tl;dr - im selling some video-circuits online at underscores.shop
as some of you may knw, iv been invloved in video-art tool-making &tinkering for a number of yrs, from early raspberry-pi based projects, to adaptions and revisions of analog circuits and then some in between…
a lot of this work has been done collaboratively in the open, inspired by ideas and works of others and always improving based on feedback and advice from this community
however as hobby projects often are, these designs have mainly been available only to seasoned diy’r, capable of reading schematics, sourcing the pcbs and parts, and troubleshooting the circuits themselves…
…my free time after work just didnt stretch far enough to also fully polish and stress test, document and distribute and support these projects in the wild… (or more likely i was already dreaming and tinkering w 3 new ideas i had since that one instead!)
iv had a bit more time to spare this year and have been thinking about a concept that might help w this problem - consolidating these open projects for myself and for others:
underscores - an open video hardware label
for research and distribution of accessible open-source video-art making instruments
every product in the underscores catalog is released under an open source hardware / software licence.
all resources including schematics, pcb files, source code, panel designs and documentation will be freely available always.
this is a slide from a vidicon talk i did last year where i outline some of my thoughts around this concept in more detail (its 50mns long 
) , but to summarize:
- the research branch of underscores will continue to design and tinker with new and old open-source hardware designs, collaborating with others interested in creating value for the commons ( one-to-many core ) - anyone willing to contribute technically or otherwise is v welcome
- the distribution branch of underscores will streamline and optimize the process of making pcbs, kits and assembled units of these projects available as a paid service ( one-to-one supplement ) - anyone willing to contribute financially has that option also
- all margins from sales over and above the labour and infrastructure costs of distribution will go directly back into funding further open-source research… and so on
- not limited to, but with a focus on creating accessible / entry-level & beginner friendly video instruments at affordable price points
down to business
this may be a slightly unusual way to run a business. time will tell whether it can sustain itself, or even whether its what i wanna be doing w my time. but i do know i want more people to hav access to these tools. and happy that the open model ensures the value we create transcends financial success.
there are a few of most items in stock now - i will slowly be announcing the shop launch over various socials in the coming months, but wanted to give you all who frequent scanlines a first look in (combining shipping is most economical and i will try keep everything more or less in stock for now )
its scary putting urself and your ideas out in the world like this, and i really value hearing your thoughts and inputs here on scanlines before pushing it out futhr. if you wanna be an early adopter for any of these projects feel free to write to me for more info
xxx
