DIY PCB with AVALON: "The Quarter Stick" - Needs Help!

[AlexBBB]

how many layers this PCB should be? I suppose 4 layers, one would be the GND?

Actually, cheap 2x layers PCB - more then enough.

2 layers, is it easy to copy?

Yes, easy. Lot of China facility's will be happy to do 10*10 cm2, 2 layers PCB for .... $0,6...1,0 each with QTY of 100x
It's standard price.

Hi Alex, you mean to say bring the exact pcb to china and ask them to produced exactly the same and pcb costs is only $0.6 to $1.00? wow that is quite a bit of saving.. compares to the BOM .

I believe AlexBBB is stating that if you provide the PCB design file(EAGLE file, etc) then you can have it reproduced cheaply. When Avalon releases their designs you will be able to hand over the PCB design files and have them mass produced if you wanted. Same goes for this project if they are open sourced.

@Gomeler, tnx for comment.
Exactly. Btw, if you have no .PCB file yet, just only PCB Boards to be copyed - it is easy problem. Just little additional payment for produce .PCB file from real PCB Board.

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[aeronautical]

If this tread idea works it should standardise on on E-CAD or electronic CAD i would recommend using
http://www.cadsoftusa.com/
- Supports many platforms
- Fantastic library support
- Ties in with component suppliers
- Free or very cheap
- Is an industry standard for open source type work
- Easy to use

Also people could get pcb's made anywhere

I have Cadence and Altium but for this group kinda work Eagle cad is the best.

And if any one could tell me where i can order a hand full of Avalon ASIC's that would be great.

[BkkCoins]

If this tread idea works it should standardise on on E-CAD or electronic CAD i would recommend using
http://www.cadsoftusa.com/
- Supports many platforms
- Fantastic library support
- Ties in with component suppliers
- Free or very cheap
- Is an industry standard for open source type work
- Easy to use

Also people could get pcb's made anywhere

I have Cadence and Altium but for this group kinda work Eagle cad is the best.

And if any one could tell me where i can order a hand full of Avalon ASIC's that would be great.

Eagle

What's the limit on free board size? I recall 3"x4" but maybe it's 4"x6"? I've used this before but not for a while. It's pretty much standard for low budget open source projects due to being free and easily available by anyone. I'm sure experienced designers would want to use Altium but for most people that means a pirated version.

edit: Just looked at their site again. Seems they have no free version now. ?? Even the hobbyist version is $169, limited to 4"x6". Well, I guess when I used it before it was pirated but I thought they had a free release too. Scratch that. Found it here,

http://www.cadsoftusa.com/download-eagle/freeware/

Limited to 10cm x 8cm and one sheet.

And if any one could tell me where i can order a hand full of Avalon ASIC's that would be great.

They're available (to order, not ship) right now in this forum. Pay first, get in 9-10 weeks. I ordered 20 to play around with but others are ordering 500+.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=177827.0

[BenTuras]

You confused Alltens single Chip USB powered design with my modular 10 Chip Design.
You will need 50 Modules for 500 Chips.

Thanks, and you're right. So I am in for 50 Modules.

[shibaji]

Just to re-iterate that I am getting it correct:

1. I will order X number of chips (multiple of 10) from Zefir's chip distribution thread
2. Order X/10 assembled boards here in this thread with expected cost of about 80 euro per board
3. Chips can be transferred directly from Zefir to burnin
4. The assembled boards are ready to plug & play ?

Please confirm that my understanding is correct and I will proceed with my ordering in both threads.

Thanks a lot for doing this.

[jeprokzki]

is there any diy mining rig builders group here that i can join in? because i dont have a knowledge in building this diy rig i'll just fund them to make me a mining rig

[shibaji]

Just to re-iterate that I am getting it correct:

1. I will order X number of chips (multiple of 10) from Zefir's chip distribution thread
2. Order X/10 assembled boards here in this thread with expected cost of about 80 euro per board
3. Chips can be transferred directly from Zefir to burnin
4. The assembled boards are ready to plug & play ?

Please confirm that my understanding is correct and I will proceed with my ordering in both threads.

Thanks a lot for doing this.

Looks like Zefir's 1st batch is sold out. So, at this point I would like to buy completed board from Allten, Burnin ; Please put me down for 25 completed boards. I will PM as well.

[BkkCoins]

Looks like Zefir's 1st batch is sold out. So, at this point I would like to buy completed board from Allten, Burnin ; Please put me down for 25 completed boards. I will PM as well.

Zefir has stated that he's accepting orders in the second batch and that it looks like it will only be a few days behind the first, though he doesn't guarantee the timing of course. So my take on that is that it's fine to keep ordering and he'll place another order very soon.

[aeronautical]

If this tread idea works it should standardise on on E-CAD or electronic CAD i would recommend using
http://www.cadsoftusa.com/
- Supports many platforms
- Fantastic library support
- Ties in with component suppliers
- Free or very cheap
- Is an industry standard for open source type work
- Easy to use

Also people could get pcb's made anywhere

I have Cadence and Altium but for this group kinda work Eagle cad is the best.

And if any one could tell me where i can order a hand full of Avalon ASIC's that would be great.

Eagle

What's the limit on free board size? I recall 3"x4" but maybe it's 4"x6"? I've used this before but not for a while. It's pretty much standard for low budget open source projects due to being free and easily available by anyone. I'm sure experienced designers would want to use Altium but for most people that means a pirated version.

edit: Just looked at their site again. Seems they have no free version now. ?? Even the hobbyist version is $169, limited to 4"x6". Well, I guess when I used it before it was pirated but I thought they had a free release too. Scratch that. Found it here,

http://www.cadsoftusa.com/download-eagle/freeware/

Limited to 10cm x 8cm and one sheet.

And if any one could tell me where i can order a hand full of Avalon ASIC's that would be great.

They're available (to order, not ship) right now in this forum. Pay first, get in 9-10 weeks. I ordered 20 to play around with but others are ordering 500+.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=177827.0

(Limitations: 99 schematic sheets, 6 signal layers, 160x100mm routing area) $69 or (Limitations: 99 schematic sheets, 6 signal layers, 160x100mm routing area)$820

That should be enough area, it used to be free!
Will need more than 2 layer  PCB...

[aeronautical]

Just another question about Avalon ASIC's i can't find the info any more but i read somewhere that they were going to sell the chips mounted
on PCB's because they figured that surface mount chips would be to hard for a DIY job. Can some clear this up?

[BkkCoins]

Just another question about Avalon ASIC's i can't find the info any more but i read somewhere that they were going to sell the chips mounted
on PCB's because they figured that surface mount chips would be to hard for a DIY job. Can some clear this up?

I haven't read anything about pre-mounting on boards.

The QFN48 package is relatively easy to mount. The pitch is very fine (0.5mm spacing between pins) but I believe it's not too tricky to do by hand as long as the pcb has a mask. The preferred way is using a stencil and solder paste in a reflow oven (toaster oven for hobbyists) for the whole board at once.

[marra]

Just another question about Avalon ASIC's i can't find the info any more but i read somewhere that they were going to sell the chips mounted
on PCB's because they figured that surface mount chips would be to hard for a DIY job. Can some clear this up?

I haven't read anything about pre-mounting on boards.

The QFN48 package is relatively easy to mount. The pitch is very fine (0.5mm spacing between pins) but I believe it's not too tricky to do by hand as long as the pcb has a mask. The preferred way is using a stencil and solder paste in a reflow oven (toaster oven for hobbyists) for the whole board at once.

yup, avalon chips aren't BGA, so it is quite easy for a skilled engineer to mount...

[aeronautical]

Ok thanks so if the Avalon ASIC's 280 Mhs per chip how many do we want per PCB?
Or what the target output per PCB?

[marra]

The only thing that's missing now is multi layer gerber file for pcbs and/or general pcb diagram...

AWESOME!!!

[marra]

Ok thanks so if the Avalon ASIC's 280 Mhs per chip how many do we want per PCB?
Or what the target output per PCB?

I think there should not be more than on the original avalon 1, just to avoid ragging joules that could appear and resource spending on the new heat signature testing...

[aeronautical]

That's 80 right?
I looked at a few things PCI-e too hard, and a few other ideas.

- USB, external supply off the shelve
- 80 chips?

[BkkCoins]

First, we need specs on the serial comm. protocol as I believe the chips daisy chain. I'm quite curious how many can be in a chain as that would limit how many on a  board. Indications are it's 2 pins IN, 2 pins OUT and 2 pins BYPASS. But I don't know yet if these are both data (2 hash engines per chip), or data and clock (sync), or maybe some enable control for a bus. And I'm not clear on how the BYPASS fits in except it's likely some daisy chain setup.

Then we need pin out specs so we know which pins are which.

Finally we need clock info. Is there a PLL on board that multiplies the clock freq. or do we have the task of a high freq clock running around the board. If a PLL is on board how is the multiplier set? I suspect we need a clock generator chip externally to do that and feed a high freq.

All this will come with the schematic and docs in May. But it's making me twitchy waiting.

The Avalon has 8 banks of 10 chips per module. For my own board I'm thinking either 8 or 12 chips because I want to keep the boards small for budget reasons, and I'm not making a super rig.

[marra]

That's 80 right?
I looked at a few things PCI-e too hard, and a few other ideas.

- USB, external supply off the shelve
- 80 chips?

yes, either 80 per board, or the whole pcb could be split in smaller modules and rack mounting friendly...

Power through usb is not enough, 2.5w per chip... USB port on pc could overheat, not the asic unit itself...

[marra]

All this will come with the schematic and docs in May. But it's making me twitchy waiting.

Feeling is mutual and intense, mildly speaking

[aeronautical]

Justing thinking out aloud, I've joined the nutty crowd designing shit without a data! what next all global currency inflates by 1000%

- USB external powered maybe a PC power supply 5volts (cheap)
- Microchip Technology micro support devices they handle PLL issues nice
- 80 devices asics
- Passive cooling (12 volt fans are cheap plug into same PC supply)
- Simple printed ABS plastic vertical PCB holder that stack 5

I just wonder what is going to be in the Avalon Doc's a PCB design, does anyone know what electronic CAD they use already?