Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Note
As stated in the beginning, some of the best practices came
from a lack of foresight when writing the original definition—a
problem that can't be avoided in community-driven guidelines.
The points that follow were created due to issues that arose
once the OSHW Definition had been signed by more than 130
open source hardware advocates and inventors, but still needed
clarity. The original conversation around the definition did not
include the possibility that some projects would have both open
source and closed aspects, such as a trade secret or a patent on
one component of the overall project and an open source com-
ponent on another part. Another example of both open and
closed hardware is hardware for which some versions (usually
early versions) are open, but others (more contemporary ver-
sions) are closed. Projects such as these are considered to have
both open and closed aspects, and their existence caused the
OSHW community to recognize a gap in the guidelines for la-
beling.
Another example is a hardware provider selling multiple pro-
jects, some open source and some not. It is best to label those that
are open source appropriately. In most places the open source hard-
ware logo is used as an easy graphical way to tell users your hard-
ware follows the OSHW definition. After a review of open source
hardware resellers, SparkFun Electronics has the best examples of
how to tell users which products are open source. It has an “Open
Hardware” tab listed in its right-side navigation webpage that
brings up all open hardware products if a user only wants to
browse those. An innovative approach has been taken to show
icons of the amenities for each product on their product page. In an
example in Figure 2.1 , the user can see, at a glance, three pieces of
information after the product number: RoHS compliance informa-
tion, the open source hardware logo, and a logo denoting that there
is a 3D enclosure file. The two tactics of having an Open Hardware
category in the navigation and the open hardware logo on the
product website mean a user does not have to dig through product
pictures or source files to know that a product is open source. To
delve more into the topic of documenting and sharing files for
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