Why We Need Free Digital Hardware Designs

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday March 11, 2015 @05:49AM from the open-it-up dept.

jrepin writes Free software is a matter of freedom, not price; broadly speaking, it means that users are free to use the software and to copy and redistribute the software, with or without changes. Applying the same concept directly to hardware, free hardware means hardware that you are free to use and to copy and redistribute with or without changes. But, since there are no copiers for hardware, is the concept of free hardware even possible? The concept we really need is that of a free hardware design. That's simple: it means a design that permits users to use the design (i.e., fabricate hardware from it) and to copy and redistribute it, with or without changes. The design must provide the same four freedoms that define free software. Then "free hardware" means hardware with an available free design.

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opencores.org by pem · 2015-03-11 06:07 · Score: 5, Informative

There are a lot of free designs and sites supporting them out there. Open source hardware is a thing. Even "free" (according to RMS) hardware is a thing.
Is there some new point to this?