Quote from: Operatr on April 16, 2013, 09:46:23 AM

Quote from: jml on April 16, 2013, 03:44:37 AM

Quote from: Operatr on April 16, 2013, 01:44:11 AM

Quote from: jml on April 15, 2013, 06:07:38 PM

Is cloudhashing.com added to the list?

EDIT
====

Also add http://www.cedartec.net/ as under review.

Enterpoint.co.uk and ztex.de should be marked as cleared.

New entries added.

ztex and enterpoint are both ASIC/FPGA design specialists, but not Bitcoin specific vendors, addition has been excluded

BLUE status added for companies that show more signs than not they are legitimate, but still awaiting confirmation that someone has an actual product in their hands to verify their integrity.

They still sell for the bitcoin market which is why I mentioned them to be included. BFL also are "ASIC/FPGA design specialists" for other markets so I think with this premise, the aforementioned companies should be added.

On BFL website, it says - "Butterfly Labs manufactures a line of high speed encryption processors for use in bitcoin mining, research, telecommunication and security applications."

Besides, it makes it easier for noobs to make an informed decision of "who" sells "what" and if they are reliable.

I don't get your logic. ZTEX and Enterpoint are not Bitcoin ASIC specific vendors, just generic FPGA/ASIC producers. These are the companies that Bitcoin ASIC vendors would work with to produce their chips, they don't sell Bitcoin ASIC units directly. This is just focusing on Bitcoin ASIC hardware vendors for scam/legit viability as so many new ones are emerging.

The logic used here are the terms "hardware miner" and "seller": What makes a bitcoin miner? A mining hardware that can execute SHA256 and RIPEMD. Therefore I can argue that anyone who wants to purchase other technologies that are not "ASIC only" exist and other technologies can be used for mining; as an example, the UK company in your list selling GPU miners for litecoins and bitcoins.

A seller can be a manufacturer (like BFL) that follows the B2C and B2B approach. The aforementioned companies (Enterpoint and ZTEX being highly reputable) follow the same model as BFL; they can sell to businesses and individual customers.

In terms of hardware miner:
ASIC is-a miner (dedicated), FPGA is-a miner (has a wider set of applications), GPU is-a miner (gaming and mining), CPU is-a miner (though not very efficient). It is my understanding that Enterpoint are gathering market intelligence on what bitcoin miners want to produce future FPGA products; namely Cairnsmore2. When they stop selling for the bitcoin market, then you can take them off the list as time goes by.

So my suggestion is that if you want a more complete list of reputable/scam vendors for "bitcoin miners" (note I am not using ASIC only), then these two should be in the list; it would also help noobs get a glimpse of who is what.

Imo, for now, ASIC to me seems a vaporous technology (1 confirmed report from Avalon) and personally I would opt for FPGA as a sure bet. This can also mean that if people adopt FPGA instead of ASIC, then there is room for scamming bitcoin miners who invest in FPGA based miners.