hmmm.. that's a good question.
I was kinda under the assumption that the user would be responsible for his own coding (Well at least tweaks and mods) as I'm sure the idea is to have a base Cookie-cutter and from there individuals could tweak to their preference. I think that's what DWMZ and Thz where trying to get at a little earlier in regards to the code being general use.
To be honest this is something we haven't firmly decided on yet. Our vision for the code is basically that the project team will maintain a core firmware that will implement a core set of functionality (likely functionality for the hardware on the board, plus "obvious" extras like relay control). Users will be responsible for development beyond that if they have other functionality in mind. As far as users requesting or implementing changes to the core firmware, I'm sure we'll put something in place but haven't really decided yet. It certainly won't be open to the whole world.
From a philosophical point of view I'm curious as to why use the non-commercial aspect of the CC license.
Basically I don't want someone swooping in and deciding to sell Hydras purely for the money making potential. I want people who are involved with the project to be involved because they're interested in it (either from a contribution standpoint, i.e. helping with development, or from a use standpoint, i.e. building one for their own fish tank), not because they want to make a few bucks.
I understand that commercially manufacturing the board would increase the potential audience, but as far as I'm concerned, the goal of this project is to provide a framework for people who want to build their own controller. I see that as a void in the marketplace. If someone wants to buy an off the shelf controller (even and off the shelf Arduino-based controller) there are plenty of options - I don't think the Hydra really belongs in that segment of the market.
If a contributor to the project is serious about manufacturing/selling Hydras then we can have that discussion offline. Honestly, if the project was going to go down that route, it would probably make sense to redesign the hardware, as we've made a lot of concessions that would impede mass-production to keep it "beginner friendly."
My other question is if someone was going to assemble the boards and sell them, are they able to charge for the time it took to assemble them or would that violate the non-commercial aspect of the license?
In theory, that would violate the terms of the license. But again, I really have no plans of strictly enforcing the license or trying to scare people off of the project. If someone wants to build a few and sell them to their friends who happen to be interested in electronics but aren't confident in their soldering skills, that's totally fine - I am absolutely not going to stop them. (ReefCentral will stop you if you try to do that in this thread, but that's a different matter). But if someone starts soldering up a dozen every weekend and listing them on eBay at a price that's a clear profit over the cost of components, I'm going to be a little upset.
Again, I'm not bringing up the whole licensing issue as a means to scare people or halt their interest in the project. Just trying to help people understand what our intentions are. Our intentions are to get reef keepers interested in hobby electronics, and to provide a project for them to follow if they want to build their own controller. All we're really asking is that if you spread the word about the project (via blog posts, posts on other forums, etc.) that you link back to this thread so people know where the project came from, and that you don't steal the efforts of this team and go try to make a buck off them.
Dustin does your lm317 get pretty hot mine seems to run very hot the controller is running off of it fine should I put a heat sink on it
The heat dissipated in a linear reg is basically equal to the voltage it has to drop times the current it's passing. So if you're sucking 500mA through it and it's dropping 5v, you're asking it to dissipate 2.5w. You can look up the max power dissipation in the datasheet for the particular LM317 you're using as it'll vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and package to package. As long as you're under that limit you are theoretically OK. If you are at or near that limit you definitely want a heatsink if you can fit one.
Another option is to reduce the input voltage, if that's possible. If you ask it to drop less voltage, it'll be dissipating less power.
