An open-hardware breakout/converter board for the Cardputer ADV, designed so anyone can build their own — no manufacturing or purchase required.
I can't afford to manufacture and sell these myself, so instead of trying, I'm publishing the full design so anyone can order the PCB and assemble one. The one thing I ask in return is that nobody turns around and sells boards made from this design — see License below.
hardware/gerbers/— Gerber and drill files, ready to send to a PCB fab (JLCPCB, PCBWay, OSH Park, etc.) to order bare boards.docs/— build guide / assembly notes (work in progress).LICENSE— the full license covering everything in this repo.
Note: Right now this repo only contains the exported Gerber files. If you have the original KiCad/EasyEDA/Altium source project, add it under
hardware/source/— publishing the editable source (not just Gerbers) makes it much easier for others to review, fix, and build on your design, and is standard practice for open hardware projects.
- Send the files in
hardware/gerbers/to a PCB fab of your choice to get bare boards made. - Source the parts from the bill of materials (BOM) — add one to
hardware/if you have it. - Assemble by hand or have a local assembly house do it for you.
- Follow
docs/for setup/flashing instructions.
Ordering fabrication of the bare board for yourself, and having a third-party assembly house solder your own board for you, are both fine — that's "making one for yourself." What's not fine is manufacturing boards to sell to other people. See below.
Short version: free to build, use, modify, and share for yourself — not free to sell.
All hardware design files in this repository are licensed under
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
The full text is in LICENSE.
| You CAN | You CANNOT (without written permission) |
|---|---|
| Build/assemble a board for yourself | Sell assembled "Card Converter" boards |
| Modify the design for personal use | Sell bare PCBs manufactured from these files |
| Share copies or your modifications (under the same license, with credit) | Sell kits containing these files or parts derived from them |
| Use it in a classroom, workshop, or personal project | Use the design (as-is or modified) in a commercial product |
| Have a third party fab/assemble a board for you | Charge others to build/assemble boards for them |
If you want to manufacture and sell these boards — including as a small side business — please reach out first. I'm open to discussing a separate commercial license; I just don't want someone doing it without asking.
I'm not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice — just being upfront about what this license realistically does and doesn't do:
- CC BY-NC-SA is a copyright license. It controls copying, redistributing, and creating derivative works from these files. If someone takes this repo (or a modified copy of it) and sells boards made from it, that's a clear license violation I could act on (takedown request, cease-and-desist, etc.).
- It does not stop someone from independently designing a functionally-similar board from scratch without copying your files — copyright doesn't cover the underlying idea/function of a circuit, only the specific expression (the schematic/layout/documentation as authored). Patents, not copyright, are the tool for stopping that, and this project isn't patented.
- CC BY-NC-SA is not an OSHWA-recognized "open source hardware" license, because OSHWA's definition requires allowing commercial use. That's a deliberate tradeoff here: this project is open for anyone to build and learn from, but not "open source" in the strict OSHWA sense.
"Card Converter" refers to this specific design as published by the Author. Forks and derivatives are welcome under the license terms above, but please don't market a modified or independently-sold version under the same name in a way that implies it's the original or official.
Issues and pull requests improving the design, documentation, or build guide are welcome. By contributing, you agree your contribution is licensed under the same CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 terms as the rest of the project.
This design is provided as-is, with no warranty of fitness, safety, or correctness. Build and use at your own risk.