Open Hardware and Shareable Design News
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-02-28 08:22:07 UTC
- Modified: 2014-02-28 08:22:48 UTC
Summary: Recent news about hardware that can be modified and it permissive in that regard
SkyNet
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At the former Wired editor’s start-up, 3D Robotics, open-source robots take to the skies
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In the meantime, he’s hard at work on a new project called SkyNet Firmware, which will run on the open source Arduino circuit boards, devices you can use to build all sorts of computerized gadgets. “The idea is that you can load SkyNet Firmware on any Arduino compatible device or board,” he says. “The Arduino connects to SkyNet and just waits for commands.” This would let you attach almost anything to SkyNet.
3D Printers
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At the forefront of the 3D printing boom for consumers is MakerBot, whose Linux-based Replicator printers sell for between $1,300 and $3,000 and are small enough to sit on your desktop. Their MakerWare design software runs on any platform and the Thingiverse online community allows more than 13,000 users to download or upload designs in an open source, collaborative model for do-it-yourself manufacturing, according to a sponsored post in The Atlantic.
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So far, in short, I can describe 3D printing as: Building an object, by depositing layers, and creating every layer by drawing it with melted plastic. The key to understanding 3D printing, and thus learning how to do it better, is to think about the objects as a stack of layers. Then, consider how the layers will look like as they are being stacked.
Charles Babcock's Series of Articles
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References to Linux come up naturally because it is one of the most successful, sustained, and adopted open-source software projects. New releases of the Linux kernel now appear every 70 days. Each contains up to 10,000 updates and patches, a rate of change that equals 7.14 an hour. Linux's fame rests not on the fact that it's frequently modified. Rather, it's frequently modified and also respected as having a long-term future in the enterprise datacenter. The way things are shaping up, it also very likely has a permanent place in cloud architectures.
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Facebook, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, and other leading IT users think the open-source movement is ready to shake up the hardware industry the way Linux did in software.
Misc.
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Intel announced a Developer Program for IoT, which will offer 5,000 Arduino-compatible Galileo SBC-based IoT development kits, plus hackathons with prizes.
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AS you may know, just few weeks ago OSHWA published the results from 2013 Open Hardware Community survey. You can find original datasheets and everything here. Despite raw data is good, I thought it was good to spend some time looking at the data trying to gather more insights, when possible, still keeping in mind that the survey samples a very limited and polarized (OSHWA centric) chunk of the community. But we need to start from something in a way.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 32 Out of 200: Garrett Made Spurious Requests (Later Withdrawn) the Same Week Someone He Later Spoke to by E-mail Sent Threats to Our Webhost
- The "plot thickens" because there's a multi-party tag-team act, as confirmed by Garrett after he had sworn on the Bible
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- Links 04/04/2026: Social Control Media Verdict and Bans, Whistleblower (Axel Rietschin) Explains How "Microsoft Vaporized a Trillion Dollars"
- Links for the day
- Reaching the End/Event Horizon of LLM Slop
- Are we moving towards a post-LLMs world?
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 03, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, April 03, 2026
- Gemini Links 04/04/2026: STXGE and Computer Relationships
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 33 Out of 200: Garrett Sued by My Wife and I, Then His Microsoft Acquaintance Files Another Lawsuit and Our Webhost Receives Legal Threats Too
- Today we also show how our solicitor Mark Lewis responded to it
- Good Friday, Leaving IBM for Good
- Even on holidays
- Links 03/04/2026: Rejection of More Software Patents and Social Control Media in Several Continents
- Links for the day
- Malware in Proprietary Software - Latest Additions by Rob Musial
- Original published yesterday in gnu.org
- Visual Evidence/Documentation of IBM Dying Like the Dinosaurs
- IBM has many of these giant white elephants lying around, with some getting demolished
- Links 03/04/2026: USPTO’s Latest Greenwashing and Internet Blackouts Impact Journalists in War Zones
- Links for the day
- IBM is a Dying Company, Nowadays It Kills Red Hat With Slop
- when your last day is a national holiday in IBM's country
- "Independence Drives" and Community-Run Sites
- Independence in reporting is a much-valued trait
- When Charlatans Are Only Good at Losing Money and Storytelling (e.g. About Investment in Them)
- Wait till a a barrel of oil costs $300
- What Apple Fans Are Missing
- Apple is a bad company
- The "Pale Blue Dot" Moment Had Returned
- To many people, the "bitter-sweet" observation of how small we are
- Saudi Arabia Does Not Rely Much on Microsoft/Windows
- Putting aside politics, this is good for Free software
- Almost 12 Years of Exposing Corruption in Europe's Second-Largest Institution
- The "unready" President is now an abandoned President
- Easter Moon Mission and Its Reminder of IBM's Demise
- A lot of NASA operations now rely on GNU/Linux
- When Power is Scarce and GNU/Linux Has Power
- In Cuba, GNU/Linux has long enjoyed high adoption rates
- Don't Totally Dismiss the 'Survivalists'
- 'Survivalists' or similar terms are used to describe a particular mindset of people who prepare for some really awful scenarios
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 02, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, April 02, 2026
- A Much Better Use of Fuel Than Slop
- Something positive for a change
- Hoping for Peace
- There are still many things to be enjoyed, including nature and kind people
- Gemini Links 03/04/2026: "Slide Rule Triple Multiplication" and End of "Picture Pages"
- Links for the day
- Rumours of Microsoft Layoffs This Season
- Just how much trouble is Microsoft in at this point?
- GNU/Linux Measured at All-Time High in Sweden
- Can 'influencers' have played a role
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 31 Out of 200: Speaking About 20+ Years of Alleged Harassment/Defamation and High-Profile 'Targets' of Garrett
- attempts were made to settle (in effect end the case) by the person who started the case almost half a dozen times along the way
- In Asia, Windows is in Its Teens (Below 20%)
- On a global scale, Windows is down to about 26%
- GNU/Linux Becoming More Universal
- It seems likely the end of Vista 10 coinciding with a sharp rise in memory prices (and now energy prices) will benefit GNU/Linux and therefore give us more to write about
- Low Morale at IBM and Perception of Destructive Management
- IBM is going nowhere, fast
- Gemini Links 02/04/2026: Super Mario Galaxy Movie and New Antenna Instance
- Links for the day
- It Seems Like Google News Cracked Down on (Omitted, Delisted) a Lot of Slopfarms
- There's no justification/point in spending so much energy just to plagiarise things poorly
- Can Economies Like the American One Hang On?
- The coming weeks will be "interesting" unless wars end
- Steam Survey for Last Month Says 5.33% Use GNU/Linux
- big leap for GNU/Linux
- Links 02/04/2026: Science News, Energy Scarcity, Oil Sold in Yuan
- Links for the day
- Links 02/04/2026: Apple Turns 50, Efforts To Ban VPNs
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 02/04/2026: Kubernetes With FreeBSD, OFFLFIRSOCH, and Great Circle Distance
- Links for the day
- Dr. Andy Farnell on Microsoft Silencing or Deplatforming Opposition in the UK and Elsewhere
- Microsoft as a king or a kind of "religion" one cannot question
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 01, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, April 01, 2026