Hacking Hardware using Free Software & GNU/Linux
summary
Argues that reclaiming devices means running free software on them, shows concrete paths: liberatedhardware.org (planned catalog to pick liberatable devices), pinout.dev (interactive pinouts) and examples like running OpenWrt on consumer routers. Describes building an open HDMI→USB FPGA board (Nematalopsis) that remains actively developed, and a shipped appliance (depofix office server) that worked but proved costly to maintain. Recommends two strategies — buy/build bottom up or liberate existing hardware — and using Unix-style pipes and self‑hosted services to glue things together.
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chapters (6)
- 0:00Introduction
- 12:28Why hardware matters
- 21:01Choosing hardware
- 27:42Building communities
- 31:52Free hardware playground
- 34:18Q&A
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