[Announcement] Block Erupter USB

[friedcat]

Introduction

The Block Erupter USB series is the second major product of Bitfountain. Its experimental batch (Emerald) has passed all tests. Each one mines at more than 300MH/s, powered only by the USB port.

It serves as a replacement of GPUs for mining hobbyists. Your GPUs could be freed from calculating hashes and resume rendering for you. It is also a perfect gift for getting people knowing about Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining.

The Emerald Batch

12 in total. Used for internal testing/profiling and gifts for developers.

The Sapphire Batch

This is the first batch under production in quantity. Its lead-time is conservatively 15-20 days.

Pictures

Four types of front-case:


Gallaries made by users:










Changes and Improvements
Color of PCB changed to blue
Adding a LED which blinks when a share is found
Fixing the cgminer compatibility problem
Reducing the heat generated and the current to <500mA

This batch will be for group-buy and retailers. The quantity of each order should be more than 300 devices. The price is fixed at 1.99 BTC. We will start the group-buy threads as fixed-price auctions in the auction subforum. When your order is fulfilled you could pay and ask for refund anytime before the tracking number is generated (trackable on internet). After shipping we do not refund, but still guarantee a six-month warranty of free replacement like our blades. However the replacement should also come in batch (10 at one time).

Interested purchasers could contact me even before the group-buy threads are created.

[friedcat]

* Shipping is free.

* cgminer with windows now works (even with the emerald batch).

* Furthermore, the sapphire batch will have much better appearance on the heatsink side.

[Transisto]

Nice

This thing is very good for bitcoin, The low barrier of entry factor help spur adoption.

[novusordo]

[TheSpiral]

Beautiful.

[silverston]

if I order 300 pieces, how much will it cost with shipping to Estonia?

[237]

This shows again how skilled the guys at Asicminer are.

It's very well priced so it isn't unfair for the buyers OR the shareholder (maximising earnings).

The min. order amount makes it uncomplicated for AM and opens a nice retailer market with good competition.

[apetersson]

pm sent.

[candoo]

beautiful !!

[SebastianJu]

This batch will be for group-buy and retailers. The quantity of each order should be more than 300 devices. The price is fixed at 1.99 BTC. We will start the group-buy threads as fixed-price auctions in the auction subforum.

Hm... i thought these would be good for people with small wallets. Is it the work included to ship many single units or why it the minimum quantity to order 300 units? I thought the shipping is excluded anyway? If its the auction that would become a problem because of to many bids then maybe some website script could be used to automate this. A min of 300 means probably a couple thousand units to be sold. A person couldnt handle it but an automated script could do.

Of course groupbuyers will start new auctions with their batch and start selling to smaller buyers. Is the missed earning worth the work or isnt their missed earning at all?

Im not sure what to think about.

[friedcat]

This batch will be for group-buy and retailers. The quantity of each order should be more than 300 devices. The price is fixed at 1.99 BTC. We will start the group-buy threads as fixed-price auctions in the auction subforum.

Hm... i thought these would be good for people with small wallets. Is it the work included to ship many single units or why it the minimum quantity to order 300 units? I thought the shipping is excluded anyway? If its the auction that would become a problem because of to many bids then maybe some website script could be used to automate this. A min of 300 means probably a couple thousand units to be sold. A person couldnt handle it but an automated script could do.

Of course groupbuyers will start new auctions with their batch and start selling to smaller buyers. Is the missed earning worth the work or isnt their missed earning at all?

Im not sure what to think about.

The internet shipping and the replacement service of retailed sales will take too much portion in the total value of one device. The shipping/support could only be done in batch to be efficient and practical. The retailers/groupbuyers could save a lot of money when the distribution targets are within the same country.

[friedcat]

if I order 300 pieces, how much will it cost with shipping to Estonia?

Free, just like the blades.

[nebulus]

About time!

[aahzmundus]

Sooo... how many Sapphire unites are being produced?

[friedcat]

Sooo... how many Sapphire unites are being produced?

More than 10k raw PCBs are under production. How many will be assembled should depend on the demands.

[btceic]

@friedcat, thanks for doing all of this work, the community really appreciates it, I am interested in purchasing 2 of these, however I have exactly 0 bitcoins, what are the chances that we will be able to purchase these in USD?

[yxt]

great work!

I would prefer a batch without led.
The first few days certainly nice to see. But who needs a disco on usb port 

[rammy2k2]

so minimum order is 300 pieces ? 

[maxmint]

That's awesome news! Added the USB miner to my list at http://minr.info/

[dunand]

1.99BTC for 300MH/s

I will bang my head on the wall if someone ask: "Why are they selling it when they could mine themselves?"