Build your own 3D printer - RepRap

There are many 3D printers that a person can pick up, off the shelf, at your local

electronics or computer shop.  And there are other, 3D printers that one can buy a kit and put it together.

The reason we chose to highlight this 3D printer first, is because it is fully Open Source and has been around the longest.  The Rep Rap can be viewed as the grandfather of home made 3D printers.

No, it's not the most beautiful thing to look at, if one expects to see high gloss, opaque plastic encompassing most of the components and perhaps a nice, clear plastic shield enclosure of the printing mechanism.  But for many, being able to see all the parts, is beautiful in its own way.

Even though it may look daunting, it isn't that difficult to make for anyone who has assembled a constructor set or some of the more elaborate furniture you might come across.  And as a fully functional, 3D printer, the price can be much less than an off the shelf unit.

Build your own Arduino... thingy...

OK, it's time for a little geek fun.  First, we need to introduce you to Arduino.

The simple statement about arduino is it is a micro computer board.

No, you can't plug this into a monitor, keyboard/mouse, and hard drive and use it as a computer.  But it is a very powerful, programmable computer board that can be used to control and automate the types of projects that, until this time, would have been impossible without buying royalty licenses and hundreds of units at a time.

These single board microcontrollers are open source, although many people opt to buy the completed boards.

While looking at one, they may seem either ominous, or like a great, big opportunity, there are very many instructions on how to create things, from the beginner level (knowing very little about this type of thing) to the highly advanced.  For those who aren't quite getting real world ideas of what they are being used for, we will help you with that.

Supporting the Embracing Open Blog

Just a quick note on the new menu page labelled "About/Support Us" that was created giving the following information about the Embracing Open Blog and how people can contribute to and support it.  The following content is located on that page.

Embracing Open is a Blog created by Kevin Rattai as a public service to help people better understand what Open Source is and how people can participate in and enrich their lives by embracing an open source mindset.

Kevin has been working with computer technology since 1981 and has been involved in the Free Software movement since the late '80s and the Open Source movement since the mid '90s.  He has contributed technology related content to local technology publications in the early '90s and has been publishing content on the internet since the mid '90s, of various sorts.

OK, enough of that formal, third person drivel.  :D

Here's the deal.  I have created this blog because I really enjoy and appreciate what Open Source can do not just for the individual, but also for local communities and humanity at large.  I am doing this regardless, but it takes a lot of time and effort to produce great quality content for this blog.  It can take an hour to produce a "standard" article with basic research, but to get more than just an opinion can take days of research.

Also, I would really like to be able to properly research as many of the Open Source projects that will be presented here, which may often mean purchasing some equipment and other materials.  This will help to ensure that any instructions are checked and adjusted to help others make the projects.

So I am asking for the support of Embrace Open's readers to help contribute to making the content provided here, even better, by way of a Paypal donation.

The account used is for 4656416 Manitoba Ltd. which is a shell company that I created in early 2000 for projects like this.  Any donations to the Embrace Open efforts should show up in your paypal account as a donation to Embrace Open Blog, but if not, it will show up as the corporate name.

Using paypal donate allows people to donate any amount they wish, and can be made by any method accepted by paypal, including credit cards.  These donations are one time only, so I would ask people to consider making regular donations at their choosing.  Whether it's $1.00 every month or some amount every quarter or year.  Or even some random amount at some random interval.

Also, there are other ways to help support the Embracing Open Blog:

• Like and follow the Embracing Open Google+ page
• Like the Embracing Open blog
• Share the Embracing Open blog with friends
• Share and like specific articles, there are many share buttons at the bottom of each article
• Comment on articles
• Point us at possible Open Source technology or information that you feel is relevant
• Consider contributing articles
• Subscribe to the Open Source Blog by email or RSS feed

Thank you in advance and I hope you continue to enjoy the articles that are being provided on the Embrace Open Blog.

Is open the new green?

"Green" is generally thought of as an ideology that, "aims to create an environmentalism, social justice, and grassroots democracy."  That's how wikipedia describes it, as a political movement.

Open Source started off as "a social movement with the goal of obtaining and guaranteeing certain freedoms for software users, namely the freedom to run the software, to study and change the software, and to redistribute copies with or without changes." according to the wikipedia article on the Free Software Movement.

While there were many people involved in modifying and sharing programs and codes, what we now point to as the beginning of the "hacker culture", one of the most (in)famous individuals pointed to from that time, is Richard Stallman, who has made it his life journey to promote Free Software.

How did we move from Free Software to Open Source everything?  And is this the new green, or is it just a new word for a philosophy that has been around, since the dawn of time?

Open Source and 3D printing

If you have never heard of 3D printing, imagine a world where you can print 3

dimensional objects.  Objects, generally made out of some plastic, although it can be metal or some powder compound, that may just be of artistic merit, yet may also have some bigger, functional purpose, like a part for a machine.

3D printing is, in a way, the opposite of CNC.  Where CNC takes a large piece of material and whittles it down to a functional piece, 3D printing starts from nothing and, layer upon layer, builds the piece up to the final product.

To many, it might seem like some new, futuristic technology.  Yet 3D printing has been around since at least 1984, with R&D into the technology happening in the late 1970's.  One of the original terms for this process, was "additive process".  But while it may have been around for over 30 years, it is the advent of consumer grade devices that are spurring a huge revolution in manufacturing.

Open Source Standards

So the first thing to say is, when it comes to standards, there is always disagreement.

Why do we have standards in the first place?  Well, it is like a common language.  If a number of people are talking about the same thing, but using different languages, no one will understand each other.  Instructions on how to put something together in one specific language, would be impossible to duplicate by someone who can not understand that instruction.

Of course...  there's certainly an app for that...

But is it a standard app?  Is it an open source app?  Can someone understand how to use the app?  Is there a standard interface which is intuitive and natural and used in all apps?  And...  does it have to comply to a standard?

And...  would everyone agree?

Persuing Open and facing societal conflict

Even before the title of this article can be typed or spoken, a person with any sense about them has to acknowledge that the article is doomed to failure.  There is

nothing that can be said or done that will not result in the harshest of criticism when attempting to deviate from the established norm, fact, truth, etc.  There is always someone who knows more, better, different and therefore all deviant thoughts or efforts should simply cease, even as it is boldly stated that any resultant innovation might be embraced, if it could be proven.

From a sceptic paradigm, both Creationists and Big Bang (or singularity or other similar theory) believers are presenting the same understandings.  That the universe magically sprang into being.  How is it that, thousands of years before big bang theory, people were talking about the universe suddenly appearing?  And why must there have been nothing, before the singularity?  Except perhaps, to explain that we don't know what there was before that supposed event.  It is at least nice to know that, for the time that people have been on earth, we continue to come up with beliefs, theories, proof, and evidence to describe why the world, and the universe, is the way it is.  Yet unfortunately, both religion and science might issue statements on the above questions that would suggest the author simply does not know religion or science anywhere near

well enough to even comment on it, let alone postulate a theory or string any attempt at logic or comparison of the two, polar positions.

Richard Dawkins and Lawrance Krauss, deal with some difficult questions at a joint engagement in Australia, at 0:59:00 of the recording.  There are two distinctly poignant questions at their speaking engagement, the second at 1:04:30 and the last at 1:24:30.  While in answering, some of their approaches and responses were atypical to how certain "authorities" deal with dissenting viewpoints, it appears (although they may argue otherwise) that they conceded a couple of key things.  That there are no "authorities" and that discovery for the sake of learning is paramount.

What is probably the most imperative of the Open movement is (not to question but rather) to make no assumptions based on "authority" or proof.  How can true innovation occur otherwise?

Open source homes

Most people will probably have heard of "barn raising".  A phenomenon that occurred throughout, at least, more civilized times, when the community would get

together to help put up a neighbour’s barn.  Of course, that used to happen with houses, as well.  And we still see this happening in developing countries when groups of people will build homes for the needy, or habitat for humanity will get together to help build houses for the impoverished.

But that's different than an open source house.  At the very root of the idea, is that a house design and method of construction should, of itself, be free to produce, duplicate, and modify as necessary to provide at least general, safe shelter for the future occupants.

Is this a ridiculous idea, or is our idea about our very shelter in some ways contrary to our very liberty?  Could it be our comfort and security, especially with new technologies and methods of creating smart and efficient homes, is held in a situation that ensures these things will remain costly, even though they promote cost savings?  The surprising answer is, "yes".  But why?  And what can we do about it?

Open source farming

Farming.

For some, a romantic imagery of people living off the land, in harmony with nature. 

For others, a completely foreign idea with only vague thoughts of animals and grains

turned into steak and bread.  And for some, an unnatural abuse of creatures and nature.

What ever it is, it remains the core feature of human evolution that anthropologists agree, changed us from hunters / gathers, to the societies we know, today.

Today's agriculture is advanced, so much so that we can create everything that we need to create life giving nutrients in a sterile lab.  Completely foreign from how things used to be.  Does that make it right?  Or wrong?  Or something in between?