Open source promotes a universal access via a free license to a product's design or blueprint, and universal redistribution of that design or blueprint, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone.
Questions tagged [open-source]
33 questions
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Looking for open source FPGA hardware and dev tools
Investigated FPGA boards but cannot find open-sourced board and vendor-neutral FPGA development tools:
The ORSoC manufacturer boasts open-sourcing on its website but I cannot really find strong evidence except webmastering OpenCores.org.
The duo:…

hhh
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Looking for a good freeware/open source PCB design software equivalent to Altium
I am familiar with Altium PCB design software in my workplace.
But thats an expensive suite to maintain. Is there any decent enough free software which I can use at home for my pet projects? I have tried ExpressPCB but not satisfied with it. Any…

scorpiokid
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Can Arduino be used in commercial products?
Is it legal for me to sell a product that's built with an Arduino? I know that it's open source, but does that mean I can sell my product for profit, or only for use in prototyping?

nathangiesbrecht
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Is there a directory of open source hardware projects?
I would like to print a fairly common circuit. But I don't want to design the PCB myself. Where should I look when searching for PCB layouts?

Jader Dias
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How do I detect open-source licence violations by companies?
Let's say I have an open source project with a license that prohibits commercial uses. Then comes along a commercial product with striking similarities in functionality/hardware.
How would I go about inspecting the commercial product to see if…

stbtra
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Do open source libraries exist for VHDL the way they do for C++ or python?
When I'm approaching a problem in C++ or python, there are many libraries that exist which do the heavy lifting of my code. I'm thinking about GNU GSL, BOOST, or FFTW for C++, and NumPy or SciPy for python. In many ways, the fact that these…

Sam
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Universal smd pad size, bad idea?
I'm working on an open source filter design where the PCB can be reused for many future designs. It is based around a Sallen-key filter since a few changes to the capacitors and resistors can change it from a low-pass to a band-pass or a high-pass.…

OhmArchitect
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BSD style Open Source alternatives to CMSIS?
Since the licenses on CMSIS is unclear when it comes to open source,
it is probably a violation to include the CMSIS in a open source project regardless if it using a GPL or BSD style license.
Is there any CMSIS alternative out there for the Cortex…

Johan
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Can I use Sparkfun Schematic/Layout in my design?
I am currently working on my thesis project (PCB designing) where I want to use some components on my PCB such as antenna and ublox NEO D9S chip. There is a company called Sparkfun, who makes PCBs based on chip ublox NEO D9S and have provided…

Ashish1313
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Does my open source project need be Arduino based to be successful?
I am debating which micro-controller to use for a new open source hardware project. Spec wise, I would rather use an ARM Cortex M3, which is at a similar price-point to an Arduino(avr) based solution but with more processing power/peripherals. The…

stbtra
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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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Is there an FPGA based vector graphics card project?
I have been messing around with VGA projects as my latest interest. I have a Xilinx Spartan 3E 250K FPGA, which has just barely too little RAM for a full 640x480 frame buffer. So, I'm looking at making things more "interesting". Namely, by instead…

Earlz
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Free/Open Source alternative to TekScope Anywhere?
I'm trying to analyze a signal I got out of a scope on my PC and a program like TekScope Anywhere looks like it will do what I'm after.
How can I get plots and data of the scope?

Daniel Wiltshire
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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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