I wrote this article for Pegasos.org about my
first impressions with the EFIKA.

I hope you like it!

@ironfist

Great review! It answered most of my questions, but I have one more though.

I plan to put an Efika into an A600 case like about here-ish:



How tall is the Efika + graphics card, and does anyone think that there will be enough height inside the A600 case to house them?

Thanks, and sorry to whoever's A600 picture that is.

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@ironfist

If you wrote it you might well post it here
Unformatted, without images, at least its core...

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@Gleng

I think you might have to use a flexi PCI riser so you can lay the graphics card down flat next to the Efika.

@ironfist

Debian on an USB-stick, me like

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@Rob

I actually think that it should be slim enough for that without it, the a600 is quite "fat".

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@Rob

Cool, that sounds fair. Cheers!

Edit:

@AMiGR

Even better!

Last edited by Gleng on 08-Dec-2006 at 12:37 AM.

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@ironfist

Nice article. The EFIKA is a good entry board for MOS and best thing ofcource it's real cheap. On a bad side I feel that by restricting the system memory to only 128MB Genesi have done a kinda commodore, when they used to cut down on costs just to save a few $$ and in the process crippling the full potential of the hardware.
Modern applications especially on platforms like Linux as they evolve require even more and more amounts of Ram, and in 2006 128MB frankly isn't enough, I'm sure if they wanted they could have doubled this for a mere $10 more.

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@Akiko

Quote:

in 2006 128MB frankly isn't enough, I'm sure if they wanted they could have doubled this for a mere $10 more.

I can't agree more. Reminds me of Commodore exactly. A1200 and CD32 with only Chip Ram.? With even 1 meg of Fast Ram they run SOOO much faster, nearly 2 times faster!

No memory expansion at all really really limits this. That and the strange form factor, I have a hard time understanding why a company would choose this over many other poducts out there? Can anybody explain that to me?

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@Akiko

"modern applications" that need more physical RAM than that will also need much more CPU power as offered by EFIKA. Adding more RAM will substantly increase the price (remember 20Euro are allready +10%), it will eat more power (the RAM allready draws more than the CPU) and Genesi's real costumers (companies useing EFIKA for embeeded tasks) won't feel any difference.

Sure, adding more RAM sounds nice, so would USB2,SATA,FireWire..... Finding the sweet point where performance, features and price meet to form a viable product is whats important.

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@Gleng

If it works out, please upload a few pictures!

@ironfist

Are any cases going to be made available for the EFIKA? I wouldnt be keen on modding cases.. I'm not good with my hands.

Last edited by jahc on 08-Dec-2006 at 05:06 AM.

@jahc

Case?

Put it in a 5.5 inch bay in your big towercase

I asked Ironfist to measure the Efika, if that is doable, and it is

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@jahc

I put my Pegasos mb in a custom aluminum frame. (Kits are sold here with the pieces -- aluminum struts, fasteners, etc.) See image (that's a Peg mb in the photo, now replaced by a Peg II). I may do something like this again for an Efika that's heading this way. The thickness of the struts would bulk up the overall dimensions though. Construction is pretty much on the Erector/Mecano level with maybe a little aluminum cutting if the lengths need to be shortened. As an alternative I'm looking around at metal full enclosures -- got all of Akihabara a subway ride away. If I find anything especially neat, I'll post information.

-- gary_c

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@tomazkid

Quote:

Put it in a 5.5 inch bay in your big towercase

Oh okay, I didnt realise that it could fit there. That sounds quite cool. I quite like the idea of having a tiny computer in an ATX case. I remember a funny picture of a machine they built into the psu box, and it had the caption "wheres the computer?!". (I think it was on a Mini-ITX site, but the mobo was smaller than Mini-ITX).

@CodeSmith

Quote:

If it works out, please upload a few pictures!

Will do! I actually plan to do a series of photos and a howto, but I'm going to have to wait until I get paid at the end of January, because I need to buy an Efika + A600 case + keyrah + USB cdrom + blah + blah + blah... (Basically everything!)

I might even give the case a makeover, but that might be pushing it.

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@Gleng
You could have a brick as a PSU or you could have it sweet, like this one:

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@jahc

FWIK, it's considered by bPlan.

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@pixie

Quote:

You could have a brick as a PSU or you could have it sweet, like this one:

Is that the PicoPSU? I think that's the one I was hoping to use. I take it that it works fine with the Efika then.

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@ironfist

What cases will it work well with? I would not want to have to dremel anything to use it, and I also would not want to have to lay it out in the open without a case. Hacking an enclosure could be fun, and I do that kind of thing, but I've got case hacks going for my A3000 and A4000T which I already have no time to work on, I'd really rather have the convenience of everything just working nicely these days. Would it fit properly into any Mini-ITX cases, or an ATX case?

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