1GH/s, 20w, $500 — Butterflylabs, is it a scam?

[dunand]

I'm loving this thread, this will put and end to bitcoin. I mean scams after scams, bitcoin does show all how good we truly are as human species.

BFL The Single == Rearden Metal

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[Inaba]

It would take a hell of a lot more than $10k to turn me to the dark side.  $2 million in untracable, small bills is probably my bottom dollar.  If someone offers me that, ya'll are on your own!

Until someone coughs up the dough, though... I'm not going to put my reputation both here and in the larger online community (yes, you can find me other places) and my pool at risk for a mere $10k, that's for sure.  That really is me in the avatar to your left; for some reason people don't think it is until they see me IRL.  I have no idea why.

But I do take exception to the fact that people keeping saying the only thing BTC is good for is illicit drugs and scams, etc... I buy plenty of stuff, mostly hardware and software, with BTC almost on a daily basis.  I've never once purchased illegal drugs with it and I find it incredibly useful.  I've also used it to exchange money from USD to AUD and back again without paying the completely ridiculous exchange fees... that alone makes it super useful to me.

[fred0]

It would take a hell of a lot more than $10k to turn me to the dark side.  $2 million in untracable, small bills is probably my bottom dollar.  If someone offers me that, ya'll are on your own!

Until someone coughs up the dough, though... I'm not going to put my reputation both here and in the larger online community (yes, you can find me other places) and my pool at risk for a mere $10k, that's for sure.  That really is me in the avatar to your left; for some reason people don't think it is until they see me IRL.  I have no idea why.

But I do take exception to the fact that people keeping saying the only thing BTC is good for is illicit drugs and scams, etc... I buy plenty of stuff, mostly hardware and software, with BTC almost on a daily basis.  I've never once purchased illegal drugs with it and I find it incredibly useful.  I've also used it to exchange money from USD to AUD and back again without paying the completely ridiculous exchange fees... that alone makes it super useful to me.

I am in complete agreement with Inaba.  Simplistically stating that drugs and scams are the domain of bitcoin is in denial that the same may be said of cash. I don't think we should get rid of cash either. OTOH, there are some interests that would like to monitor every transaction that occurs--they would like to get rid of cash. After all, its only purpose is for illegal drugs, prostitution, tax evasion, etc.

[gmaxwell]

I am in complete agreement with Inaba.  Simplistically stating that drugs and scams are the domain of bitcoin is in denial that the same may be said of cash. I don't think we should get rid of cash either. OTOH, there are some interests that would like to monitor every transaction that occurs--they would like to get rid of cash. After all, it's only purpose is for illegal drugs, prostitution, tax evasion, etc.

Obviously I agree— but beyond that— look at the volume of coins moved every day on the markets and on the blockchain.  Are people here really suggesting that there is that much economic activity coming from scams and obscure black market websites? That seems crazy to me.

[RandyFolds]

TBH the main uses of BTC for now are  Silk Road and scamming. For all I care, we could rename this forum "Scammers R us" with the amount of scammers on here. Too bad there is no live video feed or something. I am thinking they gave Inaba $5k or $10k to turn to the dark side and we get fed a ton of BS and people rush in to buy etc. this fantastic new magical unicorn technology. Maybe I am just paranoid but these scams on here are not normal scammer level; they are UBER level and they are doing it very in depth and planning etc. mybitcoin, bitcoin7 etc.

Mybitcoin and bitcoin7 didn't take much planning:

1) Accept funds
2) Wait until you have a lot
3) Run

[plastic.elastic]

I'm loving this thread, this will put and end to bitcoin. I mean scams after scams, bitcoin does show all how good we truly are as human species.

TBH the main uses of BTC for now are  Silk Road and scamming. For all I care, we could rename this forum "Scammers R us" with the amount of scammers on here. Too bad there is no live video feed or something. I am thinking they gave Inaba $5k or $10k to turn to the dark side and we get fed a ton of BS and people rush in to buy etc. this fantastic new magical unicorn technology. Maybe I am just paranoid but these scams on here are not normal scammer level; they are UBER level and they are doing it very in depth and planning etc. mybitcoin, bitcoin7 etc.

Or Inaba is just a victim of the scam. Dont have to be so paranoid.

I always see demonstration on infomercial and it works.

[DeathAndTaxes]

So what happen to the demo?

[ssateneth]

Still anxiously awaiting inaba/BFL to come into this thread to show us legitimacy!

[Inaba]

I just got home after meeting with Sonny in person from BFL and their engineer via Skype.  We had a fairly long conversation and I live over 30 miles away, so that's why it's taken me this long.

We did some simulated testing, but no live testing tonight.  We elected to put that off until tomorrow or possibly Sunday to allow for proper testing instead of just throwing some tests together.  I have, however, seen several units (and I will post pictures of them) and seen them power up.  Beyond that, I have nothing definitive to say, other than so far, so good.  I will be meeting with them again this weekend to conclude the testing on the live pool on an isolated network with no net access.

While I was not able to inspect the chips under the two main heat sinks, the other chips are plainly visible and inspectable.  There is nothing on that board to indicate any sort of cellular connection, for those of you suspecting that sort of nefarious scheme.  It was hard to take pictures at the location we were in and I will have better pictures once they let me take a unit over night - I will put it in my light box and get some properly lighted pictures.

Pictures incoming shortly. I need to post process them and I'll put up a few.  

[legolouman]

I just got home after meeting with Sonny in person from BFL and their engineer via Skype.  We had a fairly long conversation and I live over 30 miles away, so that's why it's taken me this long.

We did some simulated testing, but no live testing tonight.  We elected to put that off until tomorrow or possibly Sunday to allow for proper testing instead of just throwing some tests together.  I have, however, seen several units (and I will post pictures of them) and seen them power up.  Beyond that, I have nothing definitive to say, other than so far, so good.  I will be meeting with them again this weekend to conclude the testing on the live pool on an isolated network with no net access.

While I was not able to inspect the chips under the two main heat sinks, the other chips are plainly visible and inspectable.  There is nothing on that board to indicate any sort of cellular connection, for those of you suspecting that sort of nefarious scheme.  It was hard to take pictures at the location we were in and I will have better pictures once they let me take a unit over night - I will put it in my light box and get some properly lighted pictures.

Pictures incoming shortly. I need to post process them and I'll put up a few.  

Hard to take pictures in a server room? Let me guess, poor pictures that barely show the heat sink that we all know well? Nothing of the chips? I'm just being irritating.

[Inaba]

No, we were not in the DC tonight.  And no, the pictures are fairly comprehensive as far as that goes. 

[legolouman]

I have no outside individuals coming, but if anyone is local that wants to come along, I can probably accommodate 1 or two additional people.  BFL said they might have one or two additional people... I need to keep it small as my DC probably doesn't want a ton of people marching into one of the server rooms.

Oh really?

[Inaba]

Here are the pics... I will resize them for the forum at a later time, but I figured you guys would rather see them now than wait for me to resize them, so they are freshly exported from RAW to JPG.


https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-1.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-2.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-3.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-4.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-5.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-6.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-7.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-8.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-9.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-10.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-11.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-12.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-13.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-14.jpg
https://eclipsemc.com/bfl/bfl-15.jpg

Oh really?

[legolouman]

Okay, so the program at least looks legit, as does the hardware.
Why does it say 0 processors connected, when the one is connected?
Why didn't they let you turn it on?


Not doubting you, but it still doesn't prove that it is real legit.

Edited

[worldinacoin]

Kinda rough, but I guess it is not the appearance that counts but the hash rates.

[Inaba]

Okay, so the program at least looks legit, as does the hardware.
Why does it say 0 processors connected, when the one is connected?
Why didn't they let you turn it on?


Not doubting you, but it still doesn't prove that it is real legit.

Edited

I don't know why it says 0.  It wasn't a live test, so I wasn't too concerned, I was more interested in putting into a test loop to see what the power consumption was (which was 17.6W) - I took pictures of the Kill-A-Watt, but my flash blanked out the LCD screen of the Kill-A-Watt - I will get some non-flash pictures of it tomorrow or Sunday.

As for it being kinda rough, I think they are fairly awesome actually... they are tiny.  If they live up to their hash rate claims, they a stack of 10 of those would be pretty awesome looking.

[nmat]

Thanks a lot Inaba. I'm eager to read your review.

[rjk]

Those things look sexy.

[worldinacoin]

I prefer their larger ones but is still TBA status, the small ones look messy if you have too many of these together.

[zapeta]

Those things look sexy.

It also looks like the pre-orders sold out, and the price jumped to $699 instead of $599.