henk ✅Nov 20

"Qualcomm-owned #Arduino quietly pushed a sweeping rewrite of its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and the changes mark a clear break from the open-hardware ethos that built the platform."

(source: Adafruit https://www.linkedin.com/posts/adafruit_opensource-privacy-techpolicy-activity-7396903362237054976-r14H)

Oh boy, that was fast! Somehow we need to find more future-proof models for open-source hardware. Letting the market do its thing is showing its true colors once again. Pure evil! 👿

#opensource #hardware #fablab #makerspace #electronics

Show threadBonkersNov 20
@henk it just means that we stick to the pre-qualcomm hardware which was cloned by hundreds of makers, and choose some other architecture for new hardware. Raspberry pi, for example.
Show threadShutterBuggedNov 20
@bonkers @henk I'm less concerned about the hardware and more about the IDE which Arduino provide as well as it's cloud-connected package manager for software libraries. Boards have been cloned forever but the IDE has remained a constant.
Show threadBonkersNov 20
@developing_agent @henk it just means, we need to build a true FOSS IDE.
Show threadShutterBuggedNov 21
@bonkers @henk If only arduino's "build system" weren't a lovecraftian nightmare of header files, java tooling, custom compiler patches, and god knows what else. Practically every "alternative" involves having a copy of the arduino IDE on disk somewhere. I don't know if anyone over the last couple decades has had the wherewithal to try to re-implement the accursed thing.
Show threadBonkersNov 21
@developing_agent @henk it could be something completely different, like Rust. I wrote my first rp2040 firmware in Rust, and it's a nice experience. Of course, at the cost of learning a new language.
Show threadShutterBuggedNov 21
@bonkers @henk Rust is definitely not beginner friendly. Arduino only got away with C++ because they used the smallest possible subset of the language, to the point where it might have well been a custom-written DSL.
Show threadShutterBuggedNov 21
@bonkers @henk Compatibility with the huge number of existing arduino libraries for various chips and peripherals is also a pretty important asset. I've been looking for a rust library for the MAX3421E and the rust support is basically nonexistant. Arduino libraries meanwhile support nearly a dozen USB device classes including android debug bridge.
Show threadjarkmanNov 21
@developing_agent @bonkers @henk Agreed. The libraries are where the value is.
Show threadBonkersNov 21

@jarkman @developing_agent @henk

The IDE is under the Gnu license, so we are free to fork and maintain our own version

https://github.com/arduino/arduino-ide

GitHub - arduino/arduino-ide: Arduino IDE 2.x

Arduino IDE 2.x. Contribute to arduino/arduino-ide development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Show threadShutterBugged
@bonkers @jarkman @henk Yes, but what of the cloud backend that the IDE's library manager fetches from? apt/yum/etc are useless without a package index to pull from. Those libraries are where most of the value is. (It merely happens to be a requirement to be compatible with arduino's garbage build system to use them)
Nov 21 at 3:03pmWeb
Show threadBonkersNov 21
@developing_agent @jarkman @henk I guess, we can port it too. I actually never used the IDE, as Arduino-cli is superior.