What more important open source software or hardware?

General Discussion
1

Hi all Welcome to the new great year ! 2017, the year every esk8 dream comes true :smiley:

I’m thinking about making a new smarter remote for the boards… But how important is open hardware compared to open source code ?

2

I believe both are important. Now the distinction of both becomes relatively the same. You design a hardware normally end up with a code where you can store as an open source code. Nevertheless a hardware also needs a software to operate. However software will be more likely open source than hardware.

3

You can reverse engineer hardware quite easily in a lab, but you can’t do the same with the software.

Short answer: Both are important.

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4

You can’t run hardware without software, and you can’t run software without hardware. IMO they are one unit.

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So the answer is, either both parts are open, or none for you guys ?

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Open software is most important to me, as a developer. But the it’s nice to work with things that have both open hardware and software, like the VESC.

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7

My concern is just… how do I make sure I can cover my development time if both things are open :-/

8

Donations, people are pretty generous (from what I hear) to open source folks. You can also make and sell the remote for people who don’t want to do it themselves.

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9

Will definetely be watching, for updates. Please keep the thread alive :slight_smile:

10

But guys, people are gonna copy and stuff like that. How do you cover your work if anybody can use and abuse it to make profit out of your time spent on it?

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11

I think this idea is the golden one… I think maybe closed is okay, if one later opens up the firmware, when things are stable and working, tweakers can take over, and then later the hardware could be remade even better, as long as the time and effort are covered :slight_smile:

How did Vedder do ? was it open from day one ?

12

It all comes down to: do you want to make the world a better place and contribute something without expecting a return do open source (all of it - hard and software). If you want to make money do it closed source - all of it. There is no point in doing it half/half. Your IP is probably better protected in software since it is harder to analyse and reverse engineer.

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13

Good point, I like them both

14

I also like both - but in this case what counts is the main motivation or what is more important to you for this particular project. With open source you can at least ask for donations so that some of your time is covered. But you if you would feel bad when it is not enough to cover your time then you should probably go the closed source route

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maybe a hybrid… closed and later fully open :slight_smile: More eyes are better

16

That sounds like a kickstarter for an open source project: ask for donations and when the asked amount is reached release everything open source.