Efika

How to build an Efika Case?

The Efika board is produced by BPlan and Genesi.

The best OS for Efika is - of course - MorphOS!

This is the efika board:

images/efika/efika.jpg

Compact: Width: 118mm Length: 153mm Height: 38mm

Efficient: Only a mere 4,1 Watt of power consumption (1080mW by CPU, 3 Watt by 128MB RAM)

A complete system with graphics card and hard disk consumes less than 20 Watt of power.

Thanks to Axel Knabe this project was initiated this fast. Many thanks to him for his hard work and time spending for this stuff. He also made the pictures on this site.

Frank Wille made, inspired by this case, his own case version for his Efika by using the same Icy-Box case.

Thanks to Jochen 'Roschmyr' Rhein a PDF containing the Efika back plate is now available. This PDF allows you to simply print out a mask for creating your own Efika case. Please note that the holes for graphic card may not match with your card, as there are several card designs out there, where the connectors are moved a few inches or have an entire different layout.

Pictures

Click on the images for high resolution pictures.

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The basic case is a 5 1/4" drive case, which needs a few modifications to make the Efika fit in. Any 5 1/4" case should work, but this one has blue reflector lights which make it perfect for MorphOS. Size is 18cm x 26cm x 5,2cm
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This is the Efika board with the graphic card which will be placed into the case. In addition we'll also add the analog VGA Output, because it's available, too.
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This is the original casing plate. We need to rework it, to have space for Efika and video board connectors. The only bad part is, that the old USB connector hole is located in the middle.
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We marked it from the inside. Repositioned and marked again until we found a proper position. Then we drilled holes and removed useless metal.
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After "some" more work the back plate looks quite nice.
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Here we drilled three additional holes into the bottom of the case to keep the Efika-Board in position. On the left is a thin self made plastic inlay to avoid the board is sitting on the metal floor.
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For the first time we put in Efika and video board. Did we keep the correct position or will be stuff be to big?Rockford
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Yeah baby! It fits in perfectly.
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The wires you see above the board are for the case lights, which will shine MorphOS blue from the inside when enabled.
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Now we need to put in the power supply, but snail mail didn't do it!
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And the back view onto our work.
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A new day and even more motivation! Here is PICO-PSU is placed within the ATX-connector.
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This is our first experiment. Is the power supply delivered with the drive casing powerful enough for a complete Efika system? Puh! Just 1.4 Ampere used and 2 Ampere available.
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So it's possible to place the power supply inside the case as planned. We cut the power lines, because both cable side plugs are to big for the hole in casing.
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Everything re attached and save again. That was the easy part.
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5V and 12V from power supply are switched by the case main switch at the back. 12V is used for Efikas PICO-PSU and 5V will be used for the case lighting.
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Case LED connectors are cut off and the wires got extended. Above you can see our little power circuit for the 3.2V LEDs.
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This looks like caos.
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No, it just looks like something exploded.
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The CDRom eject button gets a new more important job. It's the new power and reset button.
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The 230V main power line needs to be bond to the casing. A nice side effect is that the old USB hole will be covered.
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This is how it looks from the outside. No external power supply! Cool!
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After 25 Minutes of puzzling, everything is placed right. In the back you can see the prior external power supply. Only the wires need a little fine tuning.
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Case closed and ready to go. Efika is ready for operation. Just an A500 power LED and an IRDA port will applied hidden in side the box.
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Doesn't this look great? You don't like it?
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Well, then take the black one! Or order something completly different. Axel Knabe takes orders of any kind. Smily Happy! Mission accomplished! The Efika has a new home!
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Some people wanted a prove, that there is no external power supply. Of course there is none!
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Same from other side. The CDRom drive is just for showing the case sizing.
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As many people requested, here are the additional pictures of the inside. The big white cable is connecting the IRDA-Port. As you can see, all wires are tied together and fixed at their position.
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At the right you can see the power supply. Glued to the case front from bottom to top there is: Power/Reset switch, IRDA port, drive LED and power LED. The double LED blocks are taken from an old A500.amoeba
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Power on! Here you can see the power LED. The red hard drive LED is nearly invisible beneath.
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Last but not least the same from another perspective. Thanks to the new hard drive this thingy now boots on it's own.

Videos

Here some Efika videos showing the Efikase and the Efika with MorphOS. (Audio is German only). exit

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Efika in Efikase! Technical information. (6.7 MB)
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Efika in Efikase now opened! Technical information. (2 MB)
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Axel Knabe's Demo Efika. (1 MB)
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Efika in Efikase close up and again technical information. (1.8 MB)
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Efika playing a music video. (MorphOS with MPlayer) (2.5 MB)