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I thought one could consider Arduino a "big open source project" we've been working on open hardware for 11 years and we have millions of users. The big questio

by mbanzi 10y ago

I thought one could consider Arduino a "big open source project" we've been working on open hardware for 11 years and we have millions of users. The big question is : Does open hardware really matter to people? The Raspberry Pi keeps getting mentioned next to Arduino but it's not open hardware but this doesn't seem to matter. The original group of OSHW enthusiasts has been diluted in the larger maker/hobbyist market which is very price sensitive and buys the cheapest HW regardless of who makes it or if they are upstanding citizens of the open source world.

analog31 10y ago
Indeed, those are some good points, and a good question. My impression is that hardware hackers are largely oblivious to contemporary OSHW issues. For instance, relatively few are even aware that Arduino is open and RPi isn't, and what the actual issues are. I tend to be more concerned with being able to use a design in the future if one of my vendors vanishes or a part goes obsolete, and my solution to that problem is to make stuff that runs on multiple platforms, or can be easily ported. I doubt it's just a matter of price. The main problem may be that open design evolved at a time when stuff was a lot simpler, and not driven by code. In 1980, I took a schematic for a guitar pedal in a magazine, and build one myself, with no copyright issues. You can't copyright a circuit, and it's damn hard to patent one. There was no EULA to prohibit me from taking my gear apart. An issue with software is that the author has to do something proactive, in order to make it copy-able. That's probably an over-simplification, but at the very least you have to negate the implied copyright by replacing it with something permissive like the MIT license. So, there are "sins of omission" that threaten the open-ness of software (and of hardware containing software) that are only beginning to emerge in the hardware hobby.
- BuuQu9hu 10y ago
  Doesn't the Arduino use a proprietary microcontroller?
  - analog31 10y ago
    Indeed, that's a good point, and I have to humbly admit that I don't completely understand the fine points of "open source" hardware. AFAIK there are some interesting differences between the Arduino and the RPi. Apparently the RPi contains a chip whose full datasheet is not available to the public. So it violates one "free software" principle, i.e., the ability to understand and modify your stuff. Granted, I use hardware that is not considered "free," and don't worry too much about it.

by mbanzi 10y ago

analog31 10y ago

Indeed, those are some good points, and a good question. My impression is that hardware hackers are largely oblivious to contemporary OSHW issues. For instance, relatively few are even aware that Arduino is open and RPi isn't, and what the actual issues are. I tend to be more concerned with being able to use a design in the future if one of my vendors vanishes or a part goes obsolete, and my solution to that problem is to make stuff that runs on multiple platforms, or can be easily ported. I doubt it's just a matter of price. The main problem may be that open design evolved at a time when stuff was a lot simpler, and not driven by code. In 1980, I took a schematic for a guitar pedal in a magazine, and build one myself, with no copyright issues. You can't copyright a circuit, and it's damn hard to patent one. There was no EULA to prohibit me from taking my gear apart. An issue with software is that the author has to do something proactive, in order to make it copy-able. That's probably an over-simplification, but at the very least you have to negate the implied copyright by replacing it with something permissive like the MIT license. So, there are "sins of omission" that threaten the open-ness of software (and of hardware containing software) that are only beginning to emerge in the hardware hobby.

BuuQu9hu 10y ago
Doesn't the Arduino use a proprietary microcontroller?
- analog31 10y ago
  Indeed, that's a good point, and I have to humbly admit that I don't completely understand the fine points of "open source" hardware. AFAIK there are some interesting differences between the Arduino and the RPi. Apparently the RPi contains a chip whose full datasheet is not available to the public. So it violates one "free software" principle, i.e., the ability to understand and modify your stuff. Granted, I use hardware that is not considered "free," and don't worry too much about it.