[GTALUG] Ontario Bill 72: "Right to Repair"

[Giles Orr]

On Thu, 7 Mar 2019 at 08:50, Stewart C. Russell via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
wrote:

> On 2019-03-05 10:04 p.m., Howard Gibson via talk wrote:
> >
> > One of the basic rules of Design For Manufacture and Assembly is that
> > you should not use screws.  The preferred way is for everything to
> > snap together.
>
> Snaps are okay for a short time if you can access the service manual to
> see where they are. Slide the spudger in the wrong place and you'll
> break a snap, ending up with a case that sags in one spot. So /design
> for manufacture/ can be counter to /design for repair/.
>
> The original Apple Macintosh was one of the first /design for
> manufacture/ computers. It required the dealer-only "case cracker" tool
> - a long Torx T15 bit with a spudger lever on the end:
> https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/a/118/439 - that told the story
> that Users did not belong inside the case*. Apple's previous computers
> invited you inside - the Apple II's top just lifted off without tools.
>
> Right to Repair is important. I'm slightly disappointed by the general
> reaction on this list. We'll spent lifetimes fiddling with software
> configs to keep it running against all odds, but hardware gets short
> shrift. I know that processing power and storage improvements have made
> it poor business practice to get sentimental about keeping older
> computers running, but some curiosity over how repair and replace is a
> good thing. We can't live on a growing mountain of e-waste, after all.
>
>  Stewart
>
> *: the Macintosh had a CRT inside and thus hilariously fatal voltages
> for the unwary. It could be said Apple were only doing the right thing
> keeping Users out. But other computers had built-in CRTs with only the
> usual warnings and mounting screws. One example would be the Commodore
> SX-64, a device clearly designed for confusion. The SX-64 appears to be
> a random collection of boards held together by ... another random
> collection of boards and little else.
>

Totally with you on snaps: even with cautious disassembly you're likely to
have breakage by the third time you go into the case.  Screws are
definitely the way to go.  Tedious, yes, but sturdy and repeatable.

Also totally with you on Right to Repair: I volunteered for Repair Cafe (
http://repaircafetoronto.ca/ ) for about three years, and even in that time
saw how much harder it was getting to get inside a standard laptop.

Upgrading RAM used to be a common activity, even on a laptop.  But now the
manufacturers solder RAM to the board (and glue the case shut even if it's
not soldered down).  Yes, this makes the machine marginally slimmer, but it
also makes it totally non-upgradeable.  Same with hard drives (spinning,
SSD, NVMe ... just give us an access hatch.)

Another major argument in favour of right-to-repair is something as simple
as cleaning dust out of your processor fan.  I think it's a bit crazy to
have to pay the manufacturer several hundred dollars to do that for you.
These are all things that used to be simple and still could be, but
consumers have been deliberately locked out for a small increase in profits
- and to the detriment of the environment.  <sigh>

-- 
Giles
https://www.gilesorr.com/
gilesorr at gmail.com
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