Topic: Klondike - 16 chip ASIC Open Source Board - Preliminary - page 60. (Read 435369 times)

Will K1 stay within 0.5A specs of USB 2.0 or will it try to draw more from the port, especially when overclocked? Some (was it Bicknellski?) say that it should be possible to clock them up to do close to 450MHs.

Nonces being returned immediately are one condition for good performance on p2pool.
The other is the capability to interrupt a work to start another with low latencies (with current BTC p2pool conditions, latency < 30ms would be excellent, < 300 ms would be OK).
The idea is that any latency in these cases is wasted work and this takes higher proportions on p2pool which invalidates coinbases more often than traditional pools.
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That latency is going to depend mostly on cgminer. As soon as it sends an Abort cmd to the Klondike it stops work, and a new work unit sent will start immediately. So the timing on that depends mostly on USB xfer time and cgminer to create new work. The actual new work push time for the ASIC is 390uS. When idle (abort state), the Klondike will push the work immediately (390uS) and return status within the USB "W" cmd turnaround. Subsequent "W" work cmds get queued in the PIC so that it should never be without work as long as cgminer provides queued work before a work unit is completed. Currently the "in PIC work queue" is 4 units, but RAM doesn't look to be an issue and potentially 8 is probably doable, though probably offering no gain, as 4 units is about 3.25 seconds (16 chips @ 330MHz) that work can be not provided before idle.

Nonces being returned immediately are one condition for good performance on p2pool.
The other is the capability to interrupt a work to start another with low latencies (with current BTC p2pool conditions, latency < 30ms would be excellent, < 300 ms would be OK).
The idea is that any latency in these cases is wasted work and this takes higher proportions on p2pool which invalidates coinbases more often than traditional pools.

A USB 2.0 port only needs to provide a max. of 500mA @ 5V. And sometimes they cannot do even that if all ports are drawing near max.  Good USB hubs like the Anker ones provide enough juice that you may be able to draw more, but it's beyond spec. USB 3.0 hubs seem to be better as their spec has a max of 900mA. Some ports can provide more when operating as battery charger mode, but aren't required to when operating as data ports. And then you have issues regarding the RasPi not working with 3.0 hubs, and cgminer having problems on RasPi with running multiple devices at once. So there is many factors to determine what you can actually do, or get away with, beyond what "should" work. Some threads on this forum discuss these issues but I haven't kept abreast of the latest details.

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I've been running on RasPi for a couple days non-stop at 330MHz with around 0.6% errors, and no issues at all. I'll be boosting to 340 soon to see how that works. I'm waiting for the new boards to do a full-populate and test. I'll not solder the ASICs by hand this time so it will be all 16 at once in the oven.

So what's the maximum stable, low error hashing rate anyone has gotten on a K16 to date? I have Terrahah K64s on order and am really hoping they'll be able to do more than the 18 Gh/s advertised.

I'd love to see klondikes work on p2pool. Is there any brave tester, who can point his device to one of public nodes here http://p2pool-nodes.info/ and use his payout address as username and wait for a day for results please ?
Or would anybody be kind to spare couple chips so we can test it ?

There have been a number of questions regarding the (not for USB 2.0 ports) reference BKKCoins. Can you explain in a bit more detail, only if you have the time, about this reference? Pardon my ignorance I just want to make sure people are clear about the reference.

I don't know what latency issues were referred to. Nonces are returned immediately so I don't see any reason for delay or problems with p2pool.

I don't think it needs to be that accurate. I'll probably allow some kind of preset offset value in the software which users can trim for a one-point adjustment.

- How do you intend to calibrate the thermal sensor?

In mass production, I mean.

Yep, 3D printed using ABS plastic on a Replicator 1.   Production answer on the Klondike Adapters thread:

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.2750323

Any further intel on the viability of using K16 boards with p2pool?  If I recall correctly, there was concern expressed a while back in this thread that latency issues with the chips or some such might cause issues with p2pool.  I may have missed the resolution of this discussion, if there was one.

  

Steamboat is using Magento http://www.magentocommerce.com/download which looks very nice and has bitpay capability. Just in case you still need options!

@BKKCoins... you should check out opencart. No stupid scriptlanguage to learn, all in php. And it has many extensions for free and the shop itself is free too.

Yes it is a 3d printer. Production capacity would depend on what printer and how many printers he has.
Also jdape has a thread for is mounts so can we keep talk about them in that thread thanks.

Seems to be 3D Printed?, that's pretty cool, but production capacity might be a problem?

Yes, a small add-on board would work. If it didn't take me so long to order and receive boards I'd try that but it's not worth it as new K1s would take the same time.

The inverter isn't strictly needed but it does seem to help at higher clocks. It tightens up the timing a lot so that it's more consistent with faster rise times, and at 420 MHz it can still read the result whereas without the inverters it usually cannot.

Just use the same circuit as K16 because I'm simply copying that into the k1 board. Well, I've done that already and I'm just reworking the board.

I can push the new K1 schematic up now anyway. I'll just update the parts list first.

I think i can fix klondike v0.1 (NOR Gate issue) using little add-on pcb. Place on it 100 Ohm resistor, footprint for 2G02, and conect it all, like in k16 schematic?. What about Schmitt inverter package? it is need? Maybe  also place it on add-on pcb?

walletbit is one of them: (its shut down i see now)
http://www.prestashop.com/forums/topic/123095-module-walletbit-payment-module-to-accept-bitcoin/

But others have it also:
https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-shopping-cart-plugins
http://www.prestashop.com/forums/topic/123451-module-free-bitcoin/

Love it, expect to sell hundreds of them when the klondike boards come close to delivery. What's your production capacity?

QFN and SS both perform the same. It depends which one you can get. The SS ran out a while ago and there was QFN until just a day or two ago. It could be a while before they are easy to find again.

I haven't updated the K1 files yet. The new board revision will use the 2G02 but it's not pin compatible so you can't place that on the old board.

Here's a brief list of changes I'm doing for the K1:

- replace NOR gate with DUAL NOR gate
- add Schmitt inverter package
- chg PIC to QFN
- add thermistor for temperature sensing
- add 2 holes for mounting a heat sink
- Make both LEDs flashable (tied to PIC pins)
- make I2C non-thru hole SMD header type pads
- use 2mm board thickness for USB compatibility
- specify an alternate reg and inductor allowing 3A power (not for USB 2.0 ports)

I'm part way thru this now but have been sidetracked today by work on the web store (which is up now but not tested yet). Yay!

I have bypassed BitPay for now since I found the WordPress plugin for Bitcoin direct to Electrum wallet using MPK. Cool. This lets me generate unique bitcoin addresses for users which I'll use to automate licensing. ie. Vendors and End Users both have a shop item they can buy for licensing, and they get a bitcoin address assigned so they can mine to that if they want.

I don't know anything about the Avalon boards. I don't think one chip would be worse off than when full. The chips are sensitive to noise and power so try to ensure you have both well under control.