[Discuss] Current status of USB VID/PID for open source hardware?

[David A. Mellis]

Hey all,

This is an important issue and one the OSHWA board is interested in. As a
first step, I thought it would be good to include a discussion of the USB
VID/PID issues in the open-source hardware FAQ and best practices document
on the OSHWA website.

Anyone have any good pointers to existing information on the topic that I
should reference or link to?  Any specific questions / issues you'd like to
see addressed in the write up?

Anyone have any contacts with the USB IF or other relevant parties? We'd
like to work on outreach to them.

David


On Sun, Oct 20, 2013 at 7:47 PM, Andrew Stone <stone at toastedcircuits.com>wrote:

> Squat on VID f055 (get it? :-)).  This will make this VID unassignable and
> is actually better for the consortium than ppl choosing a random VID
> because the other VIDs remain unused.  No one has the legal right to
> control what bits you send over the wire... they can only control your use
> of the usb logo. IANAL IANYL this is not legal advice blah blah...
>
>   Use random pid and your driver can verify the product name string to
> avoid any possible conflicts.
> On Oct 20, 2013 5:52 PM, "Adam Fabio" <afabio at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Everyone,
>> Disclosure - I'm a member of the open source hardware community, and also
>> an author for Hackaday. I'm doing a bit of research for an article about
>> USB VID/PID $5000 cost and open source hardware. Nick Johnson of a Arachnid
>> Labs posted a blog entry about the issue recently, and the reception he
>> received when asking the USB-IF about the issue was cold to say the least.
>> http://www.arachnidlabs.com/blog/2013/10/18/usb-if-no-vid-for-open-source/
>>
>> I know the openMoko project here:
>> http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/USB_Product_IDs is an option.
>>
>> Is OSHWA communicating with the USB-IF on this issue?  If so, what
>> direction are they headed?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Adam Fabio
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> discuss at lists.oshwa.org
>> http://lists.oshwa.org/listinfo/discuss
>>
>>
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