Reply To: How can I get involved?

The short answer: yes, you can get involved, although perhaps not as quickly as you (or OOTBC) would like.

There are three models that we have considered and believe could work.

In the first, we open-source the Mill software, and stand back.

In the second, we publish a tool set comprising asm, sim, config, and a tool chain (when one becomes usable), and let people configure and write code for Mill targets but not change the tools themselves.

In the third, we invite specific people to join the team, under NDA and with an explicit sweat-equity contract, to work on the the Mill software or hardware directly.

Of these three, the first and second require that we finish the patent filings first; not so many filings for the second approach as for the first though.

The third approach requires much more of our very scarce resources to ramp contributors; not only is the software large and non-trivial and the documentation mostly absent, but the machine itself is still a morphing moving target. Realistically we would need to get at least half time from a contributor to be worth the overhead.

The first and third approach would require serious C++-fu (not C run through a C++ compiler).

There are also a ton of smaller, or at least more easily isolated, things that need help. For example, the videos are full of topics that need expansion into white papers. If you have skill in explaining tech clearly then we’d really like to talk with you; sweat equity, on accepted delivery, all the help you want 🙂

We also need help outside the tech arena. For example, several people have suggested a kickstarter campaign, but it’s hard to figure out a rewards ladder that works for something as long-term and capital-intensive as semi. Start a topic, and see if you and others can come up with what you consider to be a viable ladder. For extra credit, write a script for the Kickstarter video. 🙂

Ivan