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Licensing

pico-serial is copyright the D-Modem Authors.

Firmware (firmware/)

The firmware is available under either of two licences:

  • the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3 only (AGPL-3.0-only), in firmware/COPYING; or
  • a commercial licence from the D-Modem Authors, for uses that cannot meet the AGPL's terms. Neo-Desktop (https://github.com/Neo-Desktop) is the point of contact for commercial licences: ask them for its terms.

This is the same arrangement as the rest of D-Modem. Each source file names its licence on an SPDX-License-Identifier line. This also covers: - the generated firmware/src/generated/board_pins.h; - the firmware CI workflow (.github/workflows/firmware.yml).

Not ours, used by the firmware

  • firmware/pico_sdk_import.cmake is Raspberry Pi's, copied unchanged from the Pico SDK. It is under the BSD-3-Clause licence in its header.
  • Fetched at build time, not in the repository:
  • the Raspberry Pi Pico SDK (BSD-3-Clause), and picotool (BSD-3-Clause), which builds the UF2;
  • TinyUSB (MIT).

A firmware binary links the SDK and TinyUSB. Their copyright notices and licences go with a binary that is shipped. Both combine with the firmware under the AGPL and under the commercial licence alike. - Fetched by the emulator test only: - rp2040js (MIT); - the RP2040 boot ROM image from its repository (Raspberry Pi, BSD-3-Clause).

Hardware (hardware/, SPEC*.md)

The hardware design is available under either of two licences:

  • the CERN Open Hardware Licence Version 2, Strongly Reciprocal (CERN-OHL-S-2.0), in hardware/LICENSE; or
  • a commercial licence from the D-Modem Authors, for uses that cannot meet CERN-OHL-S's terms, such as shipping a product made from a modified design without publishing that design. Ask Neo-Desktop (https://github.com/Neo-Desktop), the point of contact for commercial licences, for its terms.

What it covers

  • the netlist, schematic, PCB and enclosure scripts, and the hardware CI workflow (.github/workflows/hardware.yml);
  • everything they generate:
  • the netlist and parts lists;
  • the KiCad schematic, symbols and PCB, its renders, Gerbers and placement file;
  • the hood's STEP/STL files, board outline and placement rules;
  • the specifications (SPEC.md, SPEC-W.md).

Each source file names its licence on an SPDX-License-Identifier line.

Source Location

The Source Location (CERN-OHL-S-2.0 section 1.9) is https://github.com/D-Modem/hardware.

The repository must be public, and expected to stay reachable for at least three years, before any Product made from the design is given to anyone (section 1.9). It is private as of this writing.

Notice under section 4: a Product made from this design must visibly and securely display that Source Location, and the licence name. This is already done on the original design: - on the PCB silkscreen; - debossed in the hood's underside: github.com/D-Modem/hardware, CERN-OHL-S-2.0.

A modified design must point to its own Source Location instead, and carry a modification notice (section 3.3).

Not ours

hardware/kicad/lib/symbol-cache.sexp, the symbols embedded in the schematic and the footprints embedded in the PCB come from KiCad's official libraries. They are under CC-BY-SA-4.0 with the KiCad libraries' exception, which lets designs use them under any licence. The parts (RP2040, transceivers, connectors and so on) are Available Components in CERN-OHL-S's terms, under their makers' own terms.

Contributions

Contributions can be accepted only under terms that let the D-Modem Authors offer them under all the licences above, so each one comes with the contributor agreement in CONTRIBUTING.md.