Topic: Cairnsmore1 - Quad XC6SLX150 Board - page 126. (Read 286370 times)
So I want to make sure I understand this topic correctly because I am about a week away from having enough money to get my first piece of mining equipment and I am so excited.
So from what I understand this company is offering a 4 chip FPGA mining board correct?
Also this product will be able to connect to my laptop usb port correct?
Last question is I am understanding this will be ready to use out of the box by simply plug and play. So basically I will open the box connect the usb cord to the FPGA board and the other end to the PC. Once that is done I just install the software and begin mining right?
Sorry for such newbie questions but from what I understand about the Butter Fly labs unit I can do just that. Plug in to the PC install software and mine.
I have some computer knowledge so I am not computer illiterate. I mean I know I could build a mining rig using GPU's but I just want to be ahead of the game and slowly start to acquire FPGA boards. Now I know it will take a while to break even and such but I want to get into mining for the hobby. I will constantly be saving so I can continue to buy new boards and such. I know that I can make more by trading coins but I really want to get into mining. I wish I new how to design a board because I can solder it together and make it work. Its just I have no knowledge of how to make a PCB board as well as not being able to make my own bit streams and mining programs. I am slowly reading all about it because I would like to design and build my own FPGA board and be able to use it. I know it is really far off considering my knowledge at this point but I will continue to learn. I only plan to try and tackle the idea once I know that I can guarantee that my board should work. Basically this is like 3-5 years away but hey I want to learn.
Like I said I would like to make mining bitcoins a hobby. I need a new hobby and I enjoy reading the forums. I mean I love the idea behind the e currency, I also like financial markets, and computer related things. So this is right up my ally. I learned all by myself how to reprogram DTV and Dish Network cards to receive free television. It only took about 2 years to learn how to write my own scripts and build my own smart-card reader/writer but I accomplished it. That was a hobby that I got into when I was like 13-15 years old. So like I said I know it will take time to understand everything but I am starting to learn.
So what is the easiest FPGA/BFL board card to use for a newbie? It may take a couple weeks longer to get the ZTEX 4 FPGA board but if it is easiest to use I will just save a little longer. Please let me know.
Also the price point on this product if ordered before the end of May is $640.00 American correct.
So from what I understand this company is offering a 4 chip FPGA mining board correct?
Also this product will be able to connect to my laptop usb port correct?
Last question is I am understanding this will be ready to use out of the box by simply plug and play. So basically I will open the box connect the usb cord to the FPGA board and the other end to the PC. Once that is done I just install the software and begin mining right?
Sorry for such newbie questions but from what I understand about the Butter Fly labs unit I can do just that. Plug in to the PC install software and mine.
I have some computer knowledge so I am not computer illiterate. I mean I know I could build a mining rig using GPU's but I just want to be ahead of the game and slowly start to acquire FPGA boards. Now I know it will take a while to break even and such but I want to get into mining for the hobby. I will constantly be saving so I can continue to buy new boards and such. I know that I can make more by trading coins but I really want to get into mining. I wish I new how to design a board because I can solder it together and make it work. Its just I have no knowledge of how to make a PCB board as well as not being able to make my own bit streams and mining programs. I am slowly reading all about it because I would like to design and build my own FPGA board and be able to use it. I know it is really far off considering my knowledge at this point but I will continue to learn. I only plan to try and tackle the idea once I know that I can guarantee that my board should work. Basically this is like 3-5 years away but hey I want to learn.
Like I said I would like to make mining bitcoins a hobby. I need a new hobby and I enjoy reading the forums. I mean I love the idea behind the e currency, I also like financial markets, and computer related things. So this is right up my ally. I learned all by myself how to reprogram DTV and Dish Network cards to receive free television. It only took about 2 years to learn how to write my own scripts and build my own smart-card reader/writer but I accomplished it. That was a hobby that I got into when I was like 13-15 years old. So like I said I know it will take time to understand everything but I am starting to learn.
So what is the easiest FPGA/BFL board card to use for a newbie? It may take a couple weeks longer to get the ZTEX 4 FPGA board but if it is easiest to use I will just save a little longer. Please let me know.
Also the price point on this product if ordered before the end of May is $640.00 American correct.
*chants* cad, cad, cad 
+1 
*chants* cad, cad, cad
I'm dying to see some CAD pics.
No pretty cad pix to look at today? :/
You might well be right although in our standard products, i.e. ones you see on our website, that go into "normal" applications we have only ever had 2-5 boards returned, or reported, as faulty over 9 years of making boards. That's over an awful lot of boards and a fail rate way below industry norms. Resultantly we don't have to think about warranties very much. The Bitcoin market is different in that we know people are going to try and stress these boards to get the maximum out of them and will attempt to take them beyond sensible operation. I have even seen posts on the forum where people have blown boards by abuse and are being told to try and "cover up" to get a warranty repair.Now in my book that's not fair to the manufacturers either.
So in here there is a fairness thing between us and the customer and that is something we need to try and get right and we will do our best on that front. Most of our existing traditional customers have had an excellent service from us and keep buying again and again and we think we have done a good job there. We are hoping that the Bitcoin community with end up thinking in the same way and that is a matter of time whilst you all get to know us and what we do.
So in here there is a fairness thing between us and the customer and that is something we need to try and get right and we will do our best on that front. Most of our existing traditional customers have had an excellent service from us and keep buying again and again and we think we have done a good job there. We are hoping that the Bitcoin community with end up thinking in the same way and that is a matter of time whilst you all get to know us and what we do.
Very valid points.
Same thing people are doing with GPUs. No wonder the high costs we are charged.
If you treat your products with care ( and if the product is designed right and works for 2 years or more 90+% of the time ) then you have no reason to worry.
You might well be right although in our standard products, i.e. ones you see on our website, that go into "normal" applications we have only ever had 2-5 boards returned, or reported, as faulty over 9 years of making boards. That's over an awful lot of boards and a fail rate way below industry norms. Resultantly we don't have to think about warranties very much. The Bitcoin market is different in that we know people are going to try and stress these boards to get the maximum out of them and will attempt to take them beyond sensible operation. I have even seen posts on the forum where people have blown boards by abuse and are being told to try and "cover up" to get a warranty repair.Now in my book that's not fair to the manufacturers either.
So in here there is a fairness thing between us and the customer and that is something we need to try and get right and we will do our best on that front. Most of our existing traditional customers have had an excellent service from us and keep buying again and again and we think we have done a good job there. We are hoping that the Bitcoin community with end up thinking in the same way and that is a matter of time whilst you all get to know us and what we do.
So in here there is a fairness thing between us and the customer and that is something we need to try and get right and we will do our best on that front. Most of our existing traditional customers have had an excellent service from us and keep buying again and again and we think we have done a good job there. We are hoping that the Bitcoin community with end up thinking in the same way and that is a matter of time whilst you all get to know us and what we do.
If you want to be accurate the EU law I believe that it applies only to consumer purchases. I'm not a lawyer but in my humble opinion as most miners aim to earn money by these purchases they would not count as consumers and hence they won't be covered by that law. That's probably a gray area so you can all argue about that.
There is a second part of this law as far as i understand it is that after 6 months it is up to the consumer to prove that they didn't abuse a product. In most things this isn't likely to be an issue but Bitcoining where everyone is trying to overclock that's going to be a hard one.
We are looking at our design in terms of the warranty and we have some features that might allow us to do 1yr and maybe 2 yr warranties at minimal risk. At the moment the decision simply isn't made so I won't say any more on this until we do.
There is a second part of this law as far as i understand it is that after 6 months it is up to the consumer to prove that they didn't abuse a product. In most things this isn't likely to be an issue but Bitcoining where everyone is trying to overclock that's going to be a hard one.
We are looking at our design in terms of the warranty and we have some features that might allow us to do 1yr and maybe 2 yr warranties at minimal risk. At the moment the decision simply isn't made so I won't say any more on this until we do.
yohan,
as far as I know, EU law dictates a two year warranty for end users and one year for companies. I don't know if Great Britain is subject to this law, though.
spiccioli
If you want to be accurate the EU law I believe that it applies only to consumer purchases. I'm not a lawyer but in my humble opinion as most miners aim to earn money by these purchases they would not count as consumers and hence they won't be covered by that law. That's probably a gray area so you can all argue about that.
There is a second part of this law as far as i understand it is that after 6 months it is up to the consumer to prove that they didn't abuse a product. In most things this isn't likely to be an issue but Bitcoining where everyone is trying to overclock that's going to be a hard one.
We are looking at our design in terms of the warranty and we have some features that might allow us to do 1yr and maybe 2 yr warranties at minimal risk. At the moment the decision simply isn't made so I won't say any more on this until we do.
There is a second part of this law as far as i understand it is that after 6 months it is up to the consumer to prove that they didn't abuse a product. In most things this isn't likely to be an issue but Bitcoining where everyone is trying to overclock that's going to be a hard one.
We are looking at our design in terms of the warranty and we have some features that might allow us to do 1yr and maybe 2 yr warranties at minimal risk. At the moment the decision simply isn't made so I won't say any more on this until we do.
The little warranty offered just shows how much faith these FPGA designers have in their products. Same with BFL and co.
The UK does not like the EU law so I think there is no mandatory requirement for a 2 years warranty by default.
The UK does not like the EU law so I think there is no mandatory requirement for a 2 years warranty by default.
2 Years is standard in the EU? (its 1 Year Warranty and the other is "German" Gewährleistung --> don't have an english word for that:().
Warranty is why i prefer Ztex over BFL or other competitors..... even if it costs me a bit more:)
Warranty is why i prefer Ztex over BFL or other competitors..... even if it costs me a bit more:)
I agree. A pro company who is responsive on the forums sounds good to me.
Re the warranty. 90 days is kind of a non-starter for me personally. 1 year would be more enticing. (Maybe I am spoiled by the 2-years that ztex offers) But thanks for the reply though.
Re the warranty. 90 days is kind of a non-starter for me personally. 1 year would be more enticing. (Maybe I am spoiled by the 2-years that ztex offers) But thanks for the reply though.
We get the design expertise and timescales of a professional company, with the openness and honesty of just another hobbyist on the forum. I like this very much.
There will be a warranty of at least 90 days which is our current standard for industrial customers. We may increase that to 1 year for this product. Whatever the warranty it won't cover outright abuse of these boards of course.
As to colour purple is unlikely in the first boards because it will impact the number of places we can get PCB manfactured. The cost isn't a problem. Maybe later we will consider something like this but building the first boards it is more important that we keep our timescales.
The board will be open in the sense that we will tell you pinouts and any other information you need to get it going. It will all become a little clearer this week when we show the CAD image of the board.
As to colour purple is unlikely in the first boards because it will impact the number of places we can get PCB manfactured. The cost isn't a problem. Maybe later we will consider something like this but building the first boards it is more important that we keep our timescales.
The board will be open in the sense that we will tell you pinouts and any other information you need to get it going. It will all become a little clearer this week when we show the CAD image of the board.
Man it would look really sexy if you had add a purple solder mask to it. It's only a few cents more (Depending on your PCB manufacture). It will also make it unique. What you think?
Will there be a warranty available? Also, will there be non-warranty repair service available? For instance, if a component were to fail, outside of the warranty period if one is offered, would it be possible to mail the device back for repair?
Interested to see the final product. Will there be a warranty? 
watching
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