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Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

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71–80 of 360 posts

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#71
post #31

Imagine how much we're wasting with inkjet printers.

Hacking inkjets to use continuous refill has been a thing for like 20 years at least. I mean I don't know the current situation (a happy laser printer user here) but last time I checked you could buy kits to convert many inkjet printers to just refill from a bottle.

InkOwl is a godsend for public school teachers.

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#72

I see the point of that dishwasher for someone who doesn't have easy access to a sink like a student in a dorm, but I can't fathom why you'd put one in a house or apartment. With such a tiny capacity you're better off hand washing.

I did my own dishes for a while. It wasn’t so bad, but if I didn’t have a machine now I’d love something like this to handle the small plates and flatware.

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#73
post #50
post #38

I wonder if you could just tie pin 7 (VCC) to pin 8 (Write Protect). I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they didn't check for success on the write. Would be a much simpler hack.

Well, now that everything is understood, there is no need for every user to get destructive with a cartridge (it's not easy to access the board) in order to tie those pins together.

Looks easy enough to me if you have a dremel and a cutting disk. Then you just solder the one you removed/modified into the 4 wires in the machine, leaving the machine socket wired to nothing. And never mess with it again.

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#74

> No need to manually measure and add detergent each wash, very convenient! No difference between adding a dishwasher tablet in the detergent holder of a regular machine. In both cases you're manually adding 1 item into the machine. Except in the case of the dishwasher tablet, it comes from a box of 40 that you can easily buy in any supermarket.

[deleted]

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#75

Wow. So I'm watching the Techmoan review and it's just amazing. You've got this pretty awesome product.... up until you can clearly see the business types shoving their grubby hands in the way of UX and good engineering. Oh no no no. We can't just sell a product. We need recurring revenue. So we'll make DRM proprietary detergent pods that require electronics in each one. Ah, but people will reject that because they k…

Devil's advocate: the only reason the product is so nice is because the grubby handed business types could raise the money by promising MRR to the investors. Reverse devil's advocate: and this is why hacking is so essential, so that some of us get to have our cake (meticulously and expensively designed stuff) and eat it too (opt out of MRR). Although this does create a new kind of 1%, but its one based on merit so its okay?

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#76
post #14

I am, more and more, deliberately choosing boring technology. Knobs in the car and on appliances. No screen interfaces. Low-tech where possible. We just replaced our "high tech" Maytag dryer and its "advanced" feature set for a low tech SpeedQueen, the same dryers you find in most Laundromats. Why? Repairability. While we could _technically_ replace the burnt out fuse in the Maytag, it would take at least two hours f…

SpeedQueen owner here as well. Even more important than repairability is that the SpeedQueen actually cleans my clothes . In the 80s I remember coming home with mud caked on my clothes, shaking them off and throwing them in the washer. I'd even throw my muddy sneakers in the wash. If I try that with a modern low-water unit there's still dirt on them after a wash. The SpeedQueen will handle this kind of heavy soiling.…

This is about dishwashers, but I once read about regulation-enforced water/energy-saving cycles resulting in ineffective cleaning, which backfired, as people then got in the habit of always selecting the heaviest cycle or even re-adopted pre-rinsing.

Searching for the concept now, I can only find this article:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/make-dishwashers-that-clean-aga...

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#77
post #38

I wonder if you could just tie pin 7 (VCC) to pin 8 (Write Protect). I wouldn't be terribly surprised if they didn't check for success on the write. Would be a much simpler hack.

But then you would have to manually keep count of the used cycles to know when manually refill the cassette.

Ah, yeah, that is one downside. I suppose you could just weigh it.

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#78

Wow. So I'm watching the Techmoan review and it's just amazing. You've got this pretty awesome product.... up until you can clearly see the business types shoving their grubby hands in the way of UX and good engineering. Oh no no no. We can't just sell a product. We need recurring revenue. So we'll make DRM proprietary detergent pods that require electronics in each one. Ah, but people will reject that because they k…

Devil's advocate: the only reason the product is so nice is because the grubby handed business types could raise the money by promising MRR to the investors. Reverse devil's advocate: and this is why hacking is so essential, so that some of us get to have our cake (meticulously and expensively designed stuff) and eat it too (opt out of MRR). Although this does create a new kind of 1%, but its one based on merit so it…

I agree there's an argument to be made for the mechanics of capitalism to create such a product. I think it's still disgusting and shameful.

I also think, as I think you're pointing out, we should be incredibly careful to appreciate that over 99% of customers won't have any awareness of, or capacity to hack the problem away.

Re: Bob Cassette Rewinder: Hacking Detergent DRM

#79
Am I the only one who looks at these projects with a combination of awe and apathy and jealousy? I do software, not hardware, and I like knowing how things work. When an expert in a different field glances at a PCB and identifies components, their purpose, by sight, and then rummages around a loose parts bin to go deeper, it dawns on me: this is someone's life. The same way I've been swimming in (application) software, and could do similar things with a repo, or even running processes, this person can do in hardware, and it's a set of interlocking skills that took an entire life to grow.
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