swerv_eh1 VS Labrador

Western Digital announced an open source core ("SweRV") in 2019, so I assume they already use them now that we are a few years on from that announcement.

https://github.com/westerndigitalcorporation/swerv_eh1

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25002448

It's confusing that RISC-V is so often describes as "open source". The specs (ISA + extensions) are open and free from patents (at least as far as we know). There are a large number of open source implementations available. Many of these, however, implement only a simple microcontroller-style RV32I core.

The cores available in "large" physical chips you can buy today (XuanTie C906 on the Allwinner D1 SoC, SiFive U54/74 e.g. on the BeagleV and HiFive Unmatched) are proprietary. I think one of the few companies that open sourced their commercially used cores is Western Digital ("swerv" cores - https://github.com/westerndigitalcorporation/swerv_eh1), but these are also RV32I microcontroller-class CPUs.

There is a lot of open hardware.

See e.g.

https://ohwr.org/, https://opencores.org/

or https://github.com/westerndigitalcorporation/swerv_eh1_fpga https://github.com/westerndigitalcorporation/swerv_eh1

I launched a crowdfunded product back in 2017 that has kept going for the past 5 years, and I've never had this problem at all.

Random people email me all the time (at least 3-5 times per week, even now) with information about bugs/feature requests, or just to say hi/thanks and show off their projects made with it.

Comparing my site (https://espotek.com) to yours, yours is much more "corporate" looking and doesn't explicitly invite contact.

I've seen other people advertising their CRMs and whatever in the comments, but perhaps it's just as simple as openly acknowledging that you're one guy, the business is your personal project and people shouldn't hesitate to contact you.

There also is the Labrador [1] which you can get for $30 just the board so need to get your own clips and bnc connectors etc and print a housing from thingverse. I got one for somebody for Christmas so need to get the feedback but sounds like a versatile little box.

[1] https://github.com/EspoTek/Labrador

>It's just very hard to sustain a business on one-off low volume hardware sales so the prices on the official site are relatively high compared to BOM (but perfectly reasonable and necessary to sustain further R&D).

I run a low-volume open source hardware business[1] and honestly don't buy this argument at all.

So many OSHW businesses have absolutely woeful logistics that treats every single person outside of the US (or occasionally EU) as an afterthought.

This both what drives up the cost and pisses people off enough to create a sustainable business model for the boys in Shenzhen.

People aren't going to support your business if you ask insultingly high shipping prices or are constantly out of stock.

[1]https://espotek.com

Holy shit I LOVE the Labrador, it's the most useful thing I have. Guys, if you're into electronics at all, buy one right now (https://github.com/EspoTek/Labrador/), it's amazing and only $30.

Also I'd say I'm sorry about the comment but that would imply I've changed but I'm still a sarcastic asshole. I'm working on it though.

AussieWog, bonus points for humility:

This thread is about Eurorack products, and you happen to sell a pretty sweet looking low-cost oscilloscope

https://espotek.com/

But I recently ordered a labrador from https://espotek.com/ which seems more promising (while still cheap).

I have personally contributed to Labrador and The Powder Toy. They were both quite friendly.

I open-sourced my commercial USB oscilloscope design (https://github.com/EspoTek/Labrador) after doing a bit of research into boards targeted at electronics hobbyists and crowdfunded by individuals or small teams.

Invariably, a community didn't form around the closed-source boards and they died.

A lot of people asked me what I'm doing to protect my IP from being "stolen".