I'm quite new to this community but as I explore APM and ArduPilot I find myself constantly in awe of what has been achieved. I wanted to make a donation to help sustain the project but it dawned on me that I didn't really know who was who or how the major nodes of this community knit together. Clearly an open source project like this has many contributors in many forms and I don't mean to belittle those efforts by trying to single out 'key' developers, but I would love to know more about the history and ecosystem.
What came first? DIYD, ArduPilot, or ArduCopter? And who were the founders?
When did the bespoke hardware arrive, and where do 3D Robotics come in? Is that ran by one of the developers? As it seems to be the main outlet for the hardware I dont get the impression its a purely commercial relationship.
Is there a SparkFun connection? Their building features in several videos and even the documentation wiki. Do the sparkfun guys do ArudPilot in their spare time?
Finally, other than buying my hardware directly from 3DR, where is the best place to make a donation to ArduPlane?
Replies
Good questions and an excellent history lesson for those new to the community and the 'cause' in general.
You can find/infer some of the information you ask by rolling back to the earliest blog and discussion posts.
Chris Anderson started the site in 2008 after a time of working with Jordi Munoz on early Arduplane (kickstarter project??).
Much mucking about is going on now with the Wiki and other pages so I cannot find the old 'team' page that gave a pretty good roll call of the devs and testers.
I am sure someone will provide the rest of the story in due time.
Welcome and jump in. The water, land, and air are fine!
-=Doug