Javier Serrano will give a Keynote presentation at the PCaPAC conference.

Open Source Hardware (OSHW) follows the lead of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and has similar goals: ensuring developers can share their work without artificial hurdles, improving quality through peer review, avoiding vendor lock-in and providing for a fair playground in which projects can thrive and accommodate contributions without compromising their long-term future. The talk will introduce OSHW and then attempt to answer a number of questions:
•What are the perceived benefits and issues of OSHW, in general and in the context of public research facilities?
•What is new with respect to FOSS?
•What makes OSHW projects succeed or fail?

The talk will use real examples of OSHW projects throughout, and will conclude with some thoughts about what the future holds in this domain.

The 11th International Workshop Personal Computers and Particle Accelerator Controls 2016 (PCaPAC) will be held by LNLS, in Campinas, Brazil. PCaPAC traditionally focuses on low-cost control systems using PC technology for control & data acquisition systems and emerging technologies.