The DragonBox Pyra is an upcoming

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

-based

handheld A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...

computer equipped with a keyboard and gaming controls. The project entered prototyping stage in 2015.

Pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

s began on 1 May 2016, with a final release date still undefined. In August 2020 the first production model had been shipped, but only to developers, as the software wasn't ready.

History

The ''Dragonbox Pyra'' is the spiritual successor of the

OpenPandora The Pandora is an operating system, handheld game console and mobile personal computer originally released in 2010. It is designed to take advantage of existing free and open-source software and to be a target for homebrew development. It inclu ...

device, and shares some of the original Pandora team members. The Pyra is designed and developed in close connection with the OpenPandora community, taking their feedback and experience with the Pandora into account. The OpenPandora GmbH, residing in Germany, organizes design, prototyping and the production in Europe (Greece and Germany). The Pyra was presented officially at the

FOSDEM Free and Open source Software Developers' European Meeting (FOSDEM) is a non-commercial, volunteer-organized European event centered on free and open-source software development. It is aimed at developers and anyone interested in the free and ...

2014 in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. In 2015 several working developer prototypes of the Pyra have been produced and were given to software developers for evaluation and software creation. Development and fine tuning of the final specifications is still ongoing. Preorder of six Pyra variants (4 GB RAM and 3/4G mobile options) became possible on 1 May 2016.

Architecture

Like the predecessor ''OpenPandora'', the Pyra includes features from several architectures making it a cross between a handheld game console, a

subnotebook Subnotebook, also called ultraportable, superportable, or mini notebook, was a marketing term for laptop computers that are smaller and lighter than a typical notebook-sized laptop. Types and sizes As typical laptop sizes have decreased over t ...

, a PDA, and a

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

. The Pyra design aims for modularity and openness in software and hardware alike. For instance the PCB is separated in three parts: CPU board (CPU, RAM and storage), mainboard (ports,

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wav ...

and Bluetooth) and the display board. The replaceable CPU board allows future upgrades of CPU and RAM. The Pyra is assembled with screws (not glued) and is therefore repair and modification friendly. It was announced that the hardware

schematics A schematic, or schematic diagram, is a designed representation of the elements of a system using abstract, graphic symbols rather than realistic pictures. A schematic usually omits all details that are not relevant to the key information the ...

will be available (final license undecided), which make the Pyra a kind of

Open source hardware Open-source hardware (OSH) consists of physical artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this open-source culture movement and ...

. For compliance with the

Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985, to support the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed under copyleft (" ...

's " Respects Your Freedom" certificate the closed source SGX GPU driver was identified as the only remaining software roadblock ("would be good to have free drivers, but we can't achieve this for the GPU" but the device may or may not run without a 3D driver, possibly free 2D driver is available or either could be made). The certification is not only about bundled software, using proprietary software, or recommending it, such as non-free (including emulated) games, but also about naming, e.g.

vs. GNU/Linux. In November 2016 a pre-release version of the Pyra schematics was made available under a CC BY-NC-SA license.

Software

The

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

will be based on the common open source Linux distribution Debian which allows the use of already available desktop open-source applications from the Debian ARM repository, for instance

Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...

Thunderbird Thunderbird, thunder bird or thunderbirds may refer to: * Thunderbird (mythology), a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture * Ford Thunderbird, a car Birds * Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds ...

LibreOffice LibreOffice () is a free and open-source office productivity software suite, a project of The Document Foundation (TDF). It was forked in 2010 from OpenOffice.org, an open-sourced version of the earlier StarOffice. The LibreOffice suite co ...

, GIMP, etc. The around 1,500 applications, created for the mostly open source OpenPandora software

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

, are expected to be available for the Pyra in short time by

source port A source port is a software project based on the source code of a game engine that allows the game to be played on operating systems or computing platforms with which the game was not originally compatible. Description Source ports are often c ...

Technical specifications

The various model specifications are summarized as follows:

Reception

In 2017, Salon noted the Pyra in an article about the comeback of the netbook.Remember the netbook? Crowdfunding is bringing it back
by Matthew Sheffield on

salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/ liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

(March 2017)

Gallery

File:Pyra-Proto-Full.jpg, Pyra prototype with Debian, running a terminal, GIMP, and LibreOffice File:Pyra-Proto-Comparison-MicroSD.jpg, Pyra prototype size comparison with MicroSD File:Pyra-Proto-BacklightClose2.jpg, Pyra prototype with

backlit A backlight is a form of illumination used in liquid crystal displays (LCDs). As LCDs do not produce light by themselves—unlike, for example, cathode ray tube (CRT), plasma (PDP) or OLED displays—they need illumination ( ambient light or a ...

keyboard and controls File:Pyra-Proto-Bottom-with-battery.jpg, Pyra prototype backside with battery File:Pyra-Mainboard-Nubs.jpg, Pyra prototype mainboard frontside with nubs File:Pyra-Mainboard-Backside-without-CPU-Board.jpg, Pyra prototype mainboard backside without CPU

mezzanine board In computing, an expansion card (also called an expansion board, adapter card, peripheral card or accessory card) is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an electrical connector, or expansion slot (also referred to as a bus slo ...

File:Pyra-CPU-Board-Prototype.JPG, Pyra prototype CPU

File:Pyra-Render-Backside-with-Ports-new.png, Back of a red variant with ports (rendered)

External links

*
Pyra Info Page on PandoraLive

Discussion forum

References

{{Handheld game consoles ARM-based video game consoles Embedded Linux Handheld personal computers Handheld game consoles Linux-based devices Personal digital assistants Texas Instruments hardware Linux-based video game consoles Crowdfunded video game consoles