Bringing the case and PCB together


EvilDragon

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Sorry for the lack of recent updates, it doesn't mean that nothing has happened - it's more the other way round:

There was so much work to do that I didn't have time to sum it all up.

 

Right now, I'm sitting in the plane to Marseille to visit the RMLL. fantomid will pick me up at the airport and since I got my Pandora with me (no Pyra yet ;) ), I can use the time to type up a blog entry while listening to SNES music :)

 

So, here goes...

 

1. The case

 

I've received the latest version of the case including the logo in the lid as well as a first version of the shoulder buttons.

In case you wonder why the color is red:

The colors used for the prototype cases have nothing to do with the final color.

I've simply decided to use a different color for each case revision, so that I instantly know which revision the printed case part is.

 

The shoulder buttons work fine physically, but I want to change the design to be more comfortable and easier to use.


IMG_20140705_021343.jpgIMG_20140705_021448.jpg

 

The lower buttons should go around the corner and and have a small slide where you can rest your fingers in.

The upper buttons should have a small (smooth) lip which should make it easier to feel and press them.

I've made some small models using FreeCAD how I can imagine them and sent them to the designers.

It's pretty ugly, but it's just meant to be a small dummy to show the way I'd like to have them - the designers job will be to make them look and feel good (... and I've never done any CAD before ;) )

L1-Mockup1.pngL1-Mockup2.pngShoulderMockup.png

 

The logo is a bit too big in my opinion, but that's not a complicated change.

I want the logo to be as invisible as possible (except for when the LED is on, of course).

 

IMG_20140705_021625.jpgIMG_20140705_022542.jpg

 

Together with Nikolaus, I'm working on some other changes that need to be done. We've now entered the stage where a lot of tweaking has to happen on both sides - the case and the PCB - to make sure everything fits, works and is sturdy. We don't want microvias on the main PCB (would increase the costs to make it a lot), so every mm space we can secure for the PCB helps.

 

We're also still looking for a better hinge solution, but no news on that yet.

 

Apart from that, the case is basically finished (well, LCD and Battery area have to be finished, as we've not yet decided on the battery and LCD to use).

 

 

2. The keymat

 

The keymat will be totally different compared to the Pandora one.

The Pandora has a rubber keymat with silk and an epoxy blob on top.

 

Pyras keymat will consist of a transparent silicone with black plastic keys glued on top.

The plastic keys will be produced with they're own mold, so they can freely be designed to be similar to laptop keys.

The labels will be transparent and get an LED backlight (which can be dimmed to any brightness).

 

The carbon pads will get some small pegs around them which ensures that keys don't wobble but move straight down.

 

I should get a prototype keymat soon (hopefully before GamesCom in August) which consists only of a small area of keys (Space and the keys surrounding it) which will be cheaper but good enough for testing the look and feel.

 

Attached are a few picture showing how it basically will look like (please ignore that the keycaps are flat here :) ))

 

keymat1.jpgkeymat3.jpgkeymat4.jpg

 

3. The LCDs

 

Nikolaus had a small error in the wiring for the Solomon chip, but already fixed it: two traces were switched. A trivial fix - except for that everything is pretty small.

Here is a microscopic view of the fix. The wires you see are about 1,5 times as thick as a normal human hair... so yep, it's pretty small!

 

solder.jpg

 

The Solomon rotator chip is now up and working. Registers can be read, it reacts to all test commands as it should, so the next step it getting the displays to work.

 

We've got the information we need, but it's still a lot of work to browse thruogh the different datasheets and find the stuff you need to code the driver.

 

As Nikolaus is currently working on finishing the layout for the main PCB (urgently needed to finish the case design), this has been on hold for a few days.

But hopefully next week he'll find the time to work on that and get some results.

 

 

4. The Battery

 

 

Well, I'm still waiting for the new sample from China (why is it that these companies always need months to send out a sample...?), but I'll receive another battery next week from a different company.

Same size as Pandoras one, but 1cm thick... ouch. Will probably be too thick for us to use, but I've decided to send it to the designers anyways. Maybe it can be made to fit somehow with thinner plastic or the battery cover integrated into the battery.

I'll let you know as soon as I've got any news.

 

 

 

5. Registration, GamesCom and other stuff

 

 

I finally found the time to register the Pyra name and logo (was about time!)

Next big thing for me to plan for is the GamesCom in August.

Besides the Pandora, Everdrives and Retrohardware (like the RetroN5 or homebrew carts for NES), I'll also have the Pyra there.

 

Time is narrow, so I'm not sure what we can show there.

 

Of course, at least the same setup we had at the FOSDEM. But hopefully, we'll manage to get a cased one with just one cable connected to the EVM. That would be pretty close to the real thing.

 

As I'll only have one prototype there, I'll probably have a restricted area there where interested visitors can come in and play around in small groups while others can see at a monitor what's happening there.

 

I'm also preparing some Pyra merchandise. T-Shirts, the logo as pendant for a chain, etc.

If you got any other ideas for merchandise, let me know.

I will sell them at the DragonBox shop, and of course they'll also help financing the Pyra.

 

Well, I think that's all the important stuff that has happened.

If you got any further questions, feel free to ask here :)
 
this is awesome! I am very excited! And the rendering of the shoulder has me totally relieved, that will definitely work for me. The Pyra is looking very awesome and the glowing logo is quite amazing. I am very very excited about this outcome.
 
Pyra Caps, Pyra Walles, Pyra Buttons like "I will have my Pyra in 2 months" (I would put one of these on my bag), Pyra Posters (with a lot of flames, a  hot red haired girl (or guy) with the Pyra in her/his hand).
 
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As unlikely as it may be I have to say that I hope that key layout isn't final,  that would be really nasty having the Qwerty row offset from the rest of the letter keys.    (Of er syatyrd srrong [psys lokr yhos all yhr yomr er'd knpe ehu!)

That said,  it's otherwise looking good so far. :)  

I thought you'd decided to go with side by side shoulder buttons though.

- Neelix
 
Is the led for the logo an rgb one? It would be awsome if it was! For notification and stuff like that!


Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk
 
As unlikely as it may be I have to say that I hope that key layout isn't final,  that would be really nasty having the Qwerty row offset from the rest of the letter keys.    (Of er syatyrd srrong [psys lokr yhos all yhr yomr er'd knpe ehu!)

That said,  it's otherwise looking good so far. :)  

I thought you'd decided to go with side by side shoulder buttons though.

- Neelix
When I saw those renders, I thought something similar. 

-Glyph Reader
 
Awesome indeed. I too was surprised by vertically stacked shoulder buttons. Initially I thought "I prefer to use my joint, but as long as they work good that is all that matters". I scrolled down and really like the ideas you have for the shoulder buttons. Better than I could have imagined. The logo looks better than I imagined also. Is there any plan to reduce how much light bleeds through the opaque portions of the case? I am interested in how you will hide the logo and how it will look.

What are your going with for keycaps if not flat tops? You made changes that will fix some of the weak points on Pandora's keyboard, and will get a sample to test so I will keep my preferences on shape to myself. I like that font. Surely the layout will change because some things, like |, are missing and others have multiples. Are we getting white and blue again or might the secondary color change?

I am looking forward to LCD and battery updates. Thanks!

edit:  my formatting got trashed...I need to stop using BabyPanda for posting. 
 
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As unlikely as it may be I have to say that I hope that key layout isn't final,  that would be really nasty having the Qwerty row offset from the rest of the letter keys.    (Of er syatyrd srrong [psys lokr yhos all yhr yomr er'd knpe ehu!)

That said,  it's otherwise looking good so far. :)  

I thought you'd decided to go with side by side shoulder buttons though.

- Neelix
Agreed. Better to shift them right one so that P becomes the non-Fn (Meta?) keysym for the key that's currently "<" when Fn'd and blank otherwise.


...though I seriously doubt that's the final layout. It has three different keys you can press to get almost any symbol. (eg. @ symbols on "1", "A", and ",", three pairs of parens via 23, SD, and .Z, three exclamation marks via 4FX, etc.)


I'd much rather see "," move somewhere else so the Meta key can be duplicated as Shift has been. That way, I can thumb-type any character.
 
...though I seriously doubt that's the final layout. It has three different keys you can press to get almost any symbol. (eg. @ symbols on "1", "A", and ",", three pairs of parens via 23, SD, and .Z, three exclamation marks via 4FX, etc.)
Heh...  I was so distracted by the offset qwerty row that I completely failed to notice the duplicate symbols. :)

- Neelix
 
...though I seriously doubt that's the final layout. It has three different keys you can press to get almost any symbol. (eg. @ symbols on "1", "A", and ",", three pairs of parens via 23, SD, and .Z, three exclamation marks via 4FX, etc.)
Heh...  I was so distracted by the offset qwerty row that I completely failed to notice the duplicate symbols. :)

- Neelix
I almost missed it too. It was just luck that I did a double-take on the position of "the" @ symbol, given that it's not something so frequently used that you might actually want to duplicate it like the period.

(Of course, even then, duplicating a key like the period would just be a workaround for not duplicating Meta/Fn so it can be reliably chorded while thumb-typing.)
 
...though I seriously doubt that's the final layout. It has three different keys you can press to get almost any symbol. (eg. @ symbols on "1", "A", and ",", three pairs of parens via 23, SD, and .Z, three exclamation marks via 4FX, etc.)
Heh...  I was so distracted by the offset qwerty row that I completely failed to notice the duplicate symbols. :)

- Neelix
I tried to point it out for you too, because I picked up on the @s right away, like ssokolow, and then noticed how odd everything looked.

I'd much rather see "," move somewhere else so the Meta key can be duplicated as Shift has been.
Your second Meta is blank. :p  I too think would like to have a second one for when not holding it in my hands while typing.
 
change the pyra button on keyboard to a pyra logo like pandora has, and hopefully pendant for chain means keychain? make keychains
 
1. The case
Top to bottom shoulder buttons. Nice.  B)   I don't think the logo is too big, but making it a bit smaller would not hurt.
 
2. The keymat
The extra two buttons are thinner than I thought they would be. Not sure how I feel about that.  Also, I think Roman 1 and 2 is a good choice.
 
 4. The Battery
 Hopefully the battery will fit, especially without the lid being attached to it.
 
5. Registration, GamesCom and other stuff

Pyra Mugs? 
 
change the pyra button on keyboard to a pyra logo like pandora has, and hopefully pendant for chain means keychain? make keychains
I don't think the Keyboard layout will be the final one.

See the QWERTY row?

It's one button too far to the left.

Q is where TAB or ESC should be.
 
That all looks pretty nice. Are the two extra gaming buttons recessed because they could be pressed accidentally?


I think I would prefer them the same height than the others or I would need to look down to press them.
 
As unlikely as it may be I have to say that I hope that key layout isn't final,
 Yep, it isn't. As others found out already: The layout doesn't even make sense :)

Is the led for the logo an rgb one? It would be awsome if it was! For notification and stuff like that!
 Indeed, it is.

Is there any plan to reduce how much light bleeds through the opaque portions of the case? I am interested in how you will hide the logo and how it will look.
 
There shouldn't be any bleeding. It only shines through the 3D printed case, the real one will be completely opaque.

What are your going with for keycaps if not flat tops?
Mostly flat, but probably slightly curved inward (similar to laptop keys) so you can feel them better. 

That all looks pretty nice. Are the two extra gaming buttons recessed because they could be pressed accidentally?

I think I would prefer them the same height than the others or I would need to look down to press them.
They are recessed, but still high enough so you can feel them without looking.

Also, I think Roman 1 and 2 is a good choice.
Shamelessly stolen from the PC Engine :)
 
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