Build a hardware product with FOSS tools

Learning by building something is the best way to learn. One of the main reasons for hardware being hard is that the tools that are most commonly used are out of reach for someone who is just starting out. It could be SolidWorks, Altium, Ansys, Keil/IAR, and many more.

So how do you learn by building?! FOSS of course!

In this talk, we are going to go through the process of building a hardware product by using only FOSS tools.

1. KiCad for PCB vs Altium/Eagle
2. FreeCAD/OpenSCAD for 3D vs Solidworks
3. GCC vs Keil/IAR
4. OpenFOAM vs Ansys
5. Zephyr/ESP IDF vs Closed source SDKs
6. Blender/Penpot vs Adobe suite

and more!

We will look at the pitfalls, caveats, and mishaps that can happen when you use FOSS tools - but also talk about the community, openness and the freedom of this approach.