Rich Grise wrote:
KD7HB wrote:
...
The whole idea of repairable consumer electronics is based on
ignorance of what is involved.

Yeah, nowadays it's cheaper to throw it away anyway.

But when I was your age, stuff actually _was_ consumer-repairable,
but consumers were a lot smarter back then.

Consumers aren't stupid, just unarmed.

You can turn lots of dumb consumers into smart
consumers. Just add availability of parts
and information. Ferinstance:

* My Palm PDA got a new lease when I replaced
the screen and digitizer. It was quick and easy.

* My $30 coffee maker works like new after I
flushed the spilled grounds out of the heater tube.

* My truck clutch works a *lot* better after I
replaced the hydraulics.

* My rotary hammer functions once more after I
located and repaired a disconnected wire.

* Summers are much more pleasant now that I replaced
all the occluded rafter end vent screens with
new ones.

* The TPMS in my car works properly once again
after I readjusted the tire pressure to factory
spec and reset the trigger threshold in the
computer.

And lots of other things that I don't recall
at the moment.

Note that in all but one of these cases, the OEM
wasn't directly involved in sourcing either the
replacement part or the documentation necessary to
do a successful repair. (In the TPMS case, the
problem was *caused* by a Toyota dealer repair
manager!)


--Winston