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License

Article by Maarten Tromp | Published , updated .

Everything you find on this website is public domain. This means there is no copyright. So feel free to use it for whatever you want.

Exception to this is anything I didn't create myself, since it's not mine to give away. This should be obvious, such as embedded music or pictures of other peoples projects. Where possible a link to the original source is included. Also some of the software and firmware is based on other peoples work which might already be licensed. Obviously the original license still applies to their work.

When in doubt please apply common sense.

In this article:

Background

There are so many licensing possibilities, ranging from copyleft to copyright, from GPL to BSD to Apache to Creative Commons. Some licenses allow commercial use, while some others explicitly forbid this, some allow you to tinker with the contents while others expect something in return. All these license models co-exist, but are incompatible with each other. To be honest, I'm rather fed up with this. While it could be in the best interest of the individual to lock things down, the best for the majority is to share knowledge. So sharing is what I have decided to do. I sincerely hope the contents of this website are of some use to you, either as a good read or as inspiration for a project of your own. I have no problem with commercial use of anything I made. Feel free to download, modify and redistribute it.

Open source hardware

Where possible I use open source hardware myself. All hardware I make is, in its turn, released as open source hardware. This means it comes with schematic diagram, PCB design files, firmware, software, mechanical design files and other design documentation. You are fee to use this as basis for your own project.

Open source software

Where possible I use open source software as well. So all software I make is, in its turn, released as open source software. You are fee to use this as basis for your own project.

Free music

Transcription and self-played music are my own work and released into the public domain. Original music and artwork obviously are copyright by their respective holders.

Public domain dedication (CC0)

The official license is CC0, which is described as follows:

The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighbouring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

For more information on the license visit: Creative Commons.