So what video cards are compatible/recommended for old Efika 5200B?
Radeon 9250 seems to be the most popular, please post here your opinions and experience.

That avatar image looks familiar! Thanks for helping me on the AROS Exec forum with my Raspberry Pi question. I got it to run AROS, but this early SD card image either does not fully work on the Raspberry Pi, or I might have done something wrong in creating it. My knowledge of Linux is almost zero and my knowledge of AROS "IS" zero.

I use a Radeon 9250 w/128mb VRAM in my Efika 5200b and it works very well. It has been so long since I opened up my Efika 5200b, I can't remember if it is an AGP video card connected to a 90 degree angled PCI to AGP adapter, or if it is an PCI video card connected to a 90 degree angled AGP to PCI adapter?

I think it uses an AGP video card, but I will open it up to find out just in case I am wrong, as I might have a temporary alternate use for the Radeon 9250 video card if it is a PCI card in an AGP to PCI adapter. The fastest video cards for use with MorphOS3.1 with both 2D & 3D support (to my knowledge) are the Radeon 8500, 8500LE, & 9000Pro, but I believe that these are difficult to impossible to find in PCI format and most commonly will only have 64mb of VRAM, as the 128mb VRAM cards are more rare for those models.

I would probably suggest you just buy either a 128mb VRAM, or 256mb VRAM Radeon 9250 for your Efika 5200b, as it should provide adequate performance and will be easier to find.

You simply require a low profile radeon card, which limits the card base to 92xx cards.

Some other cards also exists, but better go for a fully supported radeon.

Geit

> I can't remember if it is an AGP video card connected to a 90 degree angled
> PCI to AGP adapter, or if it is an PCI video card connected to a 90 degree
> angled AGP to PCI adapter? I think it uses an AGP video card

Yes, it should be an AGP card in a PCI slot via riser card.

http://www.genesi-tech.com/products/efika/5200b
http://www.bplan-gmbh.de/specifications.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efika#EfikaPPC

> The fastest video cards for use with MorphOS3.1 with both 2D & 3D support
> (to my knowledge) are the Radeon 8500, 8500LE, & 9000Pro

You forgot the 9100, which is essentially a renamed 8500LE.

@amigadave

Radeon8500 with 128MB is not so rare. There's a low profile Radeon9100 with 64MB. I wouldn't buy a 256MB model since it seems to be unsupported on Efika (At least only 128MB are recognized on mine). On the other hand when you look foor a Radeon92x0 try to buy the 128bit model (usually the non-SE/LE one). Getting a card with 64MB or more is a good idea. Although Efika is nice I would rather buy a supported g4 powermac/powerbook/mac mini (or one of the latest G4 iBooks).

Thanks for replies.
Just won Efika on ebay (new boxed with AGP riser).
I used to run MOS 2.7 on PowerMac bit it died.
And I sold PowerBook 5,8 few months before MOS3.0 came out.
I always wanted to try Efika, I like minimal hardware.

So iBook is supported as well? That's cool because I don't like laptops bigger than 12".





@amigadave

I don't have Pi, I was testing Debian SD card images in Qemu/Linux.
Anyway you should try Wheezy build.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads

One more question:
Is TV-out (s-video or composite) working in Radeons under MorphOS?

> iBook is supported as well?

Not yet.

https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/viewtopic.php?forum=11&topic_id=8503&start=22

Quote:

Why?

Quote:

I've never tried composite out but I tried DVI to HDMI and it works fine.

You need a low profile AGP card because normal height cards will collide with the connectors. Depending on the case you plan to use you could use a PCI riser, it shouldn't degrade too much the pci/agp signals. If you use a PCI card you could use a full height card, of course.

iBook is not supported but will probably be supported in future versions, latest 1.33Ghz 12" iBook will probably be a good candidate (I'm interested in 12" iBooks due to portability, for bigger screen size a 15" Powerbook is much better than a 14" iBook)

[ Edited by Crumb 21.09.2012 - 09:58 ]

> latest 1.33Ghz 12" iBook will probably be a good candidate

In case 3D support plays a role, the revision before that (1.2 GHz 12" or 1.33 GHz 14") might be better suited because of R200 (Radeon 9200) GPU instead of R300 (Radeon 9550). But who knows, with recent events, R300 3D support might come even sooner than iBook support ;-)

I dont need any case so I may look for PCI version of Radeon.

Before I buy decent DVI monitor I would like to test drive Efika connecting it to my linux laptop using s-video/composite USB capture device.

(I'm after 1.33Ghz 12" iBook too).

I have on my efika the 9200 PRO 128MB/128 bits and work perfect here :)

@mt12345,

Don't judge MorphOS3.1 by how it runs on the Efika 5200b. It has a few problems that you must be aware of, such as poor USB performance, a flaky IDE controller and needing more RAM on the Efika 5200b's motherboard.

Other than that, it can run a lot of native MorphOS software as well as a good deal of Amiga 68k software programs that don't directly try to hit hardware that isn't there.

I still have my Efika 5200b, but have not used it in over a year.

> it can run [...] a good deal of Amiga 68k software programs that don't
> directly try to hit hardware that isn't there.

Is there any other Amiga 68k program than Desert Racing of BarDos that can't run on the Efika 5200B while it can run on all other MorphOS machines?

Do the graphics cards for the EFIKA 5200b have to be Mac or IBM Flashed or does it even matter?

> Do the graphics cards for the EFIKA 5200b have to be Mac or IBM
> Flashed or does it even matter?

Yes, it does matter, as it has to be an x86 ROM.

mt12345,
Quote:

Because the network block is to high. A full sized AGP card would somehow fit, but it or the raiser needs to be bended and isolated, which is ok for testing, but a bad idea for long term usage.

Geit