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!

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