[ANN] Bitfury is looking for alpha-testers of first chips! FREE MONEY HERE!

[ultrix]

Has anyone received a confirmation that Bitfury is sending out ASICs to those that he contacted? I have my Pi sitting waiting and a 4 layer board finished and waiting to go to fab. I don't want to send it until I know I'm going to get some chips to test though.

@bitfury: you mentioned the Si5338 in another thread. That clock generator can only go to 250MHz based on the datasheet in SE LVCMOS mode. Have you tested it higher, and if not could you recommend one that could feed 500MHz without using differential clocking?

Yeah, SE is tricky.  I went through a bunch of datasheets for TI and IDT's products with no luck within the < $40 part range.  On the same note, somewhat dreading dealing with rise/fall corrections with regards to the function generator at > 200mhz.  Also, I haven't heard back with regards to shipping yet.

[intron]

Has anyone received a confirmation that Bitfury is sending out ASICs to those that he contacted? I have my Pi sitting waiting and a 4 layer board finished and waiting to go to fab. I don't want to send it until I know I'm going to get some chips to test though.

@bitfury: you mentioned the Si5338 in another thread. That clock generator can only go to 250MHz based on the datasheet in SE LVCMOS mode. Have you tested it higher, and if not could you recommend one that could feed 500MHz without using differential clocking?

No idea, but I presume from the lack of update that the chips are still in limbo in the packaging facility (remember they didn't want to ship until the 13th).

No idea either about the shipping status.

intron

[punin]

Hi guys, sorry to keep you waiting for the chips. I'm doing my best here in Taipei. As soon as I have the chips in hand I'll send them out immediately. We'll try to fire it up here locally as well. (pun intended)

[stripykitteh]

Hi guys, sorry to keep you waiting for the chips. I'm doing my best here in Taipei. As soon as I have the chips in hand I'll send them out immediately. We'll try to fire it up here locally as well. (pun intended)

Thanks for the update punin; it sounds as though you can't do much more than you're doing at the moment.

[intron]

Our miner board S-HASH returned from the factory
today. It can host to up to sixteen Avalon ASICs, has
Ethernet, some serial links and an NXP ARM Cortex M3
controlling the stuff. Also an adjustable DC/DC converter
is present that can deliver to up to 50 A.

This board can be used for testing the bitfury ASIC: the
test jig that is in production now can be connected to the
SPI link and code can be written to tests it's functionality
and power consumption. More about this later.

Image of S-HASH:

http://imgur.com/iBzVq1Y

Image of the solder stencil:

http://imgur.com/O5RU4fO

intron

[FlappySocks]

Wow, exciting stuff.  So if BitFury chips are 5gh.  16 on a pcb like this. X4 and we are almost into KNCminer territory.

Possible by September? 

[runeks]

Anyone taking pre-orders?

[bitfury]

So I have finished v0.1 communication protocol with the chips :-) Designed for raspberry-pi. Use drivers.sh to modprobe specific
modules before executing spitest.

It can be used now to setup computations, test them or to fry chips by getting clocks to higher values....

https://mega.co.nz/#!TJNXlCSB!evrBaGz9SNxHW4GLdFDokh2qG8BAgrBCBVRWIST8X0w

it is very simple now - only bones and almost no meat.

[nightyj]

What power supply do you plan to use for core powering?

For main power supply it can be used TPS56221 http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1383742.pdf , there is also evaluation board ready to be shipped http://bg.farnell.com/texas-instruments/tps56221evm-579/tps56221-dc-dc-buck-eval-module/dp/1972318

[zulunation]

What power supply do you plan to use for core powering?

For main power supply it can be used TPS56221 http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/1383742.pdf , there is also evaluation board ready to be shipped http://bg.farnell.com/texas-instruments/tps56221evm-579/tps56221-dc-dc-buck-eval-module/dp/1972318

Yeah,

I'm planning to use the same eval board. One resistor must be changed as the board is configured to 1V.

[nightyj]

Yes it can be changed with trimmer to set different values of the output voltage. I have used these boards in other projects and they are rock solid, here are some measurements from TI http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HJSaIqWzM9w#! , this board will handle 4 - 5 chips. I have received some other suggestions from forum memebers due to the higher price of this board but if we compare it to the other evaluation boards it is even cheaper so for me this is the best buy, we can use lower priced modules with good results too such as D12S05020 http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/427198/DELTA/D12S05020.html , http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?x=22&y=22&lang=en&site=us&KeyWords=D12S05020 

[zulunation]

Yes it can be changed with trimmer to set different values of the output voltage. I have used these boards in other projects and they are rock solid, here are some measurements from TI http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HJSaIqWzM9w#! , this board will handle 4 - 5 chips. I have received some other suggestions from forum memebers due to the higher price of this board but if we compare it to the other evaluation boards it is even cheaper so for me this is the best buy, we can use lower priced modules with good results too such as D12S05020 http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/427198/DELTA/D12S05020.html , http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?x=22&y=22&lang=en&site=us&KeyWords=D12S05020 

I think it will be impossible to solder trimmer directly instead of resistor (0603 size). Too small.

[TheOrri]

I'm an engineer in micro-electronics and have most equipment to start using point to point construction.
I don't have time for reverse engineering, so I do need the datasheets and pin layouts though.

[Bonam]

Don't know if I'm a bit late to this but just saw your thread. I would be very interested in helping to test your chips. I am a research engineer at a company that specializes in developing prototype scientific equipment and my primary duties include electronics design and testing and PCB design. I am very much familiar with proper power conditioning for sensitive chips including bypass caps, PCB power and ground planes, optimizing trace inductance and resistance, as well as shielding from EMI interference and eliminating stray capacitive loads.

I have free access to precision laboratory power supplies, signal generators (BNC 575 up to ~10 GHz), and oscilloscopes (Tektronix DPO2024 1GS/s), I even have a $5,000 scope probe (Tektronix TDP1000) that is excellent for measuring fast sensitive signals while injecting minimum noise, with very high impedance and <1 pF capacitance. I am skilled in prototype soldering (dead bug, etc) of tiny chips for a variety of precision analog and digital electronics applications. If you would like, I can send you a photo of my lab with all the various high end test equipment I have available. I also have experience with C-coding for Arduino and raspberry pi devices.

I have a thread where I offer PCB & electronics design services here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=206853.0

And have two clients so far. I am relatively new so not a whole ton of reputation yet in the community but am hoping to build it up. I would be willing to provide detailed photos/diagrams/reports regarding the testing of your chips and could also quickly develop, order, and assemble a prototype PCB to mount them on.

Let me know if getting a few chips to test would be possible!

Thank you very much for your consideration.

[bitfury]

Quick & dirty level shifting using discrete components:

https://mega.co.nz/#!7dk3VABY!CUQ27A_bGJLL6O6KfWhnRw9rXsEPJfnm54GGeVI9aMY

[intron]

S-HASH says 'hello world' :



intron

[.m.]

level shifting from TI - this might work - 380mbit/sec
http://www.ti.com/product/sn74avch4t245-ep

or select better here

http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/interface/voltage-level-translation-products.page

[ultrix]

level shifting from TI - this might work - 380mbit/sec
http://www.ti.com/product/sn74avch4t245-ep

or select better here

http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/interface/voltage-level-translation-products.page

Not really a need, no bi-directional pins.  Safe enough given current to use resistor divider based level shifters.

[dwdoc]

Just wondering: Why involve all these non-russian testers if the device can only be shipped to Russia?

[MrTeal]

level shifting from TI - this might work - 380mbit/sec
http://www.ti.com/product/sn74avch4t245-ep

or select better here

http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/interface/voltage-level-translation-products.page

I'm actually using that exact chip. You won't need to worry about bit rate though, the SPI bus is not going to be anywhere near that.