How open source software comes about is still a myth for lots of people. The notion that a group of people with no monetary reward can get together and create something as complex as an operational system like Linux challenges all our previous notions of the market laws of production. In this video presentation, Karl Fogel, open source developer and writer of the book Producing Open Source Software, guides us through the key principles of open source communities.

There are several  3D CAD software packages available for designers today. Among them we can find mainly 3 kinds of 3D software, each one of which excels in a different way: Nurbs modelers whelp create amazing surface models and are widely used to create fast complex surfaces,  Polygon-based modelers due to it’s shape morphing modeling process generate models that are perfect for film animations. Parametric modelers which excel in the technical realm due to it’s mathematical way of describing shape thus producing very exact geometries required in industrial processes. The most advanced open source modeler today is Blender, a polygon-based modeller, that unfortunately, can not be really used for technical product development.

Screenshot of FreeCAD

FreeCAD is the first an opensource parametric modeler that I have seen with potential to shake things up in the world of  product design. 3D Design software can be super expensive costing up to 20 or 30 thousand dollars for a license. Alibre Design , priced today at 398 Dollars is already a solid alternative to the more expensive packages like Catia, Solid Works or Pro/engineer. An open source alternative like FreeCAD, could, not only mean an immense cost reduction for innovation startups that can’t afford the kind of investment a CAD Package requires, but most importantly, shorten the road into a democratic file standard for the creative industry if widely adopted.

The battle for file standards is old, files created in Solidworks can be imported but not edited in Pro/engineer, Rhino files are not compatible with Catia models if you want to work further on it, and and and. I believe that a great deal of energy and time is lost, when moving between CAD systems, time that could be used to resolve creative problems, play video-game other discuss about life. The further development of an open-source parametric modeler like freeCAD could mean a big step towards a file standard available to all, because of it’s “openness”.

Imagine how companies would benefit from these developments, think of IBM and it’s widely support of the Linux OS, and how it helped reducing the costs of its servers. Anyone wanting to get involve with the developments go to the FreeCAD sourceforge page an contact the developers, I am sure they would love to hear from prospective users and eventual sponsors, letsevo!

Read more about freeCAD at Make and at Solidsmack

I just brought home the book Producing Open Source Software. I am roughly in the middle of it now but I already feel the need to manifest my admiration for it’s teachings. The book, written by Karl Fogel, an open source developer himself, not only exposes the dynamics of open source projects (how things get done and which tools are essential for it) but also, “between the lines”, gives a series of best practices that can be aplyed on any kind of collaborative project.

The book also has arrows, coincidense or sign? =)

Some of it’s teachings regarding the dynamics of the projects are already flowing into our projects. For example, our electric motorcycle frame project, the e.Moped project, now features a Developer Guidelines Page to help future developers find their way into contributing to the project. Another important suggestion from the book and now implemented, is the writing of a mission statement of the project, making it clear for developers and the outside world what the project is trying to accomplish. Also mentioned in the book is the importance having the type of License the project is running on, right on the front page of the project, which seams quite obvious but as the author points out, is often missed in many projects.

The book is opening my eyes to a lot of details on how successful open source software projects are organized and definitely suggest it to anyone interested in not only open source development but the social skills need for successful collaborative work.

In a near future, I will be posting questions that were raised in my head after getting to know more about the process of open source software development. In my opinion, there are a lot of tools missing that would make it possible to fully develop Hardware in the same way that Software is developed. There is already a spark of discussion started by Portuguese designer João Rocha at the forums. It would be nice to hear more voices on this subject.

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We have been hearing that we are all have 3D printers at home in the future and produce our on things. Today, for 750 US Dollars you can buy a Makerbot Kit and start printing your life around. It’s all open source, meaning if you feel like giving it a go and make one yourself, you can download the drawings and go for it. For the more “confy seeking people” for 2500 US Dollars today, you can buy the fully assembled version. I want one.

Buglabs is a tech company that has managed to put a modular gadget concept on the market with which people can use their creativity and build any kind of device they want. It consists of different modules (i.e. Camera, LCD display, GPS, motiontracker) which can be plugged together just like lego bricks. The company offers a place for people to share their creations and contributions to the software code. The company has a wiki section where all CAD files and software code are displayed showing the true spirit of opensource. It is a beautiful project and I hope to be able to try it out!

Buglabs

Check it out!

Today is the offcial start of the e.Moped Design Project. After having talked to some friends about Letsevo’s plans to start a open source project of an electric scooter, the wishes have finally come to reality.

I spent a a couple of hours programming and setting up the space for this project here at Letsevo.

Colaborators are wanted, we need engineers, electrical mechanics, motor developers, test riders, designers….any one wanting to evolve this idea further.

I know this a pretty daring task, to build such a vehicle from scratch. But for me, the wish of some day, be cruising around the neighborhoods on what we built, is much greater than the fear of failling. Not to mention having in the end, collaborated for more clean ways of transporting ourselfs around our planet!

So Let the journey begin!

An Open source CFD program called dolfyn aim to promote the use of numerical simulation Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).The project is an initiative of a Dutch province in the south of the Netherlands (Zuidoost Brabant) with financial support by the European Union.

I haven´t tested it yet . The downloads are free and can work in windows and Linux.