[Discuss-gnuradio] On Starving Students

[Matt Ettus]

Dear List,

This is the GNU Radio mailing list, and its purpose is to discuss the 
use and development of GNU Radio.  I try to refrain from talking about 
our business out of respect for the purpose of this list and the 
community.  However, due to the tenor of the recent conversation, I feel 
that I must say a few things.

GNU Radio can be and is used with _many_ different hardware devices, not 
just those of our company.  Some of those are completely different from 
the USRP, some emulate the USRP, some are  based on the USRP design to a 
greater or lesser degree, and some are complete clones of it.  Some cost 
less, most cost more.  To my knowledge none of them  other than the SSRP 
actually give out schematics or other technical details, but that is the 
choice of those designers/companies.

You have the freedom to use or not use any of these, or even to make 
your own.  If you wish to make your own in a collaborative manner, I 
think the GNU Radio mailing list is the perfect place to find like 
minded people to work with, and I would encourage you to use it as such. 
 There are a lot of intelligent people here with a lot of experience to 
draw upon.

At Ettus Research we get daily requests from students (and people 
falsely claiming to be students) all over the world for free or 
nearly-free hardware.  Most (but not all) of them are at least a bit 
more courteous than the outright demands we have been receiving for the 
last 2 months from the multiple people who go by the name "Marten 
Christophe".  If we were to accede to all of these requests/demands we 
would be sending out more free USRPs than paid ones.

Very early on, I fell for this trick.  I sent nearly-free hardware to 
several so-called starving students.  Most of those boards were sold on 
eBay at a profit.  The rest, to my knowledge, were never even turned on 
and the "students" disappeared.

I have always found a way to get hardware to those students who actually 
contribute to the GNU Radio or OpenBTS projects and demonstrate 
competency and a willingness to collaborate.  I fully intend to continue 
to do so.  I will not send out free hardware to someone who just shows 
up and demands it under a fake name.

If you feel that our prices are too high, then I would encourage you to 
make your own hardware.  If you think you are a starving student now, 
wait until you try to sell USRPs for $450.

Matt Ettus
President, Ettus Research LLC