The original slidecast is at http://youtu.be/rV-ECEpLTls This presentation was made by Lenandlar Singh, lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Guyana. The event was the Hardware Freedom Day discussions at Moray House Trust on Saturday 20 April, 2013. There are some missing slides. The presentation includes some of the discussion with other persons who were at the session.

1. Why Open Source
Software/Open Hardware?
Lenandlar Singh
Lecturer, Department of Computer
Science, University of Guyana
Hardware Freedom Day 2013, Guyana

2. OUTLINE
 Openness
 FOSS/OSHW
 Opportunities and Challenges
 OSHW Projects
 Future

3. Openness
 FOSS – Free and Open Source
Software
 OERs – Open Educational Resources
 MOOCs – Massive Open Online
Courses
 Open Data, Open Government
 Open Hardware
 Open Everything…
 Why?

4. FOSS/OSHW
Open hardware is like open software
users :
are allowed to use, to improve
and to redistribute existing
projects freely.
designers :
publish documents, software,..
essential to design the device.
but is it really…

5. Open Source Hardware (OSHW)
Graham Seaman suggests that truly open hardware would
have to satisfy the following requirements:
 The interface to the hardware must be explicitly made
public, so the hardware can be used freely.
 The design of the hardware must be made public, so that
others can implement it and learn from it.
 The tools used to create the design should be free, so that
others can develop and improve the design.
http://conviviality.ouvaton.org/article.php3?id_article=44

6. FOSS/OSHW – Things to think about
 Sharing – share as many copies of the FOSS (end product),
can’t do with hardware (1 copy is 1 copy) – real products,
not code 
 Design – OSHW design available, product can be built from
it, FOSS product available but have to figure out design?
 COST – entry to FOSS is probably cheaper /easier than
OSHW
 FOSS – Copyright Law/ OSHW – Patent Law --- See TAPR
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAPR_Open_Hardware_License
 Not all OSH might be of interest to the Computing Industry

7. FOSS/OSHW –
Things to think about

8. Licenses
Licenses
 Share-Alike style
 CERN Open Hardware License – CERN developed
OSHW license inspired by the GPL
 TAPR Open Hardware License – TAPR developed
OSHW license inspired by the GPL
 Attribution Only style
 Mach 30 Open Design Pledge – Mach 30 developed
licensing bundle for OSHW
 Solderpad Hardware License - Modified Apache
Software License for use with hardware projects
http://mach30.org/open-source-hardware/

9. A Criticism of the TAPR
 the license has "lots of problems" and that it
"strips the word 'distribution' of its normal
meaning, assuring lots of contention over edge
cases.“ – Eric Raymond
 ”also concerns that the Open Hardware License
may merely place the design and/or idea into
the Public Domain by effectively publishing it
before securing the benefits of patent protection” -
--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAPR_Open_Hardwar
e_License

10. Advantages for Developing Countries
 Knowledge Transfer
 Cost Reduction of Design Process
 Explore and encourage innovators
 Wide Range of users – end users,
marketer, developers etc

11. Potential Problems
 Lack of Technical Expertise
 Low levels of industrial R&D
 Supply/Demand?
 Waste
 Cooperation between Industry and
University?

12. Part 2…
Some of the following slides are from…
http://perso.enslyon.fr/serguei.tchoumakov/english/presentation/
Open%20Hardware.pptx
--- credit to the author

13. Close hardware and waste
Close hardware is a waste of money and a
source of pollution.
Repairing computers costs money. E-waste, Ghana.

14. Statistics and Growth
0
100
200
300
400
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Total projects
Source: OSHW annual –Torrone and Make magazine.

15. Conclusion
Open hardware is about…
… open design,
…telling people how devices are made,
…improving devices,
…reducing costs

16. So What Next?
 What can we do?
 Projects to play around with?
 Should we care?
 What is in it for us?