Thought I'm probably not the best person to post about open-source and soundboards, I thought I'd chime in anyway, for the following reasons :
- I do support open-source, I publish, and I share, just not in the saber context, but that doesn't mean I don't do it
- I do use open-source as a developer, when building prototypes, or simply working in european projects, our stuff is published very often
now regarding a few statements above, and while I understand (sort of) where some of you are coming from, I don't really like the innuendo that "I'd be frustrating people" because of not publishing my work. Said like that is probably a shortcut about what you think, but it sounds like a due where it's not.
that's not about it's right / wrong and I second that there can be an economy related to open-source, but i'm just surprised that people are trying to fit and match open source in any context, would it be personal utopia or personal expectation / achievement / "dream". The context is as important as the open source topic.
My observations during the 10 years I've been around show the the huge diversity of people interested in SW or in ligthsaber building in particular. In this huge community, there's a large majority of people which goal is to *own* a lightsaber or... several (many of those people have... a problem lol
). A smaller group of people are interested in building a lightsaber by themselves. An even smaller group of people is interested in building sabers for the first group of people and eventually make money from it (and/or create an artistic lifestyle and make a living from it)
The misconception lies in the fact that because building is interesting (learning process, achievement, progress, giving a meaning to your life), anybody should be hardcore and build from scratch everything but....
IT DEPENDS(tm)because it interests YOU to do something from scratch, or because you want something custom that doesn't exist (yet), like it's been the case for me in 2005 (no configurable, in-the-hilt sound module with gesture recognition, let's build one) doesn't mean it HAS to interest everyone. Most people are going to enjoy a building process using parts (HW store parts in the past, TCSS parts now), some from the mechanical engineering background (loads of those in the former lightsaber community, including jeff parks, orbital machining etc) will machine stuff from scratch / billet and so be it. There's just not just one way to do it, purist will only consider from scratch bespoke work, and others from the mainstream culture will be happy with stuff produced with parts from various manufacturers.
I consider myself as a maker and part of the maker movement, both at work (day job I mean) and at home. But I don't make everything, I still buy M4 nuts and screws, booooo... (well... I DO machine and thread parts too). Because something is available doesn't mean that it has to be interesting for everyone just because it's there. What I'm saying is that most people are interest in building a saber, not in building a soundboard, which is "just" one part to achieve a goal, considered as more important : the prop replica.
That is my main answer to why people aren't much interested in open-alliance : there are very little developers and... people are interested in building the final prop, or some of its components (crystal chamber for instance). People still buy switches and batteries and don't build them, the interest is elsewhere.
Now that being said, that doesn't remove anything to the interest you're having in this topic. The question is will you be interested the same way in cutting your own crystals or machine / thread your parts, buy a lathe etc. Possibly yes or maybe not.
Now, that takes me to another part of dev and open-source. As the sound board (in our particular example) is nevertheless an important component, it's understandable that you want this and that in it in addition of your interest in building things yourself. I totally support that.
However, when you are doing this "dev" as a maker, you are still using a platform designed by somebody else (open source too) and libraries written by somebody else.
While it looks like you are therefore doing electronic R&D at a lower level than the lightsaber, you are actually using parts (HW or SW) made by others, those could actually be open source or not (there a many libs available a compiled objects and documentation that you can use, would you be a maker or a pro). So at the end, you are still assembling technologies / devs made by others and write your own glue, which is totally valuable and interesting.
which takes me to the point :
The way I see it is this: Building lightsabers is fun. Running a business is a headache and a tax nightmare.
Sure (and trust me, I feel entitled to know about it). But you are relying on those companies and business to purchase your arduino and teensy and breakout boards. Sure, you *COULD* do everything yourself but would have you got started without the infrastructure (IDE, libs, hardware platform, dev boards) without this pre-munched work ? maybe yes if your background is electronic engineering like myself. What I'm saying is that your fun also depends on the work (commercial, open or closed source) made by others. Spitting on commerce or highlighting that you have no interest for it in such way you devaluate the work makes no sense to me.
Second myth about open source :
What's more, with open-source, the more people who use the code, the better the code gets. It develops faster and becomes more feature-rich.
That's wrong and delusional (as sad as it can be). Well people will use the code, sort of, by flashing themselves firmware version ADZB-rev11.2 because they read on the forums that it's better than 11.1. However, the actual contribution of people to improve, correct and grow the code base is very limited when you look at the numbers. Just take the GRBL project. So many CNC made with it, some of them are commercial products (like the carvey we purchased at work). Still, when you look at the contribution, the number of participants is ridiculous and the ACTUAL number of what I call core people (the cooks in the kitchen) is... two. And unlike Inventable, a lot of people will actually get the code, eventually improve it / change it and will never contribute back or post their changes, because they don't have to, so why bother.
Which take me to *your* point (which is great)
When I make open-source things, I want people to use it, and I don't care if they make money from it either.
which is awesome and thank you for that but that's just about what you want (your and some others). What about the rest of the community ? what do they want ?
The idea that open source is seen as the only valid way to accelerate the dev and the features is just plain wrong. My (and OUR, as a community) experience within those past 10 years is that the improvements, feature list of the Crystal Focus board was a very fast process based on real-time exchange with the community, their ideas, some of mines and what we wanted the lightsaber to become... and me as the coding xxx. As a result, I get a what if we do this and that on one day, and get the result the next day.
I'm not saying open source couldn't help but in my case if we're talking about 2-4 core contributors, me included, it's as valid to say let's sign a NdA to work on this project as opening the sources. The debate is elsewhere, what I'm saying is that MOST people wouldn't care about writing a single line of code, they were just interested in OBTAINING a board with a certain list of features. This is why I have a (small) network of affiliate with whom I do some of the R&D and that that I *still* exchange with the makers and builders to hear what they want, then implement it.
Of course, having other people to work on the code with me would make things even faster than they currently are but surprisingly, in 10 years, I've only received people's email asking me to send the files so that they could start a company on their own with the existing state-of-art, not to make it any better or with the will to participate. And no will to further publish their contribution.
Which takes me to the other point regarding this community. I'm not saying open-source should be opposed to anything. However, I often see (pseudo) altruistic statements about I don't care about the money, or running a business, I just publish what I do etc. Again, I applaud the dev, the work and (some of) the results. I read here and there "I have no plans to make runs of those, sources are there for who is happy to use it, people can just make their own".
What about those who can't ? who have no interest in this ? To be a perfect devil's advocate, this is where open source is giving the finger to the community, you want this, CAD files are there, so just make it yourself. Not everybody will, or can.
To quote Tim from TCSS when we discussed this topic long ago "I didn't create my company to tell my customers to get a lathe and a machine shop".
Providing info / source is one thing, actively helping the community to grow and make sure a larger number of people could participate to the hobby, either with a nail file or a good shop and without asking them to make their own PCBs (or order them at OSH parts) then solder by hand 50 SMD parts.
Don't get me wrong, there's not open-source bashing in the above. I salute your attitude, but you could also consider the results of 10 years of work rather than "spitting" your frustration or lack of care for the companies that are providing you the tools with which you craft your fun.
