When it comes to tools, you should be mindful of what it means to use them. Specifically when those tools are the software that you use to design and create your projects. Any “free for xyz use” is a restricted, “non-free” or “non-libre” license. Lots of IDE’s or CAD software’s are “Free to Use for Non-Commercial Use”. $0 to obtain access does not mean you have the freedom to use it as you see fit. JetBrains, Autodesk Fusion360, etc. cost you when you create something that makes you money. This is designed to get you into an ecosystem and not only are you locked into their ecosystem if you create a large project, but most of the big proprietors have hooks that make derivative works licensable after the fact, even if you made them on a free-tier. This is not necessarily a bad thing for people, but when you are creating for your ideas for something other than an educational environment, I would prefer to have full and complete control of my idea.
Seek out software that respects your freedom of creativity and control of your ideas. Software or software licenses that do may not be inherently free to use, and that’s okay!
So what software fits the bill and allows us to create without legal issues?
CAD / Organic Modeling
| Software | Cost | Cloud-based | Parametric or Direct Modeling | Linux | Windows | iOS |
| FreeCad | Free | |||||
| Blender (w/ CAD Sketcher) | Free | |||||
| DesignSpark | $ | |||||
| Ondsel | $* | |||||
| Alibre | $$$ | |||||
| Plastisity | $$ |
IDE’s
| Software | Cost | Linux | Windows | iOS |
| Apache Netbeans | ||||
| Eclipse | ||||
| NotePad++ | ||||
| Visual Studio Code | Free** | |||
| VSCodium*** | Free! | |||
** VS CE can be used for commercial purposes by an individual or in a company which is not an enterprise, where an enterprise is defined as a company either (a) having over 250 PC users in it (b) making over 1 million USD in annual revenue.
*** If you do not want Microsoft trackers and data collecting.
Circuit Design Software
| KiCAD | ||
| LTSpice |
Operating Systems
This one is pretty straight forward but we might as well go over it.
| Windows | iOS | Linux |
| Most People are going to have access to this | I am not a fan but I will make pros and cons here when I can | Free, Open Source, Many distros to choose from, much of the software that is free to use and maintained is going to work with this. |
Personal Computers Laptops, etc.
Up Next: Building a Work Space and Lab
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