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Amiga computer related discussion => General chat about Amiga topics => Topic started by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 01:55:04 AM

Title: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 01:55:04 AM
Rumor has it some hot dude which is a moderator on the best Amiga forum (AO) on the internet, has a EFIKA motherboard.  Supposedly the first one in the USA.  :-o

 

Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: spihunter on November 28, 2006, 01:57:15 AM
Um? is it you?
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 02:05:03 AM
YOU BET IT IS!!! WOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!!!

I know there are pics out there on the web of the EFIKA but if anyone wants any more just post up.. I HAVE EFIKA NUDES TO POST!! EFIKA PR0N!!!  Its amazing what is packed in this tiny little motherboard...

It was good to sit down with Bill Buck and chat for a while about the current state of affairs in the Amiga community and his vision for the future.  I can see the barriers being broken on AW with the OS4 camp.  Now if only the Friedens can somehow get OS4 on this baby.  I myself would love to see red and blue in one camp...  Hardware is there.. lets see the software!!  

Its funny now that I sit here looking at it.. if only this thing was released years ago when the Amiga was rumored to be moving on to PPC.  We had the Walker then some other rumored machines but all that came of it was a PPC card for the Amiga with no new OS to take advantage of it.  Now that there is new hardware lets hope its embraced by OS4 folks because we're all one big family.. (we just fight alot. LOL)

-Alex
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: spihunter on November 28, 2006, 02:10:42 AM
Now thats the kind of excitment I like to see around here. :lol:

I dont give a crap about the red or blue camp either :-D .

I just want cheap hardware that                                                                                   Runs Amiga software faster :lol:
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 02:19:25 AM
I'm eating dinner now.. when I finish I'll take some pics..
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: spihunter on November 28, 2006, 02:24:41 AM
Wow, you can eat dinner and moderate at the same time! Thats some talent!
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Debaser on November 28, 2006, 02:26:34 AM
Wow! Cool! I would love to see more pics. What have you done with it so far? HD? What distro of linux are you running on it? Did he slip you a copy of MOS to run on it!?! Hehe..

Any Case ideas 1541 case? hehe 1010 case : ) I am not sure/recall dimensions on the thing.

Care to share highlights of your conversation?? (PM if need be)

I am glad to see someone is charged up about it as much as I am. I've wanted NG harware forever - but always a wrong timing kinda thing for me.

Im giddy- living vicariously though your new kit I guess.

Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: lavo on November 28, 2006, 02:46:54 AM
Quote

Debaser wrote:
Wow! Cool! I would love to see more pics. What have you done with it so far? HD? What distro of linux are you running on it? Did he slip you a copy of MOS to run on it!?! Hehe..

Any Case ideas 1541 case? hehe 1010 case : ) I am not sure/recall dimensions on the thing.




If I get one, its going inside a 1000 case :-)  Would be even better if there is someway I can get the original keyboard working as well!
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Debaser on November 28, 2006, 02:52:46 AM
Quote

lavo wrote:



If I get one, its going inside a 1000 case :-)  Would be even better if there is someway I can get the original keyboard working as well![/quote]

Funny- I was on the home page just bit ago and saw a nice A1K on the "Random Picture" and thought the same thing too. Mine is far too yellowed though.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 03:18:18 AM
@Debaser:

Close.. I have a bad 1541-II drive and will see if I can make it fit in there.  As to what I"m going to run, I dont know I just got the motherboard..  I knew I wanted to put it in a 1541II case.  The OS... its specifically for MOS but since MOS is not available just yet I'll look around to see what it can run.   I'll be picking up a 20-40gig 2.5" hd this weekend and whichever vid card it needs.

http://www.bartonekdragracing.com/webfilez/efika/

Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Debaser on November 28, 2006, 03:25:28 AM
TheMagicM:

Well - just keep me up to date on how you are getting along with it and your findings.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 03:26:50 AM
I will... tomorrow I'll read up on what the requirements are and what all I can do w/it with regards to what OS I can run.. ..need to stop by and pick up my 1541II and take its innards out..  its gonna get ugly..
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Sauron on November 28, 2006, 04:24:25 AM
Wow, didn't realize that board was quite so tiny....
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: coldfish on November 28, 2006, 07:55:37 AM
http://www.bartonekdragracing.com/webfilez/

dang-tastic!
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: motorollin on November 28, 2006, 07:57:31 AM
Ahhhhh, it's cute :-) I love the idea of rotating the AGP slot 90 degrees to make the card parallel with the motherboard. Should be able to fit it in a tiny case!

Where does the RAM go?

--
moto
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Piru on November 28, 2006, 08:31:47 AM
picoPSU (http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-60-WI?category=13) is quite nice power supply solution for EFIKA.

Anyone wanting to put EFIKA inside A1000 and use the original keyboard: keyrah (http://www.vesalia.de/e_keyrah.htm) should allow that (or maybe not, they speak about A1200/A600 keyboard there. I wonder if it can be made to work with A1000 keyboard?).
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: humppa on November 28, 2006, 08:35:15 AM
Quote
Where does the RAM go?


It's already soldered on.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: humppa on November 28, 2006, 08:38:24 AM
Quote
Anyone wanting to put EFIKA inside A1000 and use the original keyboard


It would be interesting to know the height of the Efika when the AGP-riser is fitted with a GFX-card (XGI or ATI).
The pure size of the board wouldn't be a problem for sure, but do you think it would still fit into a A1000 case with a GFX-card installed?
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Piru on November 28, 2006, 08:49:41 AM
I'd guess it's about 4-5cm high. Depends a bit on the graphics card used (and if the backplate can be removed).

EFIKA4063.jpg (http://www.bplan-gmbh.de/news/EFIKA4063.jpg)
The board itself is 118mm x 153mm.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: humppa on November 28, 2006, 09:19:35 AM
Quote
tomorrow I'll read up on what the requirements are and what all I can do w/it with regards to what OS I can run..


Is there a website somewhere to download Linux distributions for EFIKA or at least a list showing which distributions support it?
How do I install an OS btw, from a CD-ROM hooked up to 1.1 USB? Over Ethernet? Place it on the HD with another PC?
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: keropi on November 28, 2006, 09:19:44 AM
wow, that pico-psu is interesting....
now all we need is MOS for efika!

edit: wth, it says: - 6-26V input ??? this won't work like a normal psu... it needs a power convertor... bah
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: motorollin on November 28, 2006, 11:00:51 AM
Quote
humppa wrote:
Quote
Where does the RAM go?

It's already soldered on.

0_o
Why not use an SODIMM slot?

--
moto
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: humppa on November 28, 2006, 11:10:23 AM
Quote
Why not use an SODIMM slot?


Would make it more expensive and slightly more bulky. There's a discussion at MZ about it.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 12:33:21 PM
Quote
Is there a website somewhere to download Linux distributions for EFIKA or at least a list showing which distributions support it?
How do I install an OS btw, from a CD-ROM hooked up to 1.1 USB? Over Ethernet? Place it on the HD with another PC?



I asked the same question...there will be a webpage up soon that shows this..
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: humppa on November 28, 2006, 12:55:56 PM
Quote
I asked the same question...there will be a webpage up soon that shows this..


Great! Any idea who this guy is?

(http://static.flickr.com/100/308153050_8513434560_m.jpg)

 :-D
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Colani1200 on November 28, 2006, 01:35:15 PM
Quote

humppa wrote:

Great! Any idea who this guy is?


No idea... but he must be lucky.  :lol:

OK, next picture of this thing running MOS please  :-P
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 02:33:01 PM
that guy is me.  LOL.  (surely I wouldnt be talking about a 'hot dude' unless there was something wrong w/me.)  LOL
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Kronos on November 28, 2006, 02:33:21 PM
@Piru

If you look at those pictures, you'll notice that it ataches directly to the "foil-plug" of an A1200/600-KBD, so no luck for A1000/2000/3000-KBDs that use a regular PCB (and have the KBD-CPU on it). It might work with some A4000-KBDs which have a shorter "foil-plug", and the CPU on an extra PCB.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: humppa on November 28, 2006, 02:36:55 PM
Would it be possible to hook up both a slimline CDROM and harddisk to that 2.5" IDE plug?
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 02:41:00 PM
@humppa:

I'm hoping so because thats what I aim to do.  I'm looking for a dual 2.5" IDE cable.  Is there such a thing?

EDIT:
I guess I will need a "Slimline CD to Desktop IDE Adapter" off of mini-itx.com.  That will let me use the laptop cdrw/dvdrw drive.  
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Piru on November 28, 2006, 02:50:15 PM
Quote
If you look at those pictures, you'll notice that it ataches directly to the "foil-plug" of an A1200/600-KBD, so no luck for A1000/2000/3000-KBDs that use a regular PCB (and have the KBD-CPU on it).

At least some A500/A2000 keyboards have the same ribbon connector but only maybe 1cm length, so connecting could be possible but not in very meaningful way. Even if it was possible to connect it physically, it would be impossible to fit the board inside the keyboard. So this won't work...
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: djbase on November 28, 2006, 03:11:54 PM
Quote
Would it be possible to hook up both a slimline CDROM and harddisk to that 2.5" IDE plug?


It is not recommend to hock anything else then a 2.5" drive on this connector. No expansion as well.

Quote
The MPC5200B ATA controller conforms to the ATA-4 specification and is exposed on a right-angle (L-shape) 44-pin connector intended for direct connection of 2.5" notebook disks. Due to length restrictions and sharing of IO pins on the SoC, it is not recommended to extend the connector with cabling. DMA to the ATA controller is handled by the integrated BestComm DMA controller.


http://www.powerdeveloper.org/efika.php

Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 03:22:11 PM
hmm.. makes it tough to install a OS via CD.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: AJCopland on November 28, 2006, 03:44:14 PM
Mount the HDD in another machine first, format and put os files onto drive then put it into efika?

bit of a faff but could work, or does the efika have USB? maybe boot from USB cd-rom ... ok now maybe im dreaming ;)
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Piru on November 28, 2006, 03:55:57 PM
Quote
How do I install an OS

Boot from USB memory stick sounds easiest.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 04:02:10 PM
aah ok.. that is a good idea if it is possible.  
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Tomas on November 28, 2006, 04:52:49 PM
Is there any ETA for MOS on efika?
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 05:08:24 PM
@Tomas:

I know its not this year. lol.  No official word from MOS-Devel but it will be coming out.  In the meantime I'll be picking up some hardware this week for the EFIKA.  Looking for a Radeon 9200, 20gig 2.5" drive, USB kb&usb mouse.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: adonay on November 28, 2006, 05:15:47 PM
i am so close too getting one too .. just so interested ,can be fun atleased too play around with some stipped down linux on it. AS it is soo super small.  Perhapps soon there will be a EFIKA in norway ?? topic .If so perhapps i did order one..EFIKA  (http://www.vesalia.de/pic/efika16.jpg den nye amigaen kansje  ?)

Anyways congrats with your EFIKA
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Tomas on November 28, 2006, 05:23:54 PM
I am going to wait myself for MOS to come out and will be buying it then unless something big happens in the os4 hardware arena..
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: _ThEcRoW on November 28, 2006, 05:39:45 PM
what will be the price of the efika?
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Louis Dias on November 28, 2006, 05:50:24 PM
Quote

TheMagicM wrote:
@humppa:

I'm hoping so because thats what I aim to do.  I'm looking for a dual 2.5" IDE cable.  Is there such a thing?

EDIT:
I guess I will need a "Slimline CD to Desktop IDE Adapter" off of mini-itx.com.  That will let me use the laptop cdrw/dvdrw drive.  


I actually have one that I used on my CD32, one end for the internal (SX-1) 2.5" driver and the other end going to a 2.5->3.5" adapter connected to an external 3.5" drive.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: humppa on November 28, 2006, 05:53:16 PM
Quote
what will be the price of the efika?


Link (https://www.pegasosppc.com/store.php?category=19)
Link (http://www.vesalia.de/e_efika.htm)
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: nadoom on November 28, 2006, 06:21:07 PM
would it not be possible to attach the good old 4 way ide adaptor for the A1200 and add more devices that way?

Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 06:58:12 PM
@lou_dias & nadoom:

There is a post somewhere on powerdeveloper.org advising against that.  I dont mind doing it because I want a cdrw/dvdrw drive in there also.  If its a power consumption issue, no biggie, I'll just get a bigger PSU.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: philipj on November 28, 2006, 06:59:10 PM
What modern case would you use for this thing at such a small size?
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Fester on November 28, 2006, 07:11:52 PM
Quote

TheMagicM wrote:
I guess I will need a "Slimline CD to Desktop IDE Adapter" off of mini-itx.com.  That will let me use the laptop cdrw/dvdrw drive.  


Good luck with that. I purchased a slimline and the IDE Adapter but it seemed DOA. I'm not sure what's wrong with it. A local tech shop wasn't able to get it going either. The CD spins, but that's about it.

Fester
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 07:13:17 PM
@philipj:

It'll be stuffed in here:

http://www.zimmers.net/cbmpics/cbm/serialdrives/1541-ii.gif

just bought a 32gig IDE hd off of ebay.. looking for a Radeon 9200 PCI card..didnt have one used locally so I'll do the ebay thing.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Golem!dk on November 28, 2006, 07:33:37 PM
Why PCI? Wouldn't an AGP card be easier to fit (with the riser) in that?
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: cv643d on November 28, 2006, 07:34:56 PM
wow.. it is so tiny!

How much watt does it consume?
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 07:46:13 PM
golem:

I was looking at some used AGP vid cards and they were big.  With the reiser the setup remains fairly tiny which is what I want.. anything too big will be tough to fit inside that 1541-II.


As for wattage.. go to www.powerdeveloper.org there is a thread there on consumption.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Golem!dk on November 28, 2006, 07:54:58 PM
So you intend to fit a PCI card in an AGP slot?
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on November 28, 2006, 08:07:08 PM
oops.. I had it backwards (my wording).. The cards I found were too TALL to I'm looking for a decent AGP card to put in there.. the ones here locally (used) were 8meg cards with no TV out.  TV out didnt matter but I'm hoping MOS will eventually support TV out.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: takemehomegrandma on December 05, 2006, 08:42:30 PM
@ TheMagicM

Just out of curiosity - have you got it up and running yet?

I'm still waiting for mine, and I am very interested to hear some real life experiences from it (and I am scanning all the sites for info ;-))!

BTW, did you see this? http://www.efika.de/index_en.html (http://www.efika.de/index_en.html)

:-)
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on December 05, 2006, 09:46:46 PM
I'm working on it.  still waiting for my vid card to come in...that'll be here Monday.

I did see that link.. I'll try Linux first and then install E-UAE on it to see how it fares.

-Alex
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Crumb on December 06, 2006, 12:02:25 AM
@TheMagicM

use a Radeon9250SE or a Radeon7000. These are low profile and fit without problems. Remember to use a low profile AGP card or your ATX power connector may be covered by the AGP card (not a good idea probably).

There are also Radeon7500 low profile and Radeon9100 low profile (although these low profile R9100 are very hard to find)
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: TheMagicM on December 06, 2006, 03:04:07 AM
yep its the 9200SE that I ordered... it'll be here Monday.
Title: Re: EFIKA in the USA??
Post by: Bobo68 on December 15, 2006, 08:55:07 PM
Well, does this system work at last?