We have a full pick and place machine in the works as well.

The current single is about 110x110x80 ... I will have to review that part of the website. 

For the SC, that is the projected dimensions right now, but that is subject to change.  I am pushing for a slightly larger, but more aesthetically pleasing outer shell at the moment.

BFL has not and does not sell on eBay. 

BFL is not registered in Massachusetts ... not sure where that came from?  We are currently registered in Wyoming.

Let me explain a bit about why our shipping of product is going to be totally different moving into the ASIC arena.

Right now, we have to rely on outside vendors for many of the parts that go into an FPGA single.  Couple that with the fact that the FPGA single is a complicated piece of machinery and the manufacture and assembly of an FPGA single is very labor intensive.

With the ASICs we are moving the manufacture of a large portion of it in house.  This will cut our supply chain issues down dramatically and allow us to build product as required to fulfill orders... we've invested quite a lot of money in building up our manufacturing and assembly facilities so that we aren't in the position we are in now and forced to rely on the timetables of other companies for some components.  Strangely, the biggest trouble we have is getting the most common stuff on time (fans, heatsinks, etc...).  Then there is the fact that the MiniRig and the Singles use different components, so we have to acquire and keep stock for both types.  With the ASIC generation, all of that will be shared between the units, so it cuts our supply issues in half and allows us to keep more stock.

tl;dr : We have made many changes for the ASIC generation that will make our production, assembly and shipping times measured in days, not weeks.

The dimensions are going to be quite a bit different than the current single.  What page are you looking at that is quoting the dimensions as being similar to the current single?

With regards to sockets, the current generation will not have sockets.  It's wickedly expensive and error prone to put a socket on a board. That said, if something were to cause the units to be unsuitable for mining, we would not forget out customers and just say "Oh too bad, all your gear is worthless."  We would do everything we could to get people back into mining shape with the least amount of hassle and cost, just like we are doing with the transition from FPGA to ASIC.  We don't want to leave any of our current or future customers behind.


I would love to give you a hard time frame, but I don't want to be caught in a situation where people quote back and say "You said you'd do BBB on YYY date" when there are many issues that might make that date change that are out of my control.  But I have already been in the planning stages of showing something off fairly soon, but no I'm not committing to a specific date as of yet.  But no, we won't be shipping on the 1st of October - it's late October or early November depending on stock levels come late October.

Things are looking really good though, we just shipped off a metric bucketload of FPGA singles today and we are almost caught up on that front, so our production facility is getting into nice shape and we will be able to crank out lots of ASIC units as well, so things are looking good and are on track right now.

That's right, I want to buy your signature space. 

Price depends on amount of posts and activity in the community on a daily basis.  A minimum of 200 posts required and you must be currently active to a degree (meaning you post at least once or twice a day).

I mean ramping up the actual shipping.

Probably, but there are competitive issues that outweigh that at the moment.

The new units will be even more aesthetically pleasing than the originals. 

We are working on ramping up our current shipping as well as our ASIC shipping.  Rest assured our shipping times are improving and will continue to improve through the ASIC launch.

BFL has never used second hand or refurbished FPGAs.

Fixed the date, it is indeed 1st of March. 

Gyrsur, as far as the hardware development goes, that's not something we are commenting on at the current time.  We will put out a specific production update when we are ready.

I've updated the FAQ section to address some of the more common questions.  I'm also working on a few other things that are not publicly visible yet.  I had hoped to have them deployed this week, but it's already 17:30 here and I don't think I'm going to get to it.    I may work on it over the weekend.

With regards to the update, it is still on track.  As I've indicated in the FAQ, we still expect to start shipments in late October or early November (depending on stock levels) via the 1/3 plan. 

I am working on improving the build quality and QA procedures for both the singles and minirigs... and also educating the assemblers in the use of Loctite blue and proper application of thermal paste.

Sorry to hear that you had so many problems, are you taken care of now (sorry, I just saw this thread.)?

The website is my focus this week, I hope to have it cleaned up and more information posted.  Easyminer has taken a back seat for a lot of that time due to our focus on the ASIC engineering as we have limited resources when it comes to that.  We have been putting some resources into Easyminer recently though.  We hope to have something more available RSN.

Website and more information is definitely a priority for this week, though.

I am working on coming up with a concrete reply and explanation of the shipping plan which I will post/distribute when I have it ready.

I know that I am obviously biased, but I hope my rep in the community at least carries some weight.

BFL absolutely does not hold on to units any longer than it takes to burn them in and make sure they aren't going to fail.  We ship them out as soon as they have been assembled and tested.

Any testing beyond a burn in will be public on these forums and I will make a page to show the current stats of the unit(s) being demo'd.  There's no plans for this currently, though, other than maybe a brief demo as we get closer to the ship date.  I'm thinking a live web cam and a page to look at the hashrate.

Yes, a website overhaul/update is definitely one of the priorities I am currently working on.  Contrary to some of the naysayers, better communication is my top priority.  I'm juggling a lot of balls right now, so each one is moving slower than it would if I could focus 100% on it, and hopefully I don't drop any.  If I do, someone pick it up and throw it back into the mix, please.

Dear Tom,

Yes.

Sincerely,

BFL

XXOO