Reproducibility over polish
A rough guide that rebuilds beats a beautiful one that does not. Every design lists tool versions, tolerances and the order of operations.
About Polymathes
We document the gear, not the lifestyle.
Polymathes OÜ started as a shared folder of build notes between an audio engineer, a network operator and a graphics programmer who kept hitting the same wall: the information needed to repair and extend professional equipment was scattered, outdated or locked behind a support portal. We write it down instead. The name is the Greek polymathes — “having learned much” — and we treat it as a job description rather than a boast: our work lives in the gaps between technology, research, communication and digital innovation.
4Working groups
PublicReview on every change
No adsNo sponsored reviews
ErrataPublished, not hidden
Mission
Make professional-grade infrastructure reproducible
Three disciplines, one shared failure mode: equipment that works perfectly until the day the vendor stops shipping firmware, the plugin host drops support, or the driver is abandoned. Our answer is the same everywhere — understand the layer underneath, and own the ability to replace it.
Concretely, that means publishing schematics in editable formats, firmware that builds from a pinned toolchain, measurement procedures with the exact instruments and settings named, and honest notes about what did not work.
If a reader cannot reproduce our result with our own instructions and a multimeter, the document is not finished.
At a glance
| Practice | Technology, research, communication, digital innovation |
|---|---|
| Structure | Polymathes OÜ — a small team, decisions published as diffs |
| Scope | Networking, audio engineering, graphics |
| Output | Guides, reference designs, measurement data |
| Docs licence | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| Code licence | GPL-3.0-or-later where compatible |
| Hardware licence | CERN-OHL-S v2 |
Values
Six commitments we can be held to
These are not aspirations. Each one has a visible consequence in how we publish.
Measure, then claim
Numbers come with the method that produced them. “Sounds better” is replaced by a specification, a test signal and a tolerance.
Repairable by design
Through-hole where it matters, sockets over solder, connectors over captive cables, and a documented path to every replaceable part.
No lock-in, ever
We refuse to publish designs whose essential firmware, configuration format or service depends on a single company staying in business.
Publish the failures
Every guide has an errata section. The respin that fixed the ground loop is more useful to a reader than the version that looked clean.
Accessible by default
Contrast-checked pages, keyboard navigation, no autoplay, no motion that cannot be disabled. Engineering documentation should not exclude readers.
Working groups
Four groups, one shared bench standard
Each group works in the open. A reproducible measurement is enough to earn a credit — on the team or outside it.
| Group | Owns | Typical artefacts | Track |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardware & PCB | Schematics, layout, enclosures, BOM policy | KiCad projects, CERN-OHL releases, thermal notes | All tracks |
| Networking | Routing, switching, wireless, addressing plans | OpenWrt configs, WireGuard topologies, latency budgets | Networking |
| Audio systems | Signal chains, converters, DSP, measurement | IR capture procedures, PipeWire graphs, Faust modules | Audio |
| Graphics & compute | Drivers, colour, rendering, GPU compute | OpenColorIO configs, shaders, calibration reports | Graphics |
Governance
Lazy consensus, loud disagreement
Every change is a public diff. If nobody objects within the review window, it merges. If somebody objects with a reproducible counter-example, the change stops until the numbers agree. Technical disagreement is settled by measurement, not seniority — and where measurement cannot settle it, we publish both positions.
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Propose
Open an issue describing the reader problem, not the solution. Attach the measurement that shows it is real.
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Reproduce
A second person rebuilds or re-measures independently. One reproduction is required before any guide becomes canonical.
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Review
Public review window. Comments, corrections and dissent are kept in the record rather than deleted after merge.
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Publish and maintain
Released with a version and a review date. Documents older than their review date are visibly marked as unverified.
Decision rules
- One reproduction required before a procedure is called verified.
- Two independent sources required for any part in a bill of materials.
- No sponsored content and no affiliate links — recommendations name alternatives of equal standing.
- Right of reply for any vendor whose product we criticise with measurements.
- Escalation to a cross-group vote only when two groups genuinely conflict, such as a grounding dispute between the audio and PCB benches.
Licensing
What you may do with our work
Short version: build it, sell it, change it — just keep it open and say where it came from.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Guides, diagrams and measurement write-ups. Reuse and adapt freely with attribution; derivatives stay under the same licence.
GPL-3.0-or-later
Firmware and tooling, unless a dependency forces a compatible alternative such as MIT or Apache-2.0. The licence is stated per repository.
CERN-OHL-S v2
Schematics, layouts and bills of materials. Manufacture and sell your own units, provided the design files stay open.
Photographs: credited, licensed, and removed on request
The pictures on this site are not ours. Each one comes from a public collection under a
licence that allows reuse — the photographer, the licence and a link to the original file
page are printed underneath it, and our own text stays under the licence above. Nothing
is taken from a search-engine results page or a manufacturer's press kit: a picture we
cannot credit and cannot licence is not published, which is why some hardware is
described here instead of shown. If you hold the rights to an image on this site and want
it credited differently, replaced, or gone, write to
the contact page or to errata@polymathes.cc and
it will be removed promptly — no argument, no notice period.
Safety and regulatory notice
Nothing published here is certified, type-approved or insured. Mains wiring, lithium cells, radio transmitters, lasers and high sound-pressure levels are regulated and genuinely dangerous. You are responsible for compliance and for your own ears and fingers. When in doubt, de-energise and ask someone qualified.
Contact
Bring us a bug report, a measurement or a build photo
We answer technical mail. Include the tool versions, the signal or traffic you used, and what you expected to see. Corrections to published guides get priority.
Or write to the right desk
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Corrections & errata
errata@polymathes.ccReviewed in public -
Networking
net@polymathes.ccWeekly on the mailing list -
Audio
audio@polymathes.ccWeekly on the mailing list -
Graphics
gfx@polymathes.ccWeekly on the mailing list -
Press & licensing
hello@polymathes.ccWithin a few days