Finally, a new newspost!

I have to admit, it took a while since I posted some news - which was simply because GamesCom preparation, the GamesCom itself and catching up with my shop AFTER the GamesCom took quite some time.

Still, Pyra development has not halted, so here are some news.

But first of all, since I just mentioned GamesCom, I wish to send a [b]big welcome to everyone who joined our boards or newsletter after visiting us there.[/b] I hope you will have a lot of fun and excitement together with us.

Okay, on to the news...

1. GamesCom -----------

The GamesCom was a huge success. There were TONS of interested people and they were all amazed by the power the Pyra showed on our FullHD screen (well, we had multiple PSX and MegaDrive emulators running and still a responsive desktop at 1920x1080... - all fullspeed).

What most of the visitors found especially great is the replaceable CPU PCB. I was happy that most people love the idea having an upgradeable system instead of producing more and more electronical waste. These days companies tell you that you need at least one new smartphone each year... great that's not the common opinion :)

We had a few special guests there - [i]LinuxSWAT[/i] was helping out again, but we also had [i]ptitseb[/i] visiting during the weekend and [i]notaz[/i] was even there the full time and was working there on the devboard. They managed to get some games as well as Reicast and Mupen running, but those still need more optimization.

All in all, GamesCom was great - and the retro area was fun.

2. The LCD ----------

We made various tests with the LCD from BOE, and we were really satisfied so far. We tried Sonic 2 - famous on most mobile screens for flickering palmtrees and black ghosting of the rings in the sky. Well, we couldn't see any ghosting and even the flickering was only visible if you knew what to look for.

We didn't have the rotator chip working with it yet and Nikolaus was on holidays (as you might remember), but he's now looking into it. There are multiple devices out there using the rotator chip with exactly this one panel, so we know it'll work ;)

Additionally, we found the 720p resolution with 5" perfect for a Linux standard desktop. While the default settings have small fonts and icons, they're still perfectly readable (I like it small), with the 1080p LCD, it was just unusably small.

We still have the Success panel to test, but the BOE one is already pretty good, and a LOT better than the Pandora LCD. As soon as we have the rotator chip working, I'll make some nice videos for you.

I've already ordered a few samples together with touchscreens.

3. The software ---------------

notaz got the 3D driver to work together with fbturbo (which is a real fast, NEON-accelerated framebuffer driver for X). The official TI driver uses DRM - which is okay for normal desktop usage, but with that, we can't use the framebuffer directly (which is where Pandoras SDL version gets the speed increase from). So we definitely want to get an X driver working that offers framebuffer usage - and that's why we chose to use fbturbo.

As mentioned, the 3D driver is working already, but is still hardcoded to ask for DRM. This is something we'll try to fix, otherwise, all 3D games would need a patch. Another (small) downside is that the 3D driver only works in fulsscreen mode.

No big thing, as even apps like Blender can also run in fullscreen mode and games are usually played in fullscreen mode anyways. Still, we'll try to fix that as well. If you really desperately need 3D with windows, you could theoretically switch to TIs DRM driver, as it works there.

We'll now concentrate on setting up standard Debian distribution with our own patches for the Pyra.

4. Batteries ------------

I've received two different 6000mAh batteries from two different manufacturers. One is thicker, one is wider. Both have been sent to the case design team. They'll check which one can be easier implemented into our current case design.

5. The Case -----------

Not much has happened here, as the company in Greece is closed for summer holidays. I took the time to write down a list with current issues and a to-do-list which they'll work on when they're back in September. It's not that much left to do, to be honest.

I'll continue tweaking the shoulder buttons and I'll also try Fusion_Powers design.

6. The hardware ---------------

It's time for testing the main PCB thoroughly, we also still need to add a Wifi chip. Then it's time for the CPU PCB. I'll keep you updated with more news here.

That's it for todays post. Now that I catched up with everything, I hope to have more regular newsposts again.

Feel free to ask any questions here :)

Discuss about that post on the webboards: http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/16903-no-time-for-a-break-after-gamescom...