Quick update and summary


EvilDragon

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Hiya,

as promised (and as it has been asked for quite for a while), here's the current status of all the things that remain to be done.

First a quick update regarding the case:
We're waiting for a good material to arrive. It's scheduled to arrive this week, so a test run to see how well the moulds work will be done early next week.

Let's take a look at the other parts:

1. Electronics Design (PCBs) (95% done);

Fully done, unless a developer finds a serious issue with one of the prototypes I'm currently building.
GC will receive the new design files soon so that they can precheck them for any mass production issues.


2. Keymat (99% done):

Already in mass production, so fully done as well.


3. LCDs (100% done):

2000 are lying around at GC, more are already in production.


4. Nubs (100% done):

10000 lying in my office :) Should be enough ;)


5. LCD Cables (100% done):

3000 lying in my office, so done as well.


6. Cooling (95% done):

Design for the metal plate is done, design for the heatpipe (or heatstrip?) is done.
Production of the metal plates is basically also ready, but we need to wait until the case has been fixed to know how thick it can be. But metal plates are readily available in all thicknesses and the plates are being laser cut, so production would take a week :)

The design for the heatpipe needs to be sent to the manufacturer (working on that) so that they can cut some samples and then mass produce them on confirmation. The design is finished, I just need to convert it into a format the manufacturer can use and recheck it :)

7. Batteries (100% done):

We've got 3000 which are waiting to be used :D


8. Other things:

That's mostly the status since summer last year (except for some fixes made to the design requested by GC to improve the mass production quality). The major holdup was the case - as without the case, I couldn't build more prototypes and we couldn't make the final tests and confirm that everything is fine :)
And as the Pyra turned out to be more expensive to create than planned, I had to make sure my shop is running fine to pull in more money. So I didn't have as much time as planned (which is also the reason I haven't finished building the prototypes with the cases I now have yet).

But I've already updated the prototype PCBs to resemble the latest version (one resistor had a wrong value, limiting the charging to 1.4A), so that step is done as well.

I also need to test various strong magnets for the lid switch. The one I currently used is too weak, but there are a lot more stronger available.

So yes, we're now all waiting for the case fixes - and more testing.

Softwarewise, a LOT of work is still left, that's for sure. Which also made testing the hardware take longer than expected (if something doesn't work, is it the software or the hardware?)

But Debian is working fine, with apt to install things, so it's definitely already usable.

I'll try to finish the prototypes ASAP so I can ship them out.
I noticed that I'm getting a bit old though, back in Pandora days, having 3 or 4 hours of sleep each day for weeks wasn't a problem, these days I'm getting tired more often... but I'll try my best (without dying :D)
 
Awesome news. Great news, the best news there could ever be.
Just a little bit more until I get to hold a pyra in my claws, though..
 
I'll try to finish the prototypes ASAP so I can ship them out.

I understand from your previous post(s) that these will take a bit of finesse to assemble and get the shoulder buttons & system board all lined up 'just so'. In my head I'm picturing the use of little pieces of hand-shaved rubber keyboard feet being used as shims to position the keyboard 'just so' and an Exacto knife and one of those magnifying lens lamps and a hunched over dragon concentrating on not cutting his thumb this time...

Will these be getting shipped as created or will there be an opportunity to put them all set up and running on a table together to take a 'group photo'? That would be a cool photo - but I wouldn't want to put much delay shipping the first one to wait for the Nth one to get produced or rush the assembly of any given unit.
 
And as the Pyra turned out to be more expensive to create than planned, I had to make sure my shop is running fine to pull in more money. So I didn't have as much time as planned (which is also the reason I haven't finished building the prototypes with the cases I now have yet).

Sorry to hear it sounds a bit like you're getting burned out by the slow progress on Pyra stuff and finding more productive stuff to do instead. I'm sure things will pick up once you can get more prototypes out and begin the journey to mass production things will get a lot more inspiring. I've no idea how sales of things like the 8bitdo controllers or the GPD devices have gone, but you've effectively broken even this last year on pyra preorders versus refunds people have asked for. I can still just about see a bright future for the Pyra once it's out and in people's hands though.
 
Sorry to hear it sounds a bit like you're getting burned out by the slow progress on Pyra stuff and finding more productive stuff to do instead. I'm sure things will pick up once you can get more prototypes out and begin the journey to mass production things will get a lot more inspiring.

Yes, it is a bit demotivating when you try to manage all this and companies don't do as planned, as this doesn't only mean there are delays but also more work to do.

But yes, I am pretty sure it's a lot more fun once I receive cases that I do NOT need to tweak around to get them working properly :)

It'll manage that, I don't have any worries about that.

Actually, it happens more often than earlier that I fall asleep in the night in front of my PC or on the couch when I still wanted to do some more work. I guess that's aging, and it's a bit annoying, but I have to adapt to that. :)
 
Yes, it is a bit demotivating when you try to manage all this and companies don't do as planned, as this doesn't only mean there are delays but also more work to do.

But yes, I am pretty sure it's a lot more fun once I receive cases that I do NOT need to tweak around to get them working properly :)

It'll manage that, I don't have any worries about that.

Actually, it happens more often than earlier that I fall asleep in the night in front of my PC or on the couch when I still wanted to do some more work. I guess that's aging, and it's a bit annoying, but I have to adapt to that. :)
Just try to get enough sleep, for your health.
 
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