Butterfly Labs - Bitforce Single and Mini Rig Box

[DILLIGAF]

Due to the Obama economy, there are still lots of office vacancies.

Yeah I'm sure if McCain won there wouldn't be a vacancy for miles.  You betcha.

I'm not even saying that - all I'm saying is, come this election, Mr. O. can no longer blame Mr. B. for the
state of the economy - after [almost] 4 years, he owns it now. No ifs and buts.

Yes because that massive hole he inherited was just so easy to fill...

[jddebug]

...
Which actually did happen to me in Palo Alto half a year ago, and this fact (and the unbearable heat) is the reason why I'm gradually shifting over to ASICs/FPGAs.

That ASIC shift must be VERY gradual

Well, when I started ordering my BFL Singles, the order page said "delivery in 4 to 6 weeks"... 
So, if the shift is very gradual (and it is), that's 100% BFL's fault.

At least the product is well-engineered - CGMINER reads 64-64 degrees Celsius from the 1-fan Single and 59-60 degrees Celsius from the 2-fan Single. Neither has a blinking front LED.

Tomorrow I will hook up a third one, and take one GPU down in exchange.
On Friday I will hook up the fourth one, and take a whole GPU rig down.

Ok, I'm curious. I have cgminer 2.3.1 going with my singles. I do not see any information about temp like I do with GPU's. Is there a setting I am missing?

[Gomeler]

Politics, in the BFL thread? GTFO with your crap.

[Inspector 2211]

...
Which actually did happen to me in Palo Alto half a year ago, and this fact (and the unbearable heat) is the reason why I'm gradually shifting over to ASICs/FPGAs.

That ASIC shift must be VERY gradual

Well, when I started ordering my BFL Singles, the order page said "delivery in 4 to 6 weeks"... 
So, if the shift is very gradual (and it is), that's 100% BFL's fault.

At least the product is well-engineered - CGMINER reads 64-64 degrees Celsius from the 1-fan Single and 59-60 degrees Celsius from the 2-fan Single. Neither has a blinking front LED.

Tomorrow I will hook up a third one, and take one GPU down in exchange.
On Friday I will hook up the fourth one, and take a whole GPU rig down.

Ok, I'm curious. I have cgminer 2.3.1 going with my singles. I do not see any information about temp like I do with GPU's. Is there a setting I am missing?

I think you need to upgrade to version 2.3.2 or 2.3.3. 2.3.3 works for me.

[jddebug]

...
Which actually did happen to me in Palo Alto half a year ago, and this fact (and the unbearable heat) is the reason why I'm gradually shifting over to ASICs/FPGAs.

That ASIC shift must be VERY gradual

Well, when I started ordering my BFL Singles, the order page said "delivery in 4 to 6 weeks"...  
So, if the shift is very gradual (and it is), that's 100% BFL's fault.

At least the product is well-engineered - CGMINER reads 64-64 degrees Celsius from the 1-fan Single and 59-60 degrees Celsius from the 2-fan Single. Neither has a blinking front LED.

Tomorrow I will hook up a third one, and take one GPU down in exchange.
On Friday I will hook up the fourth one, and take a whole GPU rig down.

I just did but now at the top of the display where it used to show all the miners in a list it only shows the shares as they are found. If I turn on the more verbose mode its putting the temp information in the area where the share info is being output so it looks horrible. Does it look that way to you?

Ok, I'm curious. I have cgminer 2.3.1 going with my singles. I do not see any information about temp like I do with GPU's. Is there a setting I am missing?

I think you need to upgrade to version 2.3.2 or 2.3.3. 2.3.3 works for me.

I upgraded. Now it seems the display is not working correctly. In the previous version 2.3.1 all my singles showed up in a row with all their stats except the temp. Now all that is gone and only shares submitted are getting displayed. The top bar with the total stats are still there, just not the individual ones.

[xDGDZEx]

I upgraded. Now it seems the display is not working correctly. In the previous version 2.3.1 all my singles showed up in a row with all their stats except the temp. Now all that is gone and only shares submitted are getting displayed. The top bar with the total stats are still there, just not the individual ones.

Wait, am I missing something? Are you running all singles under one instance? Currently I'm running one instance per unit in order to allow correct worker reporting to the pool. Can you do that under a single instance?

[Inspector 2211]

I upgraded. Now it seems the display is not working correctly. In the previous version 2.3.1 all my singles showed up in a row with all their stats except the temp. Now all that is gone and only shares submitted are getting displayed. The top bar with the total stats are still there, just not the individual ones.

Wait, am I missing something? Are you running all singles under one instance? Currently I'm running one instance per unit in order to allow correct worker reporting to the pool. Can you do that under a single instance?

I run two Singles against one mining location. I think this is the intended operation mode of CGminer.
This way, it lists all your mining assets in a neat table and all mining assets contribute to the mining location specified.

[jddebug]

I upgraded. Now it seems the display is not working correctly. In the previous version 2.3.1 all my singles showed up in a row with all their stats except the temp. Now all that is gone and only shares submitted are getting displayed. The top bar with the total stats are still there, just not the individual ones.

Wait, am I missing something? Are you running all singles under one instance? Currently I'm running one instance per unit in order to allow correct worker reporting to the pool. Can you do that under a single instance?

I run all of mine off the same "instance" of cgminer too. Works great. Display is messed up in 2.3.3 for me though it seems. I just got finished reading the cgminer thread. Seems its an issue thats been fixed but no new Windows binary yet.

[enmaku]

Is there any MTTF/MTBF/FIT data available on these? Has any such testing even been done? If not, is there any word on the exact components being used so we could find MTTF/MTBF/FIT data on the components at least?

[kano]

Is there any MTTF/MTBF/FIT data available on these? Has any such testing even been done? If not, is there any word on the exact components being used so we could find MTTF/MTBF/FIT data on the components at least?

No, No and No.

[jamesg]

I run all of mine off the same "instance" of cgminer too. Works great. Display is messed up in 2.3.3 for me though it seems. I just got finished reading the cgminer thread. Seems its an issue thats been fixed but no new Windows binary yet.

jddebug, if you have more than 8 devices, cgminer no longer displays each individual device. This was a "fix" in 2.3.3.

[jddebug]

I run all of mine off the same "instance" of cgminer too. Works great. Display is messed up in 2.3.3 for me though it seems. I just got finished reading the cgminer thread. Seems its an issue thats been fixed but no new Windows binary yet.

jddebug, if you have more than 8 devices, cgminer no longer displays each individual device. This was a "fix" in 2.3.3.

I will have to run several instances of it then. I don't like fixes that break things.

[MXRider]

I just wish the delivery times weren't so damn long.

Is there anything else one can do with Single or MiniRig than mine bitcoins. Just wondering what kind of "insurance" I have if BTC crashes.

How long have you been waiting for the MiniRig guys?

[bitcoindaddy]

Is there anything else one can do with Single or MiniRig than mine bitcoins. Just wondering what kind of "insurance" I have if BTC crashes.

People have been saying that there is currently no other use for the Singles, unless BFL supplies an alternate bitstream....

however, reading this thread:  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=49971.msg811855#msg811855 gives the impression that even if the chips have an encrypted bitstream, that an open stream can still be installed on them. Of course it depends on what kind of chip is being used.

[rjk]

Is there anything else one can do with Single or MiniRig than mine bitcoins. Just wondering what kind of "insurance" I have if BTC crashes.

People have been saying that there is currently no other use for the Singles, unless BFL supplies an alternate bitstream....

however, reading this thread:  https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=49971.msg811855#msg811855 gives the impression that even if the chips have an encrypted bitstream, that an open stream can still be installed on them. Of course it depends on what kind of chip is being used.

Yeah you would have to know exactly the make and model of the chip, and I don't think anyone knows it yet.

[bitcoindaddy]

It figures that right after I cash out a bunch of bitcoins to buy several BFL singles, the price of bitcoins starts climbing.

[WhitePhantom]

Is there anything else one can do with Single or MiniRig than mine bitcoins. Just wondering what kind of "insurance" I have if BTC crashes.

Before I ordered my Rig Box (now two Mini-Rigs), Sonny told me (just a paraphrase from memory) that I shouldn't consider the value of the hardware for other uses in any part of my decision on whether to make a purchase, as there is currently no other use for them.  However, he also said that if BTC did crash and become worthless, they would probably release their development toolkit so their customers could attempt to recover something on the hardware investment.

[BFL]

Is there anything else one can do with Single or MiniRig than mine bitcoins. Just wondering what kind of "insurance" I have if BTC crashes.

Before I ordered my Rig Box (now two Mini-Rigs), Sonny told me (just a paraphrase from memory) that I shouldn't consider the value of the hardware for other uses in any part of my decision on whether to make a purchase, as there is currently no other use for them.  However, he also said that if BTC did crash and become worthless, they would probably release their development toolkit so their customers could attempt to recover something on the hardware investment.

Hi guys, sorry to jump in on your conversation but this comment was pointed out to me and I wanted to take the opportunity to clarify as this question has come up quite a lot.

Our alternate purpose firmware has been set aside in favor of focusing our efforts on the larger BTC mining market.  Our project started before BTC and when time allows, we will complete firmware development in those areas.  However, because we've stopped development for those markets we want to make it clear that purchasing our hardware should be a decision based on it's BTC mining value alone.

[Inspector 2211]

So I bring the remaining two Singles from this week's shipment of three online yesterday evening and leave them mining overnight.

Guess what.

One of their "Made in China" power supplies died overnight, green LED off.  

I'm not even going to send it back for an exchange - I'm just going to cut off its 12V cable and attach it to a industrial-grade (Vicor Power) 12V supply.

[Epoch]

So I bring the remaining two Singles from this week's shipment of three online yesterday evening and leave them mining overnight.

Guess what.

One of their "Made in China" power supplies died overnight, green LED off.  

I'm not even going to send it back for an exchange - I'm just going to cut off its 12V cable and attach it to a industrial-grade (Vicor Power) 12V supply.

I believe this is the first report of a BFL field failure. Let's hope your dying PSU didn't fry your Single while it was in its death throes. That would be bad.

I've been using spare ATX 80+ Gold supplies instead of the supplied bricks. Though it is a PITA to crimp/solder the cables and plugs, there are benefits: (1) more efficient supply (7%-10%), thus less power loss/heat; (2) less cable clutter and power outlets; and (3) IMHO the ATX supply should be more reliable and better protected than the stock brick.