Licence

[eslavko]

Hello...

I just stumbled how to legal sell few units with VUSB stack.
The one option I see is to publish all the doccumentation. But I don't like to do that.
The other is to buy licence for 199Eur. Little expensive as I expect 5 to 10 device to be selled.
Do I have some other options?

If I publish schematic and firmware source, Do I need to publish source for PC too? In PC side there is no driver needed. The device is HID.

[Daid]

The license doesn't cover the PC side. The license also doesn't cover the schematics as far as I know. It only covers the microcontroller code.

Just publish the source and have no fear. Many projects sell open source products, arduino being one of the major visible projects. And with only 8-10 customers, how large do you see the odds of someone trying to rip you off? They might even give you firmware improvements for free

[eslavko]

The license doesn't cover the PC side. The license also doesn't cover the schematics as far as I know. It only covers the microcontroller code.

Just publish the source and have no fear. Many projects sell open source products, arduino being one of the major visible projects. And with only 8-10 customers, how large do you see the odds of someone trying to rip you off? They might even give you firmware improvements for free

If licence not cover PC side then that's great.
For schematic's its clear that's only 'recomended' and if I understand GPL licence clearly if I make project with some GPL stuff I need to share that change on request.
And saddly that 8-10 people just wait to rip someone.

[Daid]

I'm not a lawyer, so if you want to be 100% sure then consult one.

But GPL is not that hard to read, just try to read if. It's quite simple, with the binary (in any form, so also as firmware in a device) you need to give the source-code, or a way to give the source code. A simple text file say "email a@b.com for the source-code" would be enough (if you really email the source-code then).

Also, GPL infects. Any source coming on contact with GPL code also needs to be GPL. So if you use an LCD library with V-USB for example, then you also need to put that under GPL.

[eslavko]

Also, GPL infects. Any source coming on contact with GPL code also needs to be GPL. So if you use an LCD library with V-USB for example, then you also need to put that under GPL.

Just that part is unclear to me. I understand that all stuff in AVR (Firmware) must be released as source. But I'm not shure about PC side. The device act as HID so no driver is nedeed in PC side, but what about the software that reads that data?

[Daid]

Also, GPL infects. Any source coming on contact with GPL code also needs to be GPL. So if you use an LCD library with V-USB for example, then you also need to put that under GPL.

Just that part is unclear to me. I understand that all stuff in AVR (Firmware) must be released as source. But I'm not shure about PC side. The device act as HID so no driver is nedeed in PC side, but what about the software that reads that data?

GPL is not that infecting. GPL covers a binary, and the binary is just the firmware for the AVR.

(Actually, GPL also covers "dynamic linking" with the binary, but with AVR firmware that's not the case)

To give you an good example, drivers in the Linux kernel. They need to be open sourced, because the kernel is GPL. But if the driver communicates with a firmware device then that firmware device doesn't have to be open source.