Open hardware, what is what

[hesa]

At least I am (still) confused about things like openrisc, risc-v and serv and they compare to proprietary hardware. What does a license mean in this context and what relevance does the license, and indeed the hardware, have to normal folks. Is raspberrypi in any way open? What companies are involved?

[nordominus]

Hi,

I assume this topic would also include for example the acitivties of the The Free and Open Source Silicon Foundation C.i.C.. They have interesting section about OH licenses - e.g. "Solderpad License" designed for OH (see https://www.fossi-foundation.org/licensing)

And of course the Chips Alliance of the Linux Foundation or https://www.openhwgroup.org/