The success of Open Source Software is now beginning to influence how people approach hardware too. Get ready for an equivalent revolution on the hardware side.
Open Source hardware (OSHW) follows the same philosophy and licensing of technical information for how to build hardware. OSHW covers the licensing of mechanical drawings, schematics, PCB layouts, HDL source code, data for integrated cirguit layout, and any other technical data or information needed to build and construct hardware.
Examples of companies already building hardware projects and products on open source specifications include SparkFun Electronics, Adafruit Industries, Willow Garage, ROS, OpenWetWare, and Pearl Biotech.
Even large established hardware vendors are at least partially on board. Vlad Rozanovich, AMD vice president of commercial business for the Americas, said that ”If there can be community development that is not proprietary, it can benefit everybody.”
Similarly, Trevor Good, co-chair of the Hardware Innovation Workshop, told Informationweek, that Open Source Hardware is all ”about enabling companies to move faster and be more pliable than ever.” It’s not a business plan or a business strategy, but a tool to drive business.
Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards
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.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: MicroPython Pico W Bluetooth, CircuitPython 8.0.4 and much more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
