Playing with Play-Doh


EvilDragon

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 4, 2003
Messages
29,986
Age
46
Location
Ingolstadt
I'm dead tired right now, so forgive me if I write some wrong words in the post.
But I wanted to get the latest updates out to you tonight.

Prototype units

As you know, prototype units have been built and I also finally started to ship them to some devs.
notaz, ptitSeb and aTc either have already received one or will receive them within the next two days.
Some more devs will get one, but I haven't decided who yet and which unit.

And I'll also contact the Pyra preorderers. While these units are not yet perfect (case, older keymat, etc.), they are basically working and this might be enough for some of the preorderers, especially if they want to help with bug hunting or even bug fixing. I'll let every preorderer decide whether he wants to wait for the final keymat, etc.
I hope to find the time to contact them this week.

ptitSeb will also be at the Libre Software Meeting from July 01-07 Saint-Etienne (France) with the prototype, together with fantomid and Linux-SWAT (only on Sunday), so if you'd like to meet some of the community members AND see a prototype, feel free to go there!


The cases

If you followed the news, you know that the cases are now physically correct except for one or two minimum tweaks.
That means we're now planning the production of the first mass production run.
As usual, Greece companies close down in August (it's too hot to work), so the mass production run is currently being planned to happen mid till end of July.
I'll be there to make sure the quality is fine and everything fits.

We still have to wait for the keymats, but these should be ready in July / August as well.
There are still a lot of other parameters, so don't expect that the mass production and delivery will happen right after the cases are there - but we're getting closer!

In July, 500 cases will be produced.
Why only 500?

Well, when mass production starts, we most certainly won't be able to produce more than 500 per month.
The first produced units always take longer. You need to optimize the full process before you can start in full speed.

So the rest of the cases will be produced in time for the next 500 units :)

And in case we find any improvements / fixes during assembly of the first 100 units, we can let Form Action know so that the next batch of cases will have those already included.


So what about the Play-Doh?

Well, there were a few measurements I had to make.
First, the space between the case and the backside of the Display board. We need some padding here, so that the LCD sits firmly inside the case but won't break as easy when you push hard against it.
But how can you find out how much space there is, as it's inside the case?

Easy: With Play-Doh. Just put a bit Play-Doh inside, close the case and measure the thickness of the Play-Doh afterwards.
That's it!

I also used the same way to determine the thickness of the small aluminium plate that will go between the PCB and the backside, helping to keep the heat away from the battery.

And yes that misusing Play-Doh-trick is being done by other designers as well, it's not something I made up!



The keymats

New samples haven't arrived yet, but probably will within the next 1 - 2 weeks.
Once they're confirmed... it's time for mass production as well.


LCD-Cables

Mass production has started, so they should be with us sometimes in July / August.


Other Stuff


I made a new contract with FedEx which means I can now ship items with battery for a WAY cheaper price than with UPS.
About 30 EUR to US, delivery within 3 - 4 days. That means it'll probably be cheaper if I ship it directly to you.

Link will still stock Pyras once they're out in regular production :)

I hope I didn't forget anything and didn't post too many weird things.
I'm off to bed now and will see you soon :D
 
I really wasn't expecting a post tonight after the twitter post last night. And such good news!

If I remember rightly, Notaz had a camera and has a youtube account, and made some youtube vids of Pandora prototypes doing stuff back in the day. I hope he finds the time to do similar with the Pyra.

No wrong words as far as I can see by the way. Not even a before/until slip!

Edit: Maybe I'm mistaken; I can find vids by zodttd, and others by a meatspace user whose real name is (I think) TrashyMG.
 
Last edited:
No wrong words as far as I can see by the way. Not even a before/until slip!
He didn't actually specify but when he said preorderers I suspect he meant prototype-orderers. :) There are quite a lot of the former but only 8 of the latter...

-Neelix
 
Well now I'm hoping I get an email, I don't mind reporting bugs when I find them! Good luck with the mass production!
[doublepost=1497925053,1497924988][/doublepost]
He didn't actually specify but when he said preorderers I suspect he meant prototype-orderers. :) There are quite a lot of the former but only 8 of the latter...

-Neelix
I was under the impression he meant after the 8 prototype orderers were filled.
 
We people who merely put in for a pre- or pre-preorder are not going to get a choice about the quality of the unit we eventually receive, we're going to get one of the first mass production units. People who forked out for a prototype preorder are meant to be getting the choice of testing out a unit as it stands now, or waiting until it's closer to a msss production unit (but still before we mere mortals get ours).

There will still be plenty of time for testing and finding bugs in stuff, if the Pandora story is anything to go by. Software will mature, and parts will get updated over the course of years, not mere weeks or months.
 
Aww man, I gotta scramble to find all my old pre-order codes. I think I payed twice at some point, maybe an upgrade to a 4GB version? It's been so long I've forgotten.
 
The way he worded it tells me it's not the prototype preorderers, but the early regular preorderers, but I could be wrong. He DID say he was very tired.
 
The section header for that paragraph was "Prototype Units". So far as I know he has only built 8 of them so far. If I was someone who'd paid an exorbitant amount for a prototype unit I'd be very upset if he started offering them to the regular pre-orderers first.

-Neelix
 
The section header for that paragraph was "Prototype Units". So far as I know he has only built 8 of them so far. If I was someone who'd paid an exorbitant amount for a prototype unit I'd be very upset if he started offering them to the regular pre-orderers first.

-Neelix
That's a good point, and you might be right.
 
This is awsome news. I beyond happy to see that all of the hard work you and all the other guys have done. Even thou you guys had issues with stuff, you guys figured a way and fixed it. Took a liitle time but man it's great to see that its going in a awsome direction. I hope i can speak for everyone here and say We all are proud of you guy and the the hard work you guys have done.
 
The section header for that paragraph was "Prototype Units". So far as I know he has only built 8 of them so far. If I was someone who'd paid an exorbitant amount for a prototype unit I'd be very upset if he started offering them to the regular pre-orderers first.

-Neelix

Ah, good, I can procrastinate finding my old pre-order vouchers until later.
 
It's always great reading that latest Pyra newspost just before going to sleep, but... Play-Doh, what? How? Really???
 
  • Like
Reactions: t40
It's always great reading that latest Pyra newspost just before going to sleep, but... Play-Doh, what? How? Really???
I presume, put a blob of it inside as you assemble the case, squashing it into the shape of the gap(s). Then, I guess, you simply measure it, and adjust for tolerances, etc.
 
Great, it really seems we will have finished Pyras this year :)
How many devs are there and is it needed to register as a dev anywhere?
I am just developing a phone software, not sure if the phone capability is important to work on the first shipments of the Pyra.
Actually i have an working prototype of the software, running with an Huawei-3G-Stick on my Ubuntu Laptop.
 
Here :)
hwv9uwbmwgs5Cx8IjK5SBrmOga0x661OVhYJvoHiTC5pojP4sPErQtsgMXhdtWEfjdT8iI-UmKJtPRny2VKnKKw8uUrVjzToAwyl43Borm_419Zjrmb1moKc2JMC-VqBYeTU2N_5RHU_jtMjBHlT9eYREZHIg_oPghcZXHb3jkvBMJ5_yWsniNSBoD8aC056tU-b2OSRIueo2j3aPtZinqMeeaUvg5Ajh_kgWmHnQXcrjRspIw2ULDoHmdN1Fl7gTBtF7j_KkNZ1aYahcY4kNdlD0oINsd2kzoBgNlTeGXhXOJ5bmKYBe_WHmrATQxhfmpkNWIQ_DS9Fe2qdL8xYp5ZqGwn-1bOtjQxnuV8wuJ1Wf3qz6O72HqRdACHgy2Xmtjcm5ZYRIJm44fn8IQcXc1LFnuwg6FKke6yh0TNHnwCpEtvQ-p3FYfV-pPl1QAQrplHJ7S4u6qi3BsXvkPxYE2UFrvGGAWOs8ETrptUN1MvYNEiKyGA-msezLpzY7I7522oZBpv7DuS_1fM5JyU2JNByDlCCR9Ekq8aazxE-a_Nyf-ae2zqsTGos7WSz_33VhA-1Nm5QlFrIP8JeOURtzvcjotrD9ySigCkpbqG-vJeEw6Ka9OcM=w1732-h974-no


But I don't have a bootable SDCard yet, so no picture in action yet.
 
Can. Not. Wait!

I can't believe there are actual dates being mentioned already. So cool :)

I'd be really interested if there are any YouTube/whatever channels to keep an eye out for developers' updates, etc.
 
Back
Top