Hello,
I like very much the idea of copylefting hardware designs and making it easy for others to make their ideas reality. I have a bunch of ideas related to this, some of which I will try to help with myself. I am not a hardware hacker yet, so I may find a hard time assembling the parts for a particular project. As I said I will try my best to make the software run smoothly. In my text RRUG (or UG) reffers to "RepRap Users Group" and RRRF (or RF) refers to "RepRap Research Foundation".
So, here are my ideas:
* Maintain a STL design files repository with versioning (such as SVN or Bazaar) by RRUG or RRRF level - or both at UG and RF;
* Make human readable instructions on how to assemble the parts (in which format - docbook ?);
* Maintain a bug tracking database for each hardware project (again possible at RRUG or RRRF level);
* Extract from the assembly instructions the quantities for each part, by using some sort of unique code number. Hardware hackers should not bother themselves with maintaining long part lists and their associated quantities and calculate the cost for each - that should be automated;
* Each RRUG should maintain a list of suppliers and parts available in their area. Uploading a list of parts numbers and quantities should present the user with the option to choose between different suppliers to each part;
* Members of a RRUG should have the option to "cluster" their orders, so that different users who ask for common parts can obtain discounts for their orders.
Please note that I may not be up to date with the status of the project/communities, so some of my ideas are likely to be either done or "in the working".
--
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it.", 1971, Alan Kay:
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2008 02:42AM by Bogdan Bivolaru.
