Open Source Hardware is hardware that keeps its designs available in a way similar to the open source in software.

Definition

Edy Ferreira:

"any piece of hardware whose manufacturing information is distributed using a license that provides specific rights to users without the need to pay royalties to the original developers. These rights include freedom to use the hardware for any purpose, freedom to study and modify the design, and freedom to redistribute copies of either the original or modified manufacturing information.

This definition fits what McNamara calls "Open Implementation" hardware, described as "hardware for which the complete bill of materials necessary to construct the device is available."

In the case of open source software (OSS), the information that is shared is software code.In OSH, what is shared is hardware manufacturing information, such as hardware definition language descriptions, and the diagrams and schematics that describe a piece of hardware." (http://www.osbr.ca/ojs/index.php/osbr/article/view/570/523)

Typology

Developed by Make magazine at http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/04/open_source_hardware_what.html

The original article has many examples with diagrams.

Electronic hardware can be divided up into layers, each of which has different document types and licensing concerns. Each level can be open sourced, but the exact nature of what it means to open it varies. In practice, not every layer is fully open. Often only a subset of the layers are released, documented or open source.

1/ Hardware (Mechanical) diagrams

Dimensions for enclosures, mechanical subsystems, etc. For 2d models, preferred document type is vector graphics file, with dimension prints, DXF or AI, etc.

2/ Schematics & Circuit diagrams

Symbolic diagrams of electronic circuitry, includes parts list (sometimes inclusively). Often paired with matching layout diagram. Preferred document type is any sort of image (PDF, BMP, GIF, PNG, etc)

3/ Parts list

What parts are used, where to get them, part numbers, etc.

4/ Layout diagrams

Diagrams of the physical layout of electronic circuitry including the placement of parts, the PCB copper prints and a drill file. This is often paired with a schematic. Preferred distribution is Gerber RS274x and Excellon (for drills). These are like PostScript for printers but the primitives aren't text and arcs, they're lines of solder and components.

5/ Core/Firmware

The source code for that runs on a microcontroller/microprocessor chip. In some cases, the code may be the design of the chip hardware itself (in VHDL). Preferred distribution: text file with source code in it, as well as compiled 'binary' for the chip.

6/ Software/API

The source code that communicates or is used with the electronics from a computer.

Examples

Base-level hardware devices with schematics to hack them

Matt Harley [1]:

"One of the most daring developments within open source hardware world is start-up companies that provide base-level hardware devices, complete with schematics to hack or alter them to meet users' needs."

Chumby

The Chumby information device

URL = http://www.chumby.com/

A "friendly household Internet appliance. Chumby is a concept based on the belief that some people out there would be thrilled to have access to the Internet without the need for more traditional devices. Chumby provides the end user a unique means of accessing online maps, tracking auctions – nearly anything you might want from the Internet. For about $200, this widget-using Net appliance provides you with all the Internet you’d ever want, even from the strangest locations.

What makes Chumby different from any other Internet appliance running created widgets is that it allows users themselves to create widgets to further extend Chumby's functionality. Once Chumby has been connected to a LAN, it uses a user-defined 'widget playlist' as an interactive view screen. It’s something like you might find with Apple's Dashboard feature in OS X, but on a less powerful computing appliance." (http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/print.php/3700366)

Daisy MP3 Player

Open source MP3 player, at http://www.makezine.com/daisy/

supported by MAKE.

"Unlike the more consumer-friendly Chumby, Daisy opens itself up to new revenue possibilities by allowing the builder the opportunity to build the device into a customized appliance. Even though this is not likely the goal of the project itself, it does present the possibility of customized MP3 players for a variety of enterprise applications. Entrepreneurs would likely start out by targeting industries that need access to a low cost, custom-built music player than can be implemented to users’ specs." (http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/print.php/3700366)

Buglabs

URL = http://www.buglabs.net/

"The modular device offered by Buglabs is, at its core, a full-featured Linux computer known appropriately enough as a 'BUG'. Complete with all the abilities of a PC, the BUG allows budding computing enthusiasts to play hobbyist engineer so they can create a device with their own specifications in mind. A clever idea, considering most consumer products always seem to be lacking that one killer feature. Also a great remedy for those who tend to dream of how they would have built any given device 'better' or differently." (http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/print.php/3700366)

More Examples

Compiled by Makezine at http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/04/open_source_hardware_what.html

We now maintain a fuller list in our entry on Product Hacking

Arduino - physical computing platform at http://www.arduino.cc/

Chumby - information device at http://www.chumby.com/

RepRap / Fab@Home - Open source 3D printer, at http://www.reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome

OpenEEG - an EEG design that is OS & available as a kit, at http://openeeg.sourceforge.net/doc/

x0xb0x - Roland 303 clone MIDI synth at, http://www.ladyada.net/make/x0xb0x/

Discussion

Making Money with Open Source Hardware

Edy Ferreira:

"we identified 56 market offers. These were classified using four dimensions: i) type of market offer; ii) ownership of OSH project; iii) type of OSH asset transformation; iv) and importance of OSH to the market offer. Our findings can be summarized as follows:

Type of market offer: forty four of the market offers were for manufactured products, such as printed circuit boards. Six of the market offers were for intellectual property, such as electronic circuit designs and software. The remaining six offers were for services, such as consulting, custom designs and training.

Ownership of the OSH project: fifty three of the companies own the OSH projects upon which their market offers are based. There were three cases of companies whose one market offer was related to an OSH project owned by another company or individual. Type of transformation of the OSH asset into the market offer: this dimension refers to the type of activity that is needed to transform the initial OSH asset into the final market offer. Our analysis revealed four market offers requiring software development, fifty one offers requiring hardware development and manufacturing, and one market offer for the same OSH asset without any transformation.

Importance of the OSH for the functional integrity of the market offer: this dimension has three possible options. The design of thirteen market offers did not include any open source component and were classified as "pure-close offers". The designs of twenty eight market offers are completely based on open source components, and were classified as "pure-open offers". The core of fifteen of the market offers are based on open source designs but also include additional proprietary components; these were classified as "open-driven offers".

Using these four dimensions, we found eight different ways of making money with OSH in the listed companies. Those eight methods are summarized as follows:

1. Consulting and custom designs over owned OSH (three market offers): this category includes companies which sell services related to the OSH projects that they own. Those services could be custom designs or consulting.

2. Consulting and custom designs over third-party OSH (three market offers): this category is similar to the previous one, but the services sold are for OSH designs owned by other companies. As an example, Polarismicro sells consulting and custom designs based on OpenSparc, an OSH project owned by Sun Microsystems.

3. Proprietary hardware designs based on OSH (one market offer): this category includes companies that sell modified versions of OSH projects that they own. The market offer is intellectual property in the form of schematics, diagrams or any other type of hardware design information. The OSH assets are transformed into the market offer by designing proprietary hardware modules (hardware development) that modify the OSH asset (open-driven offer). Gaisler Research sells the netlist information for Leon-3FT, a fault-tolerant processor code based on Leon-3.

4. Proprietary hardware based on OSH (eight market offers): this category includes the sale of modified versions of owned OSH projects. The market offer is the result of proprietary hardware modules (hardware development) that modify the OSH asset (open-driven offer). The difference from the previous classification is that the market offer is not intellectual property based on hardware design information, but physical manufactured products. emQbit sells a physical board that is an improved version of an open source single board computer called ECB-AT91 v1.

5. Manufactured OSH (twenty seven market offers): this category includes companies that sell a physical manufactured hardware based on pure-open hardware designs that they own. This category includes more companies and seems to be the first step most organizations take to start making money with OSH.

6. Software tools for OSH (four market offers): includes companies that sell pure-closed software tools for testing and working with OSH assets that they own. Gaisler Research sells simulation and debug monitor software for Leon 3.

7. Hardware tools for OSH (nine market offers): this category is similar to the previous one, but these pure-close market offers are not software but hardware tools for an owned OSH asset. For example, Gaisler Research also sells development boards for Leon 3.

8. Dual-Licensing (one market offer): this way of making money with OSH is similar to the dual-licensing model used by some OSS companies. The idea is to offer the same pure-open hardware design that is owned by the company with two difference licenses. The first license is a GPL-like license, which is free but forces users to disclose the source code of any modified version of the original design. The second is a commercial license, which has a fee but allows buyers to conceal the source code of any modified version.

Conclusions:

"Some authors have cited the costs associated with manufacturing hardware as one of the biggest disadvantages of OSH in comparison with OSS. Users who download software code can compile and use it without any cost. Users who download source for an open microprocessor cannot use it unless they pay for its manufacture. However, most of the companies working with OSH have taken this disadvantage as a business opportunity by selling manufactured OSH.

Secondly, companies, as seen with Gaisler Research, may successfully combine more than one way of making money with OSH to diversify their sources of income. It is also possible for companies to expand revenues by combining OSH with OSS, especially in cases where symbiotic relationships between OSH and OSS projects exist.

As an example, Corgan Enterprises offers training and consulting for both the USRP, an OSH project, and GNU Radio, an OSS project.

Additionally, this study shows that some ways of making money with OSS can be used with OSH. Dual-licensing, consulting, and customization of open source projects are such examples.

The classification presented here is just the first step towards a more systematic understanding of how companies build business models around OSH. More research is needed to study which models are likely to generate higher incomes and the profitability of the market offers related to OSH." (http://www.osbr.ca/ojs/index.php/osbr/article/view/570/523)

More Information

A business model for open source hardware, at http://pages.nyu.edu/~gmp216/papers/bmfosh-1.0.html

See related items on Open Hardware, Open Design, Open Cores, Product Hacking

See the info on the Open Hardware Licence

Directories

" Opencores and Opencollector are two Internet repositories of OSH projects. These two sites list more than 600 projects, from designs for printed circuit boards to hardware description language (HDL) code for microprocessors."

See our own listing under the entry: Product Hacking

Open Source Hardware

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