All baseboard/microShield schematics, Gerbers, and BOMs are/will be published and publicly available.
The complete snickerdoodle schematics and BOM will be published and made publicly available before the end of the campaign.
Open Source and Parts Availability
We love and believe in open source, and we built the Giant Board accordingly. The design files, documentation, software, and more are available on our website and through GitHub. We also spent a lot of time deciding which parts to use for the Giant Board. It was important to us that all of its components be readily available, off the shelf, without the need to sign an NDA. As a result, anyone who wants to build their own Giant Board for a project or a product can obtain the parts they will need from most major electronics retailers.
This is an open hardware design licensed under the terms of the CERN Open Hardware Licence, see board revisions for applicable versions.
This source is distributed WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY, INCLUDING OF MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Please see LICENSE files in each source subdirectory for applicable conditions.
A Libre Approach
This project has been extremely unusual in that it has been a Libre Hardware and Software project right from the beginning. Many projects claim a degree of “open-ness”, using the word “open” in order to attract users and developers, but a simple in-depth investigation of such projects quickly reveals the claim of “open-ness” to be misleading or outright false.
A commitment to being fully Libre is a critical strategic part of this project. We are working with the FSF to apply for RYF Certification of the Libre Tea Computer Card for example, but are also going way beyond that by providing full CAD files, schematics, and datasheets for all the parts (without NDAs) as well as having the 3D CAD files for the casework as a completely open GPLv3+ licensed project right from its inception. In addition, all firmware and kernel sources are GPL-licensed and will always remain so, and have been vetted in advance and do not contain any copyright violations or proprietary license-violating blobs (an extremely common practice nowadays).
The only exception to this rule to release everything in advance is the PCB CAD files for the Computer Card. We’re planning to release the PCB CAD files for the Computer card once sufficient units are hit that ensures any third party manufacturing runs will not undermine the project’s development or stability.
Part of the reason for this strong commitment to Libre ethics and community processes is to actively encourage and invite people to contribute. How can anyone contribute if they do not have the information that they need to make compatible hardware, and how could they get up to speed if there are no historical archives documenting how the project’s decisions were actually made?
In short, in direct contrast to the usual “superficial promise to be open maybe sometime, maybe never”, this project is founded on an extremely comprehensive commitment to Libre principles that may be easily verified by reviewing the web site, public archives, and source code repositories dating back over five years. More information can be found here.
Open Source
Security through obscurity is not security. We want the inner workings of ORWL to be transparent, so that it can receive the inspection necessary to build real trust. You shouldn’t need to take our word on how secure ORWL really is - you should be able to see for yourself.
ORWL is a complex product, with many pieces that could possibly be open sourced. As such, we are still working through exactly which licenses will be used and how best to make available all the information. We will make updates on this page in the coming days. Here’s what we know and are committed to at this point:
We will make available all source schematic and layout files, not just PDFs and Gerber files.
We will make available all software under our control, including BIOS firmware, secure controller firmware, and key fob firmware.
In order to maintain a competitive manufacturing advantage, some, but not all, of the source we make available will be released under a non-commercial license. For example, we will likely release the PCB layout source files under a non-commercial license, but the BIOS firmware will not have that restriction.
For those sources not under our control, in particular the datasheet for the secure controller, we will work closely with our partners to make as much information available as possible.
We are open to feedback! Please contact us with any comments, suggestions, or questions.
Sign up for reminder emails above and watch this space for updates. We anticipate having all licenses sorted out very soon.
