Live a more sustainable and economical life using open-source technology!
Designed for beginning hobbyists and makers, this engaging guide is filled with ways to save money by making use of free and open-source technologies on a wide and impressive range of products. Written by a leader in the field of open-source technology, the book reveals the potential of at-home manufacturing and recycling projects―and even how to score free big-ticket items, including housing and electricity. All the projects have big money saving in mind, but also big fun!
Create, Share, and Save Money Using Open-Source Projects written by Joshua Pearce, lays out the many ways in which you can employ these resources on a small scale to live a more economical and sustainable lifestyle. You’ll find tons of DIY projects that demonstrate how to use open-source software and hardware to save money on:
- Digital photographs and videos
- Music, software, and instruments
- Scientific equipment
- Paper and audio books
- Maps and GIS data
- Patterns for clothing
- Security systems
- Cars
- Electricity and much more.
1. Introduction to the Open Source Philosophy and The Benefits of Sharing
- Pexels - free stock photos & videos shared by talented creators
- Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia
- Wikimedia Commons -media file repository making available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content
- Appropedia - developing knowledge to build rich, sustainable lives
- LibreOffice - free and powerful office suite
- Free Ebooks - Thousands Of Free Books
- Audacity - A free multi-track audio editor and recorder
- Librivox- Free public domain audiobooks
- Scribus - Open source desktop publishing
- Free Kids Books
- Krita - a professional FREE and open source painting program
- Deviant Art - The world's largest art community
- FREE MUSIC ARCHIVE - Free music and royalty-free music
- Blender - A free and open source 3D creation suite
- AliceVision - Photogrammetric Computer Vision Framework
- YouMagine - Free 3D designs.
- DLT1 - a Linux Tablet
- Makers - Free ebook
- FreeSewing - blog on making masks
- Helpful An international social impact community dedicated to solving global challenges
- A review of open source ventilators for COVID-19 and future pandemics
- Prusa COVID - 3D PRINTED FACE SHIELDS FOR MEDICS AND PROFESSIONALS
- Wired’s Chris Anderson: Today’s ‘Maker Movement’ Is The New Industrial Revolution (TCTV)
2. Making and Sharing Recipes, Life Hacks, and Household Tricks
- Food.com - Free recipes
- All Recipes - Free recipes
- Life Hack
- Reddits life hacks
- Instructables - A community for people who like to make things.
- uBlock Origin - An open source wide spectrum blocker
- Ad Block Plus - An open source ad blocker
- Privacy Badger Automatically learns to block invisible trackers.
- Guacamole My Way
- Open Source Solarpad Kit Solar USB Charger
- Energy Conservation with Open Source Ad Blockers
3. Making and Sharing Digital Photographs, Open Source Camera
- Pixabay - Free images & royalty free stock photos
- Pexels - Free stock photos & videos
- Public Domain Pictures
- digiCamControl - An innovative and easy to use solution for complex camera control
- GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) Free and open source image editor
- Elphel A technology company doing research and development in the field of high-performance digital cameras, image processing, 3D imaging and machine learning
- GNU General Public License
- CERN Open Hardware Licence
- Meshroom A free, open-source 3D Reconstruction Software based on the AliceVision framework
- OpenMV - open source machine vision
- Arduino - An open-source electronics platform
- OpenCV Open source computer vision
- Colorized version of Great Depression photo "Migrant Mother" by Dorothea Lange.
- Open Source Photogrammetry with Meshroom
- Forum: Open Source Photogrammetry with Meshroom
- YouTube
- VK
- Tublr
- Google Plus (now Currents)
- Flickr
- Meetup
- Ask.fm
- Life Journal
- My Space
4. Making and Sharing Art, Krita
- Deviant Art - The world's largest art community
- Open Gaming Art
- CG Society
- Free SVG - SVG images with CC0 public domain license
- Blender - A free and open source 3D creation suite
- Sintel
- Tux Paint - Open source drawing software for children
- Krita - a professional free and open source painting program
- Krita interview with Jack the Vulture
- Pepper & Carrot - A free(libre) and open-source webcomic
- Synfig Studio -Open-source 2D Animation Software
- Morevna Project Open-source animation
- MonkeyJam A digital pencil test and sto pmotion animation program
- Inkscape - A free and open source vector graphics editor
- GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) - Free and open source image editor
- David Revoy - Open source French Artist
5. Making and Sharing Music, Software and Instruments
- Free Music Archive - Free music and royalty-free music
- Tribe of Noise - A global community of tens of thousands of independent musician
- Funk Whale- Social platform to enjoy and share music
- Audacity - A free multi-track audio editor and recorder
- LMMS - A free, cross-platform tool for your computer
- Qtractor -An Audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer application
- Jack - Audio Connection Kit
- Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA - Audio and MIDI
- MuseScore - Create, play and print sheet music
- Rosegarden - A music composition and editing environment
- Sonerezh - A self-hosted, web-based audio streaming application allowing you to access your music from anywhere, using any web browser
- SparkPunk Sound Kit
- Hova Instruments - Open source, 3D printable acoustic instruments for all
- OpenFab PDX - Modular Fiddle is an open source and upgradeable 3D printed violin
- All 3DP's Best guitars
- Instructables - A community for people who like to make things
- Guitarix - is a virtual guitar amplifier
- Ardour - Software to record, edit, mix and master audio and MIDI projects
- Qsynth - a fluidsynth GUI front-end
- Ten Steps Used To Make Steel Pans (Steel Drums)
- ShapeShifter - Open source drum machine
- Hydrogen Music - Advanced drum machine
- 3D Printable Trumpet
- How to Make a Bamboo Didgeridoo
- How to Make a Flute Out of Wood
- Making simple PVC flutes
- How to Make a Piccolo Instrument
- Crafting Native American Flutes
- Native American Sparrow Hawk Flute
- Open source saxophone project
- Build your own real theremin
- EQ-1 Headphones (Formerly the Duli)
- HR Giger Guitar
- Making the Spielatron (Robotic Glockenspiel)
- Build your own real theremin
6. Scanning, Making Paper and Audio Books and Sharing Books
- Linux Mint - One of the most popular desktop Linux distributions
- LibreOffice - A free and powerful office suite
- Scribus - A page layout program for desktop publishing
- LaTeX – A document preparation system
- Audacity - A free multi-track audio editor and recorder
- LibriVox - Free public domain audiobooks
- Europeana - Discover inspiring cultural heritage from European museums, galleries, libraries and archives
- Digital Public Library of America
- The Internet Archive Freely downloadable books and texts.
- The Online Books Page at the U. of Pennsylvania
- Open Library
- Google Books
- DailyLit - Lets you read literary classics and great new fiction in short instalments that you can pick up and put down anytime
- Project Gutenberg A library of over 60,000 free eBooks
- Many Books Free ebooks
- Librivox - Free public domain audiobooks
- The Literature Network - Free ebooks
- Loyal Books - Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads
- Wolne Lektury Free ebooks
- Questia - Public domain, classic and rare books
- Feedbooks - free ebooks
- Open Culture - Books, movies, audiobooks, courses, etc.
- POnly Classic reader
- The Online Library of Liberty - focused on individual liberty and free markets
- Standard Ebooks
- Loud Lit
- PROJEKTI LÖNNROT
- Authorama
- Legamus
- Classic Literature Library
- Great Books and Classics
- Planet Publish - Free PDF eBooks Archive
- Classical Chinese Literature
- Christian Classics
- O'Reilly - Open Books
- Free E-Books
- Free Kids Books
- Makers
- Do Bad Things Happen When Works Enter the Public Domain?: Empirical Tests of Copyright Term Extension
- Why free ebooks should be part of the plot for writers
- Bargain-Price Book Scanner From a Cardboard Box
- Author Cory Doctorow Talks Tech, Trotsky, What He's Reading, and Why He's Giving Away His Books For Free
- Document Book Scanner for Cell Phone
7. Making, Editing, and Sharing Videos
- Apertus - Axiom camera
- Open Cine
- Kdenlive - OS video editor
- OpenShot - Video Editor
- Blender - Free and open source 3D creation suite
- Blender Reference Manual
- LiVES - VJ and Video Editing system
- Shotcut - A free, open source, cross-platform video editor
- Flowblade - A multitrack non-linear video editor
- Avidemux - A free video editor
- NATRON - Open Source Compositing Software For VFX and Motion Graphics
- Internet Archive - Community Video
- Prelinger Archives
- Beachfront B-Roll
- Pixabay - Free stock video footage & clips
- Flickr - Commercial used allowed
- Free Stock Footage
- Videvo - Free Stock Video Footage
- ESO Images
- NASA Gallery
- Open Images
- Kremlin images
- YouTube
- Vimeo
- Vimeo Creative Commons
- AXIOM Beta Overview
- Spring - A poetic fantasy film
- American kids would much rather be YouTubers than astronauts
8. Making and Sharing Maps and GIS Data
- OpenStreetMap
- OpenDroneMap
- DIY Drones
- ArduPilot
- PixHawk - The open standards for drone hardware
- PX4- Open source autopilot designed for scale
- Drone Code
- Flone
- Arduino GPS projects
- Open Map Tiles
- Traccar - Modern GPS Tracking Platform
- Track It!
- Open GPS Tracking System
- Aweigh
- ArcGIS
- GeoNetwork
- Global Map data archives
- NASA Earth Observations
- NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (sedac)
- Natural Earth
- GIS Geography- OpenStreetMap Data: How to Download Crowd-Sourced OSM Data
- Copernicus Open Access Hub
- IPUMS Terra Integrates population and environmental data
- United Nations Environment Programme - environment for development
- USGS Earth Explorer
- Geographic Resources Analysis Support System (GRASS)GIS
- OS GEO - The Open Source Geospatial Foundation
- QGIS - A Free and Open Source Geographic Information System
- QGIS Screenshots
- Flone 1.0
- Pi in the sky: High altitude ballooning with Raspberry Pi
- Aweigh book
- An open source simulation of photovoltaic yield with r.sun over large regions
- Twelve Million Phones, One Dataset, Zero Privacy
9. Making and Sharing Clothing: Patterns for Sewing and Knitting
- FreeSewing - Sewing patterns
- Mood’s collection of Basic Patterns
- All Free Sewing
- OpenWrt - Linux operating system targeting embedded devices
- Open Source Footwear
- Ink/Stitch -An open source machine embroidery design platform based on Inkscape
- Silver Seams - Free patterns
- Ink Stitch - Self-Made Embroidery Machine (Running on G-Code)
- Seamly OS pattern design software
- Valentina - open source pattern drafting software
- OpenKnit - Open source digital knitting
- Do Knit Yourself
- Knitic - Software for open hardware knitting machine
- Craft Passion - Face Mask Sewing Pattern
- Free Sewing Github page
- How to Sew the BurdaStyle Short Jumpsuit
- Burda Style Sewing Patterns
- Chaussures à talons - High heels shoes
- Wu Ying Shoes- Pentesting Platform Shoes
- Openknit -A Reprap-inspired open source knitting machine
- Open Source... Sewing?
- Burda Style Community
10. Making and Sharing Woodworking and Other Old School Skills
- Ikea Hacks
- 122 DIY Recycled Wooden Pallet Projects and Ideas for Furniture and Garden
- Chair
- Ponoko
- OpenDesk
- Open Source Wood Initiative
- Sweet Home 3D - A free interior design application
- Wall-mounted Work Desk/chalkboard
- KNUFF Transformable Coffee Table
- Open Desk Lift Standing Desk
- Atfab Silver Lining Bed
- Sponge
- Open CNC Furniture
- Opendesk — what is non-commercial use?
- Open-Source Woodworking
11. Making and Sharing Electronics: Open Source PCB Mills, Arduino & Security
• https://www.arduino.cc/ • https://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/Libraries • http://www.ladyada.net/learn/arduino/ • http://shieldlist.org/ • http://opencircuitinstitute.org/ • https://www.open-electronics.org/ • https://ohwr.org/welcome • http://www.opencircuits.com/Projects • https://www.hackster.io/ • https://www.codemade.io/ • https://hackaday.com/ • https://kitspace.org/ • https://www.sparkfun.com/ • https://www.adafruit.com/ • https://tinycircuits.com/ • https://www.seeedstudio.com/ • https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-solder/ • https://kicad-pcb.org/ • https://fritzing.org/home/ • https://oshpark.com/ • https://www.seeedstudio.com/fusion.html • https://aisler.net/partners/fritzing • https://jlcpcb.com/ • https://sourceforge.net/projects/pcb2gcode/ • https://openbuilds.com/ • https://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Laser-Harp-1/ • http://diymakers.es/wall-e/ • https://www.instructables.com/id/The-Magic-Mirror/ • https://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Segway/ • https://www.appropedia.org/File:Os-pcb.png • https://www.appropedia.org/File:OScircuitmill.png • https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/RPJ-09-2014-0113/full/html • https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-10-04/the-big-hack-how-china-used-a-tiny-chip-to-infiltrate-america-s-top-companies • https://www.itprotoday.com/iot/survey-shows-linux-top-operating-system-internet-things-devices • https://www.serverwatch.com/server-news/linux-foundation-on-track-for-best-year-ever-as-open-source-dominates.html • https://www.infoworld.com/article/2985242/why-is-open-source-software-more-secure.html • https://www.mdpi.com/2411-5134/3/3/64 • https://www.zdnet.com/article/supercomputers-all-linux-all-the-time/ • https://www.wired.com/story/using-open-source-designs-to-create-more-specialized-chips/ • https://doi.org/10.23919/FRUCT.2017.8250205
12. Making and Sharing Digital At-Home Manufacturing
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX-wiE3oItg • https://www.yeggi.com/ • https://libre3d.com/ • https://www.thingiverse.com/ • https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1673030 • http://www.openscad.org/ • https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:470007 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqNxYHWpYko • https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-nordic-skate-skiing-waxing-rack-28893 • https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7985 • https://www.appropedia.org/Recyclebot • https://www.freecadweb.org/ • http://axrap.blogspot.com/ • https://openbuilds.com/threads/openbuilds-table-top-50w-co2-laser-cutter-engraver.14364/ • https://github.com/nortd/lasersaur/wiki • http://laserduo.com/ • http://diylilcnc.org/ • https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3004773 • https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3064287 • https://github.com/MaslowCNC/Maslow-Create • http://maslowcommunitygarden.org/ • https://reprap.org/wiki/Printable_part_sources • http://3axis.co/ • https://cncgcode.weebly.com/ • https://cncart.club/ • https://www.dxfforcnc.com/collections/free-dxf-files • https://www.designshop.com/search/free-cnc-patterns.html • https://dxf1.com/ • https://www.freepatternsarea.com/ • https://lovesvg.com/free-svg-cut-files/ • http://mydxf.blogspot.com/ • https://obrary.com/collections/open-designs • https://www.ponoko.com/free-laser-cutting-files-templates • https://www.scan2cad.com/free-downloads/dxf • https://www.signtorch.com/store/Free-Vector-DXF-Art-Samples • https://www.visionengravers.com/support/vision-graphics-download.html • https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap_Machines • https://www.appropedia.org/Athena_II_Laser_Engraver_mod • https://www.instructables.com/id/Convert-Any-3D-Printer-to-Laser-Engraver/ • https://www.instructables.com/id/Convert-Any-3D-Printer-to-Laser-Engraver/ • http://www.laserduo.com/ • https://openbuilds.com/builds/openbuilds-minimill.5087/ • https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:724999 • https://www.maslowcnc.com/ • https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7080/5/3/45/htm • https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/elegant-card-with-laser-cut-gold-detail_1163689.htm • https://reprap.org/wiki/Wealth_Without_Money • https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3417/3/4/89 • https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7080/5/1/7 • http://nlc1.nlc.state.ne.us/epubs/creativecommons/3DPrintingPaperPublicKnowledge.pdf
13. Making and Sharing Scientific Equipment
• https://www.appropedia.org/Open-source_Lab • https://3dprint.nih.gov/ • https://www.appropedia.org/Open-source_Lab • https://www.appropedia.org/Open_Source_Laser_Polymer_Welding_System:_Design_and_Characterization_of_Linear_Low-Density_Polyethylene_Multilayer_Welds • https://www.appropedia.org/Open-Source_Automated_Mapping_Four-Point_Probe • https://www.appropedia.org/Open-source_3-D_Platform_for_Low-cost_Scientific_Instrument_Ecosystem • https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:79430 • https://www.mdpi.com/2411-9660/2/2/11 • https://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2010/02/evolution-of-teaching-science.html • http://openlabtools.eng.cam.ac.uk/ • https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/2013menu_tables.asp
14. Making and Sharing Data as a Citizen Scientist
• http://www.projectsoothe.com/ • https://www.zooniverse.org/ • https://www.citizenscience.gov/# • https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ • http://www.citizenscience.us/imp/ • https://eyewire.org/explore • https://www.nasa.gov/solve/index.html • https://cosmoquest.org/x/science/moon/ • https://aurorasaurus.org/ • https://www.asteroidmission.org/ • https://maps.nccs.nasa.gov/arcgis/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=824ea5864ec8423fb985b33ee6bc05b7 • https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/panthera-research/camera-catalogue/classify • https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ • https://cosmoquest.org/x/science/moon/ • https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/map-power-reactors.html • https://www.appropedia.org/Open-source_colorimeter • https://www.appropedia.org/Open-Source_Photometric_System_for_Enzymatic_Nitrate_Quantification • https://hackaday.com/2012/01/15/turn-your-camera-phone-into-a-geiger-counter/ • https://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2013/5033/ • https://www.southernstudies.org/images/sitepieces/ThompsonTMIassessment.pdf • https://www.epa.gov/adminweb/multimedia/newscontent/2015-2-12-ow/index.html • http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/03/you-can-view-official-epa-radiation-readings.html
15. Making and Sharing Waste Recycling: RecycleBots
• Recyclebot- waste plastic extruder to make 3D printing filament • https://www.wasteforlife.org/ • https://preciousplastic.com/ • https://www.opensourceecology.org/ • https://www.pexels.com/photo/plastic-recycling-chart-237535/ • https://www.appropedia.org/File:Recyclebotrep.png • https://www.appropedia.org/File:Gigarecycle.png • https://www.appropedia.org/File:OSpellets.JPG • https://www.appropedia.org/File:Recycledabs.jpg • https://www.appropedia.org/File:Kayak3dp.jpg • https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/30/warren-buffetts-breakfast-never-costs-more-than-317.html • https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-07/documents/2015_smm_msw_factsheet_07242018_fnl_508_002.pdf • https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1702/4/1/3 • https://forestprodjournals.org/doi/10.13073/FPJ-D-17-00042 • https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7080/7/4/74 • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067218300208?via%3Dihub • https://www.mdpi.com/2313-4321/2/2/10
16. Making and Sharing Big Free Stuff: Open Source Cars, Free Electricity, Open Building Institute, & Open Source Ecology
• https://localmotors.com/ • https://www.openevse.com/ • http://openxcplatform.com/ • https://github.com/NREL/SAM • https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/ • https://www.openbuildinginstitute.org/ • https://www.opensourceecology.org/ • https://www.flickr.com/photos/christopherblizzard/5741142315/in/photostream/ • https://www.appropedia.org/High-Efficiency_Solar-Powered_3-D_Printers_for_Sustainable_Development • https://www.openbuildinginstitute.org/how-it-works/ • https://www.openbuildinginstitute.org/buildings/ • https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/ • https://opensourceecology.dozuki.com/c/LifeTrac • https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Mini-Solar-Car-14kph-Ultrafast-Toy/ • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0973082612000439?via%3Dihub • https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1702/4/1/3 • https://ieefa.org/irena-renewables-now-the-lowest-cost-power-source-in-most-of-the-world/ • https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150217/06182930052/elon-musk-clarifies-that-teslas-patents-really-are-free-investor-absolutely-freaks-out.shtml • https://www.tesla.com/blog/all-our-patent-are-belong-you • https://sam.nrel.gov/about-sam/sam-open-source.html • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067218300610?via%3Dihub • https://opensourcelowtech.org/wind_turbine.html • https://www.mdpi.com/2411-9660/1/2/9 • https://www.tesla.com/about/legal • https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-open-source-car/ • https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/04/solar-power-renewables-international-energy-agency • https://www.mdpi.com/2313-4321/2/2/10
17. How to Make a Million Dollars of Value
• http://www.openscad.org/ • https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap • https://www.appropedia.org/Open-source_syringe_pump • https://www.raspberrypi.org/ • https://www.appropedia.org/Open-source_syringe_pump • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067219300471?via%3Dihub • https://www.appropedia.org/File:Compound_Bow_Balancer_Assembled.jpg • https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-106708 • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067219300471?via%3Dihub • https://www.managingip.com/article/b1kc23vmh3yb0b/the-value-of-an-open-source-dividend • https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7080/5/1/7 • https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7080/5/3/45
18. Making the Future of Sharing
- Criminal Code of Finland in English
- Sponsored Libre Research Agreements to Create Free and Open Source Software and Hardware
- Richard Stallman -- On "Free Hardware"
- Free Hardware and Free Hardware Designs by RMS