Not yet! We actually have to make some slight changes before the next production. ;-) Glad to see you finally received the EFIKA.

R&B :)

This is my imagination about next EFIKA revision:
+ onboard integrated graphic card
+ 2x internal USB headers
+ expandable RAM memory
+ 2 x PS/2 slots

What do you think ?

Is anywhere a wishlist for next EFIKA generation ?
I often can't find the right thread.
We could make one. We have EFIKAs in our hands and we know what could be better and what could be worse.
After all Genesi would decide if is some feature possible or not. It's the same like project approval.I know that is not easy to develop a board, but some of us has good ideas.

The revisions we are discussing are much more discrete. Remember, this is the foundation on our approach:

http://bbrv.blogspot.com/2006/12/efika- ... -life.html

That is a complicated read, but the firmware for the EFIKA and all our previous platforms will be upgraded in the next 45-60 days. We will offer new firmware for the EFIKA (and the Pegasos/ODW). We will define a new hardware specification outside of CHRP.

The long term objective for Genesi is to provide a low cost, low power, highly reliable computing platform that can be flexibly applied to many uses. We hope to be selling the EFIKA at $99 by April (and sooner if possible). The 5200B is to be followed by another SoC with integrated graphic support at the same price (for the SoC). The new firmware will be inexorably linked to this new SoC in form and function. The EFIKA is a development platform that targets the system we will offer with the new SoC. We expect to be shipping the next version of the EFIKA before the end of 2007. The first diagram shown in the link that follows (the second image is what we hope for after that):

http://bbrv.blogspot.com/2006/10/wantin ... -have.html

R&B :)

BBRV:
Way to go! I guess you can't give yourself a Power Post Award
so you get this one from me instead;



:)

Much desired


or a slim usb hub addon


Depends on how much it could cost IMHO, maybe having 2 options about memory one low and one high could be good if there is that much need ^^


Please no. PS/2 should never come back.

That's why I choose Genesi and PowerPC :-)

Nothing to do with this thing, but can you send me an exact plan with all the dimensions of the motherboard plz ? I've some problems in mesuring precisely the distances between the back connectors. I've made some tests before asking but I'm not satisfied ...
Thx in advance !

interesting little 8) pc "Express Card" box
http://pcexposure.com/2007/01/06/asus-u ... r-laptops/

other than take up the one PCi slot what other options are there to interface an industry standard pc "Express Card" to the efika?.

hopefully once XGI cards are released into the wild, the OpenGL ES API will be favoured instead of the pure API because the ES is essentially targeted at embedded applications

interestingly i was re-reading this
http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/07/18/an ... _gl_merge/
and given that it appears (cant beleave that passed me by) PS3 is also using OpenGL ES , it makes good long term sense to have that as a core ability in the PPC/Altivec/SPU linux codebase.

weres Markos and the other Altivec/vector people ,havent seem them post for a while now...

are any of you porting/patching your vector code to OpenGL ES yet?.

I am wondering about the status regarding the developer boards? Have you sent all of them yet? I'm asking since I am still waiting, and I wonder if something is wrong? ;-)

Stefan, is the information on your Profile correct?!

R&B

Planned.



Under discussion.



This would give you a board that cost the same amount retail, and would be a bit bigger to fit the slot on too (SO-DIMM is quite large footprint), but have a hidden ~$50 extra cost attached to it (since you need to buy RAM too).

That really does not fit into our $99 Efika goal.

So, no. If there is a large enough order we may make 256MB or 512MB Efika boards, but we are talking of the order of some thousands, pretty much due to the minimum order quantity of RAM chips, and the extra cost of redesigning the board to suit (MPC5200B poses some technological limitations)

So far there has been very little actual demand or request for such a memory size increase (the order of single percentage points of customers)



No. This is 2007. No legacy ports!

true there is a hidden cost with upgradable memory.
Although it would be extremely nice to have, it would significantly increase its vulnerability to vibration, and in such environments such as vehicles, which vibrate a lot, the board would get rattled and bashed around like a toy in the hands of a destructive toddler.

One of my first thoughts when the board arrived here is that the PCI slot looked a bit.... uncommon on a board which also has CAN.

Wondering about the integrated graphics hardware, would it pull memory from the main pool or would it have its own memory. In either case the amount of RAM would have to be increased.... Playing around with the board with different apps, 128MB is pushing it a bit for the bells and whistles in a graphical environment, however fluxbox does offer a good graphical to speed ratio.

As to PS/2, its a legacy port which will stick around until someone convinces the manufacturing plants in china to move onto USB which comes with its own joys.

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