The 5121Efika *will* ship next week to selected developers. You can find the details on the chip below:

1568863362_41d4e4e230_o.png

We have the PowerVR MBX sources and we will begin distributing these as well to the first group of developers. We also plan on doing some interesting things with Chip ID.

In the meanwhile, we have licensed the current EFIKA design based on the 5200B to THTF. THTF is Tsinghua Tongfang. THTF is the #3 PC brand, #5 CE brand, and #4 OEM/ODM manufacturing firm in China, majority owned by China's leading research university, Tsinghua University, Beijing, and the China government. You will start seeing products based on the original EFIKA in their (our) Booth at CES in January 2008.

It has been a long road, but we are almost there.

R&B

Progress...

1659214779_7b8dc3a356.jpg

You will note the stock of AMD PIC units we have on hand too. We will be developing some benchmarks.

R&B :)

Now if those designs would be compatible, and MOS supported, that may end up as something interesting... That would mean a MOS machine at cheap prices. Keeping an eye on them.

Great to see the new improved Efika. That will be interesting to see, side-by-side benchmarking against the PIC with its Geode processor.

The PIC is a neat concept, although it hasn't taken off. It used to run WinCE I thought, but now I am not sure what it runs, since DataEvolution acquired it from AMD. The PIC has a 56k modem, which seems anachronistic now. It does have four USB ports. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder as Margaret Wolfe Hungerford wrote, but I find the PIC to be somewhat unappealing in its appearance. Hopefully the Efika can make its way to an attractive standardized case.
GGS-Data had sort of the right idea with their Efika Enlight.

Hi Velcro, check the SEC AMD filings. AMD wrote off $13.5 million on the PIC. This has to be better...

R&B

[ Edited by Genesi on 2007/10/22 1:08 ]

Can we have a closerlook, please? Mostly becaus I'm shocked at the immense height of the audio output section!
Will the production board be like this?

jcmarcos, your eyes must be better than mine because I can't make out any "immense height" of anything on that board.

Hey R&B/BBRV/Genesi,

I don't know why AMD's PIC wasn't more successful. Maybe they limited themselves in developed countries by just having the integrated modem and not Ethernet (except via extra USB 1.1 attachment). This AMD page says the PIC was offered in Brazil, Mexico, some Carribbean countries, and Turkey. None of those are undeveloped countries I don't think, though the electric and telecommunications grids are probably less advanced than, say, USA or Canada or France. With the possible exception of Brazil. So I don't know if AMD really tried in the Third World. And really I'm not sure that many people in Third World countries have telephone lines to plug 56k modems into.

I think to do better than PIC, the next Internet gadget should have Ethernet and integrated wireless capability. Not sure which will help in undeveloped countries, but both of those things will help in developed countries, and the gadget should be sold in both markets.

It's a matter of some dispute here, but I also think the gadget should have potential to play CDs and DVDs, perhaps its best not to integrate that capability ala MacMini but rather to have it as an option, a custom USB CD/DVD that also serves as a dock or something like that.

So in my opinion, AMD PIC's record can be improved on by expanding the capabilities of the device, appealing to both developed and less-developed countries, and making the product user-friendly and reliable and inexpensive.

Velcro:

Then have a closer look to the vertical assignment of the three audio 3.5mm jacks. That connector looks a bit bulky, but a rough calculation gives an height estimation of that connector of 2-3cm: 3*3.5mm + 3*~5mm distance.
But it really looks a bit high...

it looks like the form-factor changed, mini-itx ?

@SoundSquare
Quote:

I wouldn't draw any conclusions (regarding form factors, slots, connectors etc) regarding the final Efika end-user board from this one. This is merely a board for driver/OS development AFAIK. It is an "Efika 5121" in the sense of the specs (those coming from the SoC) is one and the same, so firmware and drivers and OS's runs the same. But later Genesi will do another board, and eventually a third one as well, and that one will be the final one. This is at least my interpretation of the info available, but maybe I'm wrong?

Quote:

Probably, this board simply is a freescale MPC5121eADS, The "Advanced Development System ODM Reference Board for the MPC5121e Integrated Processor" (note that the acronym "ADS" was used by BBRV). Actually, I think that this board hasn't been developed by freescale themselves, but by the very interesting STx company, as the fact sheet says.

Quote:

Indeed, this bulky connector completely spoils the potentially flat design, but there's nothing wrong if it's a development board. If you take a look at the forthcoming Efika powered photo frame by that chinese company...
...erm...
...wasn't that announcement in BBRV's blog? Now it's not there! Am I confused, and it was never there, but somewhere else? Has anyone here seen it elsewhere?

Quote:

Try
http://www.powerdeveloper.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1400

Quote:

Sure, but I swear I saw it in BBRV's blog. In that PowerDeveloper thread you mention here there's nothing new for a long time. I might be all wrong, but I recall some comments from BBRV themselves, about a certain date for the product to be presented.
Is the deal with Tsinghua Tongfang (THTF) still valid?

Ok, where do I sign up for some? (I actually have need for a solution like this)

Hm,

nice, but what the hell has the Efika or 5121Efika to do
with morphOS?
Come on guys, bundle new Hardware with mos 2.0 and
than come back and tell us where to buy it!
All the other stuff is very uninteresting for mos users, ...

Please!
Don't use that vertical audio box in the final layout. There are so many possible great project with a really slim card.

@eliot



Magic, right?!

No hardware; no port.

No port; no money.

Alternatively, you could say:

No money; no port (but, then there is still the hardware problem...).

MorphOS users can donate to the Bounties here or make contributions directly to the Developers themselves. Thanks!

R&B

P.S. email us if you are looking to help.

[ Edited by Genesi on 2007/10/28 18:21 ]

It will not.

R&B

hi!

it will not ... what?
.
.
are u wanna tell us, that there will be morphos support on the 5121efika when users donate to the bounty??
genesi wont support morphos development on the new efika as it did with the efika5200b?

thx.

We did support the port to the 5200B EFIKA. It is just not here yet....

Please be patient, but while you *all* are waiting...

Feel free to contribute!

R&B

Quote:

I believe BBRV refers to that bulky audio connector not being present in production.
Like I said before, that board in the photo probably is not the new Efika, but freescale's development board. Genesi has enough job making SmartFirmware work on it. Production should come later.
It was said that selected developers would receive this board. We all know that some of those selected developers pop around here from time to time.
Has anyone here one of these new Efika development boards?

Krashan...?

@jmacros: thanks, makes sense:)

@bbrv: yes i know you did support mos on the 5200 efika.
but will you support mos on the 5121efika in the same way WHEN its ready? i guess that all we wanna know (i hope so, you never let us down:))

@ saddam

Almost a year ago has passed since the MorphOS team announced Efika support, but since then nothing has been released. Not even a release date has been communicated. I'd say: let the MorphOS team deliver to the *first* promise (Efika5200) before discussing any future steps...

I haven't logged in here, in a long time. Just happened to be reading along.

Well I have to say, I disagree with BBRV. You should not contribute to any MorphOS bounties.

Did something change in the past few years, is MorphOS a non-profit, tax deductable organization?

If its still closed source, its still a private enterprise...you don't contribute to such things with gifts. That's inappropriate to ask, smacks of unethical, if you ask me.

But beyond that, foolish. For what purpose would I contribute to a cause, that the owners themselves do not believe in enough to bring it to fruition without contributions?

Feel free to explain the error in my logic. I haven't been around in a long time.

But I did drop by...coincidentally, for the exact same reason, that the earlier poster did...i.e to see if there was a product ready to go. Not one coming someday...see I've waited years, I can wait years more. I won't buy a product until it is OS and hardware and dev environment, and its in stock, and I can buy the whole thing.

It's interesting to see all the moves being made...and I don't doubt the sincerity of those involved nor the fact that they are really working on various projects....

only as for me, I couldn't stay involved without more tangible results.

Anyway, whatever this is...its continued on without me, and will continue to do so...

best of luck, and I do hope you get there someday...I'd like to join in on the fun.

later,
Robert