Open source has been a successful driver in software innovation, but how does it — or how can it — apply to hardware? A number of hardware projects are testing open source concepts, from microprocessors to microcontrollers to complete single-board computers. This article discusses licensing, availability, community, and other challenges and successes in making hardware open.
…Open hardware is open in the same sense as open software — the “free as in speech” concept Stallman discussed in his GNU Manifesto. Hardware can never be “free as in beer” because duplication always costs something, and even the best-intentioned advocates can’t afford to offer physical products free of charge indefinitely. However, a physical product is simply an implementation of a design, and the designs of hardware, along with permission to create a physical product from those designs, can indeed be made available free of charge with an open license, whether copyrighted or patented. The licensing is up to the owner…
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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