Pictures, Videos and thoughts of a Pyra dev-prototype


Re games, Ptitseb's already posted a video of both his Pandora and his Pyra prototype running a game. It was a PC port though, so it didn't use the game buttons - just d-pad and enter/return.

I too would like to know if it's possible to get the Y button especially to stick like it did on the keymat prototype unit on something more closely approaching mass production. I think I pressed it off-center to the top and it was quite easy to get it to lock half down. As long as that's not making electrical contact, that may not be such an issue actually, because another press from a more normal direction bought it straight back up, but it will affect how the button feels in use.
As already explained in the keymat test thread, no keys are sticking in thr final version if the case. I tried.that with my prototype and it works perfectly fine.

Ptitsebs prototype has an older, very stiff version of the keymat. We only had a couple of samples of the latest one, so all.prototypes assembled (excluding mine) use an older keymat.

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Could I also request a video of the playback of full HD content with audio, downscaled on the pyra display and unscaled over HDMI? Also it would be nice to see YouTube videos play windowed and full screen. And maybe even some 4k video test.

I'm pumped! Gimme pyra!

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I'm not sure we even have HDMI enabled in the OS yet... It's still VERY very young.

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Maybe, but I think it's interesting to see if it can downscale it to 720 or 1080p?
The Pandora could barely handle 720p if you were gentle. There's no way the Pyra will be able to decode and downscale 4K on CPU alone.
 
Loic is using the Pyra a bit.
He installed the game "Singularity" with a simple "apt-get" command and played it. He also plugged-in a headset so he can have sound.
Here is a short video of the game session
The game is a mouse game, so you can see how the new nubs works (hint: very well).

Now, about all the other stuff you want to see, I'll work on that, but, you should know that:
1. I need to buy a µHDMI adapter before any attempt to plug a screen..
2. I need to connect a usb wifi dongle, as the internal wifi, being, a prototype, is not stellar for now.

So, some chromium/firefox heavy session on a large screen? Or a movie? sure, but I first need to solve those 2 points before.
 
ptitSeb, you have female hands :3. Thank you for the video! I can make a donation for the µHDMI if you (or any other dev) want :D.
 
Now, about all the other stuff you want to see, I'll work on that, but, you should know that:
1. I need to buy a µHDMI adapter before any attempt to plug a screen..
2. I need to connect a usb wifi dongle, as the internal wifi, being, a prototype, is not stellar for now.

So, some chromium/firefox heavy session on a large screen? Or a movie? sure, but I first need to solve those 2 points before.

This one was stellar on my Pandoras.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...pVKmhV80DNdhrWohfh1O1hoCUPzw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
I have a sorta low profile one marked TP-Link (kinda funny if you are into that sort of humor), and it works well for me. The one Grench linked might be better for all things other than pocketability. You definitely get bonus nerd points by using his. Maybe I should get one.

For the HDMI adapter/cable, this is something I have kept an eye out for. I am still not sure how I will be using it. Kinda seems like I need a long cable so I can use it connected to a tv from across the room.
 
wifi not stellar now means that this will improve?

I'm worried about getting again a borderline usable chip.
 
The one Grench linked might be better for all things other than pocketability. You definitely get bonus nerd points by using his.
Pocketability is actually excelent. Remove it and it pockets like a pen. :)

Where nerd points really kick in is when you detach the antenna, insert a 6' cable, then mount the antenna bit on a satellite TV parabolic reflector to get WiFi from a mile away.
 
Pocketability is actually excelent. Remove it and it pockets like a pen. :)

Where nerd points really kick in is when you detach the antenna, insert a 6' cable, then mount the antenna bit on a satellite TV parabolic reflector to get WiFi from a mile away.

That nerd point made my day.
 
Pocketability is actually excelent. Remove it and it pockets like a pen. :)

Where nerd points really kick in is when you detach the antenna, insert a 6' cable, then mount the antenna bit on a satellite TV parabolic reflector to get WiFi from a mile away.

How does that work then? explain
 
Satellite dishes reflect microwaves, which are a sort of radio wave. Wifi uses radio waves IIRC slightly below the range of the microwaves (so, miniwaves maybe?), so they are also reflected pretty well. These dishes are paraboloid in shape, so they focus a distant source onto a point at the end of the support that's attached to them. Put a wifi aerial there instead of a satellite receiver and they should be able to pick up distant wifi quite well, given line of sight, although you'd have to hold it pretty still to make it work I'd have thought.

Amazing video, ptitseb! I guess it's configured a little like the Pandora at the moment, with mouse movement on the left nub, but is the right nub used for buttons by sliding it like the Pandora, or using it's new clickability? Also, I'm slightly curious what was on the screen to make your camera bleed it out like that.
 
Pocketability is actually excelent. Remove it and it pockets like a pen. :)

Where nerd points really kick in is when you detach the antenna, insert a 6' cable, then mount the antenna bit on a satellite TV parabolic reflector to get WiFi from a mile away.

How does that work then? explain

Well, you unplug the dongle/antenna, it straightens out and becomes pen-shaped. The antenna is on a hinge - it can either stick straight out or (relatively) follow the contour of the Pandora lid up (should on the Pyra as well).

Though you probably meant the 2nd use I mentioned. Essentially it is this:
https://www.engadget.com/2005/11/15/how-to-build-a-wifi-biquad-dish-antenna/

It works - likely not -quite- as well as the bi-quad by placing the dipole antenna in the dish's 'sweet spot' where the lund normally mounts.
So that you don't have to hold the Pandora in that spot, a type N extension cable helps:
Code:
https://www.amazon.com/TRENDnet-RP-SMA-Female-Antenna-TEW-L102/dp/B071Y7FXWW

One key thing in aiming - satellite dishes are a parabolic section. They are only one side of a parabolic dish. If the destination target is straight out in front of you, they need to be seemingly nearly pointed at the ground. The common satellite TV reflectors only comprises about 1/4 of a spun parabolic shape. They're highly directional - but the direction is not what you might expect. Distance and position of the antenna to the reflector is pretty critical as well. I have a few satellite dish reflectors that I've fiddled around with. Bodging an 802.11 dongle & antenna together with a commercial satellite reflector, dowels and duct tape can be done as a fun experiment, but is, quite frankly from my experience, a royal pain to get 'just right'. No, I didn't take pictures. It was not 'elegant'.

In the end if I started over I would just purchase something like this to plug into that little USB dongle:
Code:
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Directional-Parabolic-Connector-TL-ANT2424B/dp/B003CFATOW
That might seem expensive, but it would be worth it to not deal with trying to strap junk together at critical angles and positions. The metal satellite dish reflectors are heavy enough to be difficult - and the aiming is critical enough to make re-building and re-positioning it annoying. All said and done, my experiment with trying to use satellite dishes to do this cost -more- than it would to simply buy one of those.

Alternatively you could build your own Yagi and plug it into the dongle. A cantenna would work too.

Building antennas can be fun. Shortly after the US switched from NTSC to ATSC for TV, I built an 8' long Yagi UHF antenna out of an 8' long 2" wooden dowel cross drilled at precise distances with passive/parasitic precisely cut to length 1/4" aluminum elements (and a reflector) along it's length and custom bent 1/4" aluminum rod into a compact UHF loop for the active element. I took it and a 7" battery powered TV and 36 AA batteries backpacking (yeah - heavy). I was able to pull down a solid ATSC TV signal from 78 miles away - but only after the sun went down. During daylight hours interference from the sun caused more noise than it could handle. But hey, we got to watch the football game by a campfire miles from the nearest outlet. Practical? No - wasn't meant to be. With the parasitic and reflective elements knocked out it made a good walking staff - though the active element still connected into the setup looked kind of quasi-religious Ankh-like.

I have toyed with the idea of using adhesive gold foil for parasitic elements to build a VERY short yagi directional antenna on or in the lid of a Pandora. Where this idea comes up short is in trying to figure out where/how to place the active element. For a pun, the gain would not be worth it.

The point, though, is that little WiFi dongle with the removable Type N connected dipole antenna (or other devices with antenna connectors) opens up a world of nerd fun far beyond it's $5-$10 component price.
 
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