
The DragonBox Pyra is Nearing Completion - ekianjo
http://pandoralive.info/?p=4861...
======
fit2rule
As a long-time Pandora user, I can only say this: my F5 key is ready for the
pre-order page! I can't wait for Pyra to arrive - and in the meantime, the
Pandorae on my desk (I have two) are humming along, serving as always, in so
many great ways ..

~~~
FreezerburnV
I've never owned (or even so much as seen in person) a Pandora. I've been
paying attention to the development of the Pyra, however, and have sort of
been considering getting one. What are some of the things that the original
Pandora did that make you so excited for the new Pyra? Considering the cost
breakdown in their forum saying it will probably be ~500 euros, what would be
the reason for getting one instead of, say, a Surface 3 [or Pro version] or
even a cheap laptop that could be dedicated to a Linux distribution? I'm
honestly asking this, by the way. I'm curious about what aspects of the
Pandora were so attractive to you and make you want the new Pyra. It's a
decent chunk of change, so I wouldn't want to buy one as an impulse buy or
something.

~~~
nine_k
What are other small form-factor "palmtop" computers with a hardware keyboard
and good Linux (or other open-source Unix) compatibility?

One of the important points for me would be the ability to hold the screen
reliably at a convenient angle; what I've seen for Surface or Android tablets
is flimsy and only works for a very narrow range of angles. Maybe it would be
wiser to invest in a phablet + a BT keyboard + a custom adjustable holder for
both.

For other people the joysticks and the whole portable game machine look might
be the selling point.

Also, I suppose the machine will be built with Linux compatibility in mind. I
can imagine (but failed to find a mention on the website) that the hardware
schematics and CAD drawings are also (going to be) open. This is also
important: if I e.g. took a 5" phone and tried to find a Debian-based distro
for it, what phone and what distro would I pick? Ubuntu seems to run on
certain tablets, it seems; hopefully phones are also workable.

~~~
fit2rule
>Also, I suppose the machine will be built with Linux compatibility in mind.

Yes, but one more thing: there are coders in the Pandora/Pyra/emu scene who
have no problems whatsoever with blowing away Linux and shipping their games
as a bootable SD card that runs in raw mode. This is already/has-already
happened all over the small-/elite-/tight-/indie- gamer scene, please keep in
mind. Among one of the reasons Pandora (which is 4th or 5th-generation
'scene'-hardware) has been and Pyra will be (!) a success, is because its
being done by passionate technologies who have overcome many other battles
besides being able to write raw assembly for hardware they designed, built,
and produced themselves.

;)

>Ubuntu seems to run on certain tablets, it seems; hopefully phones are also
workable.

The best thing to do is just trust the team, and run the official linux distro
- to be based, indeed on Debian/Ubuntu (I think, could be wrong) - on the
Pyra.

The Pandora is running Angstrom, which has its roots way back to things like
the Sharp Zaurus 5500 and so on, which means its sort of built for small,
light, and efficient. It has its own package management/distro, etc.

So as an OS, its supported the Pandora quite well; mine boot directly to the
PND-Manager (PND is the 'app bundle' of Pandora) which shows me everything -
whats installed, what can be updated, what it does, etc. My kids just use it
like an iPad. Everything is free/open/cool/elite too, just browse the
[http://repo.openpandora.org/](http://repo.openpandora.org/) repo and you'll
see for yourself; some gems in there. To be running in my pocket? Hell yeah.

But anyway, Angstrom supports a very healthy app eco-system on the Pandora, it
must be said.

I think the team wants to move to standard Debian for the out-of-the-box on
Pyra, although I could be wrong on that; its such a vibrant scene I sometimes
go a little blind/daft trying to keep up with Evildragon, ptitSeb, notaz ( _)
and the team are up to ..

(_ \-
[http://boards.openpandora.org/user/76-notaz/](http://boards.openpandora.org/user/76-notaz/))

~~~
Glyph-Reader
Weren't we going to use Debian Jessie?

~~~
fit2rule
I guess so! And that's a good thing. ;)

------
Drakim
Been waiting for this. I had been thinking of picking up an OpenPandora but it
seems like they aren't being made anymore, which is understandable with the
Pyra coming out.

~~~
tluyben2
[http://dragonbox.de](http://dragonbox.de) still sells them; I got mine via
that site.

~~~
Drakim
Every single Open Pandora edition there is "out of stock" and has been so for
as long as I've known about Open Pandora.

------
rkda
For a moment I thought you were referring to the DragonBox math app

[http://www.dragonboxapp.com/](http://www.dragonboxapp.com/)

------
apenguin
Jeez, these guys are still around? I ordered an original Pandora somewhere
around... October 2008? They never shipped it. $300, plus an additional $100
later at some point, and I never got anything. Kinda kills any interest in
further developments.

People are used to this kind of thing by now, but this was pre-Kickstarter...
And a lot worse considering other people in the same batch as me _did_ get
what they paid for.

~~~
tluyben2
Not sure what happened at the beginning but the past years the shipping and
support has been great. I can see this would kill your interest; don't think
EvilDragon does that to anyone though.

~~~
apenguin
If I get what you mean, yeah, it was through Craig. EvD said he was going to
help the leftovers, but all he said he could offer me was an RMA'd unit, IIRC
(or pay an additional $300 to get an upgraded one).

~~~
tluyben2
Yes, I heard about Craig. That was before I knew of the OpenPandora though: I
would've put money down as well if I heard of it before.

------
oxalo
I've been following this project for five or six years now. Fascinating stuff
that EvilDragon has been doing, and his determination and perseverance is
admirable. (CircuitCo, who makes BeagleBoards, screwed ED/Craig out of 200k
euro...)

