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About Freeduino


Freeduino means:

  • Arduino-compatible: Freeduino began as a collaborative project to publish open-source Arduino-compatible production files. The files that resulted from this project allow users to create boards that are 100% functionally, electrically and physically compatible with Arduino hardware. Over time, Freeduino has come to mean hardware that is "Arduino-compatible".

  • Trademark-free: Freeduino comes with a free and unrestricted license to use the Freeduino name, for any use. Since the name "Arduino" is a protected trademark, branding products as Freeduino allows users to build on the established knowledge and open-source licenses of the Arduino project without having to worry about trademark infringement. This means that you can take the files you find here, make products, brand them as Freeduino and sell them- or do whatever you want with them- without asking. While definitive policies for open-source hardware have not yet been developed, this 'freedom of use' policy is similar to the Open Source Initiative's Open Source Definition.




  • Decentralized hardware design: Freeduino is not developed under a centralized design process: anyone, anywhere, can design and produce a Freeduino product. It's sort of like electronic harware anarchy- or democracy, depending on how you look at it.

    For example: unbeknownst to the Freeduino project, some fine folks in Toronto, Canada downloaded the Freeduino files and modified them to work on DB-9 serial. Now they sell them online! Everyone wins, which is just the way we like it. Click on the image to buy one.

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