Now, when we finally can see new, cheap amigas, i would like to ask some questions.

1. Today i heard on local Serbian radio station that efika will go down to $99. Will it happen?
2. Will there be new videos of MOS on efika?
3. Some fine, objective review on arstechnika, osnews....?
4. Not that i care about OS4, but will it be for efika someday? ('cos some programs exists only for mos, some for os4)
5. MOST important; i see pics of some fine cases for efika. Will efika be sold like all-in-one package or we will have to build ones?
6. Any estimated day for efika+mos?
7. I know that (among others) you gave pegasos to linux centar, belgrade and you are in contact with my country. In a month or two, we will have computer fair here. Will you be present?
8. Paypal doesn't accept Serbia. Will there be other payment proccessors like 2co....?
9. Laptop version? Or can it be connected is some broken laptop, will it fit?
10. Is efika fast enought to play full-sized DVD in real time under MOS?
11. Can efika be connected with a dvd?
12. Your blog is mostly focused to linux. Will you put mos informations there?


[ Edited by srbin on 2007/2/10 22:38 ]

I would also like some of these questions answered :)
For the first time in 10 years iam looking at buying an amiga again. Iam hoping iam getting back in at the right time seeing what luck this company has had in the past years.

ok guys, first let me make something clear, THE EFIKA IS NOT AN AMIGA. Please keep that in mind. It's an evaluation board dedicated to embedded systems, and the OS target is linux.

now I can answer a few ones, but you should check "www.powerdeveloper.org" on a regular basis if you're interested in the Efika.

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i hope so, that's the target price for the Efika, Genesi is working in that direction.

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god knows.

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why not ? when it will be done.

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some efforts are going this way.

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the Efika is already available for orders. Build your own case until something is done.

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no

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with XGI chip and XGI drivers probably yes.

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yes.

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Not really since it is not recommended IDe interface is extended by cabling. 2.5" HD is connected directly to the IDe connector.

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Remember something: the community is the computer xD.

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you can connect it through USB.

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not an Amiga YET

Are you sure USB 1.1 is sufficient for DVD playback? And it will clog the already underpowered 60x bus on Efika...

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It is not sufficient to play video DVDs
I was only answering question #11

>8. Paypal doesn't accept Serbia. Will there be
>other payment proccessors like 2co....?

Sunbeam has sold some Pegasos boards to a company in Belgrade which is a reseller in that region. I'm sure they are interested in EFIKA too. You can contact me at ds@sunbeam-business.de so I can help you to get in contact with them.

Regards,

David

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That is a problem with buffering, isn't it?... In that case, perhaps a short 3 or 4 cm long cable with two connectors could do the trick...

Disclaimer: I have no idea if this could work; don't try that at home, kids...

[ Edited by amiades on 2007/2/12 0:10 ]

Actually, DVD playback tops out at about 9Mbps, and USB1 tops out at 12Mbps, that's mega bits per second not bytes, unfortunately. However this does mean that USB1 can handle DVD playback datarate. Don't expect glowing video cue/review performance, but you'll be able to watch it anyway. There's a CD audio input connector on the Efika, so they obviously planned some way of connecting one.

I'm wondering if an IDE splitter/buffer, such as people used on the A1200 to connect 3.5" IDE devices to the 2.5" connector, can be used here as well. Assuming very short cable runs, of course. I do need a way to connect a DVD drive to my Efika.

And, the 60x bus isn't that underpowered. The Efika's bus is faster than the one in my 450MHz G3 blue and white powermac-and it can play DVDs just fine while surfing the net And that's with the huge (compared to MorphOS) overhead of Mac OSX!

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Bearing in mind what you have just said it does sound like it would be nice to see MorphOS running in a useable manner to at least wet appetites towards MorphOS, and to increase platforms available for it as an OS. I am told 1.5 will support it at least in some manner.

As an example of a U.S. based user I come from a computer background that probably is like a lot of Americans my age:

TRS-80 Color Computer (or similar) then
Commodore 64 then
DOS then
Windows 3.11 thru XP

There is not as much exposure I think to the average user over here to Amiga-like OSes. My only Amiga experience was a friend's box that I played a couple of games on many years ago.

So while it is not its main focus as a product I think MorphOS users present a good source to generate buzz for the Efika product and at least better populate good 'ol google search results. :)

And then on the flip side if people can get in the door more inexpensively they will be more like to "experiment". And if they like what they see they will be more likely to potentially move up to a Pegasos platform. Just to illustrate the state of Amiga affairs in NYC, I contacted the club for the area, AMUSE. Well it was pretty sad to hear from a long-time member all the stuff they USED to do when they had more members. Considering the sheer population as a city NYC has, you'd think it would have weatherd the years better. I'd LOVE, when 1.5 is out and hopefully working as planned on the Efika to show it to that club (whats left of it) as a member.

In the meantime I'll use my Efika as a Linux box and as an excuse to try to build something (i.e. a case). But I just want to say while everyone should be given the proper info to not mistake it for the next cheap Amiga-like system, I would like to think conversely so long as it will be supported by MorphOS 1.5 that its worth not distancing too far from being a MorphOS system platform???

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It doesn't mean the Efika can though, all these guesstimates are theoretical until someone actually verifies that it's possible, and to date no-one has...

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*cough*, OS overhead has nothing to do with bus capabilities, besides I'm pretty sure that DVD drive was connected to a much more efficient IDE controller than the one in the Efika, not to mention that IDE!=USB .. although USB1.1 has a theoretical max of 12Mbps doesn't mean you can get a steady rate at that level on the Efika while decoding the MPEG2/AC3 and pushing the resulting audio/video back out!

Anyway, someone suggested something that may be more feasible .. connect the DVD drive as your main IDE unit (that requires a bunch of adapters and crap though, may not be pretty, and may not work) and boot off USB instead .. though I prefer the much simpler (and cheaper) alternative; buy a friggin' standalone DVD player!


- CISC

I've been asking myself "Why" buy an "Efika"? I haven't come up with one real good reason to fork out the cash. I have no need for one.

Now as a hobby horse project, making a case, customizing it etc. could be fun but . . then what do I use it for? I have a DSL - Firewall - Wireless - Hub - Print server unit that is already paid for, and uses very little power, but has all the features I need.

Ideas ?

As for DVD playback it should be possible trough LAN... For it's size I think it's a perfect match... otherwise it would became YAADC (yet another and dull computer)

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Yes, dull computer. But, i always had a lot of fun with my amiga, i would like to see that for less than $200.

I have standalone dvd player. The reason for connecting mem stick instead of hd is total silence. Can you imagine that? And ~2gb (around $25 in serbia) would be more than enough