Provide free schematic entry and PCBA software. The kicad devs have created software that rivals eagle and orcad, but there is no cost of use. This has single-handedly eliminated the barrier of entry into making professional PCBs. No longer do you need to be a mega-corp to use push-and-shove for moving traces, circuit simulation and create matched trace lengths for differential pair traces.
''Why this is important:''
If you want to make a flex pcb for your 1990s gameboy, you need software to make that happen. Circuit design software used to be expensive pay-per-month software. Kicad is free. You can make a pcb for your switch or add a flex pcb with headphone jack to an iphone like [link|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utfbE3_uAMA|strangeparts] did.
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''more about them:''
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''More about them:''
https://www.kicad.org/about/kicad/
***Open Source Hardware Association***
https://www.oshwa.org/membership/
''What they do:''
Promote open source hardware and enable engineers and creators to build off each other's designs within a fixed open license structure. They promote thorough project and hardware documentation by making every certified device have schematics, gerbers and mechanical drawings available to the public in an open and indexible manner. They are also a boon for the small and medium sized electronics market.
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https://certification.oshwa.org/process.html
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https://www.oshwa.org/definition/
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''Why this is important:''
There are many options for developing software and sharing it with others on the internet. The original developer can chose to keep their software completely private or license their software under any open software license available, each with different levels of control. Open source licenses, such as GPL, GNU, MIT, BSD, etc.. all have different nuances, such as allowing for all or parts of the source code to be released to the public. The GNU license is a copyleft license which, in short, is a free-for-all, benefit-humanity license, but requires the individual or company using the GNU licensed software to contribute back to the community and leave everything open. The GNU license requires all future derivatives to be GNU licensed. Linksys was in hot water for violating the GNU license for their WRT54g router and had to release the source code to the public. The results of this violation lead to a lot of the wifi router 3rd party software which is available today, such as [link|https://dd-wrt.com/|dd-wrt] and [link|https://openwrt.org/|open-wrt].
Developing hardware has none of these kind of licenses. It’s a headache to reuse other’s work and there is no foundation for freely sharing and distributing designs, until now. This is one of the key benefits of using an open source hardware license. The main downside is that it is hard to legally go after nefarious individuals or organizations that duplicate the original open hardware designs for profit, especially internationally. However, I believe that open hardware is incredibly useful as it provides a look under the hood at working production-ready hardware. No electronics mega-corp will ever provide fully detailed and well documented material on how to create your own trinket. Some colleges still teach hardware design on 30-40yr old silicon and insight into modern hardware is not in the curriculum. The educational value of open hardware is unmatched. [link|https://cdn-shop.adafruit.com/product-files/4382/4382-schematic.pdf|Adafruit] and [link|https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/2/7/1/b/f/MicroMod_GNSS_Carrier_Board_ZED-F9P_Schematic.pdf|sparkfun] both license some of their products under open source hardware licenses and anyone can take a peek at the schematic files.
Provide free schematic entry and PCBA software. The kicad devs have created software that rivals eagle and orcad, but there is no cost of use. This has single-handedly eliminated the barrier of entry into making professional PCBs. No longer do you need to be a mega-corp to use push-and-shove for moving traces, circuit simulation and create matched trace lengths for differential pair traces.
''Why this is important:''
-
If you want to make a flex pcb for your 1990s flex pcb, you need software to make that happen. Circuit design software used to be expensive pay-per-month software. Kicad is free. You can make a pcb for your switch, add a flex pcb with headphone jack like [link|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utfbE3_uAMA|strangeparts] did.
+
If you want to make a flex pcb for your 1990s gameboy, you need software to make that happen. Circuit design software used to be expensive pay-per-month software. Kicad is free. You can make a pcb for your switch or add a flex pcb with headphone jack to an iphone like [link|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utfbE3_uAMA|strangeparts] did.
''more about them:''
https://www.kicad.org/about/kicad/
***Open Source Hardware Association***
https://www.oshwa.org/membership/
''What they do:''
-
Promote open source hardware and enable engineers and creators to build off each other's designs within a fixed open license structure. They promote thorough project and hardware documentation by making every certified device have schematics, gerbers and mechanical drawings available to the public in an open and indexible manner. They are also a boon for the small and medium electronics market.
+
Promote open source hardware and enable engineers and creators to build off each other's designs within a fixed open license structure. They promote thorough project and hardware documentation by making every certified device have schematics, gerbers and mechanical drawings available to the public in an open and indexible manner. They are also a boon for the small and medium sized electronics market.
https://certification.oshwa.org/process.html
https://www.oshwa.org/definition/
''Why this is important:''
-
There are many options for developing software and sharing it with others on the internet. The original developer can chose to keep their software completely private or license their software under any open software license available, each with different levels of control. Open source licenses, such as Gpl, GNU, mit, bsc etc.. all have different nuances, such as allowing for parts or all of the source code to be released to the public. The GNU license is a copyleft license which, in short, is a free-for-all, benefit-humanity license, but requires the individual or company using the GNU licensed software to contribute back to the community and leave everything open. The GNU license requires all future derivatives to be gnu licensed. Linksys was in hot water for violating the GNU license for their wrt54g router and had to release the source code to the public. The results of this violation lead to a lot of the wifi router 3rd party software which is available today, such as dd-wrt and open-wrt.
+
There are many options for developing software and sharing it with others on the internet. The original developer can chose to keep their software completely private or license their software under any open software license available, each with different levels of control. Open source licenses, such as GPL, GNU, MIT, BSD, etc.. all have different nuances, such as allowing for all or parts of the source code to be released to the public. The GNU license is a copyleft license which, in short, is a free-for-all, benefit-humanity license, but requires the individual or company using the GNU licensed software to contribute back to the community and leave everything open. The GNU license requires all future derivatives to be GNU licensed. Linksys was in hot water for violating the GNU license for their WRT54g router and had to release the source code to the public. The results of this violation lead to a lot of the wifi router 3rd party software which is available today, such as [link|https://dd-wrt.com/|dd-wrt] and [link|https://openwrt.org/|open-wrt].
Developing hardware has none of these kind of licenses. It’s a headache to reuse other’s work and there is no foundation for freely sharing and distributing designs, until now. This is one of the key benefits of using an open source hardware license. The main downside is that it is hard to legally go after nefarious individuals or organizations that duplicate the original open hardware designs for profit, especially internationally. However, I believe that open hardware is incredibly useful as it provides a look under the hood at working production-ready hardware. No electronics mega-corp will ever provide fully detailed and well documented material on how to create your own trinket. Some colleges still teach hardware design on 30-40yr old silicon and insight into modern hardware is not in the curriculum. The educational value of open hardware is unmatched. [link|https://cdn-shop.adafruit.com/product-files/4382/4382-schematic.pdf|Adafruit] and [link|https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/2/7/1/b/f/MicroMod_GNSS_Carrier_Board_ZED-F9P_Schematic.pdf|sparkfun] both license some of their products under open source hardware licenses and anyone can take a peek at the schematic files.
Two come to mind:
***The KiCAD project***
https://www.kicad.org/donate/
''What they do:''
Provide free schematic entry and PCBA software. The kicad devs have created software that rivals eagle and orcad, but there is no cost of use. This has single-handedly eliminated the barrier of entry into making professional PCBs. No longer do you need to be a mega-corp to use push-and-shove for moving traces, circuit simulation and create matched trace lengths for differential pair traces.
''Why this is important:''
If you want to make a flex pcb for your 1990s flex pcb, you need software to make that happen. Circuit design software used to be expensive pay-per-month software. Kicad is free. You can make a pcb for your switch, add a flex pcb with headphone jack like [link|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utfbE3_uAMA|strangeparts] did.
''more about them:''
https://www.kicad.org/about/kicad/
***Open Source Hardware Association***
https://www.oshwa.org/membership/
''What they do:''
Promote open source hardware and enable engineers and creators to build off each other's designs within a fixed open license structure. They promote thorough project and hardware documentation by making every certified device have schematics, gerbers and mechanical drawings available to the public in an open and indexible manner. They are also a boon for the small and medium electronics market.
https://certification.oshwa.org/process.html
https://www.oshwa.org/definition/
''Why this is important:''
There are many options for developing software and sharing it with others on the internet. The original developer can chose to keep their software completely private or license their software under any open software license available, each with different levels of control. Open source licenses, such as Gpl, GNU, mit, bsc etc.. all have different nuances, such as allowing for parts or all of the source code to be released to the public. The GNU license is a copyleft license which, in short, is a free-for-all, benefit-humanity license, but requires the individual or company using the GNU licensed software to contribute back to the community and leave everything open. The GNU license requires all future derivatives to be gnu licensed. Linksys was in hot water for violating the GNU license for their wrt54g router and had to release the source code to the public. The results of this violation lead to a lot of the wifi router 3rd party software which is available today, such as dd-wrt and open-wrt.
Developing hardware has none of these kind of licenses. It’s a headache to reuse other’s work and there is no foundation for freely sharing and distributing designs, until now. This is one of the key benefits of using an open source hardware license. The main downside is that it is hard to legally go after nefarious individuals or organizations that duplicate the original open hardware designs for profit, especially internationally. However, I believe that open hardware is incredibly useful as it provides a look under the hood at working production-ready hardware. No electronics mega-corp will ever provide fully detailed and well documented material on how to create your own trinket. Some colleges still teach hardware design on 30-40yr old silicon and insight into modern hardware is not in the curriculum. The educational value of open hardware is unmatched. [link|https://cdn-shop.adafruit.com/product-files/4382/4382-schematic.pdf|Adafruit] and [link|https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/2/7/1/b/f/MicroMod_GNSS_Carrier_Board_ZED-F9P_Schematic.pdf|sparkfun] both license some of their products under open source hardware licenses and anyone can take a peek at the schematic files.
KEXP
Because sound matters. JK :D.
https://www.kexp.org/donate/
