Acorn M.2 FPGA based GPU Accelerator-Considering legal action!

[jharris265]

SCAM Alert

I purchased Acorn M.2 FPGA based mining accelerators when the first batches were made. Not only did Squirrels miss the delivery date by over 6 months, they falsely advertised what this product was capable of doing. I have not been told by anyone from Squirrels, or anyone else in the industry, on the prospect of their promises coming to fruition. Let's just say it was less than encouraging.
Go to their website and store and things are a lot different from just 60 days ago. Acorns were demoted to development boards and now no longer available.
Squirrels did offer limited bitstreams, but never anything close to a "GPU accelerator. "

Possible legal issues:
False advertising,
Wire Fraud,
Possible interstate commerce violations?
Because they operate in the "web" and ship worldwide, it would be a federal matter.

At any rate, Squirrels, should be made to answer for their actions, under oath and under cross exam!

I will be following up in this thread with transcripts of my correspondence with customer support. If anyone has screenshots of the website before it was changed, feel free to post them here!

[1713909098]

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[1713909098]

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[1713909098]

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[1713909098]

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[philipma1957]

Okay let me see what I can find.

here is a pdf   this is first post made in the thread


I made the pdf on Dec 9 2018


"Author Topic: Acorn M.2 FPGA based GPU Accelerator (Read 36631 times)
GPUHoarder
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Activity: 154
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Trust:
0: -0 / +0
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Acorn M.2 FPGA based GPU Accelerator
June 01, 2018, 02:06:38 AM
Merited by vapourminer (5), suchmoon (5), 64dimensions (5)
+Merit #1
This information all existed in the discord but I wanted to share it with everyone.
So we’ve developed an FPGA accelerator over the past few months in M.2 (same
as nVME drives) form factor designed to operate both standalone and in
conjunction with GPUs.
The first version to be released has 4x high speed PCIe lanes to communicate
between the system/GPUs as well as 512MB or 1GB of onboard DDR3 along with a
100k+ LE or 200k+ LE FPGA of high speed grade. We’ve named it the Acorn, and
the three models are the CLE-101, CLE-215, and CLE-215+
General expectation is it will provide performance roughly scaled with
price/performance of the VCU1525, but it has a unique role and is not applicable
to all of the same algorithms. Its performance in this role is dominated by its
interconnect bandwidth and not its processing power.
It is capable of providing up to 30MH of lift to a mining system with GPUs on a
hand full of algorithms or operate independently at higher-than-GPU level
hashrates for other non-memory intensive algorithms (Keccak, etc). I will be
releasing it alongside our mining software and bitstreams to support hybrid GPU
acceleration. This project was not developed commercially, it was developed out of
a product for my day job for internal use in our own mining systems to give an
edge to traditional PCs and gaming systems turned miners.
The accelerator works by streaming high bandwidth hash state between GPUs and
the FPGA over PCIe., allowing each piece of hardware to handle the portion of the
algorithm it is best at. In general this means memory bandwidth or area heavy
portions of the algorithm may be handled by the GPU, and hash algorithms
designed for hardware implementations are handled by the FPGA. This approach
works for any algorithm whose internal state is 256 bit (60Mh gains) or 512 bit
(x16r, Lyra2Rev2, etc.) or smaller. The accelerator supports rapidly reconfiguring
its algorithms from on-board DDR to enable handling of per-block or period
(TimeTravel10) re-sequencing. It was designed originally to provide performance
gains (especially for older GPUs with poor cores) and power savings for ETH by
way of offloading the opening and closing Keccak calculations, as well as hashselection
to improve locality of reference for early ETH rounds.
Given the anticipated path of ETH itself regarding POS and other fork possibilities
please consider all those things if ETH is your target. It may be the most popular
coin for GPUs, that does not mean it is the best use of FPGA or hybrid tech.
I’ve decided to make this hardware available to community at near cost, given all
the FPGA interest lately, alongside my belief that broadly available general
purpose acceleration hardware at its true market cost (not low volume industry
specific dev boards) is the best defense against complete ASIC centralization. You
will see this philosophy reflected in my activity around the VCU1525 board as well.
Anticipated pre-order prices of $199 for the CLE-101 512MB variant and $329 on
the high end highest speed grade CLE-215+ 1GB DRAM version. On-board power
consumption is nominally 15W. It will include a heatsink adequate for this
dissipation level with reasonable airflow. It is important to note that to fit the
FPGA this adapter is slightly outside of the 2280 M.2 specification, weighing in at
2380. The vast majority of M.2 slots should not have an issue with this.
I am also pursuing making available well priced options for individual PCIe x4 to
M.2 M-key host boards (these are broadly available for $10-15), as well as Quad-
M.2 PCIe switched and Bifurcated x16 host boards for those who do not have the
available M.2 M-Key slots or require up to 240MH of acceleration.
I won’t post exact per algorithm stats or performance until I can do final testing of
the actual boards to be shipped with the release hardware/heatsink/thermal
management pieces in place, at which point I’ll accept pre-orders. This device
requires quite a bit of testing to cover the list of common GPUs, PCIe
configurations, and supported algorithms. I have no desire to sell anyone anything
not useful to them, or to push a board at all, let alone one based on 3D renders,
prototype parts pictures, or choppy YouTube videos, so I believe this full set of
data along with final product pictures and overview must be published before I will
take any preorders. I am sorry if that tests your patience.
Prototypes exist and I’ve already secured most of the hardware for a first batch so
lead time will only be PCB + assembly.
At the time of shipping I will be releasing our internal miner software in closed
source form for Windows and Linux that supports GPU only as well as Hybrid
acceleration. You’re also welcome to develop your own bitstreams for the
accelerator, and will have all the specifications necessary to do so.
I will also be publishing the interface for the bitstreams so that open source
miners that wish to can use the FPGA directly.
We are handling all CE, FCC, RoHS, and other certifications as well as ITAR and
export compliance, so we will be able to ship to all non-US embargo’d countries.
Taxes and import duties will fall on the purchaser. We will be offering at least a 90
day warranty.
All feedback is welcome. This is not my source of income, nor that of the rest of
my team, and we don’t want anyone’s money unless they are happy with what
we’re offering. I’m also happy to continue conversations I am already having with
coin devs and miner developers on how or if FPGAs fit into their plans for their
coin and/or ASIC Resistance strategies. This community is about choice, and I will
respect the choices of those teams.
So all I would like from all of you beyond the feedback, is for anyone interested to
hit our pre-order registration survey at http://www.squirrelsresearch.com to help
us ensure we’re covering your needs and wants and have all the appropriate
hardware secured. Based on that info very detailed performance information and
full device photos (spoiler - it looks like an SSD with a heatsink on it!) will be
published at the time preorders open, expected in mid-June.
- David
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trillobeat
Newbie
Activity: 35
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Trust:
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Re: Acorn M.2 FPGA based GPU Accelerator
June 01, 2018, 02:15:44 AM
+Merit #2
Good news!
I want to ask again , is the use of the M.2 accelerator helping only a single GPU
on the motherboard or all GPUs will benefit?
The MBs with two M.2 slots can use two accelerator units ? ( in the case a single
GPU per accelerator)
Report to moderator
GPUHoarder
Member
Activity: 154
Merit: 36
Trust:
0: -0 / +0
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Re: Acorn M.2 FPGA based GPU Accelerator
June 01, 2018, 02:16:51 AM
+Merit #3
Quote from: trillobeat on June 01, 2018, 02:15:44 AM
Good news!
I want to ask again , is the use of the M.2 accelerator helping only a single GPU on the
motherboard or all GPUs will benefit?
The MBs with two M.2 slots can use two accelerator units ? ( in the case a single GPU per
accelerator)
One Acorn can help multiple GPUs depending on algorithm, you can use two in two
M.2 slots.
Report to moderator"



I do not know if the first post is around any more

[Hueristic]

This information all existed in the discord but I wanted to share it with everyone.

So we’ve developed an FPGA accelerator over the past few months in M.2 (same as nVME drives) form factor designed to operate both standalone and in conjunction with GPUs.

The first version to be released has 4x high speed PCIe lanes to communicate between the system/GPUs as well as 512MB or 1GB of onboard DDR3 along with a 100k+ LE or 200k+ LE FPGA of high speed grade. We’ve named it the Acorn, and the three models are the CLE-101, CLE-215, and CLE-215+

General expectation is it will provide performance roughly scaled with price/performance of the VCU1525, but it has a unique role and is not applicable to all of the same algorithms. Its performance in this role is dominated by its interconnect bandwidth and not its processing power.

It is capable of providing up to 30MH of lift to a mining system with GPUs on a hand full of algorithms or operate independently at higher-than-GPU level hashrates for other non-memory intensive algorithms (Keccak, etc). I will be releasing it alongside our mining software and bitstreams to support hybrid GPU acceleration. This project was not developed commercially, it was developed out of a product for my day job for internal use in our own mining systems to give an edge to traditional PCs and gaming systems turned miners.

The accelerator works by streaming high bandwidth hash state between GPUs and the FPGA over PCIe., allowing each piece of hardware to handle the portion of the algorithm it is best at. In general this means memory bandwidth or area heavy portions of the algorithm may be handled by the GPU, and hash algorithms designed for hardware implementations are handled by the FPGA. This approach works for any algorithm whose internal state is 256 bit (60Mh gains) or 512 bit (x16r, Lyra2Rev2, etc.) or smaller. The accelerator supports rapidly reconfiguring its algorithms from on-board DDR to enable handling of per-block or period (TimeTravel10) re-sequencing. It was designed originally to provide performance gains (especially for older GPUs with poor cores) and power savings for ETH by way of offloading the opening and closing Keccak calculations, as well as hash-selection to improve locality of reference for early ETH rounds.

Given the anticipated path of ETH itself regarding POS and other fork possibilities please consider all those things if ETH is your target. It may be the most popular coin for GPUs, that does not mean it is the best use of FPGA or hybrid tech.

I’ve decided to make this hardware available to community at near cost, given all the FPGA interest lately, alongside my belief that broadly available general purpose acceleration hardware at its true market cost (not low volume industry specific dev boards) is the best defense against complete ASIC centralization. You will see this philosophy reflected in my activity around the VCU1525 board as well.

Anticipated pre-order prices of $199 for the CLE-101 512MB variant and $329 on the high end highest speed grade CLE-215+ 1GB DRAM version. On-board power consumption is nominally 15W. It will include a heatsink adequate for this dissipation level with reasonable airflow. It is important to note that to fit the FPGA this adapter is slightly outside of the 2280 M.2 specification, weighing in at 2380. The vast majority of M.2 slots should not have an issue with this.

I am also pursuing making available well priced options for individual PCIe x4 to M.2 M-key host boards (these are broadly available for $10-15), as well as Quad-M.2 PCIe switched and Bifurcated x16 host boards for those who do not have the available M.2 M-Key slots or require up to 240MH of acceleration.

I won’t post exact per algorithm stats or performance until I can do final testing of the actual boards to be shipped with the release hardware/heatsink/thermal management pieces in place, at which point I’ll accept pre-orders. This device requires quite a bit of testing to cover the list of common GPUs, PCIe configurations, and supported algorithms. I have no desire to sell anyone anything not useful to them, or to push a board at all, let alone one based on 3D renders, prototype parts pictures, or choppy YouTube videos, so I believe this full set of data along with final product pictures and overview must be published before I will take any preorders. I am sorry if that tests your patience.

Prototypes exist and I’ve already secured most of the hardware for a first batch so lead time will only be PCB + assembly.

At the time of shipping I will be releasing our internal miner software in closed source form for Windows and Linux that supports GPU only as well as Hybrid acceleration. You’re also welcome to develop your own bitstreams for the accelerator, and will have all the specifications necessary to do so.

I will also be publishing the interface for the bitstreams so that open source miners that wish to can use the FPGA directly.

We are handling all CE, FCC, RoHS, and other certifications as well as ITAR and export compliance, so we will be able to ship to all non-US embargo’d countries. Taxes and import duties will fall on the purchaser. We will be offering at least a 90 day warranty.

All feedback is welcome. This is not my source of income, nor that of the rest of my team, and we don’t want anyone’s money unless they are happy with what we’re offering. I’m also happy to continue conversations I am already having with coin devs and miner developers on how or if FPGAs fit into their plans for their coin and/or ASIC Resistance strategies. This community is about choice, and I will respect the choices of those teams.

So all I would like from all of you beyond the feedback, is for anyone interested to hit our pre-order registration survey at http://www.squirrelsresearch.com to help us ensure we’re covering your needs and wants and have all the appropriate hardware secured. Based on that info very detailed performance information and full device photos (spoiler - it looks like an SSD with a heatsink on it!) will be published at the time preorders open, expected in mid-June.

- David

BULLSHIT!!!
THE MOST SCAMMERS IN 2019

they never demoed a working product accelerating a gpu

Well I think we can plainly see what their word is worth.

I would support a flag on GPUHoarder.

Just the highlighted point is enough to proof the lie.

PM me when there is a TAG.

[reb0rn21]

We should put all FPGA devs here, they advertise lies and later develop bistreams for private farms only and give scraps to rest

[HashBlocker]

SCAM Alert

I purchased Acorn M.2 FPGA based mining accelerators when the first batches were made. Not only did Squirrels miss the delivery date by over 6 months, they falsely advertised what this product was capable of doing. I have not been told by anyone from Squirrels, or anyone else in the industry, on the prospect of their promises coming to fruition. Let's just say it was less than encouraging.
Go to their website and store and things are a lot different from just 60 days ago. Acorns were demoted to development boards and now no longer available.
Squirrels did offer limited bitstreams, but never anything close to a "GPU accelerator. "

Possible legal issues:
False advertising,
Wire Fraud,
Possible interstate commerce violations?
Because they operate in the "web" and ship worldwide, it would be a federal matter.

At any rate, Squirrels, should be made to answer for their actions, under oath and under cross exam!

I will be following up in this thread with transcripts of my correspondence with customer support. If anyone has screenshots of the website before it was changed, feel free to post them here!

1- They told you that GPU excelleration was not coming to fruitation because of things they had no control of.
2 - You were offered a refund...several times.
3 - Quit threatening with lawsuits. No DEV is required to make you any bitreams no matter what you think you are entittled to, unless you signed an NDA and hired your own. (I'd build private bitstreams to avoid little lawsuit fappers too).
4 - You have no ground to stand on. YOU made a bad "investment" choice and loss. Move on. Just as everyone else has.

[PharmEcis]

What a worthless post.  Means to make reparations were presented and if you didn't take advantage of it, that's on you.

You have literally no leg to stand on and any effort is simply wasted time for yourself and for those involved.

[jharris265]

Its not about the money. Hell, I gave up on that long ago. This post is about FALSE ADVERTISING and SHADY BUSINESS PRACTICE.
 
"1- They told you that GPU excelleration was not coming to fruitation because of things they had no control of."
          
 Buyers were not made aware of software issues until after ACORNS were delivered.

"2 - You were offered a refund...several times."
              
 I was only offered a refund one time.

"3 - Quit threatening with lawsuits. No DEV is required to make you any bitreams no matter what you think you are entittled to, unless you signed an NDA and hired your own. (I'd build private bitstreams to avoid little lawsuit fappers too)."
              
 I have not threatened to do anything to anybody nor did I say I was entitled to anything.

"4 - You have no ground to stand on. YOU made a bad "investment" choice and loss. Move on. Just as everyone else has."

I never claimed to be a lawyer so you might be right. You might be wrong as well. I just know in my line of business, that my licenses, at least the three I hold, would be under fire for interstate fraud and a host of other issues. I would have to answer for my actions in a court of law.

I just want to know why the lied to us and how and when they plan on making things right. That is not asking for much.

            

[jharris265]

here are some exerts from my correspondence with Squirrl's :


4-12-19:

"to me

Hi J,

The GPU assist is still not available, due to a legal IP dispute, we can't provide more information than this at the moment, but we wouldn't offer this discount, if we didn't think we could deliver the promised software. At the moment there are standalone bitstreams for acorns available to provide some use, with more standalone algorithms coming as they're developed.

You can find it here: https://thefpgaforum.com/forums/bitstreams.16/

Thanks
Brian K.
SQRL Customer Support"

11-25-19:

"to Squirrels

At the time the refund was offered I still had faith that Squirrels could deliver on some very specific software that was widely advertised and made to look like it was available. I know the mining software is in an intellectual property dispute right now and that is where I lost the faith. There are others in the same camp as myself and I think I will encourage them to contact Federal and local agencies to investigate false advertising over state lines. I refuse to be jerked around any longer.

Thanks for your understanding."

"to me

"Hi J,

I understand that you're upset. What I can do for you is place your request in the refund queue. These will be handled in order, and judged on a case by case basis. When we have the funds to start fulfilling refunds we will be in touch to let you know the progress of your request.



Thanka
Brian K.
SQRL Customer Support"

[Hueristic]

here are some exerts from my correspondence with Squirrl's :


4-12-19:

"to me

Hi J,

The GPU assist is still not available, due to a legal IP dispute, we can't provide more information than this at the moment, but we wouldn't offer this discount, if we didn't think we could deliver the promised software. At the moment there are standalone bitstreams for acorns available to provide some use, with more standalone algorithms coming as they're developed.

You can find it here: https://thefpgaforum.com/forums/bitstreams.16/

Thanks
Brian K.
SQRL Customer Support"

I see nothing here.

https://thefpgaforum.com/forums/bitstreams.16/

I was not aware you were offered a refund, was that a refund of the same currency you paid in?

Where is the proof there is litigation they cannot talk about?

Sounds like a lie to me.

If they can provide that proof then I will remove their neg feedback.

Also what happened to the flag? I don't see it.
Was it defeated and removed?
Sorry I have not been as active and have not kept up on this at all.

[jharris265]

I am not sure I understand. I don't know about flagging. They offered the refund in the same currency,but due to the falling market the refunds did not cover the initial price paid for the Acorns.
They are not showing proof of the alleged IP dispute.

[jharris265]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4391318.0

Very interesting reading here too. I might use some quotes from that thread to support this one.

[jharris265]

Screenshot from Github site concerning Christy-Lee Anne Minehan allegedly being involved in industrial espionage!

Interesting information if it is true. We all know she was heavily involved with Squirrls Research. I think she saw an opportunity to make some valuable coin then pull an unannounced exit from Squirrls Research.

I believe this is the message Github posted when the ethlargement pill was first removed, so glad I got the pill early on.

%3Ftopic%3D4391318.1280&docid=gHceOKDpDD8zmM&tbnid=PszrkfGoXoB7dM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjD6uW7wqHnAhVmlXIEHQSfCBYQMwgsKAAwAA..i&w=1118&h=1249&bih=884&biw=1657&q=squirrels%20research%20acorn-215%20M.2%20FPGA%20%22alternate%22%20bit%20streams&ved=0ahUKEwjD6uW7wqHnAhVmlXIEHQSfCBYQMwgsKAAwAA&iact=mrc&uact=8]https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.gyazo.com%2F02f2d146f8ed13921f7eb05997b06cfc.png&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2F[Suspicious link removed]%3Ftopic%3D4391318.1280&docid=gHceOKDpDD8zmM&tbnid=PszrkfGoXoB7dM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjD6uW7wqHnAhVmlXIEHQSfCBYQMwgsKAAwAA..i&w=1118&h=1249&bih=884&biw=1657&q=squirrels%20research%20acorn-215%20M.2%20FPGA%20%22alternate%22%20bit%20streams&ved=0ahUKEwjD6uW7wqHnAhVmlXIEHQSfCBYQMwgsKAAwAA&iact=mrc&uact=8

Then I found this after looking deeper into github:

https://github.com/LukasBures/OhGodAnETHlargementPill/tree/85d439b6be721b5ad00a94965e2ee780d0f1d5f8

Seems the "pill" is still out there....

[Hueristic]

^^^--- what are those links supposed to mean?

Apply quotes to the data you want to provide and a link to the page the data resides.

[jharris265]

My apologies! I am still new to this forum. Copy and pasting text is no problem. What I am having trouble with is posting pictures and screenshots.
Google search: squirrls research acorn 215+M.2 FPGA "alternate" bit streams

It should be the first image to appear.

Help would be appreciated!!

[P4ndoraBox]

Do the maths...

David and minehan worked together  passing the acorns as a eth pill like, and minehan took the opportunity with her mineority hosting "company" to milk david sales for those who not only wanted a hashrate dream machine ( bcu1525 ), but to host gpus with acorns powered  mumbo jumbo and she kept all the eth instead of delivering, and put her "company" bankrupt with the acorns secret sauce with it to get a way out for both her and david and bury the acorn nonsense with it.

There wont have any answers or gpu acceleration proof since they "legaly" put that nonsense in the mineority "company" case that went bankrupt to hide their scams.

Acorns buyers were scammed, its so obvious.

What is not obvious, is how regular people could unhide the truth in minehan mineority shit story.

[jharris265]

Agreed!

Bankruptcy or not they still committed fraud across state lines. Can they still be held personally liable? Criminal activity has taken place and the proof is out there, I just don't have the money to take action....

[kck146]

I posted in the other thread with a separate email address to talk about legal options but was written off as a burner account. No I am not a member of this community or any discord. I purchased acorns off the internet from Squirrel Research and I am still serious about pursuing claims against David's company. I was hoping someone had collected enough other evidence at this point and had an inclination to file in Ohio. The email address is still open. My loss is less than $5k which wouldn't be a civil case so I was hoping folks with more losses would have contacted me.