Open Source Bitcoin ASIC miner project that uses 2x BM1387 (Antminer S9)

[n0nce]

Hi
I want Register-Map for BM1397 & Bm1398 & BM 1387
If this chipss supoort verison rolling 16
PLZ help

This project is mostly about creating open-source hardware, so far. I don't think anyone has worked on the ESP32-S3 driver portion yet.
But we do have open-source drivers running on desktop operating systems, from kano. This file should get you started.

[1714537771]

1714537771

[1714537771]

1714537771

[1714537771]

1714537771

[1714537771]

1714537771

[1714537771]

1714537771

[xraid]

Hi
I want Register-Map for BM1397 & Bm1398 & BM 1387
If this chipss supoort verison rolling 16
PLZ help

This project is mostly about creating open-source hardware, so far. I don't think anyone has worked on the ESP32-S3 driver portion yet.
But we do have open-source drivers running on desktop operating systems, from kano. This file should get you started.

BM1397 registers here :
https://github.com/GPTechinno/bm1397-rs

also the Saleae application Logic has a BM1397 extension that can be loaded from within the app

[patoshi]

Great DIY project. I'm totally new to fabricating my own boards, but I fix asic miners and have a bunch of spare BM1397 chips I've extracted.

Is there a tutorial of how to make these boards?

Anyone interested in starting a telegram channel for this?

thx

[n0nce]

Great DIY project. I'm totally new to fabricating my own boards, but I fix asic miners and have a bunch of spare BM1397 chips I've extracted.

Is there a tutorial of how to make these boards?

Anyone interested in starting a telegram channel for this?

thx

Tutorial is not needed, you find KiCAD source files as well as Gerber files ready to send to a PCB manufacturer all on GitHub. Having spare BM1397 definitely helps, as they are sometimes hard or expensive to buy new.
There is a Discord group as far as I know; it should be here: https://discord.gg/APh8awPJRW
If that doesn't work, ping @GizmoMiner. I will need to have a look myself, too, just didn't get around to doing it yet.

[Skot]

Great DIY project. I'm totally new to fabricating my own boards, but I fix asic miners and have a bunch of spare BM1397 chips I've extracted.

Is there a tutorial of how to make these boards?

Anyone interested in starting a telegram channel for this?

thx

Check out the “Building” section down at the bottom of the readme; https://github.com/skot/bitaxe#building

If you have any other questions, you can ask for help in the “discussion” section on GitHub.

[paid2]

Great DIY project. I'm totally new to fabricating my own boards, but I fix asic miners and have a bunch of spare BM1397 chips I've extracted.

Is there a tutorial of how to make these boards?

Anyone interested in starting a telegram channel for this?

thx

Check out the “Building” section down at the bottom of the readme; https://github.com/skot/bitaxe#building

If you have any other questions, you can ask for help in the “discussion” section on GitHub.

Would you accept to film the whole process if you have some time to spend on it ? I would send you some funds with pleasure to cover the time spent doing it. if not, any good youtube recommandation to start from 0 ?
I never did anything related to soldering and to PCBs until now. The only experience I have with soldering  is replacing the burnt 6 pins of my hashboards, I am a little bit lost to be honest..

I am thinking for a while to start with the project of building a bitaxe and would like to be prepared as much as possible.
Anyway, thank you this project!

[Skot]

Check out the “Building” section down at the bottom of the readme; https://github.com/skot/bitaxe#building

If you have any other questions, you can ask for help in the “discussion” section on GitHub.

Would you accept to film the whole process if you have some time to spend on it ? I would send you some funds with pleasure to cover the time spent doing it. if not, any good youtube recommandation to start from 0 ?
I never did anything related to soldering and to PCBs until now. The only experience I have with soldering  is replacing the burnt 6 pins of my hashboards, I am a little bit lost to be honest..

I am thinking for a while to start with the project of building a bitaxe and would like to be prepared as much as possible.
Anyway, thank you this project!

There is tons of good stuff out there on youtube. I realize it can be tough in the beginning when you don't even know what words to google. Here is a good video on SMD PCB soldering to get you started; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyDRHI4YeMI

Maybe make a new thread about your learning project, and hit me up if you have any questions. Tips, tricks, tools, supplies, whatever questions you have. Then maybe you can make that how-to video!

also: the fastest way to learn is to just get started. goof it up a couple times. overcome analysis paralysis.

[paid2]

There is tons of good stuff out there on youtube. I realize it can be tough in the beginning when you don't even know what words to google. Here is a good video on SMD PCB soldering to get you started; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyDRHI4YeMI

Maybe make a new thread about your learning project, and hit me up if you have any questions. Tips, tricks, tools, supplies, whatever questions you have. Then maybe you can make that how-to video!

also: the fastest way to learn is to just get started. goof it up a couple times. overcome analysis paralysis.

Thank you for your answer, and for the link you shared.

You're absolutely right, once I get started I'm sure I'll progress little by little, but as you say, I'm currently at the stage where I need to demystify the basics so I can start getting into the nitty gritty things.
I won't hesitate to post my questions in a new thread if I get stuck somewhere.

I'll stop polluting your topic here and will continue to follow it, good luck and keep up the good work 

[zhzz]

Thank you so much to all contributors. Will this work with BM1387? I still have a couple of them because I wanted to fix my 0 chip newpac problem.

[Skot]

Thank you so much to all contributors. Will this work with BM1387? I still have a couple of them because I wanted to fix my 0 chip newpac problem.

Yes, there is an older revision of the bitaxe that works with two BM1387; https://github.com/skot/bitaxe/tree/BM1387_miner

[zhzz]

Thank you so much to all contributors. Will this work with BM1387? I still have a couple of them because I wanted to fix my 0 chip newpac problem.

Yes, there is an older revision of the bitaxe that works with two BM1387; https://github.com/skot/bitaxe/tree/BM1387_miner

Wow, thanks! Is the git of the two BM1387 design fully working? I have no clue about all of this, still got a bit of experience and an smd soldering station available. What's the difficulty level to build this from scratch with the available instructions? Anything I have to know? I'd be so happy to build a working miner, I was not able to fix my 0 chip problem of my broken gekkoscience.

[Skot]

Thank you so much to all contributors. Will this work with BM1387? I still have a couple of them because I wanted to fix my 0 chip newpac problem.

Yes, there is an older revision of the bitaxe that works with two BM1387; https://github.com/skot/bitaxe/tree/BM1387_miner

Wow, thanks! Is the git of the two BM1387 design fully working? I have no clue about all of this, still got a bit of experience and an smd soldering station available. What's the difficulty level to build this from scratch with the available instructions? Anything I have to know? I'd be so happy to build a working miner, I was not able to fix my 0 chip problem of my broken gekkoscience.

Yes, the design in the `BM1387_miner` branch on GitHub is working. It's a really simple design though and doesn't have a voltage regulator or usbserial IC like the gekkoscience. This means you need to supply around 0.5V at 3A, which can be tricky. You also need to find a 1.8V FTDI usbserial cable with the CBUS1 pin broken out -- also tricky. These are all things I fixed in the BM1397-based design.

Soldering-wise I'd say it's medium hard. You'll want to use solder paste stencils for both sides. the Bitmain ASIC is the hardest part to solder. All of the passives are 0402.

[n0nce]

Soldering-wise I'd say it's medium hard. You'll want to use solder paste stencils for both sides. the Bitmain ASIC is the hardest part to solder. All of the passives are 0402.

Hey Skot, good seeing you here again after a while. I acquired some more hardware by now and I shall start soldering my boards, soon-ish. You mention the ASIC was hard to solder; what exactly about it? And how did you solder it? In one go with the rest? And I think you used an oven, right?
Would it be easier to - let's say - do the passive stuff and buck converter circuitry first and the ASIC in a second pass with hot air directed right onto it?

[Skot]

Soldering-wise I'd say it's medium hard. You'll want to use solder paste stencils for both sides. the Bitmain ASIC is the hardest part to solder. All of the passives are 0402.

Hey Skot, good seeing you here again after a while. I acquired some more hardware by now and I shall start soldering my boards, soon-ish. You mention the ASIC was hard to solder; what exactly about it? And how did you solder it? In one go with the rest? And I think you used an oven, right?
Would it be easier to - let's say - do the passive stuff and buck converter circuitry first and the ASIC in a second pass with hot air directed right onto it?

Hey!

Yeah the ASIC is a PITA to solder. It’s essentially a LGA package, meaning the pins (pads, really) are only on the underside of the package. This means there is no way to see if you have soldered it properly. I have had some success by trial and error. I do a first pass soldering the whole thing in an oven, using stencils for solder paste application. If that doesn’t work I come back and try to fix with hot air and a hand soldering iron, under a microscope. The microscope only helps to look at alignment of the chip with the silkscreen..

[zhzz]

doesn't have a voltage regulator or usbserial IC like the gekkoscience. This means you need to supply around 0.5V at 3A, which can be tricky. You also need to find a 1.8V FTDI usbserial cable with the CBUS1 pin broken out -- also tricky. These are all things I fixed in the BM1397-based design.

Would it be possible to adapt the easier 1397 design (voltage regulator and usbserial cable) to the old 1387 design to make it work better? The 1397 is 5-10x of the price for a 1387. The stencil is the same for 1387 and 1397, right?

[MuffinCutter]

Hi! I am really excited about this project, you are doing great work and Im looking forward to build my own bitaxe and maybe help a bit with development. My question is: Should I order all the parts now or are there some upgrades coming soon? I would really hate to spend money on something that will be updated right after I pay for it 

[Skot]

doesn't have a voltage regulator or usbserial IC like the gekkoscience. This means you need to supply around 0.5V at 3A, which can be tricky. You also need to find a 1.8V FTDI usbserial cable with the CBUS1 pin broken out -- also tricky. These are all things I fixed in the BM1397-based design.

Would it be possible to adapt the easier 1397 design (voltage regulator and usbserial cable) to the old 1387 design to make it work better? The 1397 is 5-10x of the price for a 1387. The stencil is the same for 1387 and 1397, right?

definitely possible, but not trivial. The BM1387 uses a much lower core voltage, so I don't think the buck regulator I have on the latest bitaxe will work.

[Skot]

Hi! I am really excited about this project, you are doing great work and Im looking forward to build my own bitaxe and maybe help a bit with development. My question is: Should I order all the parts now or are there some upgrades coming soon? I would really hate to spend money on something that will be updated right after I pay for it 

Hi MuffinCutter, good to have you on board, and thanks for the GitHub PR! There has been an initiative started by BitMaker to move all parts to JLCPCB stocked ones to make PCBA assembly by them easier and cheaper. I think that's a great idea. It might make sense to hold off on ordering for that to be finished.

[hZti]

doesn't have a voltage regulator or usbserial IC like the gekkoscience. This means you need to supply around 0.5V at 3A, which can be tricky. You also need to find a 1.8V FTDI usbserial cable with the CBUS1 pin broken out -- also tricky. These are all things I fixed in the BM1397-based design.

Would it be possible to adapt the easier 1397 design (voltage regulator and usbserial cable) to the old 1387 design to make it work better? The 1397 is 5-10x of the price for a 1387. The stencil is the same for 1387 and 1397, right?

definitely possible, but not trivial. The BM1387 uses a much lower core voltage, so I don't think the buck regulator I have on the latest bitaxe will work.

Maybe it is not really an issue to use the BM1397 for now, since the project will take some more time before it is actually worth to build a lot of these devices. In this time the price of the BM1397 will go down and when project is ready it will be based on more modern and at that time also affordable hardware.

[pwakham]

If youd like to join the discord where Skot and many other developers with the same ideas in mind are, look no further! We have built a small community for Open Source mining. Skot and myself are the co-owners of this server. come see what all we have to offer!
Keep in mind, this server has been transferred from V1 which the owner went missing due to health complications. This means not all the original messages are available. if you join and would like to see the original server please contact myself, or the moderation team!

We hope to see you there!
https://discord.gg/7HMavW4yyq