Somu is the micro version of Solo [2]. We were inspired to make a secure Tomu [3], so we took its tiny form factor, we added the secure microcontroller and firmware of Solo, et voilà! Here we have Somu.
(clickable links in comment)
The whole "we have to avoid GPL3 code so we're able to keep 'normal' people 'safe'" angle feels pretty icky. But I know lots of people believe in the whole 'trusted' movement. And I suppose having a 'hacker' version /available/ is at least a bit better than what yubico offers.
IIRC Chromium OS has a little washer that can be physically removed to allow end-user rekeying. Without that washer removed, if you put it in dev mode, you get a warning on the display. Doing this for a reasonable price in the tiny form factor would be tough.
Here's an idea: If you look at the metal ring on the Somu, you'll see it is actually two separate pieces with a small gap between them. In hardware, they are two touch buttons, but the software treats them as identical.
Maybe they could manufacture the Somu with the gap between them soldered closed. If someone wants to put it in "dev mode", they have to first cut the solder bridge apart.
I think that would satisfy the GPL3: user has ultimate control, but also meet the security concern that the user might not know the implications of what they're doing.
For Solo we had silicone cases and decided to stay with the same manufacturer.
Please do it the other way around: do a regular URL submission, then add your comments as – well, a comment.
Making a ready-to-manufacture hardware project takes significant more effort than just writing a blog post or recording a video.
Links posted in HN tend to disappear in a matter of minutes from the new and even if you hit the front page hardly anything remains visible for more than a day.
When we launched Solo, our Show HN was taken down because Show HN should be something people can interact with and crowdfunding was not acceptable. We learned it the hard way and this time around we respected the policy and didn't create a Show HN. (For comparison, I'm just looking at Show HN now and there are video projects, that I can't try nor interact with.)
If projects like Solo/Somu, open source, security, and implementing a real-world applications like FIDO2 don't qualify as interesting for a hacker community, I'm more that happy to respect that and not waste anyone's time posting. But if they do, like I think, they should have a way to be showcased properly.
Solo is interesting to the HN audience. But not more interesting than everything else. If you truly believe you deserve special treatment, mail hn@ycombinator.com. They can boost visibility in other ways, although I doubt they would do so here.
And Show HNs do not disappear quite as quickly.
1) Show HN can't be used because there are written rules that we're respecting
2) We don't need any special treatment
3) There's no gaming involved. There's just a form with 2 options and we chose the most favorable for us, explaining why
I'm afraid I can't cope with unwritten rules, because there's no way for me to guess them.