I noticed while browsing ebay that asic chips are for sale, just bare chips. 

I was wondering if it is possible or economical for someone to buy these chips and try to put together their own miner.  I was thinking you buy a PCB and put the chips on them then just supply power and some sort of controller?  Why would they sell just bare chips?

I am really over simplifying it, but I am curious as to if this is a possibility, because it seems like it would be fun to do.

Where / how do you find a pcb to put these chip on?  Is it difficult?

Are there any people that build their own DIY miners using these parts?

I own 3 miners... but I rent when I get a good deal.  I am thinking of switching mine to a different pool Eligius has me nervous lately.  There was a section of the site down for almost a day on Saturday.

Does anyone know how to get in contact with Eligius?  I dont care if the web is down but I really hope mining is proceeding!  The last block was over 7 hours long and I am renting some miners right now... could be a big loss for me.

That is strange... do you get the socket refused & can still ping at the same time?  I had the same problem and I had to delete a symlink in the /etc directory that was somehow messing things up.  Could it be a problem with the controller?  I heard TP-Links can have crash problems like that and u have to reboot them.

How difficult is it to get the Avalon 1 working with a nice web ui and overclock options on a raspberry pi controller?  Possible?


Also I would like newest firmware because I don't think the person I bought this older miner from ever updated it... and that is another reason I want to flash a new system to the SD.

Specs:

Avalon 1
4 Module (20-25GH per) = 100GH average

LOL well... after all that work, I managed to figure out the net config problems and get the OpenWRT to work just as it is intended!  The bad news?  I just realized that this is a batch 1 Avalon not a 2!!!  So the avalon 2 firmware seems to be useless to me!  It ends up that I have an Avalon 1, and I can get it mining with the Debian Wheezy SD card it came with, but only by SSH... and I would love to have a web interface.  Is this possible?  Because all the firmwares I see on the site are for the TP-Link controller which I do not have, and have heard it has crash issues.

How difficult is it to get the Avalon 1 working with a nice web ui and overclock options on a raspberry pi controller?  Possible?

--edit--

Also I would like newest firmware because I don't think the person I bought this older miner from ever updated it... and that is another reason I want to flash a new system to the SD.

Specs:

Avalon 1
4 Module (20-25GH per) = 100GH average

Ugh, just when I think I finally got it... the dang OpenWRT will not connect to the outside internet...  cant ping, cant tracert, cant lookup nameserver... can't mine

ok thanks I will message you.

--edit--

Thanks for the offer, but I must have missed you.  I think I finally got what I was doing wrong!  I was treating openwrt as any normal flavor of linux, but it is far from it... its more like it just turns  your pi into a fancied router that can mine bitcoin.  Just incase someone stumbles over this thread I will put the instructions I wish I had.

--If your Avalon is not running OpenWRT and you want the latest firmware/cgminer--

How to get OpenWRT mining on your Raspberry pi (or at least what I did and seemed to work):

Download one of the images of openwrt from firmware page (I used the sd-ext4)
Download the raspberry pi root folder archive
Flash the openwrt image to your card
Plug it into your computer with an ethernet cord and enable that connection (disable others) & log in using Putty > telnet connection: 192.168.1.1
type passwd and set the root password
exit putty
take the sd card back out of the pi
boot a linux distro on your PC with the SD card connected to the PC
download / move the raspberrypi root filesystem archive to linux
open a terminal as superuser and or sudo nautilus
overwrite the old sd card filesystem / replace files with the one from the archive
navigate to the /etc/conf folder and set the network settings to what you would set a normal static IP client on your network as (not as a router)
you can now log into the web configuration by typing the IP you just set in the network conf files


After that it is pretty self explanatory... miner settings are right there in the web config as well as many other things.

Thanks to everyone on these boards or I never would have figured it out

I don't know whats wrong with what I am doing... after hours of searching and trial and error I just can't get a bootable firmware on my raspberry pi!  There are many img files in the firmware section and a "rootfs" file... I just cant seem to get openwrt to do anything!  Can you boot and log into it with SSH like any other distro or am I missing something?  There are no clear instructions on flashing a rpi from windows with current firmware and set up my avalon 4 module 100gh.

Any help would be so appreciated and first guy to give me the correct method gets .02 btc!  I am desperate.

Thanks for the info on the fans in the Dragon.  I think there is a bit of confusion because it seems to me after taking them out that one fan is heavier (and more powerful) than the other. 

Seems like the big fan in in the middle of the machine (prob 200+cfm) and the other is more a regular high speed (130+cfm).  I think this is because one fan hits more blades than the other.  I have not replaced any of them yet, but may in the future if I can find some nice high speed fans that aren't very loud, and hopefully can cool even better than the ones it came with stock. 

The price on these are very good, so I am sure they had to save money on some parts sacrificing cost for decibel level.

OK thank you, I appreciate your response!  I will look him up.

I already have my own hardware, and the noise isn't that bad.  I was just curious if I could put in a high powered fan that isn't quite as loud and would do the same job.  I have searched everywhere even looked up the brand of the fan inside the machine but can't find the stats on how much airflow it puts out.  I grabbed a few 130cfm and that is pretty powerful... the most powerful I have seen anywhere online is 200cfm.  So I am guessing you don't know what airflow these have stock?

Lets get back to my question because it was so riveting!!  Any ideas on the fan speed for the Dragon 1T?  Anyone ever replaced the fans?  I have a smaller space and these suckers are pretty loud. 

Hello pcfli... thanks for all your help on this thread, very appreciative.  I own two of these beasts, and I love them... I was just wondering if I could put in some fans that were a bit quieter.  I have some 120mm fans that can push 130cfm of air, but I can't find the specs on the fans that are already installed.  I don't want to put a weaker fan in there and overheat the system, and would actually like to improve the cooling because they run around 55-60c right now.  Do you know the specs of the installed fans and can they be upgraded?