

The current state of Open Source Hardware 2008 - over 60 projects - pt
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/11/_draft_open_source_hardwa.html

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SingAlong
_ArduiPilot - Navigation for UAVs_

 _MAKEcontroller_ \- read a lot about it. Seems it's very easy to program than
the Arduino.

 _Reprap 3D printer_ (these guys have a very good parts list page which
mentions different vendors and also generates a shopping cart for you in the
respective vendor's website. So it shouldn't be easy to buy and make it if you
have the time and money)

Damn! I wish I wasn't a no-buck-making student anymore. Everytime I look at
these stuff, I wanna start making a lot of money to buy and tryout all these
stuff and build something... something that's atleast half-good as an IronMan
suit.

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iigs
Two packages that didn't get any coverage on that page:

1) Megasquirt automotive ECUs

2) GNU Radio software defined radio companion hardware

Both fairly esoteric or not generically applicable. I'm glad to see Arduino is
becoming so popular -- a lot of people that would have otherwise never learned
anything more technical than Adobe Flash are picking up
Processing/Wiring/Arduino and making some pretty neat stuff.

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abstractbill
I built a Sanguino this morning as it happens. It was quite easy and instantly
gratifying. Definitely recommended for any aspiring hardware hackers.

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zitterbewegung
Is open source hardware that much harder to do thats why there aren't a lot of
projects out there?

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listic
It seems like almost everyone prefers to play with purely virtual things. It
always bugged me that there are so many startups out there and almost all of
them seem to do web development stuff while so few do more of what I call
"real" (i.e involving hardware) After all, we live in a physical world, so
shouldn't we be more concerned about stuff that connects to it one way or the
other?

There must be reasons to it: software is more easily controllable (you can do
everything by the keyboard), software scales more easily (hardware needs
factories for mass-production), and inertia of thinking (powered from the
previous reasons)

I think that many interesting upportunities utilising the hardware
technologies remain unexplored.

~~~
shutter
I think a lot of it has to do with the cost; software is more or less free to
create. So the barrier to entry, hardware-wise, is much higher and requires
more capital.

~~~
listic
If we don't bill our working time by the hour, software is more or less free
to create. Desktop software, that is. But here and now, web-bassed software
seems to be all the rage, doesn't it? To accomodate decent amount of
concurrent users (tens to thousands) you will need hosting that should cost
somewhere around $20 to $300 a month. Maybe somewhere on the $20 a month side
for the starters.

Many of the hardware projects, and definitely most of those listed in the
original post, can be built with that much worth of parts.

EDIT: But that's just the prototype. After that, you need to build the real
product (scale, hardware needs factories for that) and sell it (again easier
with software). But this doesn't mean we should only do software because it's
easier; otherwise we would be like the proverbial drunkard who kept seeking
for his money under the lamppost, because it's brighter over there.

