Efika and MorphosOk, I just gota ask this.

[takemehomegrandma]

@swift240

Any one here that will get this when Morphos is made for the Efika?

Oh, I already have! Just waiting for MorphOS 2.0 now!

:-)

BTW, if you are interested in the Efika, here are a couple of possible sources (with variations in price, terms, and bundled peripheral equipment):

The (in our community) famous AmigaKit.com lists Efika motherboards in stock.

You can also buy complete systems or Efika motherboards from Vesalia who also has them in stock.

Scandinavian GGS Data was the one who shipped me my Efika. They are very flexible and good to deal with, and can build a system (even pre-installed with Xubuntu (or whatever) Linux) according to your wishes. I don't know whether they have boards in stock, or if they will restock if they haven't, but if you are Scandinavian and want to deal with a "local" dealer you could always try to e-mail gunne@ggsdata.se.

Australians can try contacting ausPPC in Brisbane. You can find him at morphzone.org, and he has this line in his sig:
"Want an Efika? I've got a bunch of 'em. Plus Pico PSUs & 9250s prefit into 5.25" cases. ausppc@gmail.com"

Americans could check out Directron.com, who are currently dumping their stock of Efika motherboards at only $99 a piece, they list them to be in stock. They also sell pre-built systems. Overseas customers and people with no credit card should try to e-mail them instead of using the web shop.

Also, Genesi has now reopened their web store, in time for MorphOS 2.0 release: https://www.genesi-usa.com/store.php
This is the Efika motherboard built into a custom metal case with Pico PSU, HDD and GFX card. A complete and pre-assembled system in other word. They don't sell standalone motherboards.

Those were the options I can think of from the top of my mind... :-)

[takemehomegrandma]

@Wolfe

When Morph OS 2.0 releases, depending on price, I may buy one or more copies.  As for the Efika, well that depends on price and use.  I would much rather have MOS on my Mac Mini 1.5 GHz machine, Peg II etc . . .  Maybe if they offer a family pack I could justify "all of the above" . . .  :-D

I too am very curious about their chosen licensing model.

I have a bunch of MorphOS capable computers and I would really like to have MorphOS running on them all. But since I'm not going to spend several hundreds of Euros on multiple MorphOS licenses, I'm hoping for some flexible licensing model that will allow you to run MorphOS on more than one computer (or at least a possibility of volume discount that increases steeply with the amount of copies).

[takemehomegrandma]

@weirdami

I do know that it is Amiga compatible though.

I always thought that it wasn't. If it was, then people wouldn't be posting "will there be a morphos version?!!!!1111" posts.

From my personal experience (and from reading about other peoples experiences as well) I dare to claim that MorphOS has far better Amiga compatibility than the competitors (i.e. it's the most backwards compatible of all "NG" solutions).

A few times though there may have been some interesting *new* app released for one of the competing NG solutions exclusively that makes use of that particular solution's extended API, but not the others. This could perhaps have been the reasons you have seen such posts (and you will see that kind of posts occasionally from users of *all* of the "NG" solutions BTW). However, on MorphOS there is this "OS4emu" (which is a *wrapper* and not an emulator which its name suggests) application that makes many programs written exclusively for a particular competing "NG" solution also run on MorphOS.

But native ports and direct MorphOS support from developers is of course always better, for many reasons! :-)

[takemehomegrandma]

@Darrin

Any idea when it will be available to us mortals?

Before the end of Q2 2008 (i.e. within the month of June).

How well would one of these Efika boards running MorphOS perform as a media center? I've been sort-of looking for a replacement for my amd athlon xp 3200 which is showing its age for a while now, and I'm curious as to whether or not the Efika would do the job... for instance, is there software available that will play divx and xvid avi files? most of my media is in that format.

[zylesea]

It does perform fairly okay but only up to PAL-like quality resolutions. HD video is a no-go. The setup I tried was connected to some Dbox by ethernet as stream source and the performance was quite good, though TV stations with very high quality/bandwidth were a bit over Efika's capabilities.
An average DVD quality movie drives the Efika close to its limit, but works. For replay you can use MPlayer or VLC (the latter is freshly ported to MorphOS and still needs some time to get more matured).
Anyway, an Athlon XP3200 is another league of computing power than the Efika. But for not too computing intensive tasks the Efika performs well and the *feeling* of speed is *subjectively* better on an Efika w/ MorphOS than with my PIV 2.4 GHz running W2k.
I have my Efika in the bedroom (fixed as media frame on the wall) and enjoy the virtually total silence (yes, the 2,5" hd is not absolutely silent) of the system while it delivers enough power for music, internet, some videos and a game.

Hrmph. So much for that thought - too much of what I have is hd res to make it workable, and not being able to run background tasks while playing a DVD is a show-stopper for me. Still, at $99 I might pick one up just to have a MorphOS capable system, and maybe if enough people buy the OS they will actually do the Mac port.

[takemehomegrandma]

pkillo wrote:
Hrmph. So much for that thought - too much of what I have is hd res to make it workable, and not being able to run background tasks while playing a DVD is a show-stopper for me.

Please note that he didn't say "playing DVD's", but "DVD quality movies" (i.e. from *hard drive* (or network?) *only*). You see, the Efika only supports one 2.5" HDD directly connected to the on board connector (no cables!). No possibilities for optical media, at least not through the on board ATA controller!

Still, at $99 I might pick one up just to have a MorphOS capable system, and maybe if enough people buy the OS they will actually do the Mac port.

Yes indeed, and even at a bit beyond that price it will probably never get any cheaper to buy new hardware for an "Amiga" OS. Although a bit limited, but still kind of enough for many purposes, as proved by *many* on line videos! :-)

(But please note that the $99 is for a motherboard *only* and (at Directron) a temporary "total sale - everything must go" price, which will end as soon as stock is sold out! The others seems to be selling mostly complete systems.)

BTW, Here is an interesting post about some Genesi plans. Please note that since then it has been announced that (at least) both the MPC5121e and MPC5123 boards has been postponed some time while waiting for new revisions of said CPU's.

Regarding more powerful PPC CPU's, especially in a media center context, have a look at this thread about the MPC8610. OK, maybe this may still not be the answer to *all* your prayers regarding powerful decoding hardware (without additional support hardware, which is always an option), although this CPU obviously plays (and *displays* since GFX is *built in*) some video formats at full 1080p HD resolution! Look at the YouTube Video! :-)

[amigadave]

I haven't checked the Genesi or MorphOS websites in a long time, but aren't there any plans to run MorphOS2.0 on something faster and with more features than an Efika?  For that matter, how about faster than a PegasosII as well?

[Effy]

Anyway, whatever may be released at the end of June, I shall be waiting with my Efika m bwith Radeon 9200  :lol:

[pan1k]

I'd give it a try. Can't do much without being able to install MorphOS on the Efika. So much for that.. I need a new project!

takemehomegrandma wrote:
Please note that he didn't say "playing DVD's", but "DVD quality movies" (i.e. from *hard drive* (or network?) *only*). You see, the Efika only supports one 2.5" HDD directly connected to the on board connector (no cables!). No possibilities for optical media, at least not through the on board ATA controller!

Ah, my mistake - I'd like to do both, of course, but I can lose the ability to play physical discs and still be happy (at least so long as I can rip them to avi on another system and transfer them over).

(But please note that the $99 is for a motherboard *only* and (at Directron) a temporary "total sale - everything must go" price, which will end as soon as stock is sold out! The others seems to be selling mostly complete systems.)

It doesn't seem worth it to me to buy a complete system built around a board like this; it'd be more for play than anything else, unfortunately.

BTW, Here is an interesting post about some Genesi plans. Please note that since then it has been announced that (at least) both the MPC5121e and MPC5123 boards has been postponed some time while waiting for new revisions of said CPU's.

Regarding more powerful PPC CPU's, especially in a media center context, have a look at this thread about the MPC8610. OK, maybe this may still not be the answer to *all* your prayers regarding powerful decoding hardware (without additional support hardware, which is always an option), although this CPU obviously plays (and *displays* since GFX is *built in*) some video formats at full 1080p HD resolution! Look at the YouTube Video! :-)

Very interesting. Are there plans to release a version of MorphOS that can run on one of these boards? To be completely honest, I have no need or desire for any Linux systems not built around xeons or core duos, and I have enough of that kind of hardware to keep me in spare computer time for a long while. What I don't have is a decent operating system to use for my media center. Running Windows there really irks me, and I just won't use unix for it because there are other people who need to use it who'd be inevitably frustrated by it.

My wish list for a system is really quite simple; you'd think someone would be selling something to meet my needs: user-friendly os, flawless HD quality video playback, an MP3 player, and a virtual console server. it doesn't even need to have a web browser, although it'd be nice.

[lavo]

Anyone know if there is a 2.5" to 3.5" IDE adapter similar to what you could get for the A1200?  Might be a small little market there, as it would be a great way to expand out the Efika just like we used to with the A1200.  I love to be able to put the Efika in a bigger case with a faster drive and CD.  The A1200 was never able to do this out of the box.  Any reason why you could not do this with the Efika?

[zylesea]

amigadave wrote:
I haven't checked the Genesi or MorphOS websites in a long time, but aren't there any plans to run MorphOS2.0 on something faster and with more features than an Efika?  For that matter, how about faster than a PegasosII as well?

There is a project to support the Mac Mini. Don't expect to see support for teh MAc Mini before end of year and it is not officially confirmed whether this support will be part of the commercial package then or more like the PowerUp an "as it" distribution (if at all). There is some video out there showing MorphOS runnig on a Mac mini.
Also I guess (sic!) if and when the MPC8610 based board by Genesi sees the light of the day it'll be supported, too.

[zylesea]

lavo wrote:
Anyone know if there is a 2.5" to 3.5" IDE adapter similar to what you could get for the A1200? [...]  Any reason why you could not do this with the Efika?

The signal integrity of the ATA controller ofthe 5200B is rather weak and cables longer than 10cm are not realiable in conjunction with the 5200B. The Design is simply not intended for such a use.
Better access optical drives from other computers/NSDs by ethernet.

[lavo]

zylesea wrote:

lavo wrote:
Anyone know if there is a 2.5" to 3.5" IDE adapter similar to what you could get for the A1200? [...]  Any reason why you could not do this with the Efika?

The signal integrity of the ATA controller ofthe 5200B is rather weak and cables longer than 10cm are not realiable in conjunction with the 5200B. The Design is simply not intended for such a use.
Better access optical drives from other computers/NSDs by ethernet.

Didn't the buffered IDE adapter correct the same problem on the 1200?