De Pandora en de Dragonbox Pyra handhelds #5

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Op dinsdag 14 januari 2014 06:12 schreef Elan het volgende:
Toch maar 1 bestellen van de week

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Op dinsdag 14 januari 2014 09:48 schreef djkoelkast het volgende:
Die Return to Castle Wolfenstein werkt erg goed trouwens

Pyra - small FOSDEM sneakpeek

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6. What will the Pyra be like?



State-of-the Art CPU, LCD and speakers
New accurate nubs that won't wear out (magnets)
Backlit keyboard
Robust and better looking case
Improved connectivity (wifi, 3G/UMTS (optional), USB Ports, HDMI port)
More RAM and internal storage (for standard GNU inux OS)

Still an analog audio wheel (and the good audio circuit)


a) The SoC

Texas Instruments OMAP5432:

2x Cortex-A15 (up to 1,7 GHZ each)
2x Cortex-M4 CPU
PowerVR SGX544-MP2
Vivante GC320 2D Accelerator
DSP, NEON
probably 2GB RAM

b ) The LCD

Most probably an LG 5'' 1080p display

Full HD (1920x1080)
Fast response time (20ms)
Same display as in the Google Nexus 5
High resolution could be used to accurately simulate a CRT monitor (ideal for emulation of classic games)

c) Gaming Controls, LEDs and keyboard

New analog controls. using a magnet (a lot more accurate & don't wear out)
DPAD, 4 Shoulder buttons, most probably 6 face buttons
Power button with RGB LED (can be used i.e. for showing remaining battery)
Backlit keyboard (brightness can be adjusted)
Two more RGB LEDS (i.e. showing SD Card access, etc.)

d) Connectivity

Improved Wifi (802.11 a/b/g/n) (not yet 100% fixed)
Bluetooth
Optional UMTS I 36 for mobile internet (or phone functions) and GPS
HDMI out to connect it to standard flatscreens
Full USB Host Port (with Hub included)
MicroUSB Port (OTG)
2 SDXC Card Slots
Headset port

e) Battery

The same battery as with the Pandora will be used
Pandora users can get batteries in the future
Pandora users can use their batteries in the Pyra
Case will be improved so that the battery will fit better than before
Battery life should be the same (maybe even more) for the same tasks, but decrease when doing CPU-intense tasks

f) Case

Case will be completely redesigned and produced by a company in Europe (Form Action, Greece)

Designer knows the specifications and tolerances of their machine
Faster turnaround times (especially important with prototyping)
Easier communication (language, distance)
Higher quality of the case!
Power-on-to-slide replaced by Power button on keyboard. ( No lock? )

g) Production at a reliable company

Production and assembly will happen at Global Components, Germany

They are successfully producing the Pandora since 2012
Fast, flexible and reliable
Just a couple of minutes away from the PCB designer

h) The OS

Not 100% fixed yet, but most probably Debian will be used

Repository for optimized Pyra packages
Standard Debian repository for standard software

PND System or similar will be kept as well

Easy handling of large games and packages on your SD Cards
No data loss of games, gamedata, gamesaves, etc. on system crash
Easy to handle for devs to upload it to the repository
Cards can be simply be put into a different system and be used right away

j) The Team

Michael Mrozek (aka EvilDragon)
Main guy behind the Pyra

One of the founding members of the OpenPandora team
Original job: Taking care of the community. Since 2012: Managing everything Pandora-Related
Experienced with manufacturing and production

Dr. Nikolaus Schaller
Hardware Designer

Doing electronics designs for years
Has worked for Siemens and is now running his own company
Experienced with both hardware design and Linux
Designed the PCBs for other Opensource hardware projects Iike the GTAO4 and the Neo9OO

Grazvydas Ignotas (aka Notaz)



Helpingwith drivers and software

- Was already helping to debug the Pandora hardware
- Improved and optimized drivers, kernel and software for
the Pandora
- Longtime respected member of the community


M. Fatih KILIC

Sourcing Parts

- One of the founding members of the OpenPandora team
- Experienced with Asian companies and sourcing parts and manufacturers (we. carry cases, AC Adaptors. etc.

other community members (like skeezix, sebt3, Djwillis, ptitseb, Iunixbochs, etc.)

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Op maandag 10 februari 2014 22:46 schreef djkoelkast het volgende:
1200 euro?

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Op dinsdag 11 februari 2014 16:47 schreef djkoelkast het volgende:
ED gaat hopelijk die van mij alsnog fixen en ik krijg alsnog een retail box van de 1GHz erbij (ik heb alleen de oude doos maar later geupgrade) en de tv-out kabel wordt dan gelijk mee teruggestuurd, zodat ik alleen de kabel hoef te betalen.
Nog niet helemaal rond, maar zoiets gaat het worden

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Op dinsdag 11 februari 2014 16:40 schreef Elan het volgende:
De mijne is alweer stuk, laten vallen op marmeren tegels vond die niet zo leuk en natuurlijk geen reparateur te vinden in Nederland .

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Another week has passed, so it's time to let you know what we've been doing.

1. Physical Dummy

Right now, we got two main priorities: Getting the case designers a PCB with the most important details so they can work on the case and getting the LCD to work.

We received three of those dummy PCBs on Wednesday and populated the parts that are important most important for the basic case design - this includes all big parts like the 3G Antenna, the volume wheel, the SIM Card Slot as well as the ports, nubs and shoulder buttons.

Two of these non-functional PCBs are shipping to the designer in Greece next week.



As you can see, on the back there are two big USB 2.0 Host Ports as well as a Micro USB 3.0 OTG Port (which will also be used for charging the unit).
Then you can see a Micro HDMI Port and the headphones / headset port.

We originally had a USB / eSATA-Combi port planned, but we couldn't find a one that suits our needs (Surface mount).
Also, size would be an issue - we could either fit normal size USB ports or one USB / eSATA-Combi port.
It's probably more useful to have two USB Ports (to connect a mouse and keyboard, for example, or two game pads, etc.) than an eSATA Port - especially as most externa harddisks probably use USB.


2. Qualcomm and AllWinner A80

As you know from the last blog post, Qualcomm and AllWinner might also be candidates to sell the SoC to us.
I've explained what we need, etc. to both our contact at Qualcomm and to AllWinner.
Qualcomm didn't reply yet (I'll let you know once they do!) and AllWinner replied... but the mail sounded to me like they don't know yet when the A80 or any devboards will be available and whether they can sell it in small quantities...

I'll try to find out more, but right now, it still seems like the OMAP5 is our best guess.


3. OMAP5 speed and power usage

Which brings us to our next topic - the OMAP5 speed and power usage.
Well, that's what my focus was last week.

We can't do full power comsumption tests yet, as the power saving features are not yet fully optimized and included in the kernel (basically the same as the Pandora was before notaz implemented them (SuperZaxxon with Kernel 3.2)), but I could do some tests and make assumptions.

Based on my measurements, the OMAP5 uses less power than the OMAP3 for the same processing power.
So basically, you could limit the Pyra to be the speed of the Pandora and the battery should last longer (this could be some low-power mode).

Of course, with full processing power, the power consumption is higher than what the Pandora can do.
Running with full speed and full CPU usage, the battery would probably last 2 - 3 hours.
Don't worry though - in normal use you normally won't have 100% CPU usage all the time with both cores, so in reality, the battery time will quite a bit longer, probably 6 - 7 hours for more-demanding emulators.

Still, we are thinking of increasing the battery size a bit to get more capacity into it - without increasing the case size too much, of course.

With full speed, the Pyra should be about 5 - 6 times as fast as the Pandora (depending on the application), which is pretty neat.
Enough for a snappy and responsive desktop, fast webbrowsing, graphics editing or PSP, DreamCast and N64-Emulation.



4. MIPI - getting there!

Nikolaus was working hard to get the LCD to work - with a some huge steps forward.
The basic communication with the LCD is now working fine (so MIPI is working).
He can read out and set registers - but we didn't get the picture yet onto the LCD.

We're still missing the initialization routine, but hopefully we'll get them from LG this week.
If not, we have some backup plans (like working together with a member of the MIPI Alliance or - in worst case - become one ourselves. This will give us all documentation and tools we need).

Well, at least we can now talk to the display and get a reaction
The hardware part is working fine, I'm sure we can get the rest to work as well.


5. What's next

With the Dummy PCBs, the case designers can now on the case design.

Next week, I'll check all the logo suggestions you made on the boards, so that we'll finally have a logo.
I'll also have a meeting with a company in Munich that produces keymats, so we won't have to go to China to produce those as well.

I'm also following the boards for any questions that occur and discussions that happen.
I've seen a discussion about the price - well, it seems that a no one really knows how a price is calculated.

Since stuff like that is also part of the Pyra experience (follow us and learn how everything works), I'll explain everything about that in one of the next blog posts. It's certainly pretty interesting.


That's it for today. As usual, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them here

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Op maandag 17 februari 2014 12:55 schreef djkoelkast het volgende:
Allwinner chips, hopelijk niet. Veel van die Chinese tablets zit dat in en dat werkt voor geen meter.
Ik ben benieuwd.

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It's been quite a while since the last blog post, but of course that doesn't mean nothing has happened here.

A lot of what has happened for me was organizing (looking for companies that are able to produce the keymat, etc.) while Nikolaus was working on the base PCB most of the time.
Here's a quick summary of stuff that happened

1. Base PCB design

Nikolaus is now about 95% finished with the design of the base PCB.
All of the parts have already been placed and will be wired up.
If everything works out, then the base PCB does not need another revision - but you never know.
We'll know when it's finished and tested

As for the ports on the backside, it seems we can include the following ones:

1x Micro USB 3.0 OTG
1x USB-A 2.0 Host Port
1x USB-A 2.0 Host + eSATA Comboport
1x MicroHDMI Port
1x Headset (an internal switch ensures you can both use Apple and normal headsets)
1x Micro USB Debug and charging port
Plenty of ports. We cannot tell 100% that these will all be included though.
They fit on the PCB, but we need to wait for feedback from the case designers if that works out well.

In case you wonder what the Micro USB Debug port is:
It's basically the serial out port. You can connect it to a PC and it will register as USBtty device.
No more hardware needed - so if you want to do some low-level kernel development, it will certainly be useful.

The port can also be used to charge the unit. This makes it possible to use a USB3.0 device (i.e. harddisk) while the Pyra is connected to the charger.


2. The case

The case designers were mostly working on the keymat, where I should get a first design this week.
This is important, as the keymat is the only part of the case that cannot be produced by FormAction, so I need to get quotations from other companies, and find a suitable one.
And as you can imagine, the keymat needs a lot of testing, as it has the buttons and the DPad included - and those need to be perfect
Therefore, the faster we get it, the faster I can test and confirm it.

After they finished the keymat, they will work on the keyboard part of the case and make sure, the PCB fits without any issues. This is also the time to work on the hinge and finalize the keymat design and PCB design.

When that is done, the lid will be designed, and finally, the lower part wit the battery compartment.


3. The touchscreen

The technical design of the touchscreen has been finished and is approved by me, now the production will begin.
We should get samples soon (I don't have a date yet, probably in about 4 - 5 weeks).

I've ordered the highest resolution and sensivity, anti-glare. So we should hopefully get the best resistive touchscreen as possible.



4. New (or old?) help

Some more helpers joined our internal development mailing list.
Two TI employees who are helping us in their spare time (they know a lot more about the OMAP5 than we do, so this will certainly be helpful) and Michael Weston (yep, the one who designed the Pandora)
It's always good to have various experienced designers.
There are often multiple solutions for one problem, and different ideas often help to find the best solution.

And proof-reading a schematics before the PCB goes into production is really helpful as well.

I'm really happy and thankful for all the help
It helps us to improve the final product and move forward a bit faster.


That's all there is for today. See you soon