Building Open Source Hardware

This is the first hands-on guide to the entire process of designing and manufacturing open source hardware. Drawing on extensive personal experience with DIY, maker, and hardware hacking projects, industry-leading contributors share proven approaches to design, remixing, fabrication, manufacturing, troubleshooting, licensing, documentation, and running an open source hardware business. Part I covers the emergence and evolution of open source hardware, what open source hardware licenses mean, and the growing role of standards in making hardware more open. Part II offers contributors' expert advice on key tasks, ranging from creating derivatives to using source files. Part III turns to production, showing how to manufacture at multiple scales-from personal to commercial. Appendixes provide valuable checklists for design, manufacture, security, and documentation. And to foster even more hands-on learning and experimentation, the low-cost Blinky Buildings open source hardware kit is used as an example throughout. Learn how to Get involved in the open source hardware community-its history and values Develop designs you can successfully prototype and manufacture Walk step by step through making derivatives from existing projects Build open source 3D printers, and remix 3D printable objects Create open source wearables Work with diverse source files, from electronics to other physical materials Fabricate your own designs Move from prototype to commercial manufacturing, and troubleshoot problems Choose a business model and build a profitable open source hardware company Avoid pitfalls associated with trademarks, copyrights, patents, and licensing Write documentation other hardware hackers can use Use open source hardware in education, helping students learn without boundaries

Open-Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Scientific Research Costs details the development of the free and open-source hardware revolution. The combination of open-source 3D printing and microcontrollers running on free software enables scientists, engineers, and lab personnel in every discipline to develop powerful research tools at unprecedented low costs.After reading Open-Source Lab, you will be able to: Lower equipment costs by making your own hardware Build open-source hardware for scientific research Actively participate in a community in which scientific results are more easily replicated and cited Numerous examples of technologies and the open-source user and developer communities that support them Instructions on how to take advantage of digital design sharing Explanations of Arduinos and RepRaps for scientific use A detailed guide to open-source hardware licenses and basic principles of intellectual property

Thanks to the decreasing cost of prototyping, it's more feasible for professional makers and first-time entrepreneurs to launch a hardware startup. But exactly how do you go about it? This book provides the roadmap and best practices you need for turning a product idea into a full-fledged business. Written by three experts from the field, The Hardware Startup takes you from idea validation to launch, complete with practical strategies for funding, market research, branding, prototyping, manufacturing, and distribution. Two dozen case studies of real-world startups illustrate possible successes and failures at every stage of the process. Validate your idea by learning the needs of potential users Develop branding, marketing, and sales strategies early on Form relationships with the right investment partners Prototype early and often to ensure you're on the right path Understand processes and pitfalls of manufacturing at scale Jumpstart your business with the help of an accelerator Learn strategies for pricing, marketing, and distribution Be aware of the legal issues your new company may face

In this practical reference, popular author Lewin Edwards shows how to develop robust, dependable real-time systems for robotics and other control applications, using open-source tools. It demonstrates efficient and low-cost embedded hardware and software design techniques, based on Linux as the development platform and operating system and the Atmel AVR as the primary microcontroller. The book provides comprehensive examples of sensor, actuator and control applications and circuits, along with source code for a number of projects. It walks the reader through the process of setting up the Linux-based controller, from creating a custom kernel to customizing the BIOS, to implementing graphical control interfaces. Including detailed design information on:· ESBUS PC-host interface· Host-module communications protocol· A speed-controlled DC motor with tach feedback and thermal cut-off· A stepper motor controller· A two-axis attitude sensor using a MEMS accelerometer· Infrared remote control in Linux using LIRC· Machine vision using Video4Linux The first-ever book on using open source technology for robotics design! Covers hot topics such as GPS navigation, 3-D sensing, and machine vision, all using a Linux platform!

Provides information on creating a variety of gadgets and controllers using Arduino.

Learn how to protect your network with this guide to building complete and fully functional network security tools Although open source network security tools come in all shapes and sizes, a company will eventually discover that these tools are lacking in some area—whether it's additional functionality, a specific feature, or a narrower scope. Written by security expert Mike Schiffman, this comprehensive book will show you how to build your own network security tools that meet the needs of your company. To accomplish this, you'll first learn about the Network Security Tool Paradigm in addition to currently available components including libpcap, libnet, libnids, libsf, libdnet, and OpenSSL. Schiffman offers a detailed discussion of these components, helping you gain a better understanding of the native datatypes and exported functions. Next, you'll find several key techniques that are built from the components as well as easy-to-parse programming examples. The book then ties the model, code, and concepts together, explaining how you can use this information to craft intricate and robust security programs. Schiffman provides you with cost-effective, time-saving guidance on how to build customized network security tools using existing components. He explores: A multilayered model for describing network security tools The ins and outs of several specific security-related components How to combine these components into several useful network security techniques Four different classifications for network security tools: passive reconnaissance, active reconnaissance, attack and penetration, and defensive How to combine techniques to build customized network security tools The companion Web site contains all of the code from the book.

The authors provide the most useful, practical information on a broad range of open source technologies. This practical guide presents a survey of LAMP technologies, and shows how these solutions can be implemented securely while improving reliability and cutting costs. The book focuses on the most important core material necessary for the developer to hit the ground running and begin building applications right away.

Linux® is being adopted by an increasing number of embedded systems developers, who have been won over by its sophisticated scheduling and networking, its cost-free license, its open development model, and the support offered by rich and powerful programming tools. While there is a great deal of hype surrounding the use of Linux in embedded systems, there is not a lot of practical information. Building Embedded Linux Systems is the first in-depth, hard-core guide to putting together an embedded system based on the Linux kernel. This indispensable book features arcane and previously undocumented procedures for: Building your own GNU development toolchain Using an efficient embedded development framework Selecting, configuring, building, and installing a target-specific kernel Creating a complete target root filesystem Setting up, manipulating, and using solid-state storage devices Installing and configuring a bootloader for the target Cross-compiling a slew of utilities and packages Debugging your embedded system using a plethora of tools and techniques Details are provided for various target architectures and hardware configurations, including a thorough review of Linux's support for embedded hardware. All explanations rely on the use of open source and free software packages. By presenting how to build the operating system components from pristine sources and how to find more documentation or help, this book greatly simplifies the task of keeping complete control over one's embedded operating system, whether it be for technical or sound financial reasons.Author Karim Yaghmour, a well-known designer and speaker who is responsible for the Linux Trace Toolkit, starts by discussing the strengths and weaknesses of Linux as an embedded operating system. Licensing issues are included, followed by a discussion of the basics of building embedded Linux systems. The configuration, setup, and use of over forty different open source and free software packages commonly used in embedded Linux systems are also covered. uClibc, BusyBox, U-Boot, OpenSSH, thttpd, tftp, strace, and gdb are among the packages discussed.

Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product. Live a more sustainable and economical life using open-source technology Aimed at beginning hobbyists and makers, this engaging guide explains many ways to save money by making use of free, open-source technologies on everything from music, books, maps and videos to photographs, art, clothing, and cooking. The book shows the potential of at-home manufacturing, recycling projects—even how to score free big-ticket items, including housing and electricity. All the projects have big money saving in mind, but also big fun! Written by a leader in the field of open-source technology, Create, Share, and Save Money Using Open-Source Projects lays out the many ways in which a common person can employ these resources on a small scale to live a more economical and sustainable lifestyle. You will get DIY projects that demonstrate making and sharing woodworking, electronics, mapping, 3D printing and much more. • An easy to understand introduction to concepts of free and open-source sharing • Includes numerous examples of technologies and the open-source communities that support them • Puts makers and families in a position to save substantial amounts of money

Much of the innovative programming that powers the Internet, creates operating systems, and produces software is the result of "open source" code, that is, code that is freely distributed--as opposed to being kept secret--by those who write it. Leaving source code open has generated some of the most sophisticated developments in computer technology, including, most notably, Linux and Apache, which pose a significant challenge to Microsoft in the marketplace. As Steven Weber discusses, open source's success in a highly competitive industry has subverted many assumptions about how businesses are run, and how intellectual products are created and protected. Traditionally, intellectual property law has allowed companies to control knowledge and has guarded the rights of the innovator, at the expense of industry-wide cooperation. In turn, engineers of new software code are richly rewarded; but, as Weber shows, in spite of the conventional wisdom that innovation is driven by the promise of individual and corporate wealth, ensuring the free distribution of code among computer programmers can empower a more effective process for building intellectual products. In the case of Open Source, independent programmers--sometimes hundreds or thousands of them--make unpaid contributions to software that develops organically, through trial and error. Weber argues that the success of open source is not a freakish exception to economic principles. The open source community is guided by standards, rules, decisionmaking procedures, and sanctioning mechanisms. Weber explains the political and economic dynamics of this mysterious but important market development. Table of Contents: Preface 1. Property and the Problem of Software 2. The Early History of Open Source 3. What Is Open Source and How Does It Work? 4. A Maturing Model of Production 5. Explaining Open Source: Microfoundations 6. Explaining Open Source: Macro-Organization 7. Business Models and the Law 8. The Code That Changed the World? Notes Index Reviews of this book: In the world of open-source software, true believers can be a fervent bunch. Linux, for example, may act as a credo as well as an operating system. But there is much substance beyond zealotry, says Steven Weber, the author of The Success of Open Source...An open-source operating system offers its source code up to be played with, extended, debugged, and otherwise tweaked in an orgy of user collaboration. The author traces the roots of that ethos and process in the early years of computers...He also analyzes the interface between open source and the worlds of business and law, as well as wider issues in the clash between hierarchical structures and networks, a subject with relevance beyond the software industry to the war on terrorism. --Nina C. Ayoub, Chronicle of Higher Education Reviews of this book: A valuable new account of the [open-source software] movement. --Edward Rothstein, New York Times We can blindly continue to develop, reward, protect, and organize around knowledge assets on the comfortable assumption that their traditional property rights remain inviolate. Or we can listen to Steven Weber and begin to make our peace with the uncomfortable fact that the very foundations of our familiar "knowledge as property" world have irrevocably shifted. --Alan Kantrow, Chief Knowledge Officer, Monitor Group Ever since the invention of agriculture, human beings have had only three social-engineering tools for organizing any large-scale division of labor: markets (and the carrots of material benefits they offer), hierarchies (and the sticks of punishment they impose), and charisma (and the promises of rapture they offer). Now there is the possibility of a fourth mode of effective social organization--one that we perhaps see in embryo in the creation and maintenance of open-source software. My Berkeley colleague Steven Weber's book is a brilliant exploration of this fascinating topic. --J. Bradford DeLong, Department of Economics, University of California at Berkeley Steven Weber has produced a significant, insightful book that is both smart and important. The most impressive achievement of this volume is that Weber has spent the time to learn and think about the technological, sociological, business, and legal perspectives related to open source. The Success of Open Source is timely and more thought provoking than almost anything I've come across in the past several years. It deserves careful reading by a wide audience. --Jonathan Aronson, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California