Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [open-hardware]

Open Source Hardware (OSHW) is a term for tangible artifacts like machines, devices, or other physical things whose design has been released to the public in such a way that anyone can make, modify, distribute, and use those things.

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Why is open hardware so rare?

I'm trying to understand why open hardware is so much harder to come by than software. I've tried looking around online and I couldn't find as satisfactory explanation. I understand that hardware is so much easier to keep proprietary and so much…
Caustic
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What does "Piggy" mean in this Schematic?

What does the word "Piggy" mean in this schematic diagram? I found some sections of a schematic where a part is denoted as "Piggy". What does it mean?
Rajeesh Rarankurissi
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Is there a free hosting site for electrical engineering projects?

I've recently completed a functional CPU and instruction set simulated in Logisim and an example program for it. I'm now just wrapping up all the documentation for the whole design and would like to post it up so people can get to it as an…
Rory O'Hare
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How to resolve this :Arduino UNO not working with Arduino wifi shield?

I'm having a lot of issues regarding interfacing an Arduino wifi shield with the Arduino Uno. My Arduino works fine when the shield is not attached to it but when I attach the shield, I'm unable to upload the code; I get: avrdude: stk500_getsync():…
user75736
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How appropriate are the open source licences currently in use for inclusion of HDL cores in a commercial product?

HDL IP cores targeted towards ASICs, FPGAs or both are often very useful for adding functionality to a project quickly. Commercially licences cores are available from many sources for a range of prices, but increasingly "open source" cores are…
Xcodo
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Are there fully open-source ASICs?

The Ethereum Foundation (an open-source project) will build an open-source ASIC to support its decentralised randomness beacon. To date, has the RTL of any ASIC been open-sourced or will the Ethereum Foundation set a precedent?
Randomblue
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How to make a design more independent of a particular silicon vendor?

In many hardware projects it would be nice to have the freedom to switch between vendors easily, mainly microprocessors and microcontrollers. I can see many reasons for wanting to have this freedom, one of them being the ability to easily switch to…
RMAAlmeida
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What happened to the open bench logic sniffer?

Around 2015 the Open Bench Logic Sniffer looked like a really promising logic sniffer/analyzer at a price a hobbyist could tolerate. These were available assembled from Seeed (and others?) There's no sign of it today that I can find. Is there a…
Llaves
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How to test OpenSPARC CPU?

There are several open-source general-purpose CPUs, and the most advanced of them seems to be OpenSPARC T2 (correct me, if I'm wrong). I want to find out, with what effort I can build a machine, which uses this processor and runs some of the common…
Glory to Russia
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How would I implement an onboard ISP for multiple ARM Cortex M0+ MCUs?

I've written a lot of firmwares for embedded dev boards like Arduinos and Teensys, but am still new to PCB design. Right now I'm attempting to bring a multi-MCU design into limited production, and I'm looking for a way to flash the processors on…
K-Space
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How can I make this Component Tester more accurate?

EDIT: In the answer by Reroute (thank you, Reroute!), he references a very active 253 page EEVblog topic -- $20 LCR ESR Transistor checker project that probably includes exactly what I am seeking. I googled upgrade accuracy precision in the blog,…
MicroservicesOnDDD
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Voltage Drift on an Open Circuit (and how to get rid of it)

I'm trying to create a custom lick-port to detect mouse licking behavior. I am following a design published here that uses the junction potential between the mouse's tongue and the metal water spout to detect when a lick occurred, see image…
Chris
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Programming CC430F5137 using another microcontroller

I have a CC430F5137 and the board schematic all ready for my application to that requires capturing data over bluetooth. I wish to program the CC430F5137 using another platform except the conventional programmer since I'm short of money for the…
U7786
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Question on OSH and patents

I was thinking about making something and making it OSH, but I found that there is a patent that covers some of the functionality. Is it okay for me to make a design and make it accessible to the public even if it uses the patented functionality?…
multicusp
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How would one build a circuit board without hiring a manufacturer?

Assuming one had access to old CPUs, ram, hard drives, and mainboards with I/O connections and BIOS chips and other chips in them. I know the basics of the gates to make CPUs and RAM, and I know it's all very simple for the basic concepts. So…
Sophie McCarrell
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