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Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

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Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#181
post #50

> The measure adopted by the Nebraska Farm Bureau laid out specific standards for any agreement or legislation: > Right to Repair: Nebraska Farm Bureau supports the implementation of comprehensive right to repair legislation OR a negotiated written agreement between ag producers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). This legislation or agreement must: .... > 4. Differentiate between repair (the restoration of…

The EPA has always had laws about environmental controls (whether people care about them is a different issue, however...), so it's not something any new laws should really need to cover.

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#182
post #8

Honest question: what would be the rationale to prevent farmers from repairing their machinery themselves instead of through the manufacturer (in this case, Deere)? To my mind, from the point of view of the "user" (i.e. the farmer), that can be seen as somewhat monopolistic. I tried to find similarities between this situation and that of Apple not letting users tamper with their hardware, but it could be argued that…

There was a couple I had heard about who bought an electric car. They took their electric car to a shop that promised more millage (or faster charging, I can't remember which). As it turns out this custom modification killed the battery in a few short years, when it was supposed to last much longer. The couple was not happy with their purchase, and they never connected that the work they had done was related to their…

That just seems like a miscommunication/lack of understanding. People mod car engines all the time to have more power (sometimes several times more than original), and they do so with the understanding that it does affect longevity negatively.

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#183
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get really good support from Lineage OS for years to come. Been running it on all my android devices for years. The flagship models like Pixel usually have the best ongoing support.

I ordered a cheap Android phone the other day because installing a non-OEM OS like Lineage mean... banking software doesn't work. I have an older phone but the last stock ROM on it is Android 5, although it is currently running Lineage with Android 9. So I bought that phone to keep at stock and have a phone I can do my banking with. Come to think of it, I should just switch banks!

Magisk[1] works with Lineage and might be able to fool your annoying banking app.

1: https://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/magisk/official-magisk...

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You should get ~7 years of update. Interesting. Thanks for the link. It appears that the hardware is older than I assumed (yet perfectly capable for browsing the web), which begs another question: I bought this thing brand new a few years ago. Should it be up to the consumer to ensure that there is life left for updates? I will be certain to now, going forward. But I can't expect less-savvy consumers to do the same…

The current best practice is to check the manufacturing date of the chromebook you're buying, because the clock starts from when the first unit ships, not when the unit you're purchasing was made. For a part number that may have a 2 year manufacturing run, that can make a HUGE difference.

Given old inventory, you can lose more than 2 years. For example, the chromebit CS10 got a design award in 2015 and can still found on asus' website with a link for where to buy.. About 1 year of support remaining.

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would agree, but we're not yet to the point of massive famine and crop failures - although it seems closer year after year. Every farmer I talk to is worn out and tired of the bullshit.

I've often wondered if our government has some massive stores of grain somewhere to feed the nation for a few years in the event of a near total crop failure. Seems irresponsible not to have it. Update: I sometimes wonder what it would take for me to have a year of food in reserve here at home, but I worry that its just the crazy Prepper in me trying to come out.

Costco sells buckets of emergency food with 20ish year shelf lives. I think at one point they had a year-long supply bundle available, best I can find now is 1-month (for one person) at $114 (though it's out of stock).

https://www.costco.com/all-emergency-food.html

So, if/when that's back in stock, $114 x 12 x (# of people in household) is your price for a year of food. Can probably go a little lower if you allow for some lower-calorie rationing (1800 instead of 2000 will probably keep everyone alive and fairly healthy, if not thriving, and for some people might still be more than sufficient). Might want some multivitamins or something, too.

Though you've gotta figure out something for water, separately.

I guess maybe then you eat a month of it per non-emergency year and buy another month's worth every year, to rotate through the supply well before the expiration but while maintaining (about) 1-year's supply of food at all times. That way you're not just wasting the money by putting the food on a shelf until it goes bad, and you're never eating food that's very close to its expiration date. Unclear whether the food's healthy enough that eating it for 1/12 of all meals in a year, indefinitely, wouldn't cause noticeable harm versus whatever diet it's replacing. Or whether it's tolerable enough to eat in a non-emergency situation that you'd be able to convince all the other members of your household to commit to a plan like that :-)

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#186
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does John Deere advocate for their position? Is it about protecting trade secrets or keeping the machines in better condition for possible resale? Or did they just stay quiet because they knew they were in the wrong? Whatever it might be, I'm sure I would disagree with it, but I'd be curious how they try to justify it. Especially when you're talking about farmers, who have an extreme DIY culture.

I've seen a few arguments. * That modern tractors are complex enough systems that only official techs should be working on them. * That if they allow third party mods, they can't guarantee regulatory compliance with emissions. * That they have proprietary secrets that would need to be divulged of the systems were more open, and they just wouldn't have bothered in the first place. * That their pricing model is depende…

Regulatory compliance is an interesting argument. I can imagine many cases where a device is legal only because the firmware implements certain restrictions that the user might desire to remove but should not.

Off the top of my head:

1. the emissions example that you make. The VW dieselgate is essentially about this; the users may want to switch to a 'more dirty' firmware because that gets better performance or mileage; but the vehicle inspection system (in countries where that is a thing) wants to ensure that vehicles with such modifications are not allowed to drive.

2. digital radios that might technically be able to receive and transmit over a wider frequency range, but are legal to use or sell only because they have restricted the 'forbidden' ranges, limited the maximum transmitting power to the level that doesn't require a permit, etc.

3. scooters and other vehicles which are technically more capable, but are sold in a certification/tax regime as "speed less than X", which is enforced in firmware; and modifying it to remove that restriction may be illegal.

4. drones obeying a 'no-fly' zone blacklist and refusing to fly near airports - again, a firmware restriction that some users might plausibly want to remove.

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lifecycle costs of machinery are pretty standard (especially after whatever warranty expires). And, of course, the farmer can avoid the risks of these costs by simply extending the warranty - then all the risk is on the warranty provider. But the homework the farmer (or any purchaser - this same issue arises for medical imaging equipment, cars, busses, etc) should do is what will the service market looklike for his o…

My understanding is that it is not only cost that is problematic, but rather time. If you need to harvest, then you need to harvest now, not in 2 weeks. Whereas the dealer repair shops are not always available in those time frames. Especially not if you are in the field and have to unclog something, and then need a dealer-only code to re-enable the in-failure-mode part.

Your understanding is correct. It doesn't matter if the equipment is free: if it breaks down during a planting window or harvest season you stand to lose significant amounts of money.

Dealers may not have the parts, may not be able to provide the repair without calling in a technician, or may be located far away.

People are talking about R2R making things more expensive but the opposite can be true: service centers can often be lossy operations, so if you have to service machines at a lower rate (because people are DIYing it basically) it stands to reason you no longer have to price that in. Scaling out repair literature and part availability is cheaper than the actual service.

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#188
post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This month, Google shipped the last update for my Pixel phone. The hardware is functional and in great shape, but I don't think there are any truly viable ways for me to keep it secure. The same thing happened recently with the Chromebook I purchased for my significant other. She's a very light computer user, so we thought it was a perfect device. It was great, until one day she received a message saying, essential…

That happened to my Chromebook too, so I just installed GalliumOS on it, and it's been getting updates regularly for over a year now.

The problem is even though we can do this, the average user doesn't. They get the unsupported message and they then throw the laptop in the bin and buy the same thing again.

All electronics makers should be required by law to supply security updates and spare parts for devices for at least 10 years after the point of sale (not after the release date).

Another thing I think would have a big impact is requiring all consumer electronics with a battery to have a user accessible method for replacing the battery. This used to be standard with all consumer electronics until very recently.

These laws aren't just needed to protect the customers from corporate bullshit, they are critical for the survival of our environment. Designing electronics to last for 2-3 years is devastating.

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#189

An economist would say that when considering buying this machinery the farmer would also consider the cost and availability of repairs and that the competition in the machinery market (the primary market) would police the secondary market for repairs. In reality, this kind of policing is hard to come by because of the time and expense of figuring out which company has the cheapest lifecycle1 costs for the equipment (…

Farmers are very well aware of repair and maintenance costs, the problem is you can't tell what parts and service will cost 20 years down the line. Nor do you know what is going to break 20 years down the line because none of a new model tractor or equipment is that old yet. The only people who would know would be the manufacturer who did the original stress testing on the design and cut it down to whatever price point/reliability level they wanted to achieve, and they obviously don't want you to know and you couldn't trust them even if they did tell you without seeing the testing data.

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually MacBooks get 6/7 years from when Apple stops selling them. In contrast, the timer starts as soon as the first Chromebook with that cpu is released. It was a nasty surprise when I found that out

That is terrible. So they'll never create a device that is good enough that they'll sell for for 6 years unless they sell something they don't support.

Or extend the support: https://9to5google.com/2019/11/05/google-chromebooks-extende...

Other than that, few vendors sell 6 year old computers. Since Apple is often put up as model company here: 2013 had the iPhone 5s which was sold until early 2016, and the end-2013 MacBook Pro (based on Haswell) which was replaced by its successor in 2014 (based on Haswell-Refresh).

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