GekkoScience is now dabbling with 16nm ASICs for new designs

[vapourminer]

I know you arn't up for loans etc. maybe an IPO or something at btcpop? let people buy shares, knowing the risk etc?

Just a thought

sidehack has a loan address that will be paid back: 12pAcLoAN9yhTbSbPwCiJFeDkw8zMAxYyH

its explained in this message: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1718358.msg17206180#msg17206180

[1714140706]

1714140706

[1714140706]

1714140706

[1714140706]

1714140706

[sidehack]

Sorry, I'll get to it. All the manual 2Pac work is really kicking my butt but I'm trying to juggle. I picked up a lot of the minion's slack in the last week (I did at least half the assembly and testing) to get the first big-queue order out (I shipped 238 2Pacs today, got about 60 left to ship out but I ran out of boxes) but that won't be the case from here on. That'll invariably mean a slower pace of output but also mean I'll have more time for dev instead of manufacture - gotta polish the BW sticks, assemble a couple prototypes (Biggie, BFPac), do some BFPac firmware work and design a stout USB hub.

Regarding shares, I'm not okay with that idea in any way. Buying shares tends to mean you're buying the right to make decisions without putting in any real work, and that sucks. It also tends to shift priorities away from satisfying/not screwing over the customer in an attempt to satisfy shareholders. I really prefer to limit my debts as much as possible.

Thanks for mentioning the 2PacLoan address. It hasn't been used yet by anyone, but that's okay.

[takagari]

Sorry, I'll get to it. All the manual 2Pac work is really kicking my butt but I'm trying to juggle. I picked up a lot of the minion's slack in the last week (I did at least half the assembly and testing) to get the first big-queue order out (I shipped 238 2Pacs today, got about 60 left to ship out but I ran out of boxes) but that won't be the case from here on. That'll invariably mean a slower pace of output but also mean I'll have more time for dev instead of manufacture - gotta polish the BW sticks, assemble a couple prototypes (Biggie, BFPac), do some BFPac firmware work and design a stout USB hub.

Regarding shares, I'm not okay with that idea in any way. Buying shares tends to mean you're buying the right to make decisions without putting in any real work, and that sucks. It also tends to shift priorities away from satisfying/not screwing over the customer in an attempt to satisfy shareholders. I really prefer to limit my debts as much as possible.

Thanks for mentioning the 2PacLoan address. It hasn't been used yet by anyone, but that's okay.

I've been playing with the IPO on btcpop, the share owners have no say, it's just what they are called, you pay back in as you get returns and the share owners get a profit.
It's pretty perfect for that you want.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

I've been playing with the IPO on btcpop, the share owners have no say, it's just what they are called, you pay back in as you get returns and the share owners get a profit.
It's pretty perfect for that you want.

I gotta side with sidehack on this.

Having outside funding (share owners, contributors, whatever) even when fully informed of how this business works (Timelines? Huh? A BFL exec had something to say about that...) and the real risk involved still means they *are* going to expect and press for some sort of timeline to be met.

Considering what Sidehack can produce is tied to what chips BitFury sells to him and more to the point -- when -- I would definitely foresee grumbling from a financially-involved peanut gallery.

Private funding is a much harder row to hoe but it affords immense flexibility when critical components, in this case chips, cannot be counted on to be available when planned.

[takagari]

I've tried looking back but cant find the links?
Looking for a hub. Preferably from amazon canada? Or newegg.ca would be great

[Morguk]

I want to get my hands on that biggie!

[NotFuzzyWarm]

I've tried looking back but cant find the links?
Looking for a hub. Preferably from amazon canada? Or newegg.ca would be great

Search for 'USB charging hub' and you should get a lot of hits. I use one from Plugable.com via Amazon. No matter what you have to look at how the power is distributed inside them.

[sidehack]

So, updates.

The Biggie project is currently on hold. Most of the people I was leaning on to source S5 boards are not responding so chip supply is not what I'd hoped.  Couple that with all the problems I'm having with sticking ASICs reliably on 2Pacs and the Biggie is going to cause more headaches than it's probably worth.

There will be a second batch of 2Pacs. I'm gonna go right into it once the current batch is completed because I already have the toolchain in place and the process is getting much smoother already.

Not burning time on Biggies will help lead into the Bitfury stick. I'll be using 2Pac profits to pay for Bitfury chips if at all possible. Once the Bitfury stick works, it's not much additional effort to make a Bitfury pod work. I really want to move some pods, and sidelining the Biggie will get Bitfury pods in the timeline that much faster.

Since I'll be moving a lot of sticks first, both 2Pacs and Bitfury sticks, I'm also working on a USB hub (project "Aardwolf"). Here's the plan at present: 8 ports, seven active and one power only (fan maybe?). Takes in 12V through either a barrel or PCIe jack. There'll be a 3-position selector switch for 60W, 96W and 120+W input power, so if you're using a 12V5A brick, 12V8A brick, or high-current PCIe there'll be a safety limit how much power the hub will draw before kicking out. There'll also be a knob for adjusting available per-port output current between 0.5A and 3A. There'll be an internal monitor on each port and when a port exceeds the limit it'll be turned off (and the status LED will go red). A global reset button will re-enable all ports with one press. That's the plan so far anyway.

Also, I could really use some S5 boards. See the note above about some of the folks I was planning around being bulk chip sources disappearing on me. Like the guy I'd been coordinating with since November with about 3k chips, who hasn't responded in over a month. So yeah, S5 boards. I could use a couple thousand chips in the next month or so.

[philipma1957]

So, updates.

The Biggie project is currently on hold. Most of the people I was leaning on to source S5 boards are not responding so chip supply is not what I'd hoped.  Couple that with all the problems I'm having with sticking ASICs reliably on 2Pacs and the Biggie is going to cause more headaches than it's probably worth.

There will be a second batch of 2Pacs. I'm gonna go right into it once the current batch is completed because I already have the toolchain in place and the process is getting much smoother already.

Not burning time on Biggies will help lead into the Bitfury stick. I'll be using 2Pac profits to pay for Bitfury chips if at all possible. Once the Bitfury stick works, it's not much additional effort to make a Bitfury pod work. I really want to move some pods, and sidelining the Biggie will get Bitfury pods in the timeline that much faster.

Since I'll be moving a lot of sticks first, both 2Pacs and Bitfury sticks, I'm also working on a USB hub (project "Aardwolf"). Here's the plan at present: 8 ports, seven active and one power only (fan maybe?). Takes in 12V through either a barrel or PCIe jack. There'll be a 3-position selector switch for 60W, 96W and 120+W input power, so if you're using a 12V5A brick, 12V8A brick, or high-current PCIe there'll be a safety limit how much power the hub will draw before kicking out. There'll also be a knob for adjusting available per-port output current between 0.5A and 3A. There'll be an internal monitor on each port and when a port exceeds the limit it'll be turned off (and the status LED will go red). A global reset button will re-enable all ports with one press. That's the plan so far anyway.

Also, I could really use some S5 boards. See the note above about some of the folks I was planning around being bulk chip sources disappearing on me. Like the guy I'd been coordinating with since November with about 3k chips, who hasn't responded in over a month. So yeah, S5 boards. I could use a couple thousand chips in the next month or so.

A guess for price on the hubs?  They sound very nice.

[gt_addict]

Looking forward to the BF pods. Also the BW stick and possibly the complimentary 2pac (as mentioned in your other thread) for the delay in getting the BW gear out  

In regards to the loan address how much of a loan from an individual would be worthwhile to aid some progress?

[Biodom]

So, updates.
...I could use a couple thousand chips in the next month or so.

Someone is selling a bunch of S5 on Ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antminer-S5-FREE-SHIPPING-/182464050561
Price is high ($100 shipped); hopefully, he might sell for less privately.
$1.66/chip+maybe some faulty chips would be there.

[agentcash]

I've got four S5's sitting in the garage. I think one board was down on one of them but it's been a while so I can't be positive. Are you wanting the whole thing, or just the boards from them?

[sidehack]

They're worth a bit more as the whole thing, because the mechanics can be used for upgrade boards in future. Right now all I really need is the chips, so if I had just PCBs would be fine. Also a lot cheaper to ship. If I do make upgrade boards (and I really do hate that I still have to say "if", but I prefer honesty to optimism) the cores can be traded in.

[agentcash]

PM me a shipping address and I'll try to get them out Monday or Tuesday.

[sidehack]

Gonna be sending out for some PCBs early next week. I just put most of today on USB hub design; got the general layout, the hub controller, port LEDs and switches and meters wired in. Tomorrow I'll tackle the sensor controller layout and slot in the main 5V buck. I'll be using basically same buck circuit I laid out for the pod miner so that should mostly be copy-paste. I should be able to get it all ironed out tomorrow for ordering on Monday. So that's interesting.

I also heard back from one of my bulk BM1384 sources, as well as a few individuals. If everything works out I'll have enough chips to finish out the current batch of 2Pacs and get a bit of a start on the next batch, but there's always room for more.

Also I'll be taking a day or two next week to build a batch of my DPS812 PSU breakout boards, if anyone's in need of a good PSU kit for an S9 or anything I can hook you up.

[qctechno]

Gonna be sending out for some PCBs early next week. I just put most of today on USB hub design; got the general layout, the hub controller, port LEDs and switches and meters wired in. Tomorrow I'll tackle the sensor controller layout and slot in the main 5V buck. I'll be using basically same buck circuit I laid out for the pod miner so that should mostly be copy-paste. I should be able to get it all ironed out tomorrow for ordering on Monday. So that's interesting.

Nice, I like the on-board power meter feature.

What is the target price ?

[sidehack]

Not sure yet. Somewhere between free and a million dollars.

Actually I haven't put a lot of thought into pricing yet. I did put a lot of thought into design, which is how I'm going from "literally nothing down on paper" to ordering prototypes in only two days or so. Once I have it all drawn up and I have an actual parts list I'll run out an estimated price. What would y'all pay for a hub with those features?

Regarding the on-board power meter feature, it doesn't have a display to read out power use or anything. It'll read total power draw and trip out if it exceeds the source threshold it's given. It'll read the per-port power draw and trip any port that exceeds the user-set threshold. I'm planning on doing the port indicator LED in stoplight fashion - green for something plugged in and working, amber at 90% threshold power, and red when the port has tripped.

[isoneguy]

I paid 30$ and 50$ for those superbpags and they shat the bed.

So somewhere around that...

How many ports, could you run a high power USB miner from each port without the hub melting? Built in fan for cooling?

[sidehack]

Since I'll be moving a lot of sticks first, both 2Pacs and Bitfury sticks, I'm also working on a USB hub (project "Aardwolf"). Here's the plan at present: 8 ports, seven active and one power only (fan maybe?). Takes in 12V through either a barrel or PCIe jack. There'll be a 3-position selector switch for 60W, 96W and 120+W input power, so if you're using a 12V5A brick, 12V8A brick, or high-current PCIe there'll be a safety limit how much power the hub will draw before kicking out. There'll also be a knob for adjusting available per-port output current between 0.5A and 3A. There'll be an internal monitor on each port and when a port exceeds the limit it'll be turned off (and the status LED will go red). A global reset button will re-enable all ports with one press. That's the plan so far anyway.

8 ports, seven with data and one power-only which can be used for a fan. I'll probably build it fairly open like the Eyeboot 49-port, where it's got a top and bottom panel but no solid sides so innards can get some airflow. The regulator circuit will need to push at most 24A, and I've already tested the circuit I'll be using to higher current draw than that. So yeah you should be able to run a high-power miner from each port. Oh yeah and each port has a big bypass capacitor to help out with load transients.

[philipma1957]

Since I'll be moving a lot of sticks first, both 2Pacs and Bitfury sticks, I'm also working on a USB hub (project "Aardwolf"). Here's the plan at present: 8 ports, seven active and one power only (fan maybe?). Takes in 12V through either a barrel or PCIe jack. There'll be a 3-position selector switch for 60W, 96W and 120+W input power, so if you're using a 12V5A brick, 12V8A brick, or high-current PCIe there'll be a safety limit how much power the hub will draw before kicking out. There'll also be a knob for adjusting available per-port output current between 0.5A and 3A. There'll be an internal monitor on each port and when a port exceeds the limit it'll be turned off (and the status LED will go red). A global reset button will re-enable all ports with one press. That's the plan so far anyway.

8 ports, seven with data and one power-only which can be used for a fan. I'll probably build it fairly open like the Eyeboot 49-port, where it's got a top and bottom panel but no solid sides so innards can get some airflow. The regulator circuit will need to push at most 24A, and I've already tested the circuit I'll be using to higher current draw than that. So yeah you should be able to run a high-power miner from each port. Oh yeah and each port has a big bypass capacitor to help out with load transients.

this could 2 fairly well

https://www.trcelectronics.com/ecomm/pdf/hrpg300.pdf