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

Tue Nov 5 04:08:19 UTC 2013

I did see Ian's talk at the 2012 summit. Unfortunately the problem has only
gotten worse since then - especially with the cost increase from $2000 to
$5000.

David - Brian Benchoff ended up pulling my research into his article on
hackaday here:
http://hackaday.com/2013/10/22/usb-implementers-forum-says-no-to-open-source/
The main takeaway from what I found is that the USB-IF is managed by the
VTM group (http://www.vtmgroup.com/) a company that manages not for profit
organizations. This is no secret, the VTM group name and logo are listed on
the usb.org pages. It goes against the interest of VTM to help with OSHWA's
goals. I believe The best route of contact would most likely be through the
USB-IF board of directors on http://www.usb.org/about/ or through open
source contacts we already have within the BOD parent companies (Intel, HP,
etc).
That's just my 2 cents.

Thanks,
Adam Fabio

On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 6:06 PM, malcolm stanley <a.malcolm.stanley at gmail.com
> wrote:

> are the 2013 videos up yet?
>
> _________________________________________
> malcolm stanley
>
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>
> On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 11:39 AM, Catarina Mota <catarina at openmaterials.org
> > wrote:
>
>> Yup, here's the video of Ian's talk at the OHS last year:
>> https://vimeo.com/63986266
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 2:37 PM, Mike Hord <mike.hord at sparkfun.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Ian from Dangerous Prototypes gave a very insightful presentation about
>>> the nightmares involved in this at the 2012 OHS.
>>>
>>>
>>> http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/10/03/open-hardware-summit-2012-usb-and-open-hardware-presentation/
>>>
>>> Mike
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 12:34 PM, David A. Mellis <dam at mellis.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> 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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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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