IntroductionThe Block Erupter USB series is the second major product of Bitfountain. Its experimental batch (Emerald) has passed all tests. Each one mines at more than 300MH/s, powered only by the USB port.
It serves as a replacement of GPUs for mining hobbyists. Your GPUs could be freed from calculating hashes and resume rendering for you. It is also a perfect gift for getting people knowing about Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining.
The Emerald BatchThis is our experimental batch, and consists only a few number of devices.
This is a picture showing the relative size to the laptop. One with heatsink and one without.
We also tested it on the USB-hub. Seven in a row run over a whole night and are all very stable.
This is the picture showing its size against a coin.
SpecificationColor: Green
Hashrate: >300MH/s
Mining Protocol: Icarus
This batch will be given away to miners, fans and hardware/software developers made the assignments to us long before. It has some issues working with cgminer, but the modular python miner works fine. We will fix this in the first mass production batch (Sapphire). It also exceeds a bit of the USB spec of max current (560mA vs <500mA), but in our experiment most devices (PC, laptop) could power it up.
The Sapphire BatchThis is the first batch under production in quantity. Its lead-time is conservatively 15-20 days.
Changes and ImprovementsColor of PCB changed to blue
Adding a LED which blinks when a share is found
Fixing the cgminer compatibility problem
Reducing the heat generated and the current to <500mA
This batch will be for group-buy and retailers. The quantity of each order should be more than 300 devices. The price is fixed at 1.99 BTC. We will start the group-buy threads as fixed-price auctions in the auction subforum. When your order is fulfilled you could pay and ask for refund anytime before the tracking number is generated (trackable on internet). After shipping we do not refund, but still guarantee a six-month warranty of free replacement like our blades. However the replacement should also come in batch (10 at one time).
Interested purchasers could contact me even before the group-buy threads are created.
Original Thread :
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.2025318Friedcat has already shipped Block eruptor blades and this is not a pre order, product is ready to ship.
The idea is to club our group buy with some other countrys' group buy. So no need to reach the 300 threshold required for a buy.
This poll is just to gauge interest on the forum.
Expected final price :Cost Price 1.99 BTC + Shipping
(Approximately Rs 12,000+ @ 110$/BTC)
Note: Not capable of Scrypt mining
At current difficulty ROI : 133 days for break even, Profits after that.