On Mar 25, 2010, at 3:37 AM, Russell McMahon wrote:

> Freeduino - open hardware files (unlike original)

That's not quite accurate.  Originally, the Arduino hardware was  
supposed to be open source, and the early designs (serial, USB)  
published both schematics and PCB layouts (eagle cad files.)  Then in  
mid-2007 a new official version (Diecimilla) was shipping, and its CAD  
files were slow to appear in the usual places.  Apparently the core  
Arduino team was having a sort of ownership crisis; while open source  
was important, they also didn't want to see "Arduino" clones from all  
over the world polluting their Brand with possibly poorly built  
copies.  A certain segment of the userbase was unhappy - "It's  
supposed to be open source, and if you won't release the CAD files or  
let us use the Arduino name, then we'll derive the new design from the  
last thing published, call it Freeduino, and let anyone who wants use  
the designs AND the name.  Nyah Nyah!"  Apparently there were also  
issues WRT who was being allow to distribute the official Arduino  
boards.  So... I designed a set of PCBs, NKC ran off a bunch of  
boards, Solarbotics did their own version, and "Freeduino" was born.

Meanwhile, and perhaps somewhat spurred by this activity, the core  
Arduino team got their act together and decided on what they really  
wanted ("Arduino" as a trademark, essentially, but truly open source  
in other respects), signed up new distributers and released the  
official Diecimila (and subsequent version) CAD files promptly.  I  
think everyone is pretty happy these days; the Freeduino board NKC is  
selling occupies a tiny but useful niche (being mostly TH  
construction, and available as a kit), and most of the Freeduino-like  
vendors are distributing real Arduinos as well.  All in all, an  
interesting experience.

(There are a lot of clone Arduino vendors out there these days,  
selling the exact reference design with little or no rebranding.   
Which is unfortunate, I guess...  There are also an increasing number  
of modified designs with minor or major additions, reflecting (IMO)  
the best intentions of the whole open source hardware thing...)

BillW

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