I appreciate your taking the time to clarify what you mean here.
I think there is a break down of terms and that is why I asked for clarification.
Free, Free, and open source. There is Free as in Free of Charge. Free as in Freedom to choose. And Open Source witch doesn’t equal free.
Please see the area on -
Doesn’t “open source” just mean something is free of charge?
I have become very involved in working with Linux recently and the Meaning of Open Source.
In a forum I found windows It Guys bashing Linux IT guys over “free”
One guy put it this way - “When we say free - we are talking about Free as in Choice. I am hard pressed to understand why you are against a freedom to choose. I think you are talking abut free as in -No charge”
It is very important that we separate these distinctions. I think it’s important understand the motivations as well.
I also think in this thread there is a miss understanding of terms of use.
From early on someone here posted I would like a space to share files like Thingiverse for our files.
Thingiverse was / is a marketing tool for the Makerbot community. It is not limited to 3D files - It includes Laser and CNC files as well. It is in no way open source. It is an exchange system that was always separated from their software platform. I’m going to go as far as to say the Makerbot was open source and the struggle between being a business and remaining open resulted in a total number of people originally involved totaling zero for many years. It went badly. So badly most people left. The core was sold and part and parcel it is owned by a corporation that answers to shareholders. This by definition means it has a underlining mission that is counter intuitive to the spirit of Thingiverse. I will stop on this note.
B) 3Dwarehouse is not an open source project, nor is Sketchup. Sketch up is not free. The use of Sketchup is not free, it’s use is free under terms of use in very specific circumstances. They are trying not to keep people from using it without paying when it’s for their personal use.
Both of these tools are supported finically by very large companies with very deep pockets.
When I’m able I give money to charity to feed people who can’t afford to feed themselves. I in no way see a direct benefit nor am I looking for one. However that person may someday do better and may become a friend or co-worker. In fact one of my best friends has been homeless more than once.
A good Example of Open Source is Open WRT. Linksys has no free hardware products I’m aware of - by terms of using Open WRT in commercial products they are required under terms of use to publish the changes they make for their use, this allows their users to in turn, tune Open WRT if they have the skill and choose to for their own needs.
I have accomplished many things since joining this group. It has expanded my toolkit. I have created a USB based distribution of linux with Ground Control already setup in it. I hope to release it very soon.
I have rolled a different distribution of linux on the raspberry pi that allows the Pi to act as a remote desktop to the Maslow controller.
I’ve done a great deal of documenting things but not nearly as much as I would like. I’m currently working in 3 similar types of projects like the Maslow and doing very much the same in trying to document all of my work.
Here are some of the challenges I have to making a Free site for distributing files. I am a sole and singular entity with extremely limited income at this time.
Hosting will start off small - as this grows there will be an increasing monthly cost.
Porn - What did he say? I’ve seen a small forum targeted as a porn distribution hub. About 3 attempts a second to create new accounts and spam the site. Fighting this is not an automated task and the cost in time and money can become overwhelming.
Copyright infringement - Their needs to be a mechanism for dealing with complaints or it will be very possible to have a legal cease and desist order shutting down the site faster then it started.
Legal Team - there isn’t one.
Along with all of this is the simple backend of making sure the users are getting the files advertised and not something malicious.
I have the ground work for a very simple system that could be a starting point. I have a way to setup users and upload files. It’s the rest that is needed. I haven’t done any web development since PHP4. I’m not finding working with python and databases very intuitive. I have spoken with an internet expert that told me SQLight is great for small stuff but it will have issues when scaling really large.
I’m looking to be able to keep the lights on when I hit go for this and not just have it out there for a few months. I also want it to be for general CNC and not just Maslow. I think this will allow for more people to use it and more people to back it. The most important thing is this is a sharing site is a hobby not a business.
I’d love others input on this.
Thank you
