Bump. Still plenty of credits to give away...
My two cents worth of just sayin' here. You are a respected member of the developer community. You have credibility among rank and file, as well as at BFL.
If people represent on a thread such as this that they are developing enablements for BFL chips to your satisfaction, then, on your say-so, BFL should send them one or a few sample chips
right now. No coupon, no fifty bucks. Investment. Period.
A free coupon to get a discount to buy a chip that might come ... when, who knows? to start development presents the risk of putting the point of critical mass of development of these devices so late in the competitive cycle as to crush it.
Just sayin'. It hasn't escaped my notice that, at this point, a thread on BFL board development can't stay on the first couple of pages of this forum. I doubt it's escaped your notice, either.
Unfortunately, all I have to offer is coupons.
Keep in mind that BFL is effectively competing with themselves by offering chips for sale in the first place.
I've heard BFL
is sending free sample chips immediately, to people who have actually placed an order for chips, however.
There's also the problem of people just taking the free samples and running with them to someone who offers to put chips on boards.
Requiring a purchase before sending samples helps filter out freeloaders at least.
If someone is going to invest their time in producing a board for the chips, they should be able to invest in the chips themselves anyway.
I'm sure if someone is in a bad state financially, but can demonstrate having the necessary skills, BFL would probably be able to accomidate them in some way (maybe with employment?).
But again, I am not a BFL representative, so this post above is entirely my speculation.
