Pictures

Hardware Information

Chip Specification

Technology Summary:
   TSMC 0.11- micron G process
       5 Metal
Core Voltage: 1.2 V
I/O Voltage: 3.3 V
Core Frequency: 256+ MHz
Number of Pads: 48
   8 Data
   40+1 Power
Package Type: QFN48 -0.5 Pitch
Packaged Chip Size: 7 mm x 7 mm

Chip Interface
Data Pins (8 in total):
Clock                     i
Serial Data In  [2]       i
Serial Data Out [2]       o
Serial Data Bypass [2]    o
Reserved    [1]    -

Wafer

TSMC
TMEM91
Chip Size :   X = 3.9760 ,Y = 4.0560 mm
Reticle Size :   X/cell =  3 ,Y/cell =  3
Offset Value :   X = -3.7668 ,Y = -2.2990 mm
Alignment Mark :   (118.80,83.20),(-118.80,-83.20)
Alignment Mark Tolerant Distance :      1.6 mm
Notch Reserved Distance :   7.75 mm
Start Distance :   7.75 mm
Ring Edge :   3.0 mm
Photo Die Number:    4055

Power

Chip power efficienty: 6.6W/GHs @ 1.15 V
Module power consumption: 149W @ 20GHs / 164W@ 22GHs
Machine power consumption: 595W @ 220V-AC / 620W @ 120V-AC

Comfirmed working PSU list

The PSU Spec

155mm recommend, MAX: 170mm
For 3 module units: 650W, 48A 12V, at least. recommend for a 20% margin.
For 4 module units: 750W, 60A 12V, at least. recommend for a 20% margin.
Plugs:
- 1X ATX 24PIN
- 1X EPS 12V (8PIN)
- 2X PCIE 12V (8PIN)

The TP-LINK WR703N

Control Unit

PDU

Parts

User Guide

Connect your laptop to the eithernet port of the Avalon
Setup your laptop IP address 192.168.0.101
Open http://192.168.0.100
Make sure WR703N can access Internet, Configure WiFi: Network -> WIFI -> Scan(select your WIFI network) -> Join Network -> WPA passphrase -> Submit -> Save & Apply for connect to WIFI Internet
setup your mining worker: Status -> Cgminer Configuration.
Restart the cgminer service: System -> Startup,
Check your avalon status: Status -> Cgminer Status
Setup password/using ssh

ssh root@192.168.0.100 # Once you setup the password the telnet service will be stop. use ssh instead.

Cgminer option

--avalon-options 115200:24:10:45:282. this is the default avalon option. here is the details:

115200: the serial baud. this have to match the controller baud.
24: the miner count.(there are 3 modulars in avalon. each modular have 8 miners), if your avalon have 4 modulars. change it to 32
10: the chip count pre miner.
45: the controller timeout parameter. the valid number: 50, 47, 45, 40.
282: the chip clock. the valid number: 256, 270, 282, 300.

Run cgminer manually

In case you need to run Cgminer in linux console please run the following command:

Restart Cgminer:

# /etc/init.d/cgminer restart

If your avalon does not mine properly, please run Cgminer in debug mode with -D --verbose option. For example:

# cgminer -S /dev/ttyUSB0 -o stratum.btcguild.com:3333 -O xxxx:yyyy -D --verbose --avalon-options 115200:24:10:45:282 --api-allow "W:0/0" --api-listen 2>/tmp/cgminer-debug.log

TP-LINK TL-WR703N

There is a modify version of TP-LINK TP-WR703N inside Avalon. cgminer running at 703n, this 703n have 64MB ram and modified power supply. it power from the usb-client side(we moved a 0R resistor from J1 to R113 for that)

Why there is a ugly USB HUB there? you can find more information about AR9331's usb stability issue here.

How to reflash

Download latest Avalon image to your PC.
Goto:

 System -> Backup / Flash Firmware -> Flash new firmware image (make sure Keep settings is checked)

Select the image you just download. then compare the md5 in next page. if everything fine. click Proceed

Attention: To avoid your WR703N become a brick, during flash your WR703N be careful DO NOT power off avalon, and DO NOT break your network connection. Just wait there till you see OpenWrt login web page again.

Attention: If not essential please do not re-Flash your Avalon. Because not all of WR703N issue could be resolved by reset button. If you want to play WR703N I would like to recommend you order a standalone TP-LINK WR703N from ebay or somewhere for studying purpose.

WIFI or Ethernet Cable ?

Avalon shipped with a 9db antenna after connect it to WR703N usually could establish good wireless connection with your WIFI router. But if for some reason you would like to use Ethernet Cable to connect Avalon with your network, please login OpenWrt and configure the LAN port:

Network -> Interfaces -> LAN -> Edit -> Common Configuration -> General Setup

Attention: You need to configure it correctly based on your own network enviroment. If anything wrong you might could not access your WR703N any more.

Start to mine

To maximize your Avalon miner's performance, it is recommended that you choose pools with the stratum protocol supported. The default mining pool configured in Avalon is ozco.in. To change it login to OpenWrt:

Status -> Cgminer Configuration
Click "Save & Apply" to save your update and restart cgminer immediately

Currently the stratum pools that could work stable with Avalon are:

To get more information about how to configure specific pools, please check their website. If you run multiple Avalons, we recommend that you create a dedicated worker for each of them. This will make it easier to monitor your Avalons through the pool's website and identify possible problems.

Source code

FPGA controller

About P5 jumper: close this jumper will supply 5V to the USB-B port. in this system, the controller board power the HUB and the HUB power the 703N. but if you connect the controller itself to a PC, you must remove the jumper.

P2Pool Operation with Avalon

There is an /avalon branch Forrest committed to the p2pool github repository. Make sure that is checked out.

Next, the following option may need to be passed to Avalon's cgminer:

--fix-protocol: Do not redirect to a different getwork protocol (eg. stratum)

The current /avalon branch from Forrest is likely now functional. Please test and report your findings to the IRC channel.

NOTE: The best performance the small handful of users who got this working have reported is still about 25-30% DOA against P2Pool (versus the usual DOA of 8-15% or so.) So it's close to desired, but be aware that getting things working in this state currently requires command-line skills and the ability to check-out branches from p2pool's git repository. For the moment, your most efficient options are solo-mining with local pool software, or just using one of the online pools.

Others

There is a pair of gloves in Avalon package. please put it on when assembling or carrying.

About the plastic sheets: please remove them BEFORE mining. we design the case as a part of heatsink, so remove the plastic sheets is a must

About FAN change: DO NOT change the fans to a low speed model. will cause over heat. DO NOT install extra fans at the rear "fan socket". will cause PSU over heat and nearly useless for module cooling.

About install extra heat-sinks on each avalon chip: please do not do that. there is a air gap between the die and package top, install a heatsink on chip is useless. and will cause overheating. because the top PCB copper act as a heatsink too. do not cover them.

About water cooling: yes, do it.

Firmware

Check your firmware version by goto Cgminer Status page
Latest Firmware is here
The Avalon firmware SDK: here

20130419

Merged to cgminer. BIG thanks to conman. so we have all cgminer's improvment
Idle avalon chips after reset. for save power. (idle needs ~50W)
Fix the cgminer restart bug.
Fix temp/fan have wrong value(the wrong result from fpga controller)
Fix the fan control. now base on the max value of temp2/3
Fix no_matching_work only count in debug mode
Update cgminer-monitor, replace [Accept] with [Diff1 Work], add killall before restart.
Fix a typo on /usr/bin/cgminer-monitor
More check/fliter on result. this make Avalon more stable
New status page, new api log page.
Improve the cgminer service. a restart takes ~2 seconds now. no needs ntpd when restart
Quiet some improvments on software develop/codeing. compile Avalon firmware is much eaiser with build-avalon-image.sh
Frimware version:

[Firmware Version] => 20130419
cgminer-8e8313c
luci-28b4ff2
cgminer-openwrt-packages-f2bc5dc

20130321

For fix the cgminer-monitor, please run this command after you reflash

 sed -i 's/ $B / "$B" /' /usr/bin/cgminer-monitor

If you "check the Keep settings", you need fill API Allow to "W:127.0.0.1" after reflash, edit it here: "http://AVALON_IP/cgi-bin/luci/admin/status/cgminer/", "DO NOT" left it blank

If you "uncheck the Keep settings" when reflashing, Please "reconfigure your Avalon" after reflash

Update Linux from 3.6 to 3.8.3
Update OpenWrt to r36095
When there is no network. automatic idle chip after detect avalon, save power and protect your avalon overheat
Idle chip when cgminer close avalon
Add device_reinit support
Add frequency, modular configure on web ui
Add API Allow on web ui
Add pool balance on web ui, by default balance on all 3 pools
Add stratum+tcp:// by default
Display Frequency on status page
Fix the kern.err kernel: ... ath: phy0: ... bug
Fliter >=100 degree result for debug
Replace TempMax with No Matching Work

20130225

A new cgminer status page
/etc/avalon_version include all repo commit
Fix temp_history_count, make sure 2~3s call adjuest_fan

20130218

Update adjust_fan()
Using avaon default worker

20130212

Update fan pwm

20130205

Update fan pwm MAX/MIN
Sync with upstream, fix the memory leak bug
Monitor the Accept number

20130127

Add overclock code
Change the cgminer configure to UCI system
Add the simple web ui

20130117

Update OpenWRt to r35097
Update cgminer to 2.10.4
Remove /www/miner.php, change cgminer cron job to */5
Start ntpd before start cgminer

Test Plan

New firmware don't break Avalon for sure
New firmware don't use all flash. have to keep some space for save configuration
Either and WiFI connect works fine
Cgminer works fine(the kernel user driver, cgminer it self, cgminer-monitor and uci configurations files)
After configure cgminer. [Save & Apply] can restart the cgminer
The Status/API log page works fine
Test mining
Test the cgminer-monitor
Make sure 80/22/4028 open on WAN.

Unofficial Firmware

Untested BFGMiner 3.0 alpha1 for Avalon

How to Compile Your Own Firmware for Avalon

1. First check if you have met the building prerequisites. Checkout this page first OpenWrt Buildroot – Installation

For example, if your OS is Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, install the required packages like this:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install subversion build-essential
sudo apt-get install build-essential subversion git-core libncurses5-dev zlib1g-dev gawk flex quilt libssl-dev xsltproc libxml-parser-perl

2. Now get the source code, prepare the code and build. this needs ~6GB

wget https://raw.github.com/BitSyncom/avalon-extras/master/scripts/build-avalon-image.sh
chmod +x build-avalon-image.sh
./build-avalon-image.sh --clone #prepare the code and build, ONLY NEED ONCE
./build-avalon-image.sh

3. Update all repos

 ./build-avalon-image.sh --update

4. Only rebuild cgminer

./build-avalon-image.sh --cgminer

5. Finally you could get the freshly built firmware files under avalon/bin/

IRC: #avalon @freenode.net

#avalon @freenode.net Thanks to midnightmagic create that channel

FAQ

Why there is a USB-HUB inside

AR9331's usb stability issue

Why ASIC bitcoin mining?
Why Avalon?
Who made Avalon?
How to order one?

http://store.avalon-asics.com/

Links

Donation

Ngzhagn0: 1kBGUHDxmSAegACRB6fcE2vrnVAfPJarW
Con Kolivas: 15qSxP1SQcUX3o4nhkfdbgyoWEFMomJ4rZ
Kanoi: 1KanoiBupPiZfkwqB7rfLXAzPnoTshAVmb
Xiangfu: 12h6gdGnThW385JaX1LRMA8cXKmbYRTP8Q

Avalon