I want to see you rewarded. I think the ultimate test would be the sample miner anyway. But i think the sample chips will be a few only, so probably you need to think about how to test a board with only some chips on it.
I think I've figured out how to make the board auto-detect how many chips are installed. At this time I believe you'll be able to have anywhere from 1 to 16 chips on a board and it will mine with whatever is present. This kind of depends on the protocol specs coming soon, but if things go as I expect then this will be possible, and I'll write the code to support this functionality so that people can install more chips as they get them.Also, the I2C daisy chain will auto-detect how many boards are connected. I've got that worked out regardless of Avalon specs.
( As an aside, I'd like to know if using silver epoxy solder available at some electronics shops is viable for on the fly upgrades. It may be easy to paint a little bit on the QFN tabs and then carefully place and hold until hardened. My question would be heat transfer - whether silver/epoxy will conduct enough heat? )
Have updated original post now.