Open Source Hardware, For Fun and For Profit

ptorrone writes "Lots of open source hardware articles making the rounds this week, first up — Wired has an excellent piece on the Arduino project, an open source electronics prototyping platform, its founders and business model (they have sold over 50,000 units). And next up MIT's Tech Review has a profile on a few open source hardware businesses including NYC based Adafruit Industries best known for projects like the open source synth (x0x0b0x) and 'fun' projects like the Wave Bubble, the open source cell phone/wifi/GPS/RF jammer."

Mico32

[Anonymous Coward]

An interesting Open Source hardware project is the Mico32 CPU than can be freely implemented in FPGAs or ASICs:

http://www.latticesemi.com/products/intellectualproperty/ipcores/mico32/index.cfm [latticesemi.com]

It is commerically supported, uses GCC for the compiler and can run Linux.

Freely programmable hardware is more important

[BhaKi]

It seems really crazy that more people are fighting for "hardware whose internal design is known" than for "hardware whose programming documentation is known".

Re:Yes 'fun'...

[iamdrscience]

Anytime the Wavebubble comes up, somebody brings out the argument that it could potentially block a call to Emergency services, but really this isn't a very realistic scenario. The Wavebubble really has a pretty limited range, from the project page: Effective range is approximately 20' radius with well-tuned antennas" [ladyada.net]. That's a small enough area that to anybody within range it would just appear like a small dead spot in coverage and just like a regular deadspot, they'd probably walk around a little bit until they got service. It doesn't impede emergency access any more than standing on the wrong side of a building might. Furthermore, a 20 foot radius is small enough that if there is somebody nearby needing emergency services, you can almost certainly see them and help out yourself.

If someone on a cell phone is annoying you, ask them to keep it down or turn it off.

I work in a retail store and people are constantly coming up to the counter talking on their cellphones, oblivious to how rude it is to the people around them and how often it inconveniences other customers (customers talking on their phones generally will not be paying close attention to the transaction or myself, causing the sale to take longer). I can understand and agree with why cell-jammers are illegal, but still, everytime a particularly obnoxious customer comes up to the register on their cellphone, it's hard for me to avoid thinking about building a Wavebubble. What's stopped me thus far is that I really doubt it would do any good -- if I cut off their signal they're just going to try to redial whoever they were talking to, as distracted as ever.

One that's been sadly ignored in tech circles

[FridgeFreezer]

For the past 5 years I've been running my cars on open-source engine management hardware, firmware and software.

www.megasquirt.info

Given the potential benefits, financial, technological, and environmental, I'm surprised more people aren't interested in it. The project is actually pushing as close to the edge as some of the high end EMS from big car manufacturers.

Re:Open "source" hardware

[bitrex]

"Open design hardware" sounds pretty much right. Is it possible to get the Verilog code that describes the operation of say the FTDI USB/Serial chip? Nope. Will a semiconductor manufacturer tell you what really goes on inside the STA013 Mp3 decoder chip that a lot of "open source" Mp3 player projects use? No way! But so long as you're OK with looking at many integrated circuits as abstract building blocks, then essentially any product you can find schematics for or take the time to trace out a circuit of is open source. I still think projects like the ones mentioned are fantastic though, as component selection and construction are well thought out with the hobbyist in mind, and like the x0xb0x fill a niche market (a re-engineering of a defunct product) or the WaveBubble (which no consumer electronics company would touch).

x0x0b0x Project Rocks!

[six025]

This is a particularly useful project for electronic musicians and synth geeks. The famous Roland TB-303 - whatever you might think of the sound - is to dance music as guitars are to rock music. The real deal is prohibitively expensive for most people these days if you can find one for sale.

The designer (?) of this exact replica has made the real analogue sound available to anyone that with half a brain and a light wallet. You can build it your self which might then inspire someone to build other instruments that extend on the original, and the design is now open forever.

The sound you get out of it is about as close to the original as possible - it's been notoriously difficult to copy and many people have failed in the past - even Roland!!

This x0x0b0x just fantastic work. Respect!!

Peace,
Andy.

Open Computer?

[starseeker]

Has anyone ever considered putting the available pieces out there together and seeing what we still need to achieve a fully open computer? It's expected it will be slow by modern standards but a completely open PC would be nice.

Re:Yes 'fun'...

[Anonymous Coward]

If someone on a cell phone is annoying you, ask them to keep it down or turn it off. Don't potentially block a call that may be to (or from) the emergency services or another life or death communication.

Where I live (a western country), asking someone to keep it down on the cellphone may put you in a life or death situation. People get kicked within an inch of their life for asking other passengers to put out their cigarettes on public transportation. I'd much prefer a Wave Bubble, thank you very much.

lets not get our panties in an uproar

[hierophanta]

first few FAQs from their site

I would like to buy a wavebubble from you, will you sell me one? No

I will pay you $500!!! No

Do you sell a kit? No

Will you build me one? No

Why not? It's illegal & I'm not keen on getting fined by the FCC so that you can impress your friends

http://www.ladyada.net/make/wavebubble/faq.html [ladyada.net]

OBDuino

[Frederic54]

I am working on the OBDuino, it's an OBD reader based on an Arduino board. Add an LCD, 3 buttons, an OBD interface (current one based on the ELM327), and you can display instant fuel consumption, average on trip or tank, speed, RPM, various temperature, read MIL code, clear them etc.

Programming the Arduino is very easy as you do it in C and upload through a serial port or USB. You can also develop/compile in Minsys and upload with a parallel programmer, etc.

See the wiki on the OBDuino
http://code.google.com/p/opengauge/wiki/OBDuino [google.com]

Trotting out reprap-relevant stuff again

[gringer]

The RepRap is able to use an Arduino board, but the RepRap Research Foundation [rrrf.org] have recently developed a modified variant called the Sanguino [sanguino.cc]. That Sanguino link shows some differences between the two board designs.

Open Hardware for the Poor

[steve_song]

Open Hardware can make a difference in the developing world. http://manypossibilities.net/2008/08/open-hardware-for-development/ [manypossibilities.net] Stand by for the Mesh Potato http://www.rowetel.com/blog/?p=70 [rowetel.com]