The fleet, drawn.
Every physical thing we talk about — each device, each part that comes off a print bed, each board we buy in, each tool you print once and throw in a drawer — drawn from one isometric camera, under one light, in one palette. So when a page says “the radome front”, you can see which one that is instead of guessing.
What ships, and what is still an idea
Every figure carries one of four rungs, and the rung is worked out from what is actually in the repository — committed print files, a firmware build, a released catalog entry — rather than typed in by hand. So it can’t flatter itself, and it can’t go stale while someone forgets to update it. The four words the rest of the site uses — Available, Maker build, Preview, Concept — map onto these rungs (the glossary defines them).
- Shipping
- You can print it and flash it today. Site word: Maker build — Available once it is in the store.
- Confirmed
- The design is settled and released — one of the three proofs is still missing. Site word: Preview.
- Prototype
- It exists and is in development — not released in the catalog yet. Site word: Preview.
- Idea
- A research note and a sketch. Nothing is built — so it is drawn as a dashed ghost, and can never be mistaken for something you can buy. Site word: Concept.
A board is graded differently, because it is somebody else’s product: print files and firmware configs can’t apply to one. A board is Shipping when the vendor’s CAD is committed and its orderable part number is pinned, and Confirmed when one of those two is missing. Its badge says so when you hover it.