UPDATE FROM AVALON 9/9/13
"Avalon Generation Two Chips 55nm
..Those who have invested in time and money on Avalon Generation One based devices and clones can rejoice in the fact we had the foresight to make Avalon Generation Two chips completely backward compatible in every way with 110nm generation one chips, which can be expect to go on sale Late October 2013 for immediate shipping..
Developers and Hobbyists should keep an close eye on our github account as we will be releasing the 55nm chip specification and reference design soon."
This is excellent news - it will still be possible to have these boards produced. Thank you to everyone working on this, there is still hope to get these boards hashing with a positive ROI
Yifu is a fucking genius.
He got everybody stuck on his hardware platform even though he didn't have the chips ready. Now the money has all been spent and it effectively costs next to nothing to get the new chips mounted, because of all the parts and designs already floating around.
He happily gives refunds on the chips he never even meant to sell, and walks away with guaranteed second-gen sales to squeeze value out of the otherwise useless chips/boards, allowing him do a cheap high-volume second generation batch.
I admit it, I got outplayed here. Well done Yifu, you felonious son of a bitch.