Not an Apple fan boy

I promise Mun, I am going to write this post. I have a big laugh inside my heart when I set the title.

I know Mun from the MyOSS monthly meetup, MyOSS meetup is the gathering for those who are interested in open source. Mun told me he has something interesting to show me, other than open source software, he is going to show me open source hardware.

Few days ago, I meet Mun. Mun keep his promise and show me the open hardware platfrom the he was hacking for some time. Mun explains to me in details on the hardware and how it works.

The hardware is call arduino, it is a general platform with a microprocessor, limited memory. It is a simple, extensible, low cost and affordable hardware. There are many hardware modules available, which add on to the arduino platform, extend the functionality, eg. the audio module. In simple word for computer tech geeks, the arduino platform is like the computer mother board, the audio module is like sound card or video card.

Why spend money on such a limited platform? This is something a software people like us will never understand. Mun is a hardware guy, he knows how to modified the circuit board on the arduino platform. Arduino is like a compiler and a programming language for Mun. Other than the hardware platform, need some software programming to power up the hardware, that Mun going to show me next time.

I never meet any hardware guy in open source meetup, Mun is the first one. It reminds me Steve Wozniak (Apple co-founder who design the Apple II computer), too bad he is not in Silicon Valley. See you again Mun.