Use of your code

[palmerr23]

Hi,

I occasionally develop projects for the Silicon Chip electronics magazine, as a retirement hobby.

I thought it would be nice to develop a motherboard for sigrok-pico.

• input protection on all digital and analog inputs
• selectable 2.5 , 3.3, 5V logic levels
• AC/DC coupling and some amplification of analog signals. one channel with 1:2:5 switched gain and the others with a simple gain pot.

Would it be OK to use your UF2 file and how-to information as part of the project? Fully acknowledged, of course!

I've attached a rendering of the initial prototype to give you an idea of the approach I'd take. Happy to share details with you, and even send you a PCB, although the magazine will have copyright over the design, so I can't open source it.

Richard

[Tricopetaurus]

I would go a step further and ask if the author of the repo would consider putting a license on this project. With the amount of community attention this has received, something explicit would be helpful. Here's GitHub's docs on licensing, including a link to the choosealicense website that serves a quick primer on popular licenses.

[pico-coder]

I've never had the time to dig through all of the licensing to figure out which one I like.
As long as:

1. You make reference that the board is based on this repo.
   2a) You recommend that uf2 files are downloaded from this github site. (If you want to ship preprogrammed boards with the image on it that's fine too).
   2b) If you create modified versions of the repo, they must be available as open source, preferably on github, and those uf2s should be in another repo.
2. You recommend that users file tickets against this github site. (I don't want the mainline sigrok channels flooded so that the sigrok folks can focus on other more important stuff).
3. You reference https://github.com/pico-coder/sigrok-pico/blob/main/AnalyzerDetails.md as required reading (I tried to support as high a sample rate as possible, but based on user configs it's easy to go faster than the usb bort can handle). The vast majority of issues posted against this repo are people who don't understand the limits of the device/implementation.

Then I'm ok with it.

Agreed that I don't need board specifics, but I'll definitely take a board if you make one.

Someday I'll try to pick the right license. I know for sigrok itself I already had to agree with theirs, but that isn't binding on the device code.

[palmerr23]

Thanks.

I can do all that.

Some of the references will be in the User Manual, where I can make it very clear that the project wouldn't have come about without your firmware.

Agreed that Analyzer Details is required reading for anyone who wants to use the unit.

I don't have any intention at the moment of changing anything in your code. If I were to it would be to add a faster hardware ADC. While 500kHz and 7 bits is OK, 50MHz x 8 or 10 bits would be better. It wouldn't be much effort to write the PIO code, as I have already done some PIO coding for the Arduino-pico I2S driver.

Anyway, If I do, the repo will be properly forked, and open-sourced. responding to the other contributor's comment, I tend to use the GPL 3.0 licence.

We'll make arrangements, offline, to deliver you a PCB once I've got the final prototype done. It's a bit of a pain that Github removed the PM function, but we can always use LinkedIn or some other social to make contact.

Richard

[recursivenomad]

I've never had the time to dig through all of the licensing to figure out which one I like.

@pico-coder Thanks for all your work on this project! I'm interested in incorporating your code as a part of the firmware for a device I am developing; however, since this repository does not have a license, its source code is technically "all rights reserved" and legally prevents reuse in its current state.

I would also recommend choosealicense.com as a resource, it is very approachable. Regarding your point 1 above, nearly any common license you choose will require that derivative works give credit to the original author, so you can consider that covered.

If you are seeking suggestions, I enjoy the simplicity and unrestricted nature of the MIT license. However, your point 2b above may have you lean more towards a GPL license.

A commonly cited downside to GPL is that it forces derivative works to also use the GPL, which can be argued as taking freedom away from developers. A commonly cited downside to MIT is that it permits closed-source derivative works, which can be argued as taking freedom away from downstream users. Certain developers may deliberately avoid reusing GPL code compared to MIT code.

MIT and GPL-family licenses are the most commonly used licenses on GitHub (at least that was the case back in 2015).

[palmerr23]

Thanks Peter,

I've used the MIT licence.

Pleased that you have incorporated my tweaks to your work.

I have some spare, unpopulated boards if you'd like one. I'm not sure how we can share non-public info without a private messaging feature.

Richard

[recursivenomad]

Hi Richard,

My previous message was actually intended for @pico-coder (the owner of the sigrok-pico repository) regarding licensing the firmware they've written here. I was piggy-backing on this thread you had started about code reuse; but I'm glad you've also settled on using the MIT license for your designs 🙂

I appreciate the offer, but I do not have a need for a separate motherboard at this time. @pico-coder did express interest earlier in this thread though, so perhaps they would still like one.

[palmerr23]

Thanks Peter,

I misread the thread and will await a response from pico-coder on their continued desire for a board.

Your post also prompted me to fix up the licences on some of my own repositories.

Richard

[pico-coder]

Yes @palmerr23 (Richard) I'd love to have a board. Can you perhaps email me at the email address in the source code headers and I can forward you an address from there?
Thanks,
Shawn

[palmerr23]

Shawn,

Good to hear from you. The article has just been published in Silicon Chip magazine and I'll also send you a copy.

I looked through the headers and couldn't find your email.

Can you email me at "my github username" at gmail.com, and we'll sort things out.

Richard