Building Open Source Hardware: DIY Manufacturing for Hackers and Makers

6. Making a Derivative

Alicia Gibb

“Its province is to assist us in making available what we are already acquainted with.”

—Ada Lovelace, on the Analytical Engine

This chapter gives an example of the source files and a physical object that you can copy, modify, make, and sell as a derivative under the Open Source Hardware Definition. This chapter first discusses derivatives and attribution, and then walks through a simple open source hardware kit named Blinky Buildings that readers are encouraged to alter or modify. Appropriate methods for creating a derivative are discussed. (The Blinky Buildings hardware kit can be purchased at www.bit.ly/blinkybuildings or at www.Sparkfun.com.) Readers can follow along with the instructions, thereby making ...