Posted on 01/06/2016 7:59:29 PM PST by Utilizer
Plovdiv, Bulgaria has a long history of design and innovation going back at least 6000 years to cultures like the Thracians, Celts, and Romans. In the last decade it is also an important center for open hardware innovation -- reviving the lost glory of the computer hardware industry from the former "Soviet bloc countries". One of the companies in the region that has thrived is a 5000 square-meter microelectronics factory which you may have heard of before: Olimex.
Olimex has over 25 years of experience in designing, prototyping, and manufacturing printed circuit boards, components, and complete electronic products. Over the last decade it has evolved into a shining example of an open hardware company. We recently had the chance to visited Olimex and to meet its CEO, Tsvetan Usunov.
...
Inspired by the Exclusivity of Raspberry Pi
OSHW became a mission for Tsvetan back in 2012 when he wanted to see and work with the newly announced Raspberry Pi computer (RPi). He describes the scene at the Farnell distributor booth when the RPI foundation showed just two boards and promised to ship them in 16 weeks. This biggest event in embedded technology became a disappointment for him: he was a board manufacturer but couldn't actually source the Broadcom chips found on the RPis and couldn't iterate on the original design.
He decided to create a truly open source Linux mini-computer, which would be cheap, fast, and most importantly, producible anywhere around the world. The result is called "Lime" as a response to RPi. The "fruit" board wars are still ongoing. While the idea of DIY Linux computer-on-board started out from frustration, the individual steps in building it are all small and useful lessons in how to balance pricing, scalability and design and involve the community in the process...
(Excerpt) Read more at hackaday.com ...
And, manufacturing sturdy AK magazines is a cottage industry there too.
Good to know. :)
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they’ve been fabbing circuit boards since ancient times?
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