I have a question about Open Source printers, If a printer is using open source hardware, like the Ramps board, does that mean that the entire printer needs to be open source? Like making available a BOM, and the other design details?
I’m assuming that you are asking about this as if you were to sell this printer. I’m not sure about all the details, but I’m pretty sure most printers out there that are sold with open source hardware are not supplying BOMs and design detail. I could be wrong. I’m actually curious now as well
No, but good luck on Firmware. The license for Marlin states that they do not want you using their firmware in closed-source printers or any printers crippled by a patent. To be quite honest, lots of places ignore the licenses because they figure that they’ll never be gone after due to borders, laws in their country, etc.
But if you actually want to follow the license… Just because you use open hardware doesn’t mean the whole thing has to be open. Just any changes you make to the hardware has to be re-released to the community, etc. It doesn’t affect what it’s used in.
If you’re going to build off of the backs of open source builders, it’s a bit scummy to not release the source for your printer, especially when using RAMPS, Marlin firmware, etc which all make the printer possible in the first place.
As @ThantiK kind of pointed out, you have to look at licensing. not all OSS licenses are the same. Most OSS licenses only are enforceable when you distribute something. In fact, most licenses don’t force you to provide your changes upstream, but require you to provide it to the downstream of your product. Most people might miss that part since the first customer could then republish to the public the contribution and it could be incorporated upstream.
Yea look at what license what ever your building off of uses. The GPL license is pretty open but they have some points that are important to look at.
The wiki pages for the various licenses out there are very helpful.