[The Wasp] 28nm ASIC Miner Open Hardware Development Project

[Bicknellski]

The Wasp

The project team just finished our 1st meeting and are looking forward to the development of The Wasp for BTC, and hopefully LTC mining chips initially or more likely for a 2nd generation iteration of The Wasp. The Wasp will be based on the need to upcycle and provide mining operators with flexibility but also an unprecedented level of protection against the rapid obsolescence that current mining hardware is fraught with today.

The Wasp will be directly managed by S. Bailey with support from C. Decoster, D. Bicknell, J. Widajaya and J. Hudgins as well as others who have pledged both design, financial and other support for the duration of this project. Our first milestone will be to cost out the project and give a timeline that matches the availability of the 28nm ASIC's coming to market.

We are currently looking at 28nm chips the Hash Fast "Golden Nonce", Cointerra "Gold Strike", Black Arrow "Minion" and the Coincraft "A1" mining that can be used with our modular designed backplanes and boards. The Wasp being the board and The Hive being our backplane code name designations. We are confident that this approach will set this project apart as it would be able to mine either LTC or BTC and be able to swap out older chips with newer ones via our board configuration.

Our basic timeline after this post here is to garner more project members that can support the software / firmware end as well as bolster our pcb design team. We are always looking for members to help fund and financially support the project and as this is a collective effort there is always aspects like heatsinks, fans, cases and PSUs that can be sourced for kits for customers. We hope to provide a bare bones miner that can be configured on site with minimal effort and support. We are also looking at posting our project up as an asset on BitFunder to also further support our efforts.

We are currently open to more people joining us on this adventure and we will have a second open general meeting to follow up on a number of points raised in our first meeting. If you are interested in joining us and working on this project feel free to post below or pm or email me. We will do our best to update everyone as time passes. I understand that there is quite vague and not completely spelled out but as time goes on the project team will be updating me and I will in turn revise and amend things hopefully making the project more accessible. What is Open Source Hardware? http://www.oshwa.org/definition/.

Code:

Open Source Hardware (OSHW) is a term for tangible artifacts — machines, devices, or other physical things — 
whose design has been released to the public in such a way that anyone can make, modify, distribute, and use those 
things. This definition is intended to help provide guidelines for the development and evaluation of licenses for 
Open Source Hardware.

ADDITIONAL DESIGN NOTES:

The Hives (Mother Planes)

* On board USB hub with a port for each blade. Upstream port connects to linux board or box. At least one extra port for potential billboard display or local display & cooling-controller.

* On board 24-pin and 6/8 pin connectors for PC power supply (650-750W) provides 3.3, 5, and 12 V.

* Last blade connector can accept a server power supply (12V only) for higher power operation, not needed when system is tuned for low-power consumption, or when it has fewer than a full load of blades.

* 8 available connection points for the Wasps.

* Any Wasp no matter the type of the chip will work with the Hives.

* All blades driven through USB hub.

* Stand-alone hive is just a small card with sockets for power and USB.

* Hot swap.

* Linux embedded system to run cgminer/bfgminer bolts right down onto big mobo.


The Wasps (Blades)

* Wasps can slot into mother plane.

* Wasps can stand alone and be stacked FPGA style.

* Wasps are made to fit the Hive form factor.

* Wasps can be independently powered and controlled without mother plane.

[1714862045]

1714862045

[Bicknellski]

[RESERVED FOR UPDATES]

UPDATE NOTE 02/01/2014: Updates for timeline will be done via our WEBSITE first then updated here. Rough Timeline means just that.

Rough Timeline:

September

+ Post New Thread in Project Development.
+ Have a detailed development timeline with costs before 2nd Meeting.
+ Initial meeting with Black Arrow

October

+ Initial meeting with Bitmine.ch
+ Add more members with requisite skills to help progress this project.
+ 2nd General Meeting Saturday October 5th at 2130 WIB (Jakarta).
+ Initial meeting with Hash Fast
+ Initial meeting with BTCman
+ Do detailed cost analysis for the project including difficulty, ROI projections.
+ 1st Membership Meeting with progress report on project milestones due.
+ Initial design for the HIVE (mother plane) completed.
+ Initial meeting with BTER
+ Initial meeting with Cointerra
+ Initial designs completed and a revised development timeline with costs is prepared before the first membership meeting in November.
+ Revision of cost analysis for the project including difficulty, ROI projections.
+ Avalon Chips in Designers Hands
+ A1 chip deposit to Zefir for 50 chips.

November

+ Later in November prototype board is ready for chips and firmware / software being readied.
+ Later in November  Firmware and Software along with board and backplane testing is being carried out.
+ A1 Chips paid for by members to group account.


December
+ Designs for BitFury Wasp and BitMain Wasp completed.
+ Designs for BitFury/Bitmain Wasp and A1 Wasp completed.

January

+ A1 chips shipping to USA
+ Prototype board is ready for chips and firmware / software being readied.
+ A1 chips in hand in Seattle
+ A1 Chips paid for by members to group account.
+ Prototype initial testing with BitFury / Bitmain / A1 chips.
+ Prepare for small scale prototype production run.
+ Firmware and Software along with board testing is being carried out.
+ 3rd Party Production run BitFury BitMain Wasp and A1 Wasp

February

+ Late February Early March prototype test Minion Wasp.
+ Production run Minion Wasps.

March

+ New Chips?
+ Revisions?

[ASICs]

Coincraft "A1" https://bitmine.ch/?page_id=863  (Mass production available starting from the last week of November 2013, December shipping or February shipping)

Black Arrow "Minion" http://www.blackarrowsoftware.com/store/minion.html  (This is a PRE-ORDER, available for dispatch at end of February 2014, with protection)

BitMain "BM1380" https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=330665.msg3546362#msg3546362 (Chips available in January / February 2014.)

Megapower "BitFury"  https://megabigpower.com/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=33 (Chips out of stock / Possibly February 2014)

---------

Standing Meeting Times on TeamSpeak3 Server

TS3 Server: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxx.xxx
Channel: The Wasp
Channel Password: xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Next Meeting



Location Time:

Seattle, USA 1030 PDT Saturday
London, UK 1830 GMT Saturday
Central Europe 1930 CET Saturday
Jakarta, ID 0130 WIB Sunday

Areas Reporting:

All Projects Overview
Wasp & Hive
Website
Mining Pool
PR & Marketing
Provisioning Server

[bobsag3]

Just want to post here my offer to host for cost is still available, and maybe help with distro once we have gone to production. I love community projects.

Also my warehouse has a 600sqft office space that wont be used... so If for any reason we need a space for people to work out of I have it!

[Bicknellski]

Just want to post here my offer to host for cost is still available, and maybe help with distro once we have gone to production. I love community projects.

Also my warehouse has a 600sqft office space that wont be used... so If for any reason we need a space for people to work out of I have it!

Noted Bob... I think we would love to work on something where we can host miners and come at this project with a variety of angles. I think that we can definitely fold that into our project scope in some way. Our second meeting will be in 1 week or so and we will hopefully have more people who are keen on offering up support. The next meeting will also be open to everyone beyond October though we will start formalizing the membership and expect more from those members as we set terms and conditions for The Wasp Project Team.

[jasinlee]

The Wasp

The project team just finished our 1st meeting and are looking forward to the development of The Wasp for BTC, and hopefully LTC mining chips initially or more likely for a 2nd generation iteration of The Wasp. The Wasp will be based on the need to upcycle and provide mining operators with flexibility but also an unprecedented level of protection against the rapid obsolescence that current mining hardware is fraught with today.

The Wasp will be directly managed by S. Bailey with support from C. Decoster, D. Bicknell, J. Widajaya and J. Hudgins as well as others who have pledged both design, financial and other support for the duration of this project. Our first milestone will be to cost out the project and give a timeline that matches the availability of the 28nm ASIC's coming to market.

We are currently looking at 28nm chips the Hash Fast "Golden Nonce", Cointerra "Gold Strike", Black Arrow "Minion" and the Coincraft "A1" mining that can be used with our modular designed backplanes and boards. The Wasp being the board and The Hive being our backplane code name designations. We are confident that this approach will set this project apart as it would be able to mine either LTC or BTC and be able to swap out older chips with newer ones via our board configuration.

Our basic timeline after this post here is to garner more project members that can support the software / firmware end as well as bolster our pcb design team. We are always looking for members to help fund and financially support the project and as this is a collective effort there is always aspects like heatsinks, fans, cases and PSUs that can be sourced for kits for customers. We hope to provide a bare bones miner that can be configured on site with minimal effort and support. We are also looking at posting our project up as an asset on BitFunder to also further support our efforts.

We are currently open to more people joining us on this adventure and we will have a second open general meeting to follow up on a number of points raised in our first meeting. If you are interested in joining us and working on this project feel free to post below or pm or email me. We will do our best to update everyone as time passes. I understand that there is quite vague and not completely spelled out but as time goes on the project team will be updating me and I will in turn revise and amend things hopefully making the project more accessible. What is Open Source Hardware? http://www.oshwa.org/definition/.

Code:

Open Source Hardware (OSHW) is a term for tangible artifacts — machines, devices, or other physical things — 
whose design has been released to the public in such a way that anyone can make, modify, distribute, and use those 
things. This definition is intended to help provide guidelines for the development and evaluation of licenses for 
Open Source Hardware.

ADDITIONAL DESIGN NOTES:

The Hives (Mother Planes)

* On board USB hub with a port for each blade. Upstream port connects to linux board or box. At least one extra port for potential billboard display or local display & cooling-controller.

* On board 24-pin and 6/8 pin connectors for PC power supply (650-750W) provides 3.3, 5, and 12 V.

* Last blade connector can accept a server power supply (12V only) for higher power operation, not needed when system is tuned for low-power consumption, or when it has fewer than a full load of blades.

* 8 available connection points for the Wasps.

* Any Wasp no matter the type of the chip will work with the Hives.

* All blades driven through USB hub.

* Stand-alone hive is just a small card with sockets for power and USB.

* Hot swap.

* Linux embedded system to run cgminer/bfgminer bolts right down onto big mobo.


The Wasps (Blades)

* Wasps can slot into mother plane.

* Wasps can stand alone and be stacked FPGA style.

* Wasps are made to fit the Hive form factor.

* Wasps can be independently powered and controlled without mother plane.

Community projects ftw.

[darkfriend77]

Community projects ftw.

+1

[cad_cdn]

good news, sounds awesome.

[nachius]

I wasn't able to make the meeting and have Pm'd you.  It seems we have community support and my main question is has contact been made directly to the chip manufacturer at this point about possibly getting a few chips to mock up and prototype with?

[JLM]

Hi!!!
This is the same product as BlackArrow?

[Darktongue]

Hi!!!
This is the same product as BlackArrow?

As per the OP

We are currently looking at 28nm chips the Black Arrow "Minion" and the Coincraft "A1" and an undisclosed design of an FPGA for LTC mining that can be used with our modular designed backplanes and boards. The Wasp being the board and The Hive being our backplane code name designations. We are confident that this approach will set this project apart as it would be able to mine either LTC or BTC and be able to swap out older chips with newer ones via our board configuration. 

Can't say it any better then that right now bud.

[Bicknellski]

"We are all given a short time, and I think the biggest mistake a lot of entrepreneurs make is that they design and optimize their vision to provide the largest financial return possible. Now, making money is not a bad thing, but what should be known and understood, is that in the end, our salaries, the cars we drive, the square footage of our homes… none of that matters. What matters is the legacy that our business and our vision can leave behind – a legacy that has the ability to shape, disrupt, or destroy, a familiar system. When you disrupt a familiar system, you change perspective – you change the way a community can define themselves to inspire future innovation. Just because things are the way they are does not mean they should remain that way. I want to invite you all to leave your mark on something, and don’t be afraid of ignoring what you are brought up thinking is natural." - Matthew Manos @ TEDx, 2012

http://www.good.is/posts/five-reasons-to-give-half-your-work-away?utm_medium=tdg&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=readon&utm_content=Five%20Reasons%20to%20Give%20Half%20Your%20Work%20Away

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/how-to-give-half-of-your-work-away-for-free

[Bicknellski]

I wasn't able to make the meeting and have Pm'd you.  It seems we have community support and my main question is has contact been made directly to the chip manufacturer at this point about possibly getting a few chips to mock up and prototype with?

Doing that now... just putting out feelers as it were so we can then discuss what we get back at next weeks meeting. Please email me again and I will try and add you to the hangout.

For now we are looking at the Minion and A1 chips and as suggested I also added Cointerra. None of these chips are produced yet so not sure at this point if we can mock up a prototype.

---------

Emails Sent:

Black Arrow (24th September)
Cointerra (24th September)
Bitmine (24th September)

Replies Received:

Black Arrow YES (24th September) We will arrange a meeting online soon.
Cointerra YES (25th September) The current price and lack of real incentives from Cointerra means we should just wait to do any pre-ordering from them when the prices will drop significantly in December should their chips be viable at that point.
Bitmine (28th September) We will arrange a meeting online soon.

[Sinewayv]

Afternoon all, great stuff on the project timeline and work so far everyone!

Community working together really can do amazing stuff.

Regards the next meeting, Ive been asking if we can do it at a ECT/GMT friendly time!

How does Thursday (26th Sept) @14.30 UTC (Universal Time) sound?

This would be at local times:
WIB: 21:30
BST:  15:30
EST:  10:30

Cheers, hope this is good for everyone.

[cad_cdn]

works for me, pm me info on what I need to connect\where

Afternoon all, great stuff on the project timeline and work so far everyone!

Community working together really can do amazing stuff.

Regards the next meeting, Ive been asking if we can do it at a ECT/GMT friendly time!

How does Thursday (26th Sept) @14.30 UTC (Universal Time) sound?

This would be at local times:
WIB: 21:30
BST:  15:30
EST:  10:30

Cheers, hope this is good for everyone.

[Bicknellski]

Works for me see you then.

The meeting is open to everyone just PM me or email if you want to get included in the meeting.

[darkfriend77]

great .. works for me too :-)

[Sinewayv]

great .. works for me too :-)

Great stuff, see you all tomorrow

[Bicknellski]

Cointerra:  Given the responses so far they seem keen on getting "sales" on the books rather than providing this project any incentives to use their chips. Best we just steer clear of them until their chip prices drop and they have them in stock. I am sure all of us have learned our Avalon Chip lesson haven't we?

[abacus]

This is a fantastic project! Gone directly in my watch list.

Cointerra:  Given the responses so far they seem keen on getting "sales" on the books rather than providing this project any incentives to use their chips. Best we just steer clear of them until their chip prices drop and they have them in stock. I am sure all of us have learned our Avalon Chip lesson haven't we?

What a pity to steer clear of them so fast.
If I well remember, they said they will open source their mobos (was Cointerra, right?).
It should simplify the development of the project, isn't it?

Furthrmore, on paper they are among the best in GH/$ and W/$ ratios.

[Sinewayv]

Is this meeting right now?

everyone seems to be offline...

yup the meeting got rescheduled, as we had a few late cancelations.

if you check tomorrow, the OP is planning to post a draft agenda before the meeting, and someone should be online here before hand too.