GekkoScience BM1384 Project Development Discussion

[PlanetCrypto]

What I meant about costs regarding patents is, if the budget for the project so far has been about $600 I don't think we're gonna be able to scrape together however many thousands of dollars it takes to file a patent claim. I'm also sorta allergic to BS, and every patent I've ever [tried to] read makes almost no sense because any technical information is completely obscured in stupid legal language. I mean if someone wants to go through what I put together, decide if it's patentable, translate the technical information into Vogon and push it through the system pro-bono, sure we can patent some of the TypeZero stuff. But right now I'm a little more concerned with being one of two engineers in a two-man business than being a paperpusher. You may be right about everything, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm broke and undertrained in legal documentation.

Also, and no offense to PlanetCrypto because I know he really likes liquid cooling, but I really don't care much about it. There's just something reliably low-tech about a heatsink and fan that makes things so much easier for regular people to work with, and since making things regular people want to work with is our priority, I'll stick to considering those needs. That said, if our Spec1 boards are compatible with S[odd] heatsinks, it also means they're compatible with the waterblocks folks are using for them, so there you go. The Spec2 board would be built dimensionally as a Prisma board, which I know PanetCrypto has worked with in immersion cooling attempts. Something like that might be better for an oiltank. If y'all want to figure out the best ways to high-density or watercool the works-with-aircooling boards I want to make, I won't get in the way. But I'm not going to retool designs for MinerEdge-style boxes unless someone wants to specifically commission that project and pay for the dev. The miners I want to make are for people, not corporations.

Also, no progress. Family reunions all weekend. Hopefully I have PCBs in the mailbox on Monday though - barebones 18-boards and version 0.5 Compacs.

Regarding patents and patenting:
We're more alike than you might think. I stayed an E-5 in the Navy precisely because I loved the tech versus the paperwork (Was THE senior E-5 in the Navy for almost a decade till I got caught and was forced to advance or get busted to an E-4.)

For some types of patents the process has become much simpler and dramatically cheaper. As is evidenced by http://www.legalzoom.com/sem/ip/patent/patent-lb.html?kid=07705699-061f-2529-72f2-00004a8dcce3&cvokid=07705699-061f-2529-72f2-00004a8dcce3&keyword=legalzoom%20provisional%20patent&matchtype=broad&cvosrc=ppc.google.legalzoom%20provisional%20patent&gclid=COLYl-qWxcUCFQ4yaQodDIIA_w

Jesus, look at that URL. Anyway.
Depending on your upcoming design(s), we would entertain taking on the patenting process BS and is something we can converse about when the time is ripe.

Regarding non-air cooling:
None taken. But let's see if I can make a case for a liquid cooled design for the masses. Air is a REALLY low density liquid. As such, there is a finite limit on how much cooling can be packed into consumer product. That limits profitability of an air cooled consumer design. Which makes them less profitable than an "industrial" design. Traditionally, liquid cooling adds several levels of complexity and failure points, most notably the mechanism to pump fluid. Now if one could design a liquid cooling system that used convection to move the fluid. . . .  This also solves the noise issues that plague a home design that can largely be ignored in a DC. And while pumps have a lower MTBF, fans fail too. And then there's the KISS principle.

Standardization is what made the small block Chevy engines/transmissions, Ford Model A, and Ford 9N/2N/8N tractors advanceable and popular designs. Combined with their affordability. If I were designing something, anything, I'd lean towards something that had become the "defacto standard". In the Bitcoin mining H/W world, I think, hands down, the S1/S3/C1/S5/S? boards physical dimensions account for the majority of the hashing power out there. I think I'd steer clear of a Prisma physical dimensions design and focus on packing the largest amount of hashing power into a board that "bolts up" to a S1/S3/C1/S5/S? cooling device. Be it air, waterblock, or immersion. If it had an edge card connector that plugged into a server PSU all the better, poke poke. 

I contend that if you put that much hashing power on a board that meets those physical dimensions (or Prisma dimensionality) that it will no longer be able to be cooled by air without ridiculously massive heatsinks.

The Prisma design is nicely dense, but is finicky with regard to heat. Due to the huge surface area required "on air" to keep them from burning up (here I'm referring to the cooling not a flawed circuit card design). Friedcat's design to "tube" the heatsinks was brilliant but required from a heat dissipation standpoint (and that required a "one off" heatsink design). Hash chip (BE200) temperature from the front to back vary enormously. The last chain of chips on each board in a properly operating Prisma have got to be on the edge of max Tj. I'm surprised they survive. Waterblock and immersion cooling solves this issue.

IMHO, to keep the consumer/home hasher "in the game" of BTC mining (as this strengthens the BTC ecosystem) they need the kind of industrial strength high density hashing power that large farms can afford to implement. In effect what I'm talking about is miniaturizing a mining farm into a desktop unit from a W/GH/s standpoint. Superior high density board designs (efficient and flexible) are a component of this solution, but, pretty sure you can't do that "on air". Cuz' if one could, the "big boys" would be doing it. Haven't ever heard of a large mining concern that doesn't have a facilities chilled water system, for a reason. This becomes all the more important because home hashers typically buy electricity at a premium price (residential rates).

These small scale mining issues will become more, not less, pronounced as transistor size decreases and eventually bumps into the quantum wall at or below 12nm (Dec 2015 - Feb 2016 ?). The "big guys" will be able to afford and manage those high density designs because they cool with a denser liquid that is enabled by economies of scale. Something the home hasher, currently, can't afford to do.

Am reasonably confident that if you'all produce a high density design that has a common dimensionality (S1/S3/C1/S5/S?) and it can't be cooled by air (in a reasonable volume), this community will figure out a plethora of ways to cool it. Like yourselves, there are some pretty bright bulbs in this box. And am not saying, by any stretch, that I'm included in that box.

First step is to get a board to work with because it's obvious that the "big 4" don't give a F@#$ about us little guys. Little being defined as sub 500TH/s mining operations.

Another key element in securing the survivability of the "little guy" is a source of state of the art hashing chips. Because a board design can only be as good as the components on the board. AM could have been this if they hadn't imploded. And why I'm REALLY interested in who owns the IP for the BE300. But those are topics for other posts in other threads.

Heading out to spend the obligatory Fathers Day w/kids and grandkids, catch ya'all l8r.
 

[1714202946]

1714202946

[1714202946]

1714202946

[1714202946]

1714202946

[1714202946]

1714202946

[1714202946]

1714202946

[1714202946]

1714202946

[sidehack]

Regarding patents and patenting ... when the time is ripe.

Yes, if a patent is to happen it'll have to happen with the help of someone experienced in that neighborhood already. We can talk about that later, sure.

Regarding non-air cooling ... then there's the KISS principle.

Yep, the KISS (or we like to say SDR) is part of why I hate high-power-density stuff like KNC and HashFast put out, because when the only way to cool something is with water and the best "home scale" way to do that adds a hundred bucks in strap-on equipment that leaks and dies entirely too often, I prefer to dodge it. Yep, if someone can solve convective flow liquid cooling in a small, clean, reliable and self-contained manner that'd be pretty nice but until then I'm going to lean on monolithic heatsinks and easily replaceable reliable fans.

Standardization is what made ... without ridiculously massive heatsinks.

I'll make boards that can bolt onto the S[odd] chassis, but I won't exceed the power density which their native heatsinks can handle on air cooling. Not until everyone has something else, anyway. The point is to make things cheap, efficient and accessible, so building things designed to fit onto very simple reliable and plentiful chassis is dumb if they don't actually work on that chassis.

The Prisma design is nicely dense, but ... immersion cooling solves this issue.

Yep, the Prisma is nicely dense. One of the issues with the Prisma, as you've mentioned, is that it was perhaps too dense and the tail-end chips were running pretty hot. I speculate that top-cooling a designed-to-be-top-cooled chip will probably have a better Tcs than the Prisma chips cooled through the board onto a heatsink with no TIM. I also speculate that a design made to be underclocked can probably last a lot longer on those heatsinks than one running full power constantly. I also speculate that there are thousands of bare Prisma heatsinks running around the US waiting for someone to either recycle or repurpose them. I also speculate that the form factor of the board would work nicely with rectangular heatsinks blade-style in a 2KW 5TH 3U machine. It should also continue to work well in whatever the heck liquid cooling scenario you want to come up with. So I think I'll continue that plan for now.


&c, &c...

I'm going to avoid making anything for which liquid cooling is a requirement, at least on my own project time. If you want to commission a design that dense, we can talk numbers, but for the reasons given above I won't ask the community in general to buy watercool-required hardware. If it's something like the C1 where you strap air-coolable boards to a heatsink in higher density, sure that's just fine. I won't build a single S[odd] sized board that pushes out more power than a single S[odd] heatsink and fan can handle though, because that does not serve the community at large which has a million heatsinks and fans available but may not want to pay even more for some newfangled specific setup just yet.

I'm definitely aiming to serve people in the sub-500TH market, but I'd prefer to serve people in the sub-50TH market. Sub-5TH market even. One thousand miners in one thousand homes is a heck of a lot less central than one thousand miners in ten warehouses. It spreads out a lot of things, encourages people to learn and do for themselves, and doesn't assist in rich people getting richer (at least not near as directly). Yet another reason we will not be offering bulk discounts on our Compacs, Amitas and TypeZeros - the price is the price no matter how much money you do or do not already have.

Yeah, I'd really like to know who's in charge of the BE300. That chip is the reason we wanted to build miners in the first place - as soon as the sample data was released, Novak and I spent a full day and a half talking over how we'd do it if we were going to build a miner using those chips.

[CrazyGuy]

I also speculate that there are thousands of bare Prisma heatsinks running around the US waiting for someone to either recycle or repurpose them. I also speculate that the form factor of the board would work nicely with rectangular heatsinks blade-style in a 2KW 5TH 3U machine. It should also continue to work well in whatever the heck liquid cooling scenario you want to come up with. So I think I'll continue that plan for now.

I'd be surprised if more than 200 Prisma units sold in the US, but I'll be glad to re-purpose the heatsinks I've stockpiled.

[sidehack]

I know where about a dozen are, so I'd be surprised if there were only 200 here.

[PlanetCrypto]

... One thousand miners in one thousand homes is a heck of a lot less central than one thousand miners in ten warehouses. ...

Too put a fine point to it, I'd like to see: One thousand, additional, profitable, 50TH mining farms in one thousand homes.
Howsoever the H/W is implemented.

During the time I've been involved with BTC ecosystem I've witnessed a paradigm shift in mining concentration.
When one of the "Big 4" operates the second largest pool, and pools that were huge now account for a small fractional part of the total network hash, I get really concerned.
https://blockchain.info/pools

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else.
Winston Churchill
 

[PlanetCrypto]

Hey CG, Wassssuuupppp!

You wouldn't, per chance, know who AM sourced those heatsinks from?

If one were to TIG the sinks together and TIG a cap/tank on each end with an appropriately sized piece of AL square tube stock down the center. . . .
Will post pics when finished.

Any word/rumors on FriedCat's whereabouts?

[CrazyGuy]

Hey CG, Wassssuuupppp!

You wouldn't, per chance, know who AM sourced those heatsinks from?

If one were to TIG the sinks together and TIG a cap/tank on each end with an appropriately sized piece of AL square tube stock down the center. . . .
Will post pics when finished.

Any word/rumors on FriedCat's whereabouts?

Sorry, I don't have any knowledge of where AM was sourcing the heatsinks and haven't heard from Friedcat since last year.
I imagine if you weld 4 heatsinks together, you could have a pretty solid short range potato cannon, which should hold you over while sidehack works on the boards.

[PlanetCrypto]

Hey CG, Wassssuuupppp!

You wouldn't, per chance, know who AM sourced those heatsinks from?

If one were to TIG the sinks together and TIG a cap/tank on each end with an appropriately sized piece of AL square tube stock down the center. . . .
Will post pics when finished.

Any word/rumors on FriedCat's whereabouts?

Sorry, I don't have any knowledge of where AM was sourcing the heatsinks and haven't heard from Friedcat since last year.
I imagine if you weld 4 heatsinks together, you could have a pretty solid short range potato cannon, which should hold you over while sidehack works on the boards.

LOL!!

Well the 4th of July is on the horizon.

hhhhmmmmmm.

A liquid cooled potato cannon. Interesting concept. Now if I can just get DARPA funding . . . .

[Biodom]

Hey CG, Wassssuuupppp!

You wouldn't, per chance, know who AM sourced those heatsinks from?

If one were to TIG the sinks together and TIG a cap/tank on each end with an appropriately sized piece of AL square tube stock down the center. . . .
Will post pics when finished.

Any word/rumors on FriedCat's whereabouts?

Sorry, I don't have any knowledge of where AM was sourcing the heatsinks and haven't heard from Friedcat since last year.
I imagine if you weld 4 heatsinks together, you could have a pretty solid short range potato cannon, which should hold you over while sidehack works on the boards.

LOL!!

Well the 4th of July is on the horizon.

hhhhmmmmmm.

A liquid cooled potato cannon. Interesting concept. Now if I can just get DARPA funding . . . .

OR sell this idea to 'Big Head' Bighetti of Hooli ("silicon valley")

[sloopy]

Yet another reason we will not be offering bulk discounts on our Compacs, Amitas and TypeZeros - the price is the price no matter how much money you do or do not already have.

- sidehack

Apologies for the long kind of off-topic post, but I do talk about sidehack and the new mining gear
 
I have done a small amount of business with sidehack.
I have read this thread and others where sidehack posts frequently as most of you have.
I always imagined sidehack as a 50+ yr old Engineer who was fed up with the way certain politicians and ceos have ruined our world and decided to do what he could the way he knew best.

I read a reply by him the other day stating he was twenty-something, but the quote above speaks volumes coming from anyone of any age.

I believe in the hobby miner concept and am one myself. I've taught my daughters not to be afraid of anything electrical but to respect it, and enjoy it. They understand how to learn about things they don't understand.
I spent what is a large amount of money for me doing so.
I have also had an intense amount of fun. This past weekend I worked all day at the day job, came home and my oldest and me started at 6: PM Friday night, she went to bed about 2: AM; I had a few cups of Joe and stayed at it. She got up on her own and helped me mount a fan at 8: AM and we worked until about 10: PM that night. She was given the pleasure of bringing all the breakers on, and then flipping the power supplys on one by one and for the first time I saw that intense twinkle of amazement and accomplishment of her realizing what we had done together. I  have a small setup by far losing money, for now. I am not an EE, but that doesn't stop me from bothering quite a few from time to time with questions way below what would stress their abilities (and sidehack as well, thanks for tolerating some of my off the wall, basic, redundant questions.)

I said all of that to say the quote by sidehack speaks to many people in a way politicians and most ceos can never say and be honest because of their position. They are beholden to shareholders no matter what, and the most profit is the name of the game.
When we teach our children and others in our personal lives it is not all about the profit. It is about a thing called happiness, sometimes called pride, some may say humble, but whatever word you use it is about the true meaning of life and helping each other. Truly what P2P means and I believe it is why bitcoin and the blockchain were created.

I do not think we will stop the centralization of the mining world but I know that with people like sidehack and hopefully my daughter being involved we will always have people with priorities a bit different than politicians and ceos. People that understand, and people that "get it".

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a bunch of money, giant mining farm to putter around in all day, send my kids to Harvard, Yale, or wherever they want, and decide when I work for two or three days straight rather than it being something I have to do to get ahead at the day job, but that isn't the place I put myself. I hope I have taught my girls to say what is on their minds, be independant, and not work 20 years off their lives for a bit of money. We are planning to take skydiving lessons this fall and go on our first solo by next summer. That is the freedom I want them to experience. The oldests last couple of birthday parties were bring donations for the SPCA, no presents. The stuff you cannot fake. Sometimes I have to reel her back in because she is too giving and I tell her she does need to lookout for herself. Growing up with only me, a hardass who says yes sir and no sir, who works every day with a man who has lived and breathed the company for the last 20 years after selling his first chain of companies for more money than anyone knows she has done pretty well. What I hear in comments like the above quote from sidehack motivates me to show her more about what is right and how to change the world one person at a time.

We may never have thousands of people using their PCs to mine bitcoin again, or have the hashrate spread around thousands of people, but that doesn't mean we are heading down the wrong path. Every Time someone starts a project like Sidehack and Novak have done with the goals they set it shows someone what they can do and if they feel that way they are not alone.  It helps justify some little boy or girl who wants to think of a way to power the world but lowers the priority to monetize it. It is what makes many teachers teach, and helps some teachers teach the right things, and the right way.  Some of the brightest minds of the human race are yet to be born, and if even a small percentage are shown that they can teach the world to fish and stop giving them fish it will have an immense impact on our society because of the network effect and others before them who have set goals of teaching people to fish, one person - one pole, at a time. Our technology advances will always make someone somewhere rich until the advances of decentralization are either understood on a level anyone can not only understand but implement, or systems are designed for each person's role to have the same impact as anyone else regardless of the contribution. I do not mean Socialistic over Capitalistic, I mean decentralization as a way of life. I do not mean Government public school systems, I mean world wide school systems where we leapfrog our current education in a way which allows the contributions of some of the smartest people int he world to reach our children and they are able to assimilate that knowledge in half the time. I mean a way of life where technological advances are the way of life because we do things in a way where a form of decentralized darwinism changes our way of thinking and acting because a level of understanding is provided where we no longer need corrupt politicians and corrupt ceos calling the shots. WE no longer need police forces because society attains an ability and understanding far surpassing the need to steal, rob, or kill and victimless crime is not seen as a crime. Again, I am far from socialist so please do not think I am down that road, I am speaking of an understanding stemming from technology which makes the most sense. The same way a miner would never attack the network because by the time they amassed enough resources to do so it makes more sense to belong to the "right" group. Bitcoin and the blockchain have already changed the world, but wait until it really shines. It is a new way of life.

This is one of the biggest reasons I've requested so many times to be on sidehacks list of customers. Thanks man, and if Novac has that same streak (as it sounds) thanks to him as well. I hope you guys let me buy you burgers in person one day soon. I would take a vacation day to come over and thank you in person. You are a motivating person with his head screwed on about as straight as it gets most of the time heh

[valkir]

Yet another reason we will not be offering bulk discounts on our Compacs, Amitas and TypeZeros - the price is the price no matter how much money you do or do not already have.

- sidehack

Apologies for the long kind of off-topic post, but I do talk about sidehack and the new mining gear
 
I have done a small amount of business with sidehack.
I have read this thread and others where sidehack posts frequently as most of you have.
I always imagined sidehack as a 50+ yr old Engineer who was fed up with the way certain politicians and ceos have ruined our world and decided to do what he could the way he knew best.

I read a reply by him the other day stating he was twenty-something, but the quote above speaks volumes coming from anyone of any age.

I believe in the hobby miner concept and am one myself. I've taught my daughters not to be afraid of anything electrical but to respect it, and enjoy it. They understand how to learn about things they don't understand.
I spent what is a large amount of money for me doing so.
I have also had an intense amount of fun. This past weekend I worked all day at the day job, came home and my oldest and me started at 6: PM Friday night, she went to bed about 2: AM; I had a few cups of Joe and stayed at it. She got up on her own and helped me mount a fan at 8: AM and we worked until about 10: PM that night. She was given the pleasure of bringing all the breakers on, and then flipping the power supplys on one by one and for the first time I saw that intense twinkle of amazement and accomplishment of her realizing what we had done together. I  have a small setup by far losing money, for now. I am not an EE, but that doesn't stop me from bothering quite a few from time to time with questions way below what would stress their abilities (and sidehack as well, thanks for tolerating some of my off the wall, basic, redundant questions.)

I said all of that to say the quote by sidehack speaks to many people in a way politicians and most ceos can never say and be honest because of their position. They are beholden to shareholders no matter what, and the most profit is the name of the game.
When we teach our children and others in our personal lives it is not all about the profit. It is about a thing called happiness, sometimes called pride, some may say humble, but whatever word you use it is about the true meaning of life and helping each other. Truly what P2P means and I believe it is why bitcoin and the blockchain were created.

I do not think we will stop the centralization of the mining world but I know that with people like sidehack and hopefully my daughter being involved we will always have people with priorities a bit different than politicians and ceos. People that understand, and people that "get it".

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a bunch of money, giant mining farm to putter around in all day, send my kids to Harvard, Yale, or wherever they want, and decide when I work for two or three days straight rather than it being something I have to do to get ahead at the day job, but that isn't the place I put myself. I hope I have taught my girls to say what is on their minds, be independant, and not work 20 years off their lives for a bit of money. We are planning to take skydiving lessons this fall and go on our first solo by next summer. That is the freedom I want them to experience. The oldests last couple of birthday parties were bring donations for the SPCA, no presents. The stuff you cannot fake. Sometimes I have to reel her back in because she is too giving and I tell her she does need to lookout for herself. Growing up with only me, a hardass who says yes sir and no sir, who works every day with a man who has lived and breathed the company for the last 20 years after selling his first chain of companies for more money than anyone knows she has done pretty well. What I hear in comments like the above quote from sidehack motivates me to show her more about what is right and how to change the world one person at a time.

We may never have thousands of people using their PCs to mine bitcoin again, or have the hashrate spread around thousands of people, but that doesn't mean we are heading down the wrong path. Every Time someone starts a project like Sidehack and Novak have done with the goals they set it shows someone what they can do and if they feel that way they are not alone.  It helps justify some little boy or girl who wants to think of a way to power the world but lowers the priority to monetize it. It is what makes many teachers teach, and helps some teachers teach the right things, and the right way.  Some of the brightest minds of the human race are yet to be born, and if even a small percentage are shown that they can teach the world to fish and stop giving them fish it will have an immense impact on our society because of the network effect and others before them who have set goals of teaching people to fish, one person - one pole, at a time. Our technology advances will always make someone somewhere rich until the advances of decentralization are either understood on a level anyone can not only understand but implement, or systems are designed for each person's role to have the same impact as anyone else regardless of the contribution. I do not mean Socialistic over Capitalistic, I mean decentralization as a way of life. I do not mean Government public school systems, I mean world wide school systems where we leapfrog our current education in a way which allows the contributions of some of the smartest people int he world to reach our children and they are able to assimilate that knowledge in half the time. I mean a way of life where technological advances are the way of life because we do things in a way where a form of decentralized darwinism changes our way of thinking and acting because a level of understanding is provided where we no longer need corrupt politicians and corrupt ceos calling the shots. WE no longer need police forces because society attains an ability and understanding far surpassing the need to steal, rob, or kill and victimless crime is not seen as a crime. Again, I am far from socialist so please do not think I am down that road, I am speaking of an understanding stemming from technology which makes the most sense. The same way a miner would never attack the network because by the time they amassed enough resources to do so it makes more sense to belong to the "right" group. Bitcoin and the blockchain have already changed the world, but wait until it really shines. It is a new way of life.

This is one of the biggest reasons I've requested so many times to be on sidehacks list of customers. Thanks man, and if Novac has that same streak (as it sounds) thanks to him as well. I hope you guys let me buy you burgers in person one day soon. I would take a vacation day to come over and thank you in person. You are a motivating person with his head screwed on about as straight as it gets most of the time heh

Amen! 

[PlanetCrypto]

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

[sidehack]

Novak and I agree about pretty much everything regarding what does and doesn't suck. He's actually a bit younger than I am too - and meaner, if you believe that, but he keeps a tight leash so it's okay I guess.

Anyways, hey guess what arrived this morning!

Some PCBs. I bet you guessed that right. PCBs for the Compac V0.4 and barebones 18-boards. I'll test Compacs first and see how those guys behave, and if they work I'll hand off a bunch to folks for testing. Lighting up the 18-board is going to be a bit trickier because I'll have to verify everything node-by-node while juggling power so it doesn't burninate, so I might not have news on that for a few days.

[HerbPean]

Novak and I agree about pretty much everything regarding what does and doesn't suck. He's actually a bit younger than I am too - and meaner, if you believe that, but he keeps a tight leash so it's okay I guess.

Anyways, hey guess what arrived this morning!

Some PCBs. I bet you guessed that right. PCBs for the Compac V0.4 and barebones 18-boards. I'll test Compacs first and see how those guys behave, and if they work I'll hand off a bunch to folks for testing. Lighting up the 18-board is going to be a bit trickier because I'll have to verify everything node-by-node while juggling power so it doesn't burninate, so I might not have news on that for a few days.

Godspeed  !

[philipma1957]

Novak and I agree about pretty much everything regarding what does and doesn't suck. He's actually a bit younger than I am too - and meaner, if you believe that, but he keeps a tight leash so it's okay I guess.

Anyways, hey guess what arrived this morning!

Some PCBs. I bet you guessed that right. PCBs for the Compac V0.4 and barebones 18-boards. I'll test Compacs first and see how those guys behave, and if they work I'll hand off a bunch to folks for testing. Lighting up the 18-board is going to be a bit trickier because I'll have to verify everything node-by-node while juggling power so it doesn't burninate, so I might not have news on that for a few days.

so these Compac V0.4   will be the final 1 chip usb stick design. (assuming all works)

here is hoping they match the version tested.

also good luck with the 18 chip board.

[Mikestang]

I'll have to verify everything node-by-node while juggling power so it doesn't burninate, so I might not have news on that for a few days.

Way cool, can't wait to see the next round of results.  The 18-chip board it gonna get a lot of people excited.

[sidehack]

So, it's officially summer in Missouri which means for the next two months I can expect sporadic 100F days. Upgrades to hosting ventilation have dropped ambient temps in the shop quite a bit (the main building is now basically the same temp as outside, instead of ~10F warmer) but that doesn't mean it's actually nice. Looks like I'll be working the 5AM shift for a while to get crap done while it's cold. Novak's actually fairly comfortable in 90's heat, but I'm built more for 50's. So. It's funny because normally I'd be getting to work right now but today I've already fiddle-farted around a bit and assembled and tested a stick miner with the V0.4 board.

I got it to start at about 610mV and 150MHz. I also got one of them thingers what with the majiggering like Phil and CrazyGuy have for measuring USB power, and it tells me the stick is currently pulling 560mA at 4.97V, zero HW and 2100 accepted after a little over 20 minutes runtime.

All the caps fit comfortably, the new UART leveling is working quite well and one humorous side-effect of the redesign is the pot now increases voltage with counterclockwise rotation. I'll probably adjust that before running out a final batch. I think that and moving the reset cap out from under the heatsink will pretty much do it. [edit:] And I added a RESET test pad to the backside, which resets the device when grounded; the test pads on the back should also now be labeled. You can use these to measure 1.8V and 0.9V logic power as well as the hashcores' voltage, Vcore.

So, looks like I need to assemble more of these things and start disseminating them to testors. I don't have enough parts on hand, I think, to build them all but we'll probably be sending off a parts order today which will have some stuff on it for those sticks. That'll give me a few days to play with 'em myself before I ship 'em to my test/verify guys. Which will also give me a few days to get ahold of some of the test/verify guys and make sure everyone's willing to help.

I've got a majority of the funding required for chips already allocated, but we've got a sizeable outstanding invoice overdue that's tying up funds so we're pretty much a week late on placing that order. Kinda sucks. Good news is, we got word our new pick-and-place will be shipping today so once we have that up and running it'll make assembly suck an order of magnitude less.

[philipma1957]

Sounds good. I am sending a pm.

[sidehack]

Also, it just occurred to me I have two options for making the Amita. I can either add about 1.5 inches to the length of the Compac by simply stacking chips, or I could shuffle things around and make it wider.

The easiest thing is going to be making it longer, I think. Wider might make power stuff a bit easier, but then it wouldn't work in side-by-side hubs near as well. Anyone got any opinions? What's better - two inches square, or one inch by four inches?

Eh, I'll have to add crap anyway to two-node it which will add a minimum quarter inch to the width anyway. And since power comes in at the top of the string but signal comes in at the bottom, I can Y my interface circuits pretty readily that way. Might work out nicely.

So yeah, opinions? Short and fat or tall and skinny?

[lightninghashes]

Sounds good. I am sending a pm.

Freez gear.  PM send.