I'd guess it'll look a little like this (the shots lower down show it with a 2.5" HDD installed, giving a good sense of scale).

what i meant was the core design roots the EP5200 looks to be of similar size
anyway here is what freescale has on their website about the efika
http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/sit ... 010&srch=1#
and the user manual for the ep5200
http://www.embeddedplanet.com/pdf/docs/ep5200c_um.pdf

It should be around the same length (PCI slot + a few cm) but a good amount shorter in width. EFIKA's IDE port should be an L-shaped female connector to allow board-mounting of 2.5" and 1.8" hard disks (and flash disks) in order to keep the profile and cabling down.

Is there any chance that the EFIKA board will have Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ports?

Here's some info for the efika v2.0 if any of you didnt see it earlier

http://www.ppczone.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=546

lots of speculation also

Practically none.

Why do you need Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ports?

_________________
Matt Sealey

Does anyone know whether the efika v2 board design has been finalised or nearing it?

Because many USB devices only work at full speed with USB 2.0 (ex: Wifi, hard disks... etc...)

Couldn't that be done with the FPGA? I don't know much about FPGA's, hence my question!

I mean, maybe it's not in the scope of the standard variant of the Efika motherboard for this developer program, but I suppose that for an embedded applications where USB2 is required, one could always license a core from Altera and simply bolt on a custom daughter-PCB with some USB headers (which seems to be the standard approach used for adding connectors to the Efika, looking at the block-diagram)? Of course this depends on what model of FPGA that's being used, but I mean, if the FPGA supports it ...?

http://www.altera.com/products/ip/iup/usb/ipm-index.jsp

Maybe I have misunderstood something, but the approach with the FPGA on the Efika *seems to be* to create one single mainboard design, that of course has the 5200's ethernet, USB, IDE, etc routed to connectors on the main PCB, but when it comes to the FPGA, they seem to put the connectors/headers on *separate* little PCB's that is probably bolted on to the mainboard á la "April fix". If this is the case, then it should offer great flexibility in creating custom embedded applications (by adding/designing cores in the FPGA and add necessary connectors accordingly) while at the same time maintaining the original Efika design unaltered, which could be great for achieving Economy of Scale!

So many cool things can be done, and many interesting cores are ready to be licensed, like firewire, mpeg4 encoders, extra ethernet, pcmcia, etc ...

This idea with FPGA on the Efika is definitely growing on me, so if you're going to tell me I have completely misunderstood everything, please do it now before my expectations raises any further!

Speed? While I know that the 5200B includes a USB1.1 host controller, I would agree that addition of some usb2.0 host adapter might be nice (of course it's all a matter of cost).
Anyway, the lack of high speed usb is - IMHO - most missing feature on PegasosII design (don't tell me about addition of a usb2.0 card).

Maybe such a combo-card would be the ideal solution for people who are looking for more networking and USB2 connectivity?

It's more "want" than "need" - specifically for 54Mb wireless and for using a large USB flash drive instead of a hard-disk. Both will work with Full-Speed USB, but will work much better with Hi-Speed USB.

Well, I'm sorry, but there is a reason to why there are PCI expansion slots on a mainboard, and that is to create the ability of customizing your computer according to your needs!

If you don't need USB2, then fine. If you *do*, then put in a PCI card for a few dollars, and off you go!

Takemehomegrandma:
I'm in the group who got very dissapointed that the
EFIKA only has USB 1.1. All the NAS- and other server-
projects I see in the program really need the possibility
to add cheap external USB-harddrives. Connecting it to
12Mbit would be a joke if the product would finalize to
end-users. USB 2.0 is the standard and it shouldn't be
necessary to use up the only PCI- port for a USB 2.0-card.
The PCI-port is perfect for a WiFi or SATA-card.

Today virtually everybody uses usb - it is nothing exotic. And full speed usb has a nice name but a lame performance. An usb host adapter chip is quite cheap and soldered directly to the board saves
- time (to buy and put it in)
- money (onboard chip is cheaper than a pci board)
- a slot (well three slots on the Peg and one on the Efika aren't too much)
- driver worries (if its onboard it is standard, if you buy a board you have to mess around with the actual driver - have you tried high speed usb with MOS yet?)