DragonBox Pyra Goes Up For Pre-Order

[phoronix]

Phoronix: DragonBox Pyra Goes Up For Pre-Order

It's been a while since last hearing anything about the DragonBox Pyra as an open-source gaming handheld system and successor to OpenPandora, but that changed this weekend with the launch of pre-orders for this Linux-powered device...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=DragonBox-Pyra-Pre-Order

[dopehouse]

Please notice, that the prices in the shop are not the finale prices you pay. Read the infos below the pyras:

* The payment for the preorder is a DOWNPAYMENT! The final payment will NOT be necessary before the device is redy to be shipped. If you'd like to pay more upfront, please add a shop voucher to your order which you can then use when the final payment is needed. The downpayment as well as the voucers are WITHOUT VAT.

* Pyra Standard Edition, 2GB RAM: 500 EUR without VAT (=595 EUR incl. VAT)

* Pyra Standard Edition, 4GB RAM: 529,41 EUR without VAT (=630 EUR incl. VAT)

* Pyra Mobile Edition, 2GB RAM: 600 EUR without VAT (=714 EUR incl. VAT)

* Pyra Mobile Edition, 4GB RAM: 626,05 EUR without VAT (=745 EUR incl. VAT)

[BrandonB]

Yowza. That's a heck of a chunk of change for its intended purpose. I know you're getting a lot more for your money, but you don't *need* more than an RPi 3 for N64/PS1 emulation. I wonder how much this thing would cost if they could just use an RPi as the computing platform instead of getting something purpose-built. Pi-Top with RPi is barely above $300 US.

[rabcor]

That thing is hideous...

And give me one reason why I should buy this over a (similarly priced) VR headset... (Or hell, a PS4 or XBone? Both of which cost less than this ugly device)

[ssokolow]

That thing is hideous...

And give me one reason why I should buy this over a (similarly priced) VR headset...

While I really wish they'd returned to the Thinkpad-esque black they used for my 600MHz Pandora and I'll probably query the hardware hackers on the forum about the feasibility of repainting the case black, there's nothing else comparable in the "pocketable laptop with gaming controls" space.

I'm recovering from an all-nighter right now, so I don't have the willpower to translate them to BBcode, but I posted responses on reddit to people asking why not just get an Ubuntu phone or an nVidia Shield.

(the TL;DR is that neither is a pocketable laptop and the Pandora and Pyra go beyond merely that using clever tricks to make desktop applications on the go comfortable. For example, mapping the shoulder buttons as modifier keys to make desktop key combos compatible with thumb-typing.)

[log0]

That thing is hideous...

And give me one reason why I should buy this over a (similarly priced) VR headset... (Or hell, a PS4 or XBone? Both of which cost less than this ugly device)

It is a niche product and you are obviously not the target group (neither am I :P).

[Adarion]

Wow, that is pricey. Nearly 600 E for such a device? Also, the screen res is so-so (probably sharp for such a small screen but not usable for text reading), and the keyboards looks ... well, not usable to operate Linux. At least I did not spot a Ctrl key or an Alt key. Furthermore I'd wonder if the controller still would work well with that generic layout as a gaming controller.
Either way I should've stopped reading and saved time when I read the keyword PowerVR.

[starshipeleven]

opensource hardware console <-------> PowerVR graphics.

Seriously, this is going to have kernel 3.something and will not be able to update it because the driver is closed.

Note that the PowerVR hardware is actually pretty nice per-se, if they opened the drivers they would boost sales like A LOT.

Wow, that is pricey. Nearly 600 E for such a device? Also, the screen res is so-so (probably sharp for such a small screen but not usable for text reading), and the keyboards looks ... well, not usable to operate Linux. At least I did not spot a Ctrl key or an Alt key. Furthermore I'd wonder if the controller still would work well with that generic layout as a gaming controller.
Either way I should've stopped reading and saved time when I read the keyword PowerVR.

Alt and Ctrl buttons are under the white power button in the middle of the device.

Still not usable to operate anything tho, all other points remain valid.

[SystemCrasher]

I pronounce OMAP as "expensive yet outdated hardware". Furthermore, OMAP comes with very complicated system design, so one could expect crappy time to market timings, Ti pricing policy suxx really hard, and at the end of day, all these complications hardly pay for itself unless one makes deeply embedded design where Ti's longviety program pays for itself (which is not about portable console at all).

Somehow, OMAPs fell out of mobile SoCs market. For a damn good reason: price to performance ratio of these SoCs is really unexciting and they always lag behind others when it comes to newer/faster/better CPU cores. Their offers are no match to other SoC vendors. Then, even OMAP3 support in mainline kernel is mediocre. I'm even scared to imagine if OMAP5 is anyhow supported in mainline kernels at all or what timelines one could expect for these grossly overengineered things.

[BwackNinja]

It looks like a device made with a lot of love - exactly the kind of device that the team who made it must want for themselves. The biggest issue is that the market has gone in the complete opposite direction, so this can only be a niche device at best. It's for everyone who was disappointed when the a smartphone was described as a "computer in your pocket" and immediately followed up by, "but why would you want to use it like that?". The critiques on this device reflect that well.

A 720p screen seems perfect for a device like this. You can use real applications. and at the size you don't need to do any scaling. When you think about X or Y popular mobile operating system, screen resolution doesn't correspond with more screen-estate to use, but instead means that what you do see is clearer and sharper; that's quality, not utility.

It has all of the wired and wireless connectivity options you'd want in such a device. You can carry it around with you always, without needing a backpack. It touts 'convergence' from the other angle - that we made the hardware wrong for small-screen devices rather than the needing a special mobile interface.

The PowerVR graphics is a disappointment though. Ironically, the people thinking this device would be great are some of the people most likely to care about the state of those graphics drivers.