When I did direct sales, pre-orders were common because I needed to raise money for production. The only difference here is I told my resellers we had a new thing before I announced it on the forum.
But yes, GekkoScience is dropping a new stick. We're still tuning the driver so a full top-end test hasn't been done yet but the testing specs are already a significant improvement on the NewPac.
And this one is Red.
So will this stick require an updated version of the Gekko cgminer?
Just like all the previous 'Pacs, because the chip (same as used in the T17's) has different requirements it needs a new driver for it so, yes. Kano is working on it as we type