Avalon ASIC users thread

[yxt]

Thank you for your work.
I really do not understand Avalon ... Would be so easy to get you at least a one module device

as already said. Allow hashing donations in cgminer 

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[-ck]

I'm planning on using the built in TP-LINK WR703N. It's trivial to flash the unit with new a new .bin file. I'd rethink my plan if there was a substancial performance boost, but it doesn't seem that would be the case.

All that being said, if / when the TP-Link eats it, I'll probably replace it with whatever I have laying around.

It's not that I'm opposed to building my own binaries, just don't see the benefit for the time spent on it.

Performance will be identical because the serial driver is not rate limiting. However reliability may be different, but only time will tell that for sure.

[ewibit]

Thank you for your work.
I really do not understand Avalon ... Would be so easy to get you at least a one module device

1. thx too 
2. best thing they could do to send you and/or kano only one module for free...
(IMHO)

[kano]

Thank you for your work.
I really do not understand Avalon ... Would be so easy to get you at least a one module device

1. thx too 
2. best thing they could do to send you and/or kano only one module for free...
(IMHO)

Send 2 modules to him
I'm not sure why they say they wont do it ...

[daemondazz]

I'm not sure why they say they wont do it ...

Obviously they don't want a working market for their hardware?

[ProfMac]

Thank you for your work.
I really do not understand Avalon ... Would be so easy to get you at least a one module device

1. thx too  
2. best thing they could do to send you and/or kano only one module for free...
(IMHO)

Send 2 modules to him
I'm not sure why they say they wont do it ...

There are about 900 Avalons scheduled.  Proceeds of about BTC 0.1 from each one to the ckolivas Asic account would buy him one.  There is just as much reason for us to do that as there is for Avalon to do it.

[SolarSilver]

how would you get to it if you're solo mining from a data center?

I guess you would not have these machines naked on the internet, but hidden behind some kind of
firewall, so log into the firewall first and then ssh into the avalon unit. You can run the pool software on the firewall

[-ck]

To be clear, Avalon have offered to send me one in the next shipment if I pay for it, or alternatively send me a small ~6GH module for free. As I wasn't actually looking to buy one, I have at this stage opted for the latter. BFL offered me hardware with no strings attached, and to show them I appreciate the gesture I have ordered a second unit (though we all know what the story is with their hardware delivery at this stage so let's not go there).  I am a developer, not an investor and I am, and have always been, unhappy about the idea of forking out almost 10k (now) up front for something in such a volatile market even if it is likely to pay itself off in about a month.

[daemondazz]

To be clear, Avalon have offered to send me one in the next shipment if I pay for it, or alternatively send me a small ~6GH module for free. As I wasn't actually looking to buy one, I have at this stage opted for the latter.

That's great news and will hopefully benefit all of us working on DIY projects with the Avalon chip too. Although I guess we stick pretty close to Avalon's comms protocol with the PC?

[BitSyncom]

Thank you for your work.
I really do not understand Avalon ... Would be so easy to get you at least a one module device

1. thx too  
2. best thing they could do to send you and/or kano only one module for free...
(IMHO)

Send 2 modules to him
I'm not sure why they say they wont do it ...

Avalon itself do not wish to get involved with it,
the reason for this is we wish to avoid all form of drama of the question "who deserve a unit and who didn't and why." not to mention the lack of Avalon Units due to attempting to scale up production

While we appreciate ckolivas' work very much, and we have donated bitcoins to him on various occasions,
the decision for him to support Avalon on cgminer is entirely up to him. We are not obligated to provide him an Avalon Unit just like he is not obligated to provide support for Avalon in cgminer, this is the nature of open source. if those Avalon Owners who wish ckolivas to continue supporting are welcome to donate to him so he can get a unit.

Of course, we'd like ckolivas and others to continue to support Avalon, so we have created the 6Gh/s dev-board( 65W, 40 degrees C passively cooled) so we can send to developers so it may aide them in R&D.

as ckolivas mentioned, he opted for the latter and will receive one shortly.

[yxt]

Ok, thanks for the detailed answer  

if those Avalon Owners who wish ckolivas to continue supporting are welcome to donate to him

as soon as I'm a proud owner I will do this 

[kano]

Thank you for your work.
I really do not understand Avalon ... Would be so easy to get you at least a one module device

1. thx too  
2. best thing they could do to send you and/or kano only one module for free...
(IMHO)

Send 2 modules to him
I'm not sure why they say they wont do it ...

Avalon itself do not wish to get involved with it,
the reason for this is we wish to avoid all form of drama of the question "who deserve a unit and who didn't and why." not to mention the lack of Avalon Units due to attempting to scale up production

While we appreciate ckolivas' work very much, and we have donated bitcoins to him on various occasions,
the decision for him to support Avalon on cgminer is entirely up to him. We are not obligated to provide him an Avalon Unit just like he is not obligated to provide support for Avalon in cgminer, this is the nature of open source. if those Avalon Owners who wish ckolivas to continue supporting are welcome to donate to him so he can get a unit.

Of course, we'd like ckolivas and others to continue to support Avalon, so we have created the 6Gh/s dev-board( 65W, 40 degrees C passively cooled) so we can send to developers so it may aide them in R&D.

as ckolivas mentioned, he opted for the latter and will receive one shortly.

Actually it isn't the nature of OpenSource. That statement is blatantly false.
Typically hardware developers support OpenSource by providing the OpenSource software developers with hardware.
They understand that providing that hardware is good for them and good for their customers
I think you should read up about that before making false statements.
Even in the Bitcoin world it happens.
BFL do it, Black Arrow Lancelot does, Asicminer does, ModMinerQuad did ... and I'm sure there are others.
But ... Avalon does not since they have a monopoly where they can sell everything they have without concern for how they treat their customers.

So basically you are saying with the 6GH/s board, rather than sending a 22GH/s box with only one card or even a larger box with more cards, to save money you spent the effort developing a 6GH/s board ... right ... why do I wonder about the validity of that statement.

I find the statement amusing where you give the people who buy Avalons from you the go-ahead to donate to ckolivas ...
They need that from you?

Basically what has happened since January is that Avalon has failed to support the OpenSource cgminer software to fix problems with the version YOU released - ignore the official version, I'm talking about the Avalon version.

ckolivas has gone in and fixed a lot of these problems but due to lack of hardware and not having constant access to it, these fixes are slow to get out.
So, as with most of your support, it's bad luck for the customer.

If anyone is mining on an Avalon and is losing mining time due to it failing, you know why.

[daemondazz]

I'm not sure Avalon actually know the meaning of 'support', they are providing absolutely zero support for purchases either, beyond their avalon-ref github repo of course. Even the information in their github is not complete.

[Vicus]

kano wants his free Avalon again

[Sitarow]

Thank you for your work.
I really do not understand Avalon ... Would be so easy to get you at least a one module device

1. thx too  
2. best thing they could do to send you and/or kano only one module for free...
(IMHO)

Send 2 modules to him
I'm not sure why they say they wont do it ...

Avalon itself do not wish to get involved with it,
the reason for this is we wish to avoid all form of drama of the question "who deserve a unit and who didn't and why." not to mention the lack of Avalon Units due to attempting to scale up production

While we appreciate ckolivas' work very much, and we have donated bitcoins to him on various occasions,
the decision for him to support Avalon on cgminer is entirely up to him. We are not obligated to provide him an Avalon Unit just like he is not obligated to provide support for Avalon in cgminer, this is the nature of open source. if those Avalon Owners who wish ckolivas to continue supporting are welcome to donate to him so he can get a unit.

Of course, we'd like ckolivas and others to continue to support Avalon, so we have created the 6Gh/s dev-board( 65W, 40 degrees C passively cooled) so we can send to developers so it may aide them in R&D.

as ckolivas mentioned, he opted for the latter and will receive one shortly.

Actually it isn't the nature of OpenSource. That statement is blatantly false.
Typically hardware developers support OpenSource by providing the OpenSource software developers with hardware.
They understand that providing that hardware is good for them and good for their customers
I think you should read up about that before making false statements.
Even in the Bitcoin world it happens.
BFL do it, Black Arrow Lancelot does, Asicminer does, ModMinerQuad did ... and I'm sure there are others.
But ... Avalon does not since they have a monopoly where they can sell everything they have without concern for how they treat their customers.

So basically you are saying with the 6GH/s board, rather than sending a 22GH/s box with only one card or even a larger box with more cards, to save money you spent the effort developing a 6GH/s board ... right ... why do I wonder about the validity of that statement.

I find the statement amusing where you give the people who buy Avalons from you the go-ahead to donate to ckolivas ...
They need that from you?

Basically what has happened since January is that Avalon has failed to support the OpenSource cgminer software to fix problems with the version YOU released - ignore the official version, I'm talking about the Avalon version.

ckolivas has gone in and fixed a lot of these problems but due to lack of hardware and not having constant access to it, these fixes are slow to get out.
So, as with most of your support, it's bad luck for the customer.

If anyone is mining on an Avalon and is losing mining time due to it failing, you know why.

Don't forget that they are doing their part in working towards decentralizing mining.
That itself is costing them plenty. Look at asicminer and soon to be other projects that are offering local centralized mining to shareholders and are making a killing.

[kano]

kano wants his free Avalon again

No the reality is, that (if) when you get your Avalon there are only 2 possibilities:
1) You will need to babysit or add extra power management hardware to it to keep it running
2) It will contain some or all of the changes ckolivas has done, over the past month or so, thanks to him being able to get remote access to Avalons belonging to Aseras, Xiangfu and Sitarow
Pretty simple and you will not find GitSyncom denying it unless he is lying or just ignorant of reality
(though he likes to do that here as further above is an example)

[Vicus]

1) You will need to babysit or add extra power management hardware to it to keep it running

Already did.

[fpgaminer]

The avalon does some weird and (not so) wonderful things to emulate running serial at 115200 baud, and the ftdi chip has some serious limitations I never would have known about had I not started poking around

It sounds like the FPGA code needs a rehaul.  Do you know if the 6GH/s devkit you are receiving has an equivalent FPGA setup on it?  If so, that would be a great place to test new bitstreams.  I would start the work myself using one of my Batch #2's, but since the controller board is irreplaceable, I'm hesitant to play around with it :/

[anti76]

Has not yet received any answers about my order №200000846.

BitSyncom very sorry that work with clients situation at this level.

[-ck]

The direct USB code does not really work at all on the MIPS router that is built into the Avalon device itself

Cancel that. Xiangfu set me up with usbmon on his standalone avalon and I was able to track down the problem so direct USB is now working on the avalon itself \o/