Open Source Hardware

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Open source hardware

Open source hardware refers to the free release of information about the hardware design, such as logic designs (using hardware description language), schematics, bill of materials and printed circuit board (PCB) layout data, often with the use of free open source software to drive the hardware.



Now lets explain some terms I've used in this definition :



- hardware description language (HDL) is any language from a class of computer languages and/or programming languages for formal description of electronic circuits. It can describe the circuit's operation, its design and organization, and tests to verify its operation by means of simulation.



- printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, or traces, etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board (PWB) or etched wiring board. A PCB populated with electronic components is a printed circuit assembly (PCA), also known as a printed circuit board assembly (PCBA).



Licensing.



There are a lot of licenses used for open source hardware most of them being borrowed from the software world , some of them especially for hardware like TAPR Open Hardware License, and some of them created solely for a single project like the Balloon Open Hardware License for the Balloon Project.



Harkopen.com respects the licenses that the passionate technological people choose for their projects and promotes open source hardware as permissive as can be, if a project is here we want you the user to be able to reproduce it as accurately as possible and to be able to use it as you wish, to improve it, extend it and share it back with the community.



Vision.



For the humanity to evolve one step is for every member to have free access to knowledge, another step is to provide methods for individuals to store what they accomplish and discover so that the we do not make the same mistakes or reinvent same things, yet another step is to provide them with tools and means to collaborate and help one another.



Given the society that we live in, with the earth's current problems and limitation the humanity needs to overcome the current obstacles thru technology, sustainable , generally available, green technology. And open source hardware provides that platform to help change the world and make it a better place.



Harkopen.com was created with these premises and will try to provide the tools to offer access to information, provide storage of progress and new information, and become a collaborative tool for the human race, thru the Internet to evolve technological.