It’s finally here, a document that will help us to define what Open Hardware is, and to spread the idea. Open Software have been around for a long time, Open Hardware is still beginning, but already have a really big community out there, including me. I will add the logo to my next projects for sure!

Now, to move forward, please HELP:

• Endorse the definition, post your feedback on version 1.0 on the forum and the mailing list as we work towards a 1.1 update in the next few weeks / months.
• Take a look at the logos we are considering for “open source hardware”, give feedback or submit your own logo on the forum, in the thread LOGO.
• Show your support of the OSHW Definition by applying the definition to your work/project/website

This is a very important step in propelling our movement forward. PLEASE FORWARD FAR AND WIDE.

And now, the definition:

Open Source Hardware (OSHW) Statement of Principles 1.0
Open source hardware is hardware whose design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make and sell the design or hardware based on that design. The hardware’s source, the design from which it is made, is available in the preferred format for making modifications to it. Ideally, open source hardware uses readily-available components and materials, standard processes, open infrastructure, unrestricted content, and open-source design tools to maximize the ability of individuals to make and use hardware. Open source hardware gives people the freedom to control their technology while sharing knowledge and encouraging commerce through the open exchange of designs.

Open Source Hardware (OSHW) Definition 1.0
OSHW Draft Definition 1.0 is based on the Open Source Definition for Open Source Software and draft OSHW definition 0.5. The definition is derived from the Open Source Definition, which was created by Bruce Perens and the Debian developers as the Debian Free Software Guidelines. Videos and Documentation of the Opening Hardware workshop which kicked off the below definition are available here. Please join the conversation about the definition here

Introduction
Open Source Hardware (OSHW) is a term for tangible artifacts — machines, devices, or other physical things — whose design has been released to the public in such a way that anyone can make, modify, distribute, and use those things. This definition is intended to help provide guidelines for the development and evaluation of licenses for Open Source Hardware.
It is important to note that hardware is different from software in that physical resources must always be committed for the creation of physical goods. Accordingly, persons or companies producing items (“products”) under an OSHW license have an obligation not to imply that such products are manufactured, sold, warrantied, or otherwise sanctioned by the original designer and also not to make use of any trademarks owned by the original designer.

The distribution terms of Open Source Hardware must comply with the following criteria:

1. Documentation
The hardware must be released with documentation including design files, and must allow modification and distribution of the design files. Where documentation is not furnished with the physical product, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining this documentation for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably downloading via the Internet without charge. The documentation must include design files in the preferred format for making changes, for example the native file format of a CAD program. Deliberately obfuscated design files are not allowed. Intermediate forms analogous to compiled computer code — such as printer-ready copper artwork from a CAD program — are not allowed as substitutes. The license may require that the design files are provided in fully-documented, open format(s).

2. Scope
The documentation for the hardware must clearly specify what portion of the design, if not all, is being released under the license.

3. Necessary Software
If the licensed design requires software, embedded or otherwise, to operate properly and fulfill its essential functions, then the license may require that one of the following conditions are met:
a) The interfaces are sufficiently documented such that it could reasonably be considered straightforward to write open source software that allows the device to operate properly and fulfill its essential functions. For example, this may include the use of detailed signal timing diagrams or pseudocode to clearly illustrate the interface in operation.
b) The necessary software is released under an OSI-approved open source license.

4. Derived Works
The license shall allow modifications and derived works, and shall allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original work. The license shall allow for the manufacture, sale, distribution, and use of products created from the design files, the design files themselves, and derivatives therof.

5. Free redistribution
The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the project documentation. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale. The license shall not require any royalty or fee related to the sale of derived works.

6. Attribution
The license may require derived documents, and copyright notices associated with devices, to provide attribution to the licensors when distributing design files, manufactured products, and/or derivatives thereof. The license may require that this information be accessible to the end-user using the device normally, but shall not specify a specific format of display. The license may require derived works to carry a different name or version number from the original design.

7. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.

8. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the work (including manufactured hardware) in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it must not restrict the hardware from being used in a business, or from being used in nuclear research.

9. Distribution of License
The rights granted by the license must apply to all to whom the work is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.

10. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product
The rights granted by the license must not depend on the licensed work being part of a particular product. If a portion is extracted from a work and used or distributed within the terms of the license, all parties to whom that work is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted for the original work.

11. License Must Not Restrict Other Hardware or Software
The license must not place restrictions on other items that are aggregated with the licensed work but not derivative of it. For example, the license must not insist that all other hardware sold with the licensed item be open source, nor that only open source software be used external to the device.

12. License Must Be Technology-Neutral
No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology, specific part or component, material, or style of interface or use thereof.

Afterword
The signatories of this Open Source Hardware definition recognize that the open source movement represents only one way of sharing information. We encourage and support all forms of openness and collaboration, whether or not they fit this definition.

Licenses and Hardware
In promoting Open Hardware, it is important not to unintentionally deceive designers regarding the extent to which their licenses actually can control their designs. Under U.S. law, and law in many other places, copyright does not apply to electronic designs. Patents do. The result is that an Open Hardware license can in general be used to restrict the plans but probably not the manufactured devices or even restatements of the same design that are not textual copies of the original. The applicable section of copyright law is 17.102(b), which says:

In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.

RESISTORS:

The resistor is a passive component that is opposed to the electrical current dissipating heat, the higher the resistor value, the lower the current. This effect is called electrical resistance, while the component resistor is popularly known as resistance.

Resistance: is the property of a material to oppose the flow of electric current and dissipate power. Unit: Ω (Ohm).

Resistor: A component specifically designed to have resistance.

Utilities of resistors:

• Limiting the current that flows in a circuit
• Control the loading speed of a capacitor.
• To make current and voltage dividers.
• Transforming energy into heat (Joule effect).

When applying a voltage in a resistor, it creates a current that passes through it. The relation between the voltage and the current defines the electrical resistance:

It’s a physical law and, therefore, will always work for any type of electronic circuit.

If the Voltage is directly proportional to I (R = constant), we have the famous OHM’s law.

Most of the resistors used in electronic obey this law, ohmic resistors. Among them are the cluster of carbon resistors, metal film and carbon film.

Practicing – Leds and resistors

To light up a LED we need to limit the current that flows through it, for that we use resistors. If the current that flows through it is higher than recommended, there is a high risk of burning the component.

The video below show’s a led being burned:

Video Soon

The recommended current and voltage between the terminals of the LED depends on the chosen type (color, diameter, shape, etc.). For more details, take a look on the datasheet.

The higher the current, higher will be the light intensity and lower the LED’s life.

Building the circuit:

To light a LED we need:

• 1 Led
• 1 Resistor (ohmic)
• Power Supply (here we will use 5V and 12V)

So which resistor to use?

Now we are going to see which resistor to use, using the Kirchoff`s Circuit Laws.
They are physical laws, will always be valid for any circuit.

We will use a red LED, when that should work with around 1.7V.
The recommended current for an LED is between 10 mA and 20 mA.
Here we will make the math to use only 10mA.

Using a 5V power supply, we have by Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law

With this, we show that you only can insert the resistor after of before the LED.

By Ohm`s Law:

Now calculating the resistor for 10mA:

By OHM’s law:

Due to the associated error with each resistor and the available values on the market
we will take approximate values.

In this case we do not make approximations of the resistor value
because it’s commercially available.

For a voltage of 12V, R = 1 030 Ω, then we will use 1KΩ.

This article was written by Lucas G. Carli ( lucasgcarli [a] gmail dot com ) – Undergraduate in Electric Engineering

Some features:

• Works with ATmega168 (and probably others)
• 16MHz crystal
• 5V and 3V regulators can supply power to breadboard
• Plugs vertically into breadboard taking minimal space
• ISP programmable
• 1-wire debug can be used
• Simple to build, no surface mount components

On kyle’s website you will find the schematic, eagle files and more.

Take a look at: http://binaryideas.blogspot.com

When I decided to build a definitive HTPC, I looked for a hardware that would fit my needs, nothing too expensive, but something that would play High Definition files without problems, and also could play some games, like Pro Evolution Soccer (best game to play with friends) or Tomb Raider. By the time, I had a tube tv with component video (good, but could be so much better), and 5.1 sound connected to my Home Theater Sound System.

parts

MotherBoard: ASUS P5W DH Deluxe, excellent MB for a HTPC, with many great features no it, like S/PDIF Port, a digital output for connecting to my 5.1 sound system, two on board 10/100/1000 network cards (two is good if you want to use it as a router or a firewall) plus wireless. USB, Firewire and eSATA makes file transfer to external hard drives easy and fast. It also have a remote control, so you can set the volume, turn it off and on (I don’t really use it very much)

Processor: I got a Core 2 Duo E6420, 4mb cache, very good for playing HD files and games.

Case: The computer case could be anyone, but a receiver looking case would be much cooler. Here in Brazil wasn’t so easy to find one, and getting it from USA would be very expensive. Luckily I found the M Station HT-3000 from 3R SYSTEM, a great case for my project. It comes with a small Blue LCD Display that can be used to show the time, current track song playing on iTunes or Winamp, the time of the film you’re watching or other things you can configure. It also comes with a remote control, very good one by the way, where you can use it to surf on your files, songs and videos, pause, exit programs, exit windows, or do almost anything the mouse/keyboard could do. Well, I believe this pictures show a little more about this case:

Memory: I got 1GB DDR2-667 Corsair RAM memory, It’s enough for the kind of HTPC I want, maybe someday I put more, but till now I don’t need more. Remember to get one compatible with your mother board.

Storage: For the start, I got a 320GB 7200rpm SATA-II, not so much storage, when you talk of High Definition Movies. So I got an External 500GB drive that attend my needs for now, and if I need, I can take it anywhere. Someday I’ll get more and faster drives, as I’m a media lover.

Video Card: I got an e-GeForce 7600 GT 256mb PCI-E board from EVGA, with component, vga and dvi output (before I was using component to connect to my TV). I’m using a DVI to HDMI cable to connect to my LG 32′ LCD Time Machine II screen, so I got now quality digital video on my tv.

Power Supply: For the computer, a 500 watts is good enough.

Mouse & Keyboard: Now I needed a wireless mouse and keyboard, and I choose Microsoft’s wireless mouse and keyboard 2000. They are very good, but the only problem that they don’t have a good range, so when I want to use it from far, I need to put the small receiver near, and it’s so nice, as I need to keep moving it all the time.

Software

Well, as I want it to be not just a media player, but a gaming computer, I installed Win XP (never Vista ^^), so we can play videos and games without needing to use Wine, less time and effort.

Programs I use very much:

1. Media Players: Here we have many options, first there are the HTPC software, like the open source project Media Portal, where you can browse your films, musics, read rss, watch forecast and much more, with big letters and everything, it’s a good choice. For a long time I’ve used VLC, great PLAY EVERYTHING software, it’s good if you don’t want to install many different codecs, as it plays everything. Some days ago I discovered GOM PLAYER, it works like VLC, you don’t need to install more codecs, because it already plays everything. And I’m liking it very much, more then VLC, as it have a better interface and works better with subtitles. If you don’t know it, I suggest you to check it out.
2. FTPD: A FTP server is one of the easiest way to transfer files across computers, as you have more control of the files being transfered. I’m not a big fan of transferring files using Windows Explorer, many times it doesn’t work, or if anything goes wrong while transferring, you lose it all, and have to start all over again. For FTPD I like GeneFTP, and for Client, I use FlashFXP on Windows and gFTP on Linux (soon I’ll be needing a mac version also).
3. VNC: When I need to install programs or do anything on it, I use UltraVNC, so I can access visually the computer from anywhere. Software I like is VNC.
4. Torrent: I love BitTorrent, and I use it almost everyday (downloading linux only, of course), and my client of choice is uTorrent, lightweight fast and very complete program, and one thing I like it the WebGUI, so I can check the process of downloading files and manage them from anywhere.
5. BackUP: For having my data safe, I use Syncback, the best backup program I know, and it’s free. With it I able to backup my stuff using FTP, from everywhere. I also like to backup my photos to 3 different places at the same time (some can be though windows network, samba or ftp).
6. Backup Your DVDs: For backing up my dvds, I’m using DVD Shrink, very good software to save your precious dvds to your hard disk. Also good to save that movie you rented and didn’t have time to watch it.

links

Here goes some good things to read and links before you start building your own HTPC. (I’ll add more links with time)

1. HTPC Forum
2. DIY – 200 Dollar PC
3. Geek to Live: Automatically back up your hard drive

I’m still looking for some good photo viewer, I would like to find something like the amazing PicLens, do you know any?
How would you build your own HTPC?

Images from [Dual-Boxing]

According to a online publication, the actions from the American M�vil company, who is the biggest mobile company in Latin America (It’s the company I use), is the biggest and most valuable business of Slim, getting 27% bigger from March to June, leaving the Mexican US$8,6 billion richer than Gates. Mr Bill still have a small quantity of U$59,2 Bi. And remember that he gave a great part of his money to charity, otherwise he would be way richer then Carlos.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University and Harvard University have proposed a new and surprisingly effective means of stabilizing and controlling ferroelectricity in nanostructures: terminating their surfaces with fragments of water. Ferroelectrics are technologically important “smart” materials for many applications because they have local dipoles, which can switch up and down to encode and store information.

The team’s work is reported in the April issue of Nano Letters.

Article from http://www.newkerala.com/

With the price around �15, your rotatoin speed is about 2.000rpm and makes around 29dB of noise and air flow of 17CFM.
You can check two movies here:
[Video 1] [Video 2]