Luke Jr. @ BFL

[repentance]

Luke Jr in BFL shoutbox just now.

I think I'm going to have to go home w/o any ASICs.

His response to questions about the problem is "nfc" (no fuckng clue).

Update from Josh.

https://forums.butterflylabs.com/bfl-forum-miscellaneous/1380-what-happened-updates-3.html#post19506

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[Cablez]

Can you quote it as I cannot access the site for several hours now.

[repentance]

Can you quote it as I cannot access the site for several hours now.

No problems.

I have no idea where this ludicrous "ground plane issue" rumor got started, but whoever started it is out of touch with any sense of reality. There is no ground plane issue on the PCBs. The hold up right now is the test rig and debugging it... since that is what we are doing at the moment, there's nothing new to update. Once the test rig issue is resolved, we will resume the process going forward. I am loathe to detail the process at this point, it is just fuel for the trolls who like to pick apart every word type and analyze it for conspiracy theories. I will update when I have an update that's worth posting. Smaller updates I will post in the chat, and thanks to the magic of the grrnbrg they will make it to twitter. At this time, I wholeheartedly endorse grrnbrgs unofficial twitter feed.

Just as an unrelated side note, it would take approximately 24 hours to get new PCB's made if we had to redesign them for some reason. Depending on whatever would need to be done to the PCBs, the actual design work would take two or three days typically, unless it was a complete redesign and there would be basically no reason in the world to do that at this point. I don't know why anyone would think 4 - 6 weeks for a PCB redesign, that's just crazy. We have gone through many, many board redesigns since this process started, I've only pictured two or three of the 6 or 7 revisions we've had throughout the process. Basically, we could have a redesigned board ready to go by the time the chips arrived at the facility, that has never been a sticking point.

I haven't been posting much because I am very busy with other issues related to getting these chips out and making sure everything is ready once they arrive here in KC. I will make time to sit down and go through some of the threads here as soon as I can, but right now I am focusing on all the details for shipping. The daily DDoS doesn't help, but I've mostly gotten that automated at this point, so it's no longer that big of a concern or time suck thankfully.

[Syke]

Just as an unrelated side note, it would take approximately 24 hours to get new PCB's made if we had to redesign them for some reason. Depending on whatever would need to be done to the PCBs, the actual design work would take two or three days typically, unless it was a complete redesign and there would be basically no reason in the world to do that at this point. I don't know why anyone would think 4 - 6 weeks for a PCB redesign, that's just crazy. We have gone through many, many board redesigns since this process started, I've only pictured two or three of the 6 or 7 revisions we've had throughout the process. Basically, we could have a redesigned board ready to go by the time the chips arrived at the facility, that has never been a sticking point.

I just love how he criticizes other people's estimates, when every single estimate he's ever given has been missed by 1000% or more.

[fcmatt]

I sorta gave up following bfl... But the post above did not help in the least.  am i wrong to guess they still have not ran a test unit that can actually hash yet?

[repentance]

I sorta gave up following bfl... But the post above did not help in the least.  am i wrong to guess they still have not ran a test unit that can actually hash yet?

No, you're not wrong.  They're hoping to have things sorted out next week.

But I digress... as I said in the shoutbox, we think we've found the problem with the test rig and the ASIC team has managed to get the chips spinning with some hand modifications to the test rig and some of the engines were even running at 500 MHz. They are going to finish diagnosing and then get new hardware for the test rig, so we should have something demonstrable by early to mid next week. Should be pretty smooth sailing after that.

The chances of them shipping before April seem extremely remote given that update.

[TwinTurbo]

I sorta gave up following bfl... But the post above did not help in the least.  am i wrong to guess they still have not ran a test unit that can actually hash yet?

No, you're not wrong.  They're hoping to have things sorted out next week.

But I digress... as I said in the shoutbox, we think we've found the problem with the test rig and the ASIC team has managed to get the chips spinning with some hand modifications to the test rig and some of the engines were even running at 500 MHz. They are going to finish diagnosing and then get new hardware for the test rig, so we should have something demonstrable by early to mid next week. Should be pretty smooth sailing after that.

The chances of them shipping before April seem extremely remote given that update.

Even though I have some BFL gear on order, I'd certainly hope they don't ship before April. If they did, it'd probably mean the testing won't be very thorough. Even in the IT industry, 1 week to test a complex piece of software after it's presumed to be final is very aggressive. We're talking hardware here, not just software. How does it behave with different mining software? How does it behave under higher thermal conditions? Humidity conditions? What are the voltage variance operating limits? Is it prone to any RF interference? I could come up with a million test cases but you all get the idea.

Actually, as much as I want it, I'll be disappointed if they ship it before the end of the month. Between the eternal BFL date-slips and the astronomical Avalon batch 3 price, maybe the market is begging for another contender to enter the ring.

[creativex]

Even though I have some BFL gear on order, I'd certainly hope they don't ship before April. If they did, it'd probably mean the testing won't be very thorough. Even in the IT industry, 1 week to test a complex piece of software after it's presumed to be final is very aggressive. We're talking hardware here, not just software. How does it behave with different mining software? How does it behave under higher thermal conditions? Humidity conditions? What are the voltage variance operating limits? Is it prone to any RF interference? I could come up with a million test cases but you all get the idea.

For clarification, you are referring to BFL here are you not? The company that's now hoping to produce a working prototype AFTER mass producing chips? Somehow I don't think such elaborate testing procedures are going to be on the agenda. Then again who knows, they did just wheel out that new(illegal) all sales are final bit.

Between the eternal BFL date-slips and the astronomical Avalon batch 3 price, maybe the market is begging for another contender to enter the ring.

You gotta figure one has a whole lot to do with the other. bASIC goes tits up and BFL continues to demonstrate an astonishing inaba-ility to do...anything at all effectively. Suddenly the price of the only working ASIC vendor's product skyrockets.

[Monster Tent]

And seriously, the order management system still isn't up and running properly - what the hell does Jody get paid for?

I don't get that either! Just imagine BFL would have shipped back in October 2012 as they initially promised. Can you imagine the chaos?

People that ordered Jalapenos getting Mini Rigs - and vice versa. Their order system is a mess. I just checked today - my order is still not correct.

I still remember one of Jody's updates where she said BFL might skip Christmas holidays because they will be busy assembling our miners. Playing on people's pity. Funny. Not!

As it turned out all bullshit.

Besides playing Minecraft and trolling their own forums: What does BFL staff actually do all day? One could expect that at least their infrastructure would be set up and running by now. Yet nothing has happened.

Butt full of FLies: Incompetence. Inability. Dishonesty.

Butt Flies ftw

[meowmeowbrowncow]

Just as an unrelated side note, it would take approximately 24 hours to get new PCB's made if we had to redesign them for some reason. Depending on whatever would need to be done to the PCBs, the actual design work would take two or three days typically, unless it was a complete redesign and there would be basically no reason in the world to do that at this point. I don't know why anyone would think 4 - 6 weeks for a PCB redesign, that's just crazy. We have gone through many, many board redesigns since this process started, I've only pictured two or three of the 6 or 7 revisions we've had throughout the process. Basically, we could have a redesigned board ready to go by the time the chips arrived at the facility, that has never been a sticking point.

I just love how he criticizes other people's estimates, when every single estimate he's ever given has been missed by 1000% or more.

There is some truth to this.