"Dr. Anton T. Squeegee" wrote:
What you describe, Erik, is unfortunately an all-too-common
problem in today's electronics world, and it is one of the major reasons
why there is such a thriving market for used (and older) equipment.
Obviously - but the replacements obtained from other
equipment are old, too. I think they will last several years
but not 10 years until they "forget" the data programmed in, right?


One of the biggest problems I see is that, about 20 or so years
ago, a distressing trend began where much of the electronics industry
(heck, much of the PLANET for that matter!) stopped being interested in
long-term gains and (in the case of the electronics industry) longevity
of products. They began to favor, instead, short-term profit over long-
term growth.
YES - you are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! Looking at HPs way is a interesting
example,
too.


not long ago, saying that they wanted to try and greatly expand HP's
downloadable offerings on manuals and service information for older
equipment.
Hey, that would be a great thing. From a developers point of view
it would be very good to know that the own work invested in the firmware
of e.g. an oscilloscope is preserved for the future. But honestly
speaking I doubt that e.g. the firmware of an oscilloscope will be
released for download??

How far this attempt will go is anyone's guess, but at least one
person is trying. Perhaps, in time, there will be others.
One person my do a lot. E.g. I am fan of SGI computers and this
company had in the past some guys supporting freeware on SGI
systems - lot of this work was done in their free time. They were
really helpful regarding internals and it was a pleasure to contact
them!

equipment, and learn well! Such skills could really save your tail (and
a whole ton of $$ if you shop carefully).
I know. I've built my entire lab using such techniques. ;-)
In the past I had good contact to the electronics waste container
at Munich's university and most of my lab consists of repaired
equipment therefrom. But today I bought buy some items on eBay...

Thanks for your tips,

Erik.