So you're saying it's more-or-less OK to throw money at these people ?
I don't think it's wise to throw money at anyone. I've said that numerous times.
This point in time in the 'ASIC race' you're speculating (gambling) on informed odds.
This is what it is, a shit-hot integrated circuit design team, pairing up with two well versed IT Architects with real business experience.
They are actively minimising risk wherever possible. More tomorrow. They know what's at stake.
Developing 28nm ASICs has NRE in the millions, hence the pre-ordering. Avalon's 110nm tech would have been in the hundreds of thousands. If KnC manage this, the bar will have been raised, the gauntlet thrown down, and only professional firms of engineers need apply. No more mickey mouse shenanigans. There will be no more uni dropouts capable of hustling competitively. KnC have a lot of respect for Yifu and want him to remain a player. I had my collar pulled on my $0.5-$2 per ASIC claims. I took that from a 2005 book (ASIC Basics), app that def does not apply to 28nm...
I have no crystal ball, but they are not wantonly out to thieve your funds, they do have the ability, there is 100% agreement from all attendees on this.
Hopefully if you're genuinely considering this, you have done/will continue to do your own research / perform due diligence, and understand what's at stake for you, and where you can minimise your risks (Credit Card for security when purchasing, not for getting into debt).
I'm not advising anyone does anything but uses common sense. You know your own risk tolerance. I've been as transparant as possible here.
People saying, too long to read, cool, can't please anyone. I know the shit i'd be on the receiving end of if I was too brief.
But for TL;DR lazy bastards, to sum it up; the guy doing the designing, Marcus, in a nut shell is a young version of James Bond's 'Q', maybe even the current rendition, whichever's cooler. If you don't have clue what i'm alluding to; GIYF! It won't cost you a quater...
I did my best.
Pics tomo, some of them. Daggeteo needs to clear a couple due to account info present. I'm hoping other guys took more pics than me, as I focused on recording the grilling I was giving them.
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BTW for those stating ORSoC failed with their Open RISC project, they did not. They've failed to raise sufficient funding for that project to design an open-source CPU, currently. The monies have gone no where. The amounts the investors involved have contributed thus far are openly available on the open cores site. We were shown this. Peeps can have their cash back at any-point, though Paypal takes their 5% cut, even on donations! Marcus himself has donated €3,000 (or was it $?!) from his own pocket. The rest vary. Predominantly $25. If they could get *I think* it was $25 off quarter of their Opencores membership there will be a world first Opensource CPU.
Feel free to donate to ORSoC's Opencores OpenRISC project in three months once you get hold of your miners if you believe in them by then.
http://opencores.org/donation
