EFIKA expandable RAM?
  • Butterfly
    Butterfly
    insurgent
    Posts: 64 from 2007/7/8
    Just saw one of the videos from a tech show, the guy from Genesi (my guess) showing board to an american guy... He mentioned that it is possible to add 2 chips totaling 128MB (so we have 2 x 128MB) on the other side of (underneath) the board. Did I hear correctly? Is that true? I haven't heard any talk on that on any forum :-? Even if possible, it doesn't look like it could be a backyard job 8-)
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  • »08.07.07 - 06:32
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  • Acolyte of the Butterfly
    Acolyte of the Butterfly
    Kamul
    Posts: 121 from 2004/6/9
    From: Poland, Katowice
    Yes, it's true. There are places for two additional memory chips on
    Efika board. The problem is I don't know if it is enough to solder
    them to the board. For example it could be necesarry to make some
    changes in firmware, so Efika could configure the additional
    memory. But this is only a speculation.
  • »08.07.07 - 10:02
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    VooDoo
    Posts: 189 from 2005/8/24
    ...mmm very nice speculation 8-)
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  • »08.07.07 - 10:48
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  • MorphOS Developer
    Krashan
    Posts: 1107 from 2003/6/11
    From: Białystok...
    There are places for two additional memory chips on
    Efika board.


    You will also have to add some resistor ladders and capacitors (of unknown capacity).
  • »08.07.07 - 11:05
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  • Yokemate of Keyboards
    Yokemate of Keyboards
    magnetic
    Posts: 2129 from 2003/3/1
    From: Los Angeles
    Very interesting.. 256mb would make a world of difference with Efika, especially in Linux.
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  • »08.07.07 - 16:47
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    Acill
    Posts: 1925 from 2003/10/19
    From: Port Hueneme, Ca.
    256 would be a deal maker for me here! The 128MB fixed RAM is the only thing keeping me from getting one now.

    Genesi, how about more info on this? I know a lot of people must be on the fence about getting an EFIKA and this would help a few more make the decision if it was something we could get done at home.
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  • »09.07.07 - 17:48
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  • Just looking around
    Duff
    Posts: 19 from 2007/2/6
    I was talkin to my mate who wonts to buy an efika for his new amiga 2 and only thing holding him back is the ram. He knows alot about solidering and eletrionics does it for a job he said it should be possible to unsoilder and resoilder 256ram on the board were the old ram was maybe?.
  • »10.07.07 - 16:48
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  • Acolyte of the Butterfly
    Acolyte of the Butterfly
    keropi
    Posts: 131 from 2006/11/11
    From: Ioannina , Greece
    IMHO this 128MB ram was never a nice idea... even 256 can be proven little... 512+ MB is the way to go...
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  • »10.07.07 - 18:46
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  • Just looking around
    Posts: 8 from 2007/2/20
    @insurgent

    I have seen that too. Can you please post a link to the video?

    Efika with expandable / more ram would make a fine server board IMO because of it's extreme low power consumption.
  • »10.07.07 - 22:03
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  • Acolyte of the Butterfly
    Acolyte of the Butterfly
    SKOLMAN_MWS
    Posts: 107 from 2006/10/24
    efika5k2memoryqg3.jpg

    www.datasheetcatalog.net/cgi-bin/helo.pl?text=K4H511638C

    www.semiconductor.com/resources/reports_database/view_device.asp?sinumber=11885
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  • »11.07.07 - 03:58
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  • Acolyte of the Butterfly
    Acolyte of the Butterfly
    Painkiller
    Posts: 128 from 2007/11/19
    From: Nokia, Funland
    Bump! Has anyone done this? If not I might give it a try if seomeone here will purchase my Pegasos II 1GHz G4, 1GB, R9200 128MB, 10Gt HD, DVD-drive and PCI USB2.0 (ofcourse comes with a registered MOS 2.0). For a desent price :)
  • »31.07.08 - 10:32
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  • Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    Tcheko
    Posts: 530 from 2003/2/25
    From: France
    The best would be to ask the designer of the board. bPlan? Genesi?
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  • »31.07.08 - 13:03
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    SoundSquare
    Posts: 1213 from 2004/12/1
    From: Paris, France
    adding 128mb would be useless as AFAIK the Efika OF doesn't handle more than 128.
  • »31.07.08 - 14:24
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  • Acolyte of the Butterfly
    Acolyte of the Butterfly
    Painkiller
    Posts: 128 from 2007/11/19
    From: Nokia, Funland
    Quote:

    adding 128mb would be useless as AFAIK the Efika OF doesn't handle more than 128.


    Is this a know fact or speculation? :( I just can't understand why they made it so limited on memory could someone modify the OF so that it would take up 1GB or even more? I have the tools at work to easily change the memory chips, but this bit of news is just sad if true :evil:

    Well this is directly from bPlans page:

    Quote:

    Memory
    128MB DDR RAM 266MHz

    other configurations from 32MB upto 512MB are available on
    request


    http://www.bplan-gmbh.de/efika_spec_en.html

    So it is possible, but it is not yet know wheter the current FW support 512MBs of memory. Well anyways I emailed them and let you guys know when I get the answer.

    [ Edited by Painkiller on 2008/7/31 18:44 ]
  • »31.07.08 - 17:31
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  • Targhan
    Posts: 2833 from 2003/2/8
    From: USA
    While it is probably a pipe dream, I think it would be good if someone could come up with a way to use pendrives as ram. Kind of like the way the old a1200s could use pcmcia memory. That would eliminate a physical issue of ram for the efika, though, it would still have the Firmware limit.

    Erm. Scratch that, the access times would be woeful.. Now having memories of actually trying to use 16bit memory on an a1200.... *shudders*

    [ Edited by Targhan on 2008/7/31 11:02 ]
    :idea:Targhan

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  • »31.07.08 - 17:59
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  • Just looking around
    yakumo9275
    Posts: 16 from 2008/7/3
    From: Lexington VA /...
    well the MPC5200b has a max address space of 512mb, and a two bit chip select, can work with a max of 4 memory chips (lots of restrictions on distance from the processor, bit address ranges etc etc). 256mb per chip select.

    this is the first I've heard of the SF only handling 128mb of memory (I think thats a bogus claim).
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  • »31.07.08 - 19:06
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  • Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    boot_wb
    Posts: 874 from 2007/4/9
    From: Kingston upon ...
    Quote:


    Painkiller wrote:

    So it is possible, but it is not yet know wheter the current FW support 512MBs of memory. Well anyways I emailed them and let you guys know when I get the answer.

    [ Edited by Painkiller on 2008/7/31 18:44 ]


    @Painkiller
    Did you get a reply from BPlan regarding this? I have an Efika on the way, and would hope to upgrade the ram to 512MB.

    @Thread
    As an alternative, would it be possible to replace the existing two 64MB chips with 2x 256MB chips? (Assuming 256MB chips exist) That would get around the problem of having to guess values for the resistor/capacitor ladders.
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  • »17.08.08 - 12:57
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Framiga
    Posts: 363 from 2003/7/11
    From: Milan-Italy
    ask to the MOS developers, if the key would be still valid after the mod.
  • »17.08.08 - 13:20
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    ThePlayer
    Posts: 1069 from 2003/3/24
    From: Hamburg/Germany
    The Key should be still valid as the key is bound to the MAC-Adress of the board.
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  • »17.08.08 - 15:37
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Framiga
    Posts: 363 from 2003/7/11
    From: Milan-Italy
    not only to the MAC address (it would be too "easy" don't you?)

    Anyway ask them.
  • »17.08.08 - 18:22
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  • Moderator
    Golem
    Posts: 766 from 2003/2/28
    From: Denmark
    @Framiga

    So you're suggesting that users can't upgrade their RAM? Registered my Peg2 with 512M, got 1G now, still works...
  • »17.08.08 - 19:05
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Framiga
    Posts: 363 from 2003/7/11
    From: Milan-Italy
    ask them, period.
  • »17.08.08 - 19:07
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  • Paladin of the Pegasos
    Paladin of the Pegasos
    ThePlayer
    Posts: 1069 from 2003/3/24
    From: Hamburg/Germany
    I have upgraded from 512 to 1GB Ram after registering MOS2 and i have no problems with the key or anything else. Beside that i have changed my GFX from Radeon 8500 64MB to a 9000Pro 128MB

    [ Edited by ThePlayer on 2008/8/17 19:45 ]
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  • »17.08.08 - 19:44
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    Framiga
    Posts: 363 from 2003/7/11
    From: Milan-Italy
    on a peg it sounds quite obvious.

    Are we still speaking about Efikas here?

    i'm NOT saying it will break but before attempting a so huge modification, ask to the MOS developer IF it is possible. thats all.



    [ Edited by Framiga on 2008/8/17 19:49 ]
  • »17.08.08 - 19:46
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  • Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    Simon
    Posts: 809 from 2008/7/6
    From: Antwerp, Belgium
    this topic is about expanding the ram ... and I really see no reason why MOSdevs shouldn't upgrade your license if needed.
    Proud member of the Belgian Amiga Club since 2003

  • »18.08.08 - 18:34
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