![RepRap 'Mendel'](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/RepRap_%27Mendel%27.jpg)
Open-source hardware (OSH) consists of physical
artifacts of technology designed and offered by the
open-design movement
The open-design movement involves the development of physical products, machines and systems through use of publicly shared design information. This includes the making of both free and open-source software (FOSS) as well as open-source hardw ...
. Both
free and open-source software
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...
(FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this
open-source culture movement and apply a like concept to a variety of components. It is sometimes, thus, referred to as FOSH (free and open-source hardware). The term usually means that information about the hardware is easily discerned so that others can make it – coupling it closely to the
maker movement. Hardware design (i.e. mechanical drawings,
schematics
A schematic, or schematic diagram, is a designed representation of the elements of a system using abstract, graphic symbols rather than realistic pictures. A schematic usually omits all details that are not relevant to the key information the sc ...
,
bills of material
A bill of materials or product structure (sometimes bill of material, BOM or associated list) is a list of the raw materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies, sub-components, parts, and the quantities of each needed to manufacture an end ...
,
PCB
PCB may refer to:
Science and technology
* Polychlorinated biphenyl, an organic chlorine compound, now recognized as an environmental toxin and classified as a persistent organic pollutant
* Printed circuit board, a board used in electronics
* ...
layout data,
HDL source code
and
integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...
layout data), in addition to the software that
drives the hardware, are all released under free/
libre
Libre may refer to:
Computing
* Libre software, free software
* Libre Computer Project, developer of open-hardware single-board computers
Medicine
*FreeStyle Libre, a glucose monitoring device
Media
* Libre Times, news site which people can free ...
terms. The original sharer gains feedback and potentially improvements on the design from the FOSH community. There is now significant evidence that such sharing can drive a high
return on investment
Return on investment (ROI) or return on costs (ROC) is a ratio between net income (over a period) and investment (costs resulting from an investment of some resources at a point in time). A high ROI means the investment's gains compare favourably ...
for the scientific community.
It is not enough to merely use an
open-source license
An open-source license is a type of license for computer software and other products that allows the source code, blueprint or design to be used, modified and/or shared under defined terms and conditions. This allows end users and commercial compa ...
; an open source product or project will follow open source principles, such as modular design and community collaboration.
Since the rise of reconfigurable
programmable logic device
A programmable logic device (PLD) is an electronic component used to build reconfigurable digital circuits. Unlike digital logic constructed using discrete logic gates with fixed functions, a PLD has an undefined function at the time of manuf ...
s, sharing of logic designs has been a form of open-source hardware. Instead of the schematics,
hardware description language (HDL) code is shared. HDL descriptions are commonly used to set up
system-on-a-chip systems either in
field-programmable gate array
A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is an integrated circuit designed to be configured by a customer or a designer after manufacturinghence the term '' field-programmable''. The FPGA configuration is generally specified using a hardware d ...
s (FPGA) or directly in
application-specific integrated circuit
An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficie ...
(ASIC) designs. HDL modules, when distributed, are called
semiconductor intellectual property core
In electronic design, a semiconductor intellectual property core (SIP core), IP core, or IP block is a reusable unit of logic, cell, or integrated circuit layout design that is the intellectual property of one party. IP cores can be licensed to ...
s, also known as IP cores.
Open-source hardware also helps alleviate the issue of
proprietary device drivers for the
free and open-source software
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...
community, however, it is not a pre-requisite for it, and should not be confused with the concept of open documentation for proprietary hardware, which is already sufficient for writing FLOSS device drivers and complete operating systems.
The difference between the two concepts is that OSH includes both the instructions on how to replicate the hardware itself as well as the information on communication protocols that the software (usually in the form of
device driver
In computing, a device driver is a computer program that operates or controls a particular type of device that is attached to a computer or automaton. A driver provides a software interface to hardware devices, enabling operating systems and ot ...
s) must use in order to communicate with the hardware (often called register documentation, or open documentation for hardware), whereas open-source-friendly proprietary hardware would only include the latter without including the former.
History
![Oshwalogo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Oshwalogo.png)
The first hardware-focused "
open source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
" activities were started around 1997 by
Bruce Perens, creator of the
Open Source Definition, co-founder of the
Open Source Initiative
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the steward of the Open Source Definition, the set of rules that define open source software. It is a California public-benefit nonprofit corporation,_with_501(c)(3).html" ;"title="110. - 6910./ref> is a type o ...
, and a
ham radio operator
An amateur radio operator is someone who uses equipment at an amateur radio station to engage in two-way personal communications with other amateur operators on radio frequencies assigned to the amateur radio service. Amateur radio operators hav ...
. He launched the Open Hardware Certification Program, which had the goal of allowing hardware manufacturers to self-certify their products as open.
Shortly after the launch of the Open Hardware Certification Program, David Freeman announced the Open Hardware Specification Project (OHSpec), another attempt at licensing hardware components whose interfaces are available publicly and of creating an entirely new computing platform as an alternative to proprietary computing systems. In early 1999, Sepehr Kiani, Ryan Vallance and Samir Nayfeh joined efforts to apply the open-source philosophy to machine design applications. Together they established the Open Design Foundation (ODF) as a non-profit corporation and set out to develop an
Open Design Definition. However, most of these activities faded out after a few years.
A "Free Hardware" organization, known as FreeIO, was started in the late 1990s by Diehl Martin, who also launched a FreeIO website in early 2000. In the early to mid 2000s, FreeIO was a focus of free/open hardware designs released under the
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the Four Freedoms (Free software), four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was th ...
. The FreeIO project advocated the concept of Free Hardware and proposed four freedoms that such hardware provided to users, based on the similar freedoms provided by free software licenses. The designs gained some notoriety due to Martin's naming scheme in which each free hardware project was given the name of a breakfast food such as Donut, Flapjack, Toast, etc. Martin's projects attracted a variety of hardware and software developers as well as other volunteers. Development of new open hardware designs at FreeIO ended in 2007 when Martin died of pancreatic cancer but the existing designs remain available from the organization's website.
By the mid 2000s open-source hardware again became a hub of activity due to the emergence of several major open-source hardware projects and companies, such as
OpenCores
OpenCores is a community developing digital open-source hardware through electronic design automation (EDA), with a similar ethos as the free software movement. OpenCores hopes to eliminate redundant design work and slash development costs. A nu ...
,
RepRap (
3D printing
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...
),
Arduino,
Adafruit
Adafruit Industries is an open-source hardware company based in New York City. It was founded by Limor Fried in 2005. The company designs, manufactures and sells a number of electronics products, electronics components, tools and accessories. It ...
and
SparkFun
SparkFun Electronics (sometimes known by its abbreviation, ''SFE'') is an electronics retailer in Niwot, Colorado, United States. It manufactures and sells microcontroller development boards and breakout boards. All products designed and produce ...
. In 2007, Perens reactivated the openhardware.org website.
Following the
Open Graphics Project
The Open Graphics Project (OGP) was founded with the goal to design an open-source hardware / open architecture and standard for graphics cards, primarily targeting free software / open-source operating systems. The project created a reprogramma ...
, an effort to design, implement, and manufacture a free and open 3D graphics chip set and reference graphics card, Timothy Miller suggested the creation of an organization to safeguard the interests of the Open Graphics Project community. Thus, Patrick McNamara founded the
Open Hardware Foundation Linux Fund is an organization that has been raising money and making donations to Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects since 1999.
IRS 501(c)(3) status was granted to Linux Fund in August 2007, allowing direct solicitations to individuals ...
(OHF) in 2007.
The
Tucson Amateur Packet Radio Corporation (TAPR), founded in 1982 as a non-profit organization of amateur radio operators with the goals of supporting R&D efforts in the area of amateur digital communications, created in 2007 the first open hardware license, the
TAPR Open Hardware License
The TAPR Open Hardware License (TAPR OPL) is a license used in open-source hardware projects. It was created by Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR), an international amateur radio organization. Version 1.0 was published on May 25, 2007.
Like the G ...
. The
OSI
OSI may refer to:
Places
* Osijek Airport (IATA code: OSI), an airport in Croatia
* Ősi, a village in Veszprém county, Hungary
* Oši, an archaeological site in Semigallia, Latvia
* Osi, a village in Ido-Osi, Ekiti State, Nigeria
* Osi, Ekiti ...
president
Eric S. Raymond
Eric Steven Raymond (born December 4, 1957), often referred to as ESR, is an American software developer, open-source software advocate, and author of the 1997 essay and 1999 book ''The Cathedral and the Bazaar''. He wrote a guidebook for the ...
expressed some concerns about certain aspects of the OHL and decided to not review the license.
[Ars Technica: TAPR introduces open-source hardware license, OSI skeptical](_blank)
Around 2010 in context of the
Freedom Defined
The Definition of Free Cultural Works is a definition of free content from 2006. The project evaluates and recommends compatible free content licenses.
History
The Open Content Project by David A. Wiley in 1998 was a predecessor project which de ...
project, the ''Open Hardware Definition'' was created as collaborative work of many and is accepted as of 2016 by dozens of organizations and companies.
In July 2011, CERN (
European Organization for Nuclear Research) released an open-source hardware license,
CERN OHL The CERN Open Hardware Licence (OHL or CERN OHL) is a license used in open-source hardware projects. It was created by CERN, which published version 1.0 in March 2011. Version 1.1 was published in July 2011. Version 1.2 was published in September ...
. Javier Serrano, an engineer at CERN's Beams Department and the founder of the Open Hardware Repository, explained: "By sharing designs openly, CERN expects to improve the quality of designs through peer review and to guarantee their users – including commercial companies – the freedom to study, modify and manufacture them, leading to better hardware and less duplication of efforts". While initially drafted to address CERN-specific concerns, such as tracing the impact of the organization's research, in its current form it can be used by anyone developing open-source hardware.
Following the 2011 Open Hardware Summit, and after heated debates on licenses and what constitutes open-source hardware, Bruce Perens abandoned the OSHW Definition and the concerted efforts of those involved with it. Openhardware.org, led by Bruce Perens, promotes and identifies practices that meet all the combined requirements of the Open Source Hardware Definition, the Open Source Definition, and the Four Freedoms of the
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)#501(c)(3), 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985, to support the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed ...
Since 2014 openhardware.org is not online and seems to have ceased activity.
The
Open Source Hardware Association
The Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) is a non-profit organization that advocates for open-source hardware. It aims to act as a hub of open source hardware activity of all types while actively cooperating with other initiatives such as the ...
(OSHWA) at oshwa.org acts as hub of open-source hardware activity of all genres, while cooperating with other entities such as TAPR, CERN, and OSI. The OSHWA was established as an organization in June 2012 in Delaware and filed for tax exemption status in July 2013. After some debates about trademark interferences with the OSI, in 2012 the OSHWA and the OSI signed a co-existence agreement.
FSF's
Replicant
A replicant is a fictional bioengineered humanoid featured in the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'' and the 2017 sequel '' Blade Runner 2049'' which is physically indistinguishable from an adult human and often possesses superhuman strength and intel ...
project suggested in 2016 an alternative "free hardware" definition, derived from the
FSF's four freedoms.
Forms of open-source hardware
The term ''hardware'' in open-source hardware has been historically used in opposition to the term ''software'' of open-source software. That is, to refer to the electronic hardware on which the software runs (see previous section). However, as more and more non-electronic hardware products are made open source (for example
WikiHouse
WikiHouse is an open-source project for designing and building houses. It endeavours to democratise and simplify the construction of sustainable, resource-light dwellings. The project was initiated in the summer of 2011 by Alastair Parvin and N ...
, OpenBeam or Hovalin), this term tends to be used back in its broader sense of "physical product". The field of open-source hardware has been shown to go beyond electronic hardware and to cover a larger range of product categories such as machine tools, vehicles and medical equipment.
In that sense, ''hardware'' refers to any form of tangible product, be it electronic hardware, mechanical hardware, textile or even construction hardware. The Open Source Hardware (OSHW) Definition 1.0 defines hardware as "tangible artifacts — machines, devices, or other physical things".
Computers
Due to a mixture of privacy, security, and environmental concerns, a number of projects have started that aim to deliver a variety of open-source computing devices. Examples include the EOMA68 (
SBC in a
PCMCIA
The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) was a group of computer hardware manufacturers, operating under that name from 1989 to 2009. Starting with the PCMCIA card in 1990 (the name later simplified to ''PC Card''), i ...
form-factor, intended to be plugged into a laptop or desktop chassis),
Novena
A novena (from Latin: ''novem'', "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pen ...
(bare motherboard with optional laptop chassis), and GnuBee (series of Network Attached Storage devices).
Several
retrocomputing
Retrocomputing is the use of older computer hardware and software in modern times. Retrocomputing is usually classed as a hobby and recreation rather than a practical application of technology; enthusiasts often collect rare and valuable hardw ...
hobby groups have created numerous recreations or adaptations of the early
home computers of the 1970s and 80s, some of which include improved functionality and more modern components (such as
surface-mount
Surface-mount technology (SMT), originally called planar mounting, is a method in which the electrical components are mounted directly onto the surface of a printed circuit board (PCB). An electrical component mounted in this manner is referred ...
ICs and
SD card readers). Some hobbyists have also developed add-on cards (such as drive controllers, memory expansion, and sound cards) to improve the functionality of older computers. Miniaturised recreations of vintage computers have also been created.
Electronics
Electronics is one of the most popular types of open-source hardware. There are many companies that provide large varieties of open-source electronics such as
Sparkfun
SparkFun Electronics (sometimes known by its abbreviation, ''SFE'') is an electronics retailer in Niwot, Colorado, United States. It manufactures and sells microcontroller development boards and breakout boards. All products designed and produce ...
,
Adafruit
Adafruit Industries is an open-source hardware company based in New York City. It was founded by Limor Fried in 2005. The company designs, manufactures and sells a number of electronics products, electronics components, tools and accessories. It ...
and Seeed. In addition, there are
NPOs and companies that provide a specific open-source electronic component such as the
Arduino electronics prototyping platform. There are many examples of specialty open-source electronics such as low-cost voltage and current
GMAW open-source 3-D printer monitor and a robotics-assisted
mass spectrometry
Mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique that is used to measure the mass-to-charge ratio of ions. The results are presented as a ''mass spectrum'', a plot of intensity as a function of the mass-to-charge ratio. Mass spectrometry is use ...
assay platform. Open-source electronics finds various uses, including automation of chemical procedures.
Mecha(tro)nics
A large range of open-source
mechatronic products have been developed, including mechanical components, machine tools, vehicles, musical instruments, and medical equipment.
Examples of open-source machine tools include 3D printers such as
RepRap, Prusa, and
Ultimaker
Ultimaker is a 3D printer-manufacturing company based in the Netherlands, with offices and assembly line in the US. They make fused filament fabrication 3D printers, develop 3D printing software, and sell branded 3D printing materials. Their pr ...
, 3D printer filament extruders such as polystruder XR3 and as well as the laser cutter
Lasersaur.
Open-source vehicles have also been developed including bicycles like XYZ Space Frame Vehicles and cars such as the Tabby OSVehicle.
Examples of open source medical equipment include
open-source ventilator
An open-source ventilator is a disaster-situation ventilator made using a freely licensed ( open-source) design, and ideally, freely available components and parts ( open-source hardware). Designs, components, and parts may be anywhere from com ...
s, the echostethoscope echOpen, and a wide range of prosthetic hands listed in the review study by Ten Kate ''et.al.''
(e.g. OpenBionics’ Prosthetic Hands).
Other
Examples of open-source hardware products can also be found to a lesser extent in construction (Wikihouse), textile (Kit Zéro Kilomètres), and firearms (
3D printed firearm
A 3D printed firearm is a firearm that is primarily produced with a 3D printer. They can be classified by the type of 3D printers used: plastic (desktop fused filament fabrication), metal (industrial selective laser melting), or both. While pla ...
,
Defense Distributed
Defense Distributed is an online open-source hardware organization that develops digital schematics of firearms in CAD files, or "wiki weapons", that may be downloaded from the Internet and used in 3D printing or CNC milling applications. Among ...
).
Licenses
Rather than creating a new license, some open-source hardware projects use existing,
free and open-source software
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...
licenses. These licenses may not accord well with
patent law.
Later, several new licenses were proposed, designed to address issues specific to hardware design. In these licenses, many of the fundamental principles expressed in open-source software (OSS) licenses have been "ported" to their counterpart hardware projects. New
hardware license
Hardware may refer to:
Technology Computing and electronics
* Electronic hardware, interconnected electronic components which perform analog or logic operations
** Digital electronics, electronics that operate on digital signals
*** Computer hardw ...
s are often explained as the "hardware equivalent" of a well-known OSS license, such as the
GPL
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general us ...
,
LGPL
The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) is a free-software license published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The license allows developers and companies to use and integrate a software component released under the LGPL into their own ...
, or
BSD license.
Despite superficial similarities to
software license
A software license is a legal instrument (usually by way of contract law, with or without printed material) governing the use or redistribution of software. Under United States copyright law, all software is copyright protected, in both source ...
s, most hardware licenses are fundamentally different: by nature, they typically rely more heavily on
patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
law than on
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
law, as many hardware designs are not copyrightable. Whereas a copyright license may control the distribution of the source code or design documents, a patent license may control the use and manufacturing of the physical device built from the design documents. This distinction is explicitly mentioned in the preamble of the
TAPR Open Hardware License
The TAPR Open Hardware License (TAPR OPL) is a license used in open-source hardware projects. It was created by Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR), an international amateur radio organization. Version 1.0 was published on May 25, 2007.
Like the G ...
:
Noteworthy licenses include:
* The
TAPR Open Hardware License
The TAPR Open Hardware License (TAPR OPL) is a license used in open-source hardware projects. It was created by Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR), an international amateur radio organization. Version 1.0 was published on May 25, 2007.
Like the G ...
: drafted by attorney
John Ackermann
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
, reviewed by OSS community leaders
Bruce Perens and
Eric S. Raymond
Eric Steven Raymond (born December 4, 1957), often referred to as ESR, is an American software developer, open-source software advocate, and author of the 1997 essay and 1999 book ''The Cathedral and the Bazaar''. He wrote a guidebook for the ...
, and discussed by hundreds of volunteers in an open community discussion
*
Balloon Open Hardware License: used by all projects in the
Balloon Project
* Although originally a software license,
OpenCores
OpenCores is a community developing digital open-source hardware through electronic design automation (EDA), with a similar ethos as the free software movement. OpenCores hopes to eliminate redundant design work and slash development costs. A nu ...
encourages the
LGPL
The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) is a free-software license published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The license allows developers and companies to use and integrate a software component released under the LGPL into their own ...
* Hardware Design Public License: written by
Graham Seaman
Graham and Graeme may refer to:
People
* Graham (given name), an English-language given name
* Graham (surname), an English-language surname
* Graeme (surname), an English-language surname
* Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer
* Clan ...
, admin of Opencollector.org
* In March 2011
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...
released the
CERN Open Hardware License The CERN Open Hardware Licence (OHL or CERN OHL) is a license used in open-source hardware projects. It was created by CERN, which published version 1.0 in March 2011. Version 1.1 was published in July 2011. Version 1.2 was published in September ...
(OHL) intended for use with the Open Hardware Repository and other projects.
* The Solderpad License is a version of the
Apache License version 2.0, amended by lawyer Andrew Katz to render it more appropriate for hardware use.
The ''Open Source Hardware Association'' recommends seven licenses which follow their ''open-source hardware definition''.
[Definition](_blank)
on oshwa.org From the general copyleft licenses the
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the Four Freedoms (Free software), four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was th ...
(GPL) and
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike
A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...
license, from the hardware-specific copyleft licenses the
CERN Open Hardware License The CERN Open Hardware Licence (OHL or CERN OHL) is a license used in open-source hardware projects. It was created by CERN, which published version 1.0 in March 2011. Version 1.1 was published in July 2011. Version 1.2 was published in September ...
(OHL) and
TAPR Open Hardware License
The TAPR Open Hardware License (TAPR OPL) is a license used in open-source hardware projects. It was created by Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR), an international amateur radio organization. Version 1.0 was published on May 25, 2007.
Like the G ...
(OHL) and from the
permissive license
A permissive software license, sometimes also called BSD-like or BSD-style license, is a free-software license which instead of copyleft protections, carries only minimal restrictions on how the software can be used, modified, and redistributed, ...
s the
FreeBSD license, the
MIT license, and the
Creative Commons Attribution
A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...
license. Openhardware.org recommended in 2012 the TAPR Open Hardware License, Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 and GPL 3.0 license.
Organizations tend to rally around a shared license. For example,
OpenCores
OpenCores is a community developing digital open-source hardware through electronic design automation (EDA), with a similar ethos as the free software movement. OpenCores hopes to eliminate redundant design work and slash development costs. A nu ...
prefers the
LGPL
The GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) is a free-software license published by the Free Software Foundation (FSF). The license allows developers and companies to use and integrate a software component released under the LGPL into their own ...
or a
Modified BSD License,
FreeCores insists on the
GPL
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general us ...
,
Open Hardware Foundation Linux Fund is an organization that has been raising money and making donations to Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects since 1999.
IRS 501(c)(3) status was granted to Linux Fund in August 2007, allowing direct solicitations to individuals ...
promotes "
copyleft
Copyleft is the legal technique of granting certain freedoms over copies of copyrighted works with the requirement that the same rights be preserved in derivative works. In this sense, ''freedoms'' refers to the use of the work for any purpose, ...
or other permissive licenses", the
Open Graphics Project
The Open Graphics Project (OGP) was founded with the goal to design an open-source hardware / open architecture and standard for graphics cards, primarily targeting free software / open-source operating systems. The project created a reprogramma ...
uses a variety of licenses, including the
MIT license,
GPL
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general us ...
, and a proprietary license, and the
Balloon Project wrote their own license.
Development
![Open Source Hardware (OSHW) Logo on blank PCB](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Open_Source_Hardware_%28OSHW%29_Logo_on_blank_PCB.jpg)
The adjective "open-source" not only refers to a specific set of freedoms applying to a product, but also generally presupposes that the product is the object or the result of a "process that relies on the contributions of geographically dispersed developers via the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
." In practice however, in both fields of open-source hardware and open-source software, products may either be the result of a development process performed by a closed team in a private setting or by a community in a public environment, the first case being more frequent than the second which is more challenging.
Establishing a community-based product development process faces several challenges such as: to find appropriate product data management tools, document not only the product but also the development process itself, accepting losing ubiquitous control over the project, ensure continuity in a context of fickle participation of voluntary project members, among others.
![Arduino Diecimila](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Arduino_Diecimila.jpg)
One of the major differences between developing open-source software and developing open-source hardware is that hardware results in tangible outputs, which cost money to prototype and manufacture. As a result, the phrase "free as in speech, not as in beer", more formally known as
Gratis versus Libre
The English adjective ''free'' is commonly used in one of two meanings: "at no monetary cost" (''gratis'') and "with little or no restriction" (''libre''). This ambiguity of ''free'' can cause issues where the distinction is important, as it ...
, distinguishes between the idea of zero cost and the freedom to use and modify information. While open-source hardware faces challenges in minimizing cost and reducing financial risks for individual project developers, some community members have proposed models to address these needs Given this, there are initiatives to develop sustainable community funding mechanisms, such as the Open Source Hardware Central Bank.
Extensive discussion has taken place on ways to make open-source hardware as accessible as
open-source software
Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Op ...
. Providing clear and detailed product documentation is an essential factor facilitating product replication and collaboration in hardware development projects. Practical guides have been developed to help practitioners to do so. Another option is to design products so they are easy to replicate, as exemplified in the concept of
open-source appropriate technology
Open-source appropriate technology (OSAT) is appropriate technology developed through the principles of the open-design movement. Appropriate technology is technology designed with special consideration to the environmental, ethical, cultural, soc ...
.
The process of developing open-source hardware in a community-based setting is alternatively called
open design, open source development or
open source product development
Open source product development (OSPD) refers to the development of open-source hardware products performed in a collaborative development process allowing anyone's the participation.
OSPD instituted the concept of open-source model in the contex ...
. All these terms are examples of the
open-source model applicable for the development of any product, including software, hardware, cultural and educational. Does open design and open-source hardware design process involves new design practices, or raises requirements for new tools? is the question of openness really key in OSH?. See
here
Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to:
Software
* Here Technologies, a mapping company
* Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here
Television
* Here TV (formerly "here!"), a TV ...
for a delineation of these terms.
A major contributor to the production of open-source hardware product designs is the scientific community. There has been considerable work to produce open-source hardware for scientific hardware using a combination of open-source electronics and
3-D printing
3-D, 3D, or 3d may refer to:
Science, technology, and mathematics Relating to three-dimensionality
* Three-dimensional space
** 3D computer graphics, computer graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data
** 3D film, a ...
. Other sources of open-source hardware production are vendors of chips and other electronic components sponsoring contests with the provision that the participants and winners must share their designs. ''Circuit Cellar'' magazine organizes some of these contests.
Open-source labs
A guide has been published (
Open-Source Lab (book)
The ''Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs'' by Joshua M. Pearce was published in 2014 by Elsevier.
The academic book is a guide, which details the development of free and open-source hardware primarily for ...
by
Joshua Pearce
Joshua M. Pearce is an academic engineer at Western University and Michigan Tech known for his work on protocrystallinity, photovoltaic technology, open-source-appropriate technology, and open-source hardware including RepRap 3D printers.
Dr. ...
) on using
open-source electronics
Open-source hardware (OSH) consists of physical artifacts of technology designed and offered by the open-design movement. Both free and open-source software (FOSS) and open-source hardware are created by this open-source culture movement and a ...
and
3D printing
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the Manufacturing, construction of a three-dimensional object from a computer-aided design, CAD model or a digital 3D modeling, 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is ...
to make
open-source labs
The ''Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs'' by Joshua M. Pearce was published in 2014 by Elsevier.
The academic book is a guide, which details the development of free and open-source hardware primarily for ...
. Today, scientists are creating many such labs. Examples include:
*
Boston Open Source Science Laboratory
Boston Open Science Laboratory (BOSLab) is a labspace in Somerville, Massachusetts, which is part of the DIYbio and biohacking movement.
Major projects
* Lightbulb PCR, which aims to build an inexpensive PCR thermal cycler using PVC tubing, a ...
, Somerville, Massachusetts
*
BYU Open Source Lab
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Chr ...
,
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...
*
Michigan Tech
Michigan Technological University (Michigan Tech, MTU, or simply Tech) is a public research university in Houghton, Michigan, founded in 1885 as the Michigan Mining School, the first post-secondary institution in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ...
*
National Tsing Hua University
*
OSU Open Source Lab
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...
,
Oregon State University
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...
*
Open Source Research Lab
The UTEP Open Source Research Lab's goal is to build the most comprehensive unclassified database on group-based violence in the Western Hemisphere. It performs open source research, exploitation, and analysis of transnational criminal activities ...
,
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
at El Paso
Business models
Open hardware companies are experimenting with
business models. For example,
littleBits
littleBits is a New York City-based startup that makes an open source library of modular electronics ( open-source electronics), which snap together with small magnets for prototyping and learning. The company's goal is to democratize hardware t ...
implements
open-source business models by making available the circuit designs in each electronics module, in accordance with the
CERN Open Hardware License Version 1.2.
Another example is
Arduino, which registered its name as a
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
; others may manufacture products from Arduino designs but cannot call the products Arduino products. There are many applicable business models for implementing some open-source hardware even in traditional firms. For example, to accelerate development and technical innovation, the
photovoltaic
Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...
industry has experimented with partnerships, franchises, secondary supplier and completely open-source models.
Recently, many open-source hardware projects have been funded via
crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
on platforms such as
Indiegogo,
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
, or
Crowd Supply.
Reception and impact
Richard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman (; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to ...
, the founder of the
free software
Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...
movement, was in 1999 skeptical on the idea and relevance of ''free hardware'' (his terminology for what is now known as open-source hardware).
In a 2015 article in
Wired Magazine, he modified this attitude; he acknowledged the importance of free hardware, he still saw no ethical parallel with free software.
Also, Stallman prefers the term ''free hardware design'' over ''open source hardware'', a request which is consistent with his earlier rejection of the term
open source software (see also
Alternative terms for free software
Alternative terms for free software, such as open source, FOSS, and FLOSS, have been a controversial issue among free and open-source software users from the late 1990s onwards. These terms share almost identical licence criteria and development ...
).
Other authors, such as Professor
Joshua Pearce
Joshua M. Pearce is an academic engineer at Western University and Michigan Tech known for his work on protocrystallinity, photovoltaic technology, open-source-appropriate technology, and open-source hardware including RepRap 3D printers.
Dr. ...
have argued there is an ethical imperative for open-source hardware – specifically with respect to
open-source appropriate technology
Open-source appropriate technology (OSAT) is appropriate technology developed through the principles of the open-design movement. Appropriate technology is technology designed with special consideration to the environmental, ethical, cultural, soc ...
for
sustainable development
Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...
. In 2014, he also wrote the book ''
Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs'', which details the development of
free and open-source hardware primarily for
scientists
A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences.
In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosophica ...
and university
faculty.
3D printing could offer developing world savings on replica lab kit
- ''The Guardian'', Friday 21 February 2014 01.59 EST Pearce in partnership with Elsevier introduced a scientific journal ''HardwareX
''HardwareX'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal dedicated to the open source design and construction of scientific instrumentation. The journal publishes science hardware shared under an open source hardware license. Published arti ...
''. It has featured many examples of applications of open-source hardware for scientific purposes.
See also
* Computer numeric control
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These progra ...
(CNC)
* Fab lab
* Hardware backdoor
Hardware backdoors are backdoors in hardware, such as code inside hardware or firmware of computer chips. The backdoors may be directly implemented as hardware Trojans in the integrated circuit.
Hardware backdoors are intended to undermine ...
* HardwareX
''HardwareX'' is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal dedicated to the open source design and construction of scientific instrumentation. The journal publishes science hardware shared under an open source hardware license. Published arti ...
* Open innovation
* Open manufacturing
* Open Source Ecology
Open Source Ecology (OSE) is a network of farmers, engineers, architects and supporters, whose main goal is the eventual manufacturing of the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS). As described by Open Source Ecology "the GVCS is an open techn ...
* Open-source robotics
* Rapid prototyping
Rapid prototyping is a group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a physical part or assembly using three-dimensional computer aided design (CAD) data.
Construction of the part or assembly is usually done using 3D printin ...
* Reuse
Reuse is the action or practice of using an item, whether for its original purpose (conventional reuse) or to fulfill a different function ( creative reuse or repurposing). It should be distinguished from recycling, which is the breaking down of u ...
* RISC-V
RISC-V (pronounced "risk-five" where five refers to the number of generations of RISC architecture that were developed at the University of California, Berkeley since 1981) is an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) based on estab ...
—an open-source computer instruction set architecture
* Simputer
The Simputer was a self-contained, open hardware Linux-based handheld computer, first released in 2002. Developed in, and primarily distributed within India, the product was envisioned as a low-cost alternative to personal computers. With initial ...
* NVDLA
The NVIDIA Deep Learning Accelerator (NVDLA) is an open-source hardware neural network AI accelerator created by Nvidia. The accelerator is written in Verilog and is configurable and scalable to meet many different architecture needs. NVDLA is me ...
References
Further reading
* ''Building Open Source Hardware: DIY Manufacturing for Hackers and Makers'' by Alicia Gibb, Addison Wesley, 7 Dec. 2014,
* ''Open Source Hardware A Complete Guide'' by Gerardus Blokdyk, 5STARCooks, 15 Mar. 2021,
* ''Open Source Hardware Technology Paperback'' by Fouad Soliman, Sanaa A. Kamh, Karima A. Mahmoud, Publisher : Lap Lambert Academic Publishing, 24 Mar. 2020,
* ''Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs'' by Joshua M. Pearce, Elsevier, 17 Dec. 2013,
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