Personal Observations on The Story of Open Source Hardware

1. All Good Things Scale
10th Open Hardware Summit - 03.13.2020
Amanda (w0z) Wozniak

2. This is more of a story than a how-to checklist!
Throwback! Although, I think I’m the first to clip this slide from 2010….

3. What does it take
to make great
things happen?
● Technology
● People
● Process

4. Put another way...
● Goals
● People
● Tools

5. This is not a joke!
● Right Tools
+
● Right Squad
=
● SQUAD GOALS

6. A long time ago…
Alice wanted to write code.

7. A Brief History of Software’s Increasing Utility
1950s - Formally Provable
Languages
FORTRAN and COBOL - great for
high-reliability but challenging to use
1972 - C
Bell Labs creates ‘C’
1978 - C
“The C Programming Language”
makes ‘C’ accessible to coders
1989 - C++ 2.0
object oriented programming of
the future (with documentation)
1990s - Moar Languages!
new languages emphasize
“codeability” and formalism
and many use common build
tools and linkers (GNU)
1965 - Object Oriented
1967 - Libraries + Linking
SIMULA 67 combines object oriented
programming with classes, libraries, and
compile-time linking
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_programming_languages
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_(computing)

8. A Brief History of Software Development + Dev
Tools
1969 - Punchcards
good luck debugging that run
2001 - SVN Bootstraps
2001 - IBM frees ECLIPSE
syntax highlighting, an integrated
compiler, debugger, unit test AND
multi-user source control?
2005 - GIT is born
linux kernel developer count
grows from ~1 to ~3,700
2016 - GitHub Goes Big
> 14,000,000 users
> 35,000,000 repos
biggest code repository on Earth
https://www.iri.com/blog/iri/business/brief-history-of-eclipse/
https://blog.codinghorror.com/fifty-years-of-software-development/
1976 - Text
Editors
vi + emacs
start a religious war

9. What made ECLIPSE and GIT
so good that no one jokes
about ‘vi’ anymore?

10. Eclipse
User-Friendly Workspace
- Syntax highlighting
- Code Navigation
- Code Completion
- Multiple language support
- Multiple OS support
All The Tools In One Spot
- Debugger
- Unit Test
- Refactoring
- Source Control / Versioning
FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntax_highlighting

11. GIT (and GitHub)
Takes the Pain out Multiple Users
Participating in a Software Project
- Hosting + Sharing == More Devs
- Push/Pull/Merge
- Code Review
- Automated Build Tools + Unit
Test
- Continuous Integration
Practically Builds Itself
- Community == Acceleration
- Tool-based Bootstrapping
FREE - FREE - FREE - FREEhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuous_integration
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg

12. Let’s decompile the recipe
for success into ingredients!

13. accessibility
BUILD TOOLS SO USABLE THAT TODAY’S NOVICES
CAN CONTRIBUTE 10x MORE THAN LAST YEAR’S EXPERTS
WITH HALF THE SWEARING

14. Accessible Design Principles
● Use Classes + Inheritance
● Provide Great Libraries
● Seamless Linking
● Seamless Build Systems
● Clean User + Design Interfaces
● Intuitive Syntax
● Limit Use Error Through Design
● Remove User Touches
● Write Thoughtful Error Messages
● Democratize Expertise:
Through Process + Offloading
don’t be like MakeFiles!
https://edublocks.org/circuitpy.html https://oshpark.com/ https://fritzing.org/home/

15. test
TEST IS THE PRODUCT BEHIND THE PRODUCT
https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=5450

16. Test Drives Innovation...
No/Bad Test Drives Failure
● Test is a product, too!
(and 3-4x the work)
(with all the UX requirements)
● Test is for HW and SW
● Integrated Test is Best
● Some Test > No Test
● Real, online test unlocks
exponential design velocity
https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=5450

17. automation
TEDIOUS, ERROR-PRONE, MANUAL REPETITION IS ENTROPY
PROFOUND CREATIVITY REQUIRES STRATEGIC LAZINESS
https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=5450

18. Automation Requires A
Stable Foundation
Open Source HW Comes in Many Stable,
Mature Flavors
● Arduino
● Circuit Playground
Git Automates FW Builds for HW
Adafruit CircuitPython Stats on Git Action
● each PR builds against 116 boards
in 12 languages
● automated 12 platform checks for
Arduino hardware
https://circuitpython.org/downloads
https://github.com/adafruit/circuitpython/pulls?q=is%3Apr+is%3Aclosed

19. scale
EVEN IF I’M SMART - ONE ME IS NOT SMARTER THAN ALL OF YOU

20. Open Source
(hardware) Tools
EE Core Development - KiCad + ngspice
ME Core Development - FreeCAD
Accessible CAD Front-End - Fritzing
Hierarchical Design Reuse - none yet!
Pull + Merge Tools for HW - none yet!
Unit Test + Debug in CAD - none yet
Manufacturing + Repo: OSHPark
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-004-computation-structures-spring-2009/tools/

21. … there’s a secret ingredient

22. altruism
WISE SELFISHNESS MEANS PEOPLE WITH EXPERTISE, TIME, AND
RESOURCES CONTRIBUTE TO PROJECTS FOR THE SAKE OF
ENABLING MORE PEOPLE TO CONTRIBUTE TO COLLECTIVE GOALS

23. … so what happens next?

24. A Brief History of Open Source Hardware Tools
1992 - Basic HW CAD
KiCad is released, creating
open-source schematic capture
and PCB design
2021 - Hierarchical Design
benevolent group with massive
engineering resources releases
first open-source visual circuit
editor with modular circuit
libraries
2023 - Usable Hardware Unit Test
Part and circuit libraries add behavioral test support
2031 - Full Collab Mode
> 10,000 users
> 30,000 repos
open source HW designs are
mature, robust, and everywhere
1993 - Low-Level Sim
ngspice can simulate
low-level circuits (current,
voltage, transients)
http://ngspice.sourceforge.net/resources.html
https://esim.fossee.in/
2024 - Concurrent Design
version sets for sch/pcb capture + test

25. Community-Created Tools
and Libraries of Expertise
Build The Dream

26. Thanks!
Questions?
Comments?
Concerns?
woz@mit.edu