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How to publish OSHW schematics

Former Member

I'm in the process of finalizing the designs for an open source hardware project (a pressure sensitive iPad stylus, see http://facebook.com/pressurepen ), and I'm at the point where I want to publish and share the various designs. I have 3D models on Thingiverse and Shapeways, and the app source is on Github. How and where should I publish the circuit diagrams and the files for the circuit board?

 

I imagine a standard format for the PCB files would be Eagle, but I think I'd like to publish the circuit diagram or schematic as well, so someone could design their own PCB based on it. Is there a standard format and repository for such things?

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    I'd suggest that Eagle is not a standard format. Which cad package does someone use, Eagle, Kicad, gEDA, Altium, Mentor, ZenitPCB, TinyCad, Proteus ?  The common theme is that when you go to get a board manufactured, the fab will want Gerber files.

     

    So what do you do ?  Not all cad packages let you import and edit gerber files, but the format used by an individual package is likely limited to that package alone.  There's no correct answer.

     

    However, my thoughts are that if you're going for the "Open Source Hardware" model then using an Open Source cad package is maybe the best way as that gives you some assurance that your design will remain open and accessible should a commercial package disappear or change it's file format without keeping backward compatibility.

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    I'd suggest that Eagle is not a standard format. Which cad package does someone use, Eagle, Kicad, gEDA, Altium, Mentor, ZenitPCB, TinyCad, Proteus ?  The common theme is that when you go to get a board manufactured, the fab will want Gerber files.

     

    So what do you do ?  Not all cad packages let you import and edit gerber files, but the format used by an individual package is likely limited to that package alone.  There's no correct answer.

     

    However, my thoughts are that if you're going for the "Open Source Hardware" model then using an Open Source cad package is maybe the best way as that gives you some assurance that your design will remain open and accessible should a commercial package disappear or change it's file format without keeping backward compatibility.

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