Home > On-Demand Archives > Q&A Sessions >
Live Q&A - Open Source Hardware
Helen Leigh - Watch Now - Duration: 20:37
Brilliant talk. Learnt a lot of new stuff.
Any comments about open source platform independent GUI development tools. I keep coming up with proprietary tools when looking for a GUI development API that I want to integrate into a C++ project running on Windows. Seems like GUI development is going backwards, more complicated instead of simpler and open.
Afraid I am not knowledgeable enough about GUI on dev tools to answer that question. Not my wheelhouse, sorry!
One thing regarding efficiency...I feel the more technology we employ to make our lives "convenient", the more we "dumb down" ourselves. I feel we still need to understand the inner workings of hardware and software vs. "trust the convenience" all the time.
It's not an either/or choice between deep knowledge of individuals and broad education of the masses. The average person is more educated now than at any other point in history. In my opinion, making tools easier to use is always good. It's easy to be dismissive of these simpler tools but remember: if you find them too easy they are probably not designed for you /and that's okay/. There is nothing stopping you programming in Assembly if you want to! Let people have their block code if they want :D
Several Open Hardware projects also include a lot of software how do these projects recruit or ask for software help during development?
Most big projects have a team of collaborators with different specialties, EE, firmware, etc. For one example the Glasgow board was a collab between Whitequark and Piotr Esden: https://www.crowdsupply.com/1bitsquared/glasgow
In my own personal experience, I have found collaborators at hacker events and on Twitter! Another example is Tim Ansell, who made FOMU boards and gave them away until he found software engineers that were interested in doing the software!
Hi Helen. Great talk but I have some doubts:
1) What is gain from free my hardware design as Open Source? if the idea is create a business around it? I haven't clear this point
2) What is the name of your magazine?
3) What projects do you know from build toys open source for babies or kids?
- There are loads of ways you can make a good living from OS hardware. You can sell your hardware (like https://www.crowdsupply.com/sqfmi/watchy), you can sell services around hardware (like Antmicro) or you can use it to build a giant community with lots of revenue streams (like Arduino).
- The magazine I write for is Make Magazine
- Have a look at one I made here https://www.adafruit.com/product/4141
Thanks a lot Helen!
Great talk! With the rise in the availability of open source hardware it's tempting to incorporate such hardware into commercial products. Are there limitations to using open source hardware in commercial applications.
Nope! I mean, check the individual license of the thing you're thinking about using, but there should be no non commercial clauses in open source hardware. In terms of etiquette, make sure you attribute clearly and thank the people who did the work :)
Any information on open source systems. For example, a plan for open source food production. Here is a link to article about how tech food production. Would be great to have community based ownership of food instead of Bill owning it.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolemartin1/2019/04/29/how-technology-is-transforming-the-food-industry/?sh=d9a3e1420a34
16:41:36 From Leandro Pérez : Hi Helen! 16:41:49 From helenleigh : Heyyyyyyyy everyone! 16:41:55 From Leandro Pérez : From Colombia 16:43:31 From Alex : What tools have you found most useful for open hardware development? 16:44:06 From Doug Peters : Hi Helen, can you speak a l;ittle bit more about your prderred open source licenses? Software/Hardware 16:44:14 From Doug Peters : preferreds 16:44:20 From Doug Peters : preffered 16:44:29 From Doug Peters : Haven't even started drinking yet 16:45:08 From Jeremy Schreiber : Great talk! With the rise in the availability of open source hardware it's tempting to incorporate such hardware into commercial products. Are there limitations to using open source hardware in commercial applications. 16:45:16 From Michael Kirkhart : https://theamphour.com/501-discussing-the-open-source-pdk-with-tim-ansell/ 16:45:53 From David Potter : I am frustrated with open source software and user interface APIs. Any suggestions? 16:46:14 From Michael Kirkhart : https://theamphour.com/525-open-fpga-toolchains-and-machine-learning-with-brian-faith-of-quicklogic/ 16:47:54 From Michael Kirkhart : Regarding the "Googles" of the world hijacking your work for commercial gain - there are certain licenses (such as GPL) which they will avoid at all costs. 16:48:31 From Alex Burka : is there a GPL for hardware? 16:50:12 From Elecia : There is the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA.org: https://www.oshwa.org/definition/) 16:50:58 From Leandro Pérez : What is gain from free my hardware design as Open Source? if the idea is create a business around it? I haven't clear this point 16:55:11 From Leandro Pérez : What is the name of your magazine? 16:56:58 From Leandro Pérez : What projects do you know from build toys open source for babies or kids? 16:57:35 From Michael Kirkhart : https://www.wildlabs.net/resources/news/plant-powered-camera-trap-breakthrough 17:01:29 From Adelle Lin : Thanks Helen! great to see you 17:01:46 From Christopher Long : Thanks Helen! 17:01:58 From Leandro Pérez : Thanks Helen 17:02:06 From Tom.Davies : Thank you 17:02:12 From DevBox : Thank you... 17:02:21 From javi : Thanks Helen, nice tatto by the way! 17:02:31 From Iván GB : Byeee 17:02:33 From Sam : thx
Thank you so much for introducing me to eFabless and the chipIgnite process. I'm really excited about sponsoring a number of chips and playing a part in building a community of ASIC makers!