netcat
Hardcore Member
One thing I do feel relatively strongly about is there should be ZERO emphasis on a new cpu board or whatever until the current orders are fulfilled. That would be wrong.
"I'm considering a Pyra 2 in parallel and all future revisions will be exclusive to that" is not the vibe I'm getting when I read ED saying "If I had 200k I would redesign a completely new case for the Pyra." To me that reads like more work that would delay existing orders for the Pyra 1 from being finished that is not actually necessary. What about using 200k to hire more staff to assemble every remaining Pyra order with the current design as soon as possible? Things like this should be #1 priority when it comes to putting any more money into the Pyra in my opinion.Who's to say you cannot work on the sequel in parallel? So, whenever ED's waiting on others, he still mustn't think about or - god forbid - work on the the next step? Cardinal sin or something like that?
Distracted from what? I wrote "whenever ED's waiting on others". I.e. time periods in which he cannot work on assembly/delivery.Yes - getting distracted is a cardinal sin of delivery.
ED often enough pointed out, money makes the wheels turn faster. What he was saying now, with enough money he'd have better (in terms of upgradability and assembility) cases designed quickly to then churn out Pyras at a fast pace. "Enough money" here not merely meaning enough to do it at all, but indeed enough to make it happen quickly, which is not the same. And it's a big IF, unless you're about to send 200k his way.I'm not saying "Pyra 2" would/should be incompatible as upgrades for existing Pyras. My point is: Lock down current orders to a final design and stick with it until they're shipped. Anything else can be for those who already have theirs looking for new upgrades or those willing to wait any longer to order an upgraded version. If it's not being done to finish orders ASAP then it's not worth doing yet. I'd rather have any Pyra with older I/O and a deprecated CPU than having to wait another 6 years for one with USB-C and a more modular case. I'll order those parts later for an outdated Pyra after all.
Let me know:
Would you prefer it if I stop working on the project, call it dead and file for bankruptcy because I can't pay back all the preorders - or if I continue to work on it, deliver units as good as possible, send out refunds if customers request it (or they use the voucher for something else) and pay back all liabilities, even though it takes a long time.
I just died a little inside.I am upset because you are not taking responsibility for the lack of progress.
He has been extremely detailed, and blunt, as to why he cannot give firm deadlines.ED, you need to have a very honest conversation with us about exactly WHEN you think you can fulfill remaining preorders
My expectation was that seven years after placing my preorder, I would have a Pyra in my hands.
Yes, I knew there was risk. Yes, it was my decision to pay in bitcoin. Yes, a few Pyras have shipped, so it's not completely vapourware. Let me change my assessment from "vapourware" to "in development hell".
We paid you money because we thought you could deliver a product. I am upset because you are not taking responsibility for the lack of progress. Infrequent updates where you say "things have gone wrong, but I'm still doing stuff -- please keep waiting" is simply not good enough.
ED, you need to have a very honest conversation with us about exactly WHEN you think you can fulfill remaining preorders. You need to set a deadline, or else admit you cannot deliver. You cannot keep extending the project indefinitely. I genuinely want you to succeed, and I want a Pyra in my hands that I can use and show to my friends. But I have come to the conclusion that if this were possible, you would have done it by now.
The obvious problem is manpower. You simply don't have the human resources this project requires. You need to raise some capital, hire some engineers, and devote more of your own time to this thing.
TL;DR You cannot keep asking us to wait.
The i.MX 8M is not the Plus - though (my bad), I also didn't mean thr Plus but the normal i.MX8, which is the only interesting one regarding the CPU (as it has two Cortex A72).
The A53 has 2.3 DMIPS/MHz, the Cortex A15 has 3.4 DMIPS/MHz.
Both the A53 in the i.MX 8M and the A15 in the OMAP5 are clocked with a max of 1.5GHz.
That means one core in the i.MX 8M can run 3450 DMIPS, whereas one core in the OMAP5 can do 5100 DMIPs.
So in single core use (which is important for emulation needs) the OMAP5 is a lot faster than the i.MX 8M.
Both cores combined, the OMAP5 has 10200 DMIPS and the i.MX 8M has 13800 DMIPS using all four cores.
So yes, in single core performance, the OMAP5 is faster and all cores combined, it's not that much slower than the i.MX8M.
It doesn't really make sense working on a new CPU board that does not offer much improvement compared to the one we have.
The i.MX8 would've been interesting - but that's the one that needs a huge heatsink.
But yeah, that one has two additional Cortex A72 cores on top of the ones that the i.MX8M has - and these have at least 6.3 DMIPS/Mhz, so the i.MX8 is A LOT faster than the i.MX8M or the OMAP5.
(a single core A72 with 1.5GHz would be at least 9450 DMIPs, but usually even higher, so up to three times as fast as the A53 in the 8M...)
Spoiler: That ain't suspend, the CPU is still running and reacting on peripheral interrupts. The ARM architecture does not implement an actual suspend mode. You can't just turn the CPU off, instead you tell it to wait for the next interrupt or other event to happen, which means that the power consumption on its lowest power mode largely depends on how well you manage to reduce the interrupt load from peripherals by making sure they're powered down when not needed as well. Turning off the CPU always requires a full boot sequence afterwards - unlike the ACPI- and UEFI-assisted suspend mode on x86 platforms, which causes a whole lot of issues if not done properly instead of just using more power.4/ Even my Android smartphone if suspended (instant on but wifi/etc off) last a month.