Re: Black Arrow 28nm 100Ghash Bitcoin ASIC from $0.49/GH/s

[Pentax]

"We trust that Bitcoin mining will be profitable in May as well or all the Bitcoin mining will stop. The online profitability calculators are wrong just because nobody in the right mind will keep doubling the hashrate of the network every month if they are loosing money. The hashrate of the network will keep growing only if the bitcoin value goes up again. For this reason and because we provide the lowest prices possible we do not think that our miners will have a negative return of investment. However, we understand that you might not agree with us and we'll offer you the refund if you decide to go ahead with it."





Difficulty jumped by about a billion Saturday.

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[DebitMe]

What was the date of tape out again?  Does anyone have an estimate of when the chips should be done at fab based on the tape out date?  It should be in the next week correct?

[Pentax]

Here's a handy calculator that someone posted to ecointalk.  Retroactive BTC calculator

http://retrocalc.net/

so far, according to that, this delay has cost 8.5169 BTC on an X-3

even at today's relatively low price of BTC, that's a serious shot in the ass.

[goozman96]

Tape out was February 23. The fabrication process takes just under 2 months from what I've seen/read.

[DebitMe]

Tape out was February 23. The fabrication process takes just under 2 months from what I've seen/read.

Ok so probably next week towards the end of the week we should receive confirmation that the chips have been received.  Man that seems like a lot to do in 2 weeks to ship these on time.

P.S. - BA I would like a t-shirt shipped with each purchase, any way you could add these into the compensation package somehow?

[DebitMe]

What a wonderful idea. Perfect companion to my BFL mugs that I never use!

Why on earth wouldn't you use that thing?  I would have at least broken it or donated it to the "2 girls 1 cup" producer so he could do something extremely degrading to it and put it out on the internet.

EDIT: 1 BFL, 0 Monarchs (Catchy Title)

[DebitMe]

I've requested a refund via email over a week ago for my order and have gotten no response.  I opened a ticket on their website and they closed it with no response.  Has anyone managed to get a BTC refund from them?  How long did it take?  What method did you use to get a response from them?

Who did you order from?

I have requested a refund through Minersource and was informed that they were switching banks and that the funds should clear today (still have not received a tracking number yet).

Per BA's own forums, they do not seem to be doing refunds yet.  They have said multiple times that it should be soon or next week, but those days come and go and no further word on the issue.

[Pentax]

The issue is that these will be WORTHLESS in a year no matter the value of BTC because the difficulty will be so high, BTC isn't going to soar 100x its current value anymore.

I'd agree.  Resale value is effectively zero.

I also see the point that difficulty has to stop rising, although as some have noted, that's not as likely as some might think.  empirically, that's not happening.  I got an update from KnC this morning.  Their data center goes live in June.  God knows what that will do but it sure as hell won't drive difficulty down.

aside from that, saying difficulty has to stop rising is irrelevant.  the question is when it will stop rising, as the effective period for these is a few months, so if it doesn't happen then, which doesn't seem likely at this point for a lot of reasons, postulating that is irrelevant for the current customers.

bottom line, this delay crushed people.  difficulty has blown up during this time period.  this would not be true if they had delivered them on time.  We are >8.5 BTC in the hole per X-3 as a result of this delay, and rising.  platitudes and prognostications that everything will be just fine are meaningless bullshit.  BA's failure has cost it's customers a shitload of money. 

glad they're working that scrypt miner up though.  company motto should be 'let them eat cake' 

fucking bastards.

[Pentax]

www.BlackArrowSoftware.com works for me, ecointalk.net doesn't though.

yeah, they're messing with something.  the message on the ecointalk page has changed also...

[DebitMe]

Just for reference, will update when this is resolved...

I requested a refund from MinerSource last Friday, was immediately told it would get done and mailed on Monday or Tuesday of this week, and I would receive a tracking number.  I have still not received a tracking number and have emailed twice asking for a status update.  I have no idea if it is in the mail or not, or the status of my refund.  Bobsag, please look into my email inquiry.

Thanks,

DebitMe

Update, received an email last Friday saying that the funds should clear into their new bank either that day or yesterday, as of right now I have not received an email with explanations or tracking.  Sent an email earlier today asking for a status update and when I can expect to receive refund.

Will update when I hear more.

[goozman96]

No need to worry. Like everyone else with a Linux server, BA have been sorting out the OpenSSL bug.  I guess it didn't go too smoothly.  Search twitter for "OpenSSL" and you will see the mayhem it's caused today.  BitStamp went partially offline too.

Two of my servers were effected.  I managed to update my server with only a few seconds downtime.

There is more about it here, if your interested:
http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/07/massive-security-bug-in-openssl-could-effect-a-huge-chunk-of-the-internet/

You're probably right. Here's some more links for anyone interested:
http://heartbleed.com/
https://community.qualys.com/blogs/securitylabs/2014/04/08/ssl-labs-test-for-the-heartbleed-attack

[Pentax]

No need to worry. Like everyone else with a Linux server, BA have been sorting out the OpenSSL bug.  I guess it didn't go too smoothly.  Search twitter for "OpenSSL" and you will see the mayhem it's caused today.  BitStamp went partially offline too.

Two of my servers were effected.  I managed to update my server with only a few seconds downtime.

There is more about it here, if your interested:
http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/07/massive-security-bug-in-openssl-could-effect-a-huge-chunk-of-the-internet/

most likely right.  they've been blinking on and off all day.  

they could post something to their FB or Twitter accounts.  I know that's some crazy sheeit I'm talkin' there, but I'm prone to these flashes of brilliance on things others have already been utilizing for years....

[goozman96]

The site is back online, though none of the product links work..

[goozman96]

It looks like they are finally accepting credit cards and PayPal. That's good news.

[goozman96]

It looks like they are finally accepting credit cards and PayPal. That's good news.

Actually I just tried a fake check out and the only two options for payment are bank transfer and coins. Though they have paypal and credit card logos at the bottom of the page...

[DebitMe]

Any1 wants to buy a preorder of 20 prospero x-1 batch #1 ? Ordered @ BA site.

Will sell for same price as i bought, 290$ a piece + $ delivery + bank transfer costs.

PM me.

You bought twenty? Why didn't you just by an X-3?

Bought togather with friend

Well if your willing to reduce your price I may be interested.  I can currently buy an ant for less than $350 dollars, which will run twice as fast and we know that they are a real product.  No offense, but there is no real indication that these are even real yet.  I doubt we will be able to agree upon a price though, as you would have to come significantly down.

BTW-we should be receiving an update any time now which should tell us whether they will ship at the beginning of May.

[DebitMe]

Well looks like no renders for us today.

dude relax, there is plenty of time.  They have not been consistent at all about what time they post updates.  But at least they are posting them every week, so the last thing that needs to happen is for people to get upset about something that BA is actually finally doing right.

[DebitMe]

1) It is the antminer that is put out by bitmain, their website is bitmaintech.com and they will have more in stock in the next 24 hours.

2) It is still Thursday, they never said they would post their updates on Thursday or Wednesday, and in fact they have been coming out on either day every week.  They have not missed an update in about a month and a half, and until they are severely overdue, it is not worth attacking them for what they are actually doing right.

[DebitMe]

Bitcoin Miners progress update – 10 April 2014
1. Minion
Received news from Global Foundries: they are 8 days ahead of schedule and will ship the wafers next week
Have discussed and received great support from our packaging company, we’re looking forward to receive the chip.
2. X3 hashboard – final design
We have received the X3 hashboard sample, 2 days later than expected.
Pending assembly
3. X3 backplane – final design
Adjusted parts based on feedback from the case
Reviewing design, will send to factory tomorrow.
4. X1 hashboard – final design
PCB has been assembled
5. X1 backplane – final design
Completed, sent to factory
6. Control board – final design
Waiting for LCD + touchscreen factories
7. X3 case
has been corrected based on all the parts
plastic parts have been sent to factory for review
8. X1 case
has been designed, pending review

[DebitMe]

Bitcoin Miners progress update – 10 April 2014
1. Minion
Received news from Global Foundries: they are 8 days ahead of schedule and will ship the wafers next week
Have discussed and received great support from our packaging company, we’re looking forward to receive the chip.
2. X3 hashboard – final design
We have received the X3 hashboard sample, 2 days later than expected.
Pending assembly
3. X3 backplane – final design
Adjusted parts based on feedback from the case
Reviewing design, will send to factory tomorrow.
4. X1 hashboard – final design
PCB has been assembled
5. X1 backplane – final design
Completed, sent to factory
6. Control board – final design
Waiting for LCD + touchscreen factories
7. X3 case
has been corrected based on all the parts
plastic parts have been sent to factory for review
8. X1 case
has been designed, pending review

Debit, Black Arrow should pay you for posting updates.  You're doing a better job promoting them than themselves!   

HAHA, thanks, but please let it be known I am not promoting them!  I have just as much skin in this game as the rest of you and am still currently waiting on my refund from MinerSource for my X-3 unit. (still have other units on order that I paid btc and don't want less back).

Per my calculations these will not make back the USD that were paid for them at the current (and even if it recovers some) rates.  These will have a hard time making back the btc that were paid for them given the expected difficulty increase. (This is my belief and in no way reflects BA)

Still waiting on MinerSource to email about my refund, but not making a fuss yet as they said it would be yesterday or today.

And yes, you will receive the amount of btc you paid back, I do not agree or see why that is the case, but that is the way it works.