從利用 Arduino 、 Raspberry Pi 、 Beagleboard 等嵌入式系統(tǒng)開發(fā)平臺(tái)進(jìn)行之設(shè)計(jì)越來(lái)越多的趨勢(shì)可以看出，工程師們確實(shí)喜歡這樣的“開源硬件(open-source hardware)”方案；這種平臺(tái)不但能支持個(gè)人興趣式的設(shè)計(jì)案，也能讓商用產(chǎn)品的電路板設(shè)計(jì)被重新利用。有許多工程師會(huì)在閑暇之余透過(guò)網(wǎng)絡(luò)上的協(xié)作專 案以及建立活躍的線上社群，在開源硬件設(shè)計(jì)領(lǐng)域投入不少時(shí)間；但目前還不確定這類活動(dòng)是否會(huì)擴(kuò)展到商業(yè)市場(chǎng)。 在近日于美國(guó)硅谷舉行的 DESIGN West 大會(huì)期間，參與一場(chǎng)由EETimes美國(guó)版總編輯Alex Wolfe主持的座談專家們認(rèn)為，目前開源硬件設(shè)計(jì)缺乏清晰的商業(yè)模式與可依靠的資源；某些設(shè)計(jì)案其實(shí)是靠商業(yè)團(tuán)體捐贈(zèng)工程師的時(shí)間來(lái)完成的。 采 用由博通(Broadcom)提供之ARM11核心系統(tǒng)芯片的 Raspberry Pi 低價(jià)單板計(jì)算機(jī)，問(wèn)世沒(méi)多久就在出貨量方面取得驚人的成功；但尚不清楚的是，這種開發(fā)板是如何廣泛地達(dá)成了其希望教導(dǎo)年輕工程師為嵌入式系統(tǒng)編寫程序的原始 抱負(fù)，或是它在商用嵌入式系統(tǒng)設(shè)計(jì)上被用來(lái)當(dāng)做功能組件的接受度是如何。 來(lái)自英國(guó)的博通資深首席工程師暨 Raspberry-Pi計(jì)算機(jī)開發(fā)板原型架構(gòu)開發(fā)者 Gert Van Loo 表示，使用者對(duì)于Raspberry Pi基金會(huì)能否保證5~10年供應(yīng)期的疑慮，是阻礙該平臺(tái)商用化的一大因素。而他也表示，Raspberry Pi基金會(huì)正在盡最大的努力做出保證。 而 其它與會(huì)專家也表示，開源硬件平臺(tái)商用化的另一個(gè)阻礙，是其授權(quán)條款(license terms)的內(nèi)容會(huì)比開放性軟件復(fù)雜許多；來(lái)自德州儀器(TI)的軟件架構(gòu)經(jīng)理暨BeagleBoard.org 共同創(chuàng)辦人Jason Kridner指出：“復(fù)制位(bit)很便宜，但要復(fù)制原子(atom)就會(huì)很貴?！? SparkFun Electronics工程項(xiàng)目經(jīng)理Chris Taylor則指出，要為開源硬件擬定統(tǒng)一的授權(quán)條款會(huì)比開放性軟件困難許多； SparkFun 是一家針對(duì)那些開源硬件創(chuàng)造者(maker)社群的線上零組件供貨商，Taylor表示：“開源硬件協(xié)會(huì)(The Open-Source Hardware Association)仍在試圖厘清該如何建立授權(quán)模式，雖然一切都還未定案，但協(xié)會(huì)已經(jīng)與(另一個(gè)組織) Creative Commons 共同合作討論這個(gè)議題?！? Taylor表示，有一部分人士認(rèn)為共通的開源硬件授權(quán)條款是可 以被打造出來(lái)的，但也有另一部份人士認(rèn)為不可行；而他個(gè)人則是認(rèn)為，建立單一的開源硬件授權(quán)環(huán)境不但不可能、也沒(méi)必要，而且已經(jīng)有很多種類的授權(quán)模式已 經(jīng)被嘗試過(guò)：“開源硬件是在這樣的混亂中誕生，沒(méi)有人曾經(jīng)認(rèn)同過(guò)任何一種授權(quán)模式。” 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 第2頁(yè)：一個(gè)共同合作、分享設(shè)計(jì)的社群 第3頁(yè)：最后是否仍得靠金錢來(lái)驅(qū)動(dòng)一切？

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{pagination} 一個(gè)共同合作、分享設(shè)計(jì)的社群 開源硬件熱潮的基礎(chǔ)動(dòng)力，來(lái)自于那些不希望點(diǎn)子與人重復(fù)的工程師與創(chuàng)造者們；Taylor表示，他們也通常很樂(lè)意透過(guò)線上論壇分享彼此的設(shè)計(jì)成果、設(shè)計(jì)訣竅與快捷方式，因此那些時(shí)常注意相關(guān)信息的跟進(jìn)者就能更容易地做出更復(fù)雜的東西。 打造出分裝飲料機(jī)器人的 Party Robotics ，就是先后采用Arduino與Raspberry Pi平臺(tái)；該公司除了創(chuàng)辦人的投資，也透過(guò)Kickstarter網(wǎng)站募資，是一家頗具開源精神的企業(yè)。也參與了座談會(huì)的Party Robotics共同創(chuàng)辦人Pierre Michael表示：“不必重頭打造硬件是一大優(yōu)勢(shì)，這也是為什么我們會(huì)將設(shè)計(jì)成果分享給開源社群，就是希望能激發(fā)出更酷的設(shè)計(jì)?！? Michael也提到了他們將設(shè)計(jì)布局 EDA 工具由Altium換成Eagle：“你需要用開源工具來(lái)設(shè)計(jì)開放性產(chǎn)品?！辈贿^(guò)他卻立刻被TI的Kridner吐槽，說(shuō)Eagle PCB工具并非開放源碼，只不過(guò)是一種恰好免費(fèi)提供的EDA程序。 在被問(wèn)到Party Robotics是否能完全以開源硬件在市場(chǎng)上“走跳”時(shí)，Michael也坦承：“我們現(xiàn)在要告訴你，如果想賺錢，就得把你的IP鎖好。”而座談會(huì)主持人Wolfe提出，在開放源碼軟件領(lǐng)域，有許多公司都因?yàn)橥耆赓M(fèi)的Linux以及相關(guān)社群的支持，而在業(yè)務(wù)發(fā)展上非常成功──難道在硬件領(lǐng)域不行嗎？ 對(duì) 此博通的Van Loo表示，開源軟件領(lǐng)域有許多工程師會(huì)積極貢獻(xiàn)自己的成果，以換取在GPL授權(quán)軟件清單上的信用度；但遺憾的是，在硬件領(lǐng)域沒(méi)有類似的評(píng)量標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，能讓 那些希望知道他的設(shè)計(jì)是否會(huì)被人接受以及重復(fù)使用的工程師們感到滿足。不過(guò)他也表示，盡管如此，硬件設(shè)計(jì)工程師們還是準(zhǔn)備將他們的設(shè)計(jì)成果開放，因?yàn)樗麄?認(rèn)為：“工程本身就是一個(gè)報(bào)酬豐厚的創(chuàng)新職業(yè)?！? 但Van Loo并沒(méi)有明說(shuō)的是，工程設(shè)計(jì)案通常受到契約條款約束，受雇員工在其中得屈服于緊抓著那些權(quán)利不放的雇主所聲明的版權(quán)與智能財(cái)產(chǎn)權(quán)。Raspberry Pi能因“教育”知名受到豁免，其它由芯片廠商所催生的開放性平臺(tái)則是為了鼓勵(lì)采用同樣他們家硬件的開發(fā)設(shè)計(jì)，例如TI的Beagleboard。 無(wú)論如何，Party Robotics 的Michael認(rèn)為，采用開源硬件還是能帶來(lái)許多公眾利益，而為Raspberry Pi 與Arduino創(chuàng)造外加的電路板，將反過(guò)來(lái)幫助于這些平臺(tái)的銷售：“線上論壇也是其生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的一部分，能協(xié)助催生有趣的成品?！? 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 第3頁(yè)：最后是否仍得靠金錢來(lái)驅(qū)動(dòng)一切？

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{pagination} 有限度的成功？ 座談會(huì)主持人Wolfe又提了個(gè)問(wèn)題：“我雖然對(duì)于開源硬件世界洋溢的熱情以及利他主義印象深刻，但我們無(wú)法忽視的現(xiàn)實(shí)是，最后是否仍得靠金錢來(lái)驅(qū)動(dòng)一切？” Michael 表示，也許開源硬件能循著開放性軟件那樣的方式躍居主流；但他的公司可能還是得在將較舊的設(shè)計(jì)推向開放性領(lǐng)域的同時(shí)，也加速將最新的設(shè)計(jì)推向商業(yè)市場(chǎng)。 Kridner也坦承市場(chǎng)動(dòng)力將扮演一個(gè)角色，不過(guò)當(dāng)各家公司將低價(jià)系統(tǒng)推向市場(chǎng)，對(duì)工程師與創(chuàng)造者來(lái)說(shuō)也同樣有利。 與會(huì)專家都同意，開放性合作設(shè)計(jì)案能讓工程師們能發(fā)揮創(chuàng)意，而這也是他們選擇這份職業(yè)的主要?jiǎng)訖C(jī)；Kridner表示：“TI讓我能用大多數(shù)的時(shí)間在Beagleboard上工作，這真的很棒，它們兩者(工作與興趣)之間沒(méi)有沖突?！? SparkFun 的Taylor則指出：“我們必須被視為開放源碼社群的一員，不然我們的信用可能會(huì)化為烏有?！贬槍?duì)開源硬件的商業(yè)永續(xù)性，Van Loo的看法是：“開源軟件成功了，而且行之多年，甚至有些人還不知道為什么?！? 但Van Loo也表示，因?yàn)橛兄圃炫c交貨方面的成本，開源硬件的狀況會(huì)有一些不同：“發(fā)展開源硬件需要資金，為了永續(xù)發(fā)展，你必須從中賺到錢；也許我們得為40%的毛利而奮斗，至少人們會(huì)因此了解，一家公司的CEO并不能讓自己的荷包滿滿或是住在私人小島上。” 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 編譯：Judith Cheng 參考英文原文：DESIGN West: Open source hardware searching for business model，by Peter Clarke

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{pagination} DESIGN West: Open source hardware searching for business model Peter Clarke The motivations are diverse and the projects are exciting, but the long-term impact remains questionable. SAN JOSE, Calif. – There's no doubt that engineers like the idea of open-source hardware. There are an increasing number of open-source hardware board designs – Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Beagleboard and many others – that enable hobbyist projects and the reuse of board designs in commercial products. And many engineers are putting a lot of time into enabling these movements via collaborative work online and through the creation of vibrant online communities. What is less clear is whether such movements will scale into the commercial world. There is a lack of clear business model and dependence, in some cases, on the donation of engineers' time by commercial organizations. That was one of the conclusions from a panel discussion moderated by EE Times editor-in-chief Alex Wolfe. Over its short life the Raspberry Pi low-cost single-board computer, based on an ARM11-based system-chip from Broadcom, has been a phenomenal success in terms of shipments. But what remains unclear is how widely the board is fulfilling its original brief of teaching young people how to program or is being adopted as a building block in commercial embedded equipment designs. Gert Van Loo, senior principal engineer with Broadcom Corp. in Cambridge, England, and architect of the prototype of the Raspberry-Pi computer board, said that commercial uptake has been gated by considerations of whether the Raspberry Pi Foundation can guarantee to be able to supply boards in five or ten years time. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is doing its best to make those assurances, he said. Another road-block is the case that writing the license terms for open-source hardware is complex compared with open-source software, the panelists offered. Jason Kridner, software architecture manager with Texas Instruments and co-founder of BeagleBoard.org, commented: "It is cheap to replicate bits but it is expensive to replicate atoms." Chris Taylor, engineering project manager with SparkFun Electronics (Boulder, Colorado), said that there are issues that make convergence on a unified open-source license for hardware much harder than it has been for the open-source software movement. SparkFun is an online vendor of components for the "maker" community. "The Open-Source Hardware Association is still trying to figure out how that [license terms] will play. A hardware license is nebulous but there is work with Creative Commons [organization]," Taylor said. One camp thinks a universal license can be created; another camp doesn't, he added. Taylor made his position clear when he said the creation of a single licensing environment for OSH is neither likely nor necessary and that many types of license would be tried. "OSH is built on that chaos. No one is ever going to agree on one license," he said. Click on image to enlarge. From left to right: Alex Wolfe, editor-in-chief of EE Times, moderates panelists Jason Kridner, software architecture manager at Texas Instruments; Chris Taylor, engineering project manager at SparkFun Electronics; Pierre Michael, co-founder of Party Robotics; and Gert Van Loo, senior principal engineer with Broadcom Corp. Working collaboratively, sharing designs The fundamental driver is that makers and engineers do not want to re-invent the wheel and are often happy to share designs, design tips, shortcuts in online forums so that those that follow them can make more complex things more easily, he said. The drinks-dispensing robot company Party Robotics is based on the use of Arduino and then Raspberry Pi boards. The company has been funded by the founders and Kickstarter and has an open-source ethos. Panelist and co-founder of Party Robotics, said: "Not having to create hardware was a huge benefit. That is why we fold our designs back [in the open-source community] to allow even cooler things." Michael also made the point that he switched EDA tools for design lay-out from Altium to Eagle. "You should use open-source tools to make open-source products," Michael said. However, he was immediately challenged by Kridner who pointed out that Eagle PCB is not open-source but is an EDA program that happens to be available in a free version. But when asked if Party Robotics could go to market with a totally open-source hardware philosophy Michael conceded: "Now we are being told you got to lock down your IP if you are going to make money." Wolfe drew comparisons with the open-source software domain where many companies do successfully ply their trade based on support for open-source and freely available Linux distributions. Van Loo made the point that in the case of open source software a lot of engineers are motivated to contribute their efforts in return for credit in a GPL listing. Unfortunately there is no such equivalent in hardware and engineers sometimes have to be satisfied with knowing they designed something and accept that it will be picked up and reused by others. Nonetheless he said that hardware engineers are still prepared to put their design work in the open-source domain because "engineering is one the best-paid creative jobs out there." What Van Loo did not address explicitly is that engineering is usually done under contractural terms where the employee surrenders copyright and intellectual property rights to an employer who then holds those rights closely. In the case of Raspberry Pi there is an educational remit and in other cases open-source boards are enabled by chip vendors who want to encourage developments around their hardware. In the case of the beagleboard it is produced by Texas Instruments. Nonetheless a lot of public good will comes from using open-source hardware said Pierre Michael. And the creation of add-on boards to Raspberry Pi and Arduino, in turn, helps sell more Raspberry Pi and Ardiuno boards, he said. "The online forum is part of the ecosystem and helps interesting things get made." Success without excess? "I can't help but be impressed at the passion and altruism being displayed but are we glossing over the fact that money drives everything in the end?" asked Wolfe. Pierre Michael said that there could be ways to help open-source hardware go mainstream as open-source software has done. His company might be able to charge commercially for the latest revs of its designs while putting previous revs into the open-source domain, he said. Kridner acknowledged that market forces do play a part but where companies are prepared to put out low-cost boards there is a win for makers and engineers alike. The panelists all agreed that work on open-source collaborative projects allowed engineers to be creative, which is often the main motivation for joining the profession. "TI allows me to work on Beagleboard most of my time which is great. They don't conflict." Chris Taylor of SparkFun said: "We have to be viewed as part of the open-source community or our credibility would be burned." When pushed on the commercial sustainability of open-source hardware Gert Van Loo responded by saying: "Open-source software works. It has been working for years even though some people don't understand how." But he also acknowledged that, because of the costs of manufacture and delivery, open-source hardware is a different case. "OSH is going to need money and you need to make money out of it to be sustainable. But maybe we are fighting things like 40 percent profit margins. At least people know that a CEO is not going fill his pockets and go live on an island."