Quote from: tboy32c on February 27, 2018, 02:58:54 PM

Quote from: dmanukr on February 27, 2018, 01:14:44 PM

If the boards can be successfully cloned with all same components, etc. can you guys think of a reason why you wouldn't be able to just flash the firmware and have fully functioning unit?

I reached out to a couple of you privately to no avail so I'll just put this in the open, for those of you who have taken out a hashboard and examined it,
seen the components or can make photo or list of components, can you share that? Some of you speak as though you're seriously interested in doing this but it's hard to see if it's just a hobby or challenge game, or if you're really interested in doing this in a bigger way. I'm interested in the latter.
If you prefer to keep a hobby and no interest beyond, and you have a hashboard you'd sell me so i can have it examined, great, let me know.

The ASICs cannot be cloned. Take a look at this comment:

Quote from: Ironeinstein on February 11, 2018, 04:27:03 PM

...
I DID take the heatsink off an X10 and the model number on the asic is this:

[Baikal Logo]
BK177280
ND33U

...

The ASIC chips themselves are manufactured specifically for Baikal only since it's their own custom design. Even if everything else on the miner could be sourced, the key missing component would be the ASICs themselves which are closed-source and proprietary.

Yes I saw this.. Baikal is a Russian electronics company .. they produce the asic chips and I may be able to acquire them. The hashboard is what would be otherwise proprietary but according to prelminary discussions with my engineers, can likely be cloned or functionally matched. So my question is if someone has already photos or can make a bill of materials or components they see on the board.. or if they would sell me a working or non-working board and I'll get it done myself .. besides the asic chip listed (all the other transistors, etc.) I can put it through to see if they can source everything.

I suppose I was hinting for partners in what may be a much bigger project, as I've already decided I'm going to make the investment for the chance to get it done provided the required chips are available.. some of the skills and perhaps material that this group may have, could make it a reality in which case there would be a very small group of people with access to the resulting product. Yeah it's maybe a big dream, but it's worth it. Multi algo miners are the way to go and to understand and be able to create more efficient ones or more capable, isn't so far fetched.

In the meantime, my other question was a programming one. Isnt the firmware what is provided to flash the system or is there a rom that is pre-programmed with base functions that would have to be decompiled?