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Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?

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Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?

#41

Post by cvccvroomvroom »

Solvency wrote: post #26
cableshaft wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, my local library has a pretty decent makerspace in its basement, at least if you're making smaller things. These are the machines that are currently there: * Prusa 3D Printer * Hic Top CR-10 3D Printer * Ender-3 S1 Pro 3D Printer * Brother ScanNCut * Silhouette CAMEO * Silhouette Vinyl Cutter * EverSewn Sparrow X2 Embroidery Machine * Brother PE900 Embroidery Machine * Carvey CNC Desktop Fabricator * Glowforge…

Do you live in the wealthiest city in America? I've been to 11 libraries and absolutely none of them have anything on that list.

America is a third-world country in multiple ways. It's just most Americans don't have passports and don't know how bad we have it.

Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?

#42

Post by gotts »

INTPenis wrote: post #32

Maybe you'll get as many answers as there are hackers here but from my own perspective it seems it went the same way as all other communities. Internal strife, odd personalities, personal differences tore them apart slowly. It's not all bad. In my city it seems the hacker spaces organized by individuals were replaced by maker spaces funded and organized by the city. At least two that I know of, that are now basically…

City funded(subsidized?) maker spaces is such a great idea

Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?

#43

Post by cvccvroomvroom »

juahan wrote: post #30
Solvency wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you live in the wealthiest city in America? I've been to 11 libraries and absolutely none of them have anything on that list.

Here in Finland the libraries often have that kind of stuff, in smaller places maybe a little less, but larger cities have nice amount of stuff to use and/or loan.

Marry or adopt me, would you? ;D Finish passport is good as a Singaporean one.

I have a Prusa Mk3S+ with MMU, head improvement, and Bear kit.

Also have maybe 40 rolls of filament from glow in the dark, UV reactive, and more or less every color and an Octoprint with cameras and a power shutoff.

The only problem is my electronics lab is 60 Hz equipment. ]:

Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?

#44

Post by Animats »

threatofrain wrote: post #3

I think the finances of hackerspaces were always very brittle and Covid killed a lot of them. https://hackerdojo.org/ https://makernexus.org/ https://sudoroom.org/ https://noisebridge.net/

Good to know that Noisebridge is still around.

Hacker Dojo, as mentioned elsewhere, pivoted to something sort of like WeWork. $150/month. Mostly people slaving away at laptops, pre-COVID.

Maker Nexus seems from their web site to be doing OK. Pre-COVID, they were mostly sewing and kids classes, but now they seem to have more heavy metal tools. $150/month.

Humanmade, in SF, has government support, and is more oriented to training for trades. They ended up with much of TechShop's equipment. $250/month.

There's also the woke shop, Double Union.

What killed TechShop was that the gym model doesn't work for maker spaces. Gyms work because people pay but don't show up that much. Maker spaces get people whose day job is to be there making stuff.

Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?

#45

Post by cvccvroomvroom »

astrange wrote: post #22

Like every other issue in American cities, poor land use means you can never afford to have anything except what was already there. I feel like I read a story about running one in the Bay that was just about having to deal with crustpunks and people having sex in the machine rooms. Although I think libraries have equipment like 3D printers these days.

The obstacle to living in a remote area is being in the radius of major medical and groceries.

I'm looking for a 3000+ sq ft single-story house and workshop on cheap land without natural hazards within 15-20 minutes of somewhere with a Trader Joe's.

Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?

#46

Post by samtho »

gotts wrote: post #42
INTPenis wrote: post #32

Maybe you'll get as many answers as there are hackers here but from my own perspective it seems it went the same way as all other communities. Internal strife, odd personalities, personal differences tore them apart slowly. It's not all bad. In my city it seems the hacker spaces organized by individuals were replaced by maker spaces funded and organized by the city. At least two that I know of, that are now basically…

City funded(subsidized?) maker spaces is such a great idea

It can get messy, especially because the very thing the city can offer (real estate) ends up being a political pawn. With no provision in the city’s charter to protect it, anything the city provides is going to be quick to the chopping block.

The better way for a city to help is let the local library system manage the relationship or itself be the steward of the space.

Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?

#47

Post by cvccvroomvroom »

duchenne wrote: post #10

ASMBLY in Austin is doing well. Lots of machines/space/people. https://asmbly.org

Ah cool. Although I already have about half of that equipment, including a compressor, are there any less consumption-oriented gatherings of tech and maker people near ATX?

Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?

#48

Post by cvccvroomvroom »

seltzered_ wrote: post #13

Might be worth searching for: - TechShop and it's fall - I remember one person arguing hackerspaces may be better run as a nonprofit model. - The rise of small-scale maker capabilities within public institutions like libraries. I considered signing up for a maker space last year and it made more sense to pay for a second library that happened to have a good maker lab. - The rise of cheaper or more accessible prototyp…

Yeap. Might be better not to have the expense and expectations of a brick and mortar that get in the way of associations of like minds. Dinner gatherings once a month and larger fairs once a year would probably suffice.

If municipality governments had any common sense, they would find ways to manage the risks and benefits of opening fix-it and make community centers.

Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?

#49

Post by whatisprogress »

aendruk wrote: post #23

Same question for LUGs.

Linux has become a standardized tool that is pretty simple to use. Linux used to be cumbersome with a high barrier to enter, now it is common and simple to use. Some of Linux's incredible innovations have been replicated by competitors. There are now lots of classes about Linux. Windows feature have also become more competitive with Linux features. You don't need to dual boot a PC to use Linux. You don't need to freak out about the refresh rate of the monitor, or build a custom knoppix instance for a kiosk machine, with cramfs and unionfs manually compiled into the kernel. (windows didn't have an easy to install kiosk built into the OS) Instead of ext2, or ext3 (vs fat32) you can now use NTFS. The Linux kernel was way more stable compared to XP. Starting with Vista, when the graphics driver crashed, the OS just reloaded the driver instead of BSOD. The supported hardware for windows has also increased dramatically. (ARM processors, embedded, etc.)

At the same time that Windows was making inroads, Java, Apple, and Android have made significant inroads in their own ways.

Overall, linux has become more user friendly (reducing the learning curve); training has become common, and multiple companies have become more competitive with Linux. This has reduced the demand for less structured training of LUGs.

Re: Ask HN: What happened to hackerspaces?

#50

Post by threatofrain »

Animats wrote: post #44
threatofrain wrote: post #3

I think the finances of hackerspaces were always very brittle and Covid killed a lot of them. https://hackerdojo.org/ https://makernexus.org/ https://sudoroom.org/ https://noisebridge.net/

Good to know that Noisebridge is still around. Hacker Dojo, as mentioned elsewhere, pivoted to something sort of like WeWork. $150/month. Mostly people slaving away at laptops, pre-COVID. Maker Nexus seems from their web site to be doing OK. Pre-COVID, they were mostly sewing and kids classes, but now they seem to have more heavy metal tools. $150/month. Humanmade, in SF, has government support, and is more oriented…

Hacker Dojo recently fired its executive director and has been running mostly rudderless in terms of the management of the social space for several months. They're been looking to hire a community manager.

Unfortunately Hacker Dojo daytime attendance nowadays is quite low, so they're not really attracting people as a WeWork space. I wonder how they're going to pick it back up.

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