From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S261851AbTDXIiq (ORCPT ); Thu, 24 Apr 2003 04:38:46 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S261885AbTDXIiq (ORCPT ); Thu, 24 Apr 2003 04:38:46 -0400 Received: from mail.jlokier.co.uk ([81.29.64.88]:51335 "EHLO mail.jlokier.co.uk") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S261851AbTDXIio (ORCPT ); Thu, 24 Apr 2003 04:38:44 -0400 Date: Thu, 24 Apr 2003 09:50:49 +0100 From: Jamie Lokier To: John Bradford Cc: William Lee Irwin III , Linus Torvalds , Kernel Mailing List Subject: Re: Flame Linus to a crisp! Message-ID: <20030424085049.GG28253@mail.jlokier.co.uk> References: <20030424074400.GD28253@mail.jlokier.co.uk> <200304240816.h3O8GGrH000399@81-2-122-30.bradfords.org.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <200304240816.h3O8GGrH000399@81-2-122-30.bradfords.org.uk> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.1i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org John Bradford wrote: > > If the hardware that comes out of industry won't let you hack, hey you > > still have basic materials like SiO2 from the real world to make your > > own. Tough, but rewarding :) > > We should be doing this _anyway_. > > With open hardware designs, there would be no problem with > documentation not being available to write drivers. Open hardware design has a long way to come along, but the real problem is that making hardware is very expensive - because it is actually very difficult and depends upon enormous global industries. Even making a one-off PCB is very expensive compared with buying commodity hardware that does interesting stuff. I was looking at various lumps of wood, metal and plastic around my home and realised that I'd have a hard time making _anything_ that I use daily, let alone computer hardware. I'd love to find a cheaper, more accessible way of manufacturing hardware than is available to individuals at present. In principle, the industry which can make things could make use of open source designs, and then sell them to us. I'm not sure how to make that come about, or how to make those things readily extendable by enthusiastic users - to close the loop. -- Jamie