rather be safe and sure than risky and sorry.
When we decided what SoC to use, no one knew if the mobile market will
ever switch over to Intel. There are many Android games out there that
probably wouldn't work anymore - and we would also lose all the
optimized ARM emulators out there like PPSSPP or PCSXReARMed. Yeah, I
know, it exists for x86 as well - but it's probably not as optimized
and therefore drains more battery...
It was too risky for a small company like ourselves - so it's best to
stick to ARM right now.
Well, that's it for todays post.
I'll probably post more stuff next weekend.
If you want to join the discussion about this topic, please visit the
boards:
http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/15560-soc-back-and-forth/
-
Greetings,
Michael Mrozek aka EvilDragon
-----------------------
OpenPandora GmbH
Geschäftsführer: Michael Mrozek
Schäffbräustr. 11
85049 Ingolstadt
Deutschland
Tel.: 0841 / 13 177 33
http://www.openpandora.de/
HRB 4879, Amtsgericht Ingolstadt
-----------------------
ICQ: 15691903
MSN: EvilDragon1717(a)hotmail.com
eMail: info(a)openpandora.de