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India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

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Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#171

Post by Nextgrid »

vladms wrote: post #84
gloxkiqcza wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All tech is becoming more and more integrated and purposefully locked down. Everything from operating systems to cars. It’s truly a shame. I think many of us tinkerers/hackers have a similar story to yours - something grabs your attention when you’re a child and develops into an engineering knack later on.

All tech or all physical tech? For now software managed to somehow go in the opposite direction. In the '90s many / lots of operating systems / tools / libraries were paid / hard to access, today we have lots of (open-source) stuff for people to tinker with. Tinkering with physical stuff is also good and should be encouraged / supported, but let's also be careful not to loose the software tinkering (for example by no…

Even proprietary software in those times was accessible via piracy, and was generally tolerated/accepted as long as it wasn't for profit (in fact it benefited the software authors by allowing users to learn the usage of their software, for which they'd then push their future employers to buy).

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#172

Post by dangle1 »

noufalibrahim wrote: post #77
grishka wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My classmate at the university had a laptop that first developed lines on the screen that he fixed by strategically cramming pieces of paper between the bezel and the LCD panel, and then eventually the hinges broke so he carried a book stand to prop up the lid. He did get a new laptop eventually iirc

I "fixed" broken hinge on a Dell laptop using some mseal. Sort of worked.

Can also add a binder clip after applying the adhesive for additional strength. The handles will fold around the screen kind of out of the way.

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#173

Post by Ray20 »

magicalhippo wrote: post #30
sidkshatriya wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a fair and valid view of looking at things. Though the trick is to not get too heavy handed. At what point does regulation become too stifling ? The American way is to possibly put too few responsibilities on manufacturers. The European way seems to be to saddle them with just too many regulations -- possibly killing so much innovation. One way to approach this would be to put more responsibilities on large e…

Here in Norway, electrical and electronic (EE) goods are taxed extra and that money goes to recycling and cleanup[1]. Importers and producers are required to be a member of a approved company handling returns, like RENAS[2]. Shops selling EE goods are required to accept returned EE goods from individuals of the type they sell. So if you sell fridges you have to take my old fridge and handle it in accordance with the…

I don't think the Norway example is relevant. We are talking about a country that produces oil for more than a thousand dollars a month per person, including old people and babies. It is literally a country where EVERY person is a millionaire from oil money alone. So they can set the most failed policies and make them work.

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#174

Post by DrillShopper »

Ray20 wrote: post #151
fitsumbelay wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even if a laptop were built to last 20 years, who would want one when a new one is an order of magnitude better? Someone living in poverty whose life may be markedly improved by having one?

Not really. Building a laptop that will last 20 years is several times more expensive than building one that will last 5-10 years. So they will be less accessible to poor people.

They will be less accessible initially to poor people, but if the laptop actually does last 20 years then there will be a lot more on the used market therefore driving down the cost when someone buys a used one. That is the avenue most people who can't afford a new one will likely go.

It makes it more expensive to be on the cutting edge and turning over your laptop once every couple of years, but it makes the used purchases cheaper.

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#176

Post by Ray20 »

DrillShopper wrote: post #174
Ray20 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Building a laptop that will last 20 years is several times more expensive than building one that will last 5-10 years. So they will be less accessible to poor people.

They will be less accessible initially to poor people, but if the laptop actually does last 20 years then there will be a lot more on the used market therefore driving down the cost when someone buys a used one. That is the avenue most people who can't afford a new one will likely go. It makes it more expensive to be on the cutting edge and turning over your laptop once every couple of years, but it makes the used pu…

>but it makes the used purchases cheaper.

In fact, no, because they will also become less accessible to the less poor, and less poor will start using them longer and will also buy used ones.

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#177

Post by dghlsakjg »

9rx wrote: post #155
dghlsakjg wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are all sorts of things like this, but one that springs to mind is drones, specifically FPV drones. You can build a very good drone from basically parts that runs on open firmware. The videos that you see coming out of Ukraine is clearly using flight control software that is basically the standard for non commercial drones. Nothing more cyberpunk than fighting fascists using open source software and commodity h…

What seems to be lacking is the path to accidental discovery that underlies these stories from the past. Is there a reasonable way people will find themselves building drones without being intentional about it?

The normal progression is that you had a commercially built one, and one of two things happened. 1. It was a prebuilt FPV drone and you need to repair it after smashing it into something at mach Jesus or 2. You bought a DJI, which is really a camera platform, and you want a drone that can fly at mach Jesus and do the cool aerobatics so that pulls you into the FPV genre where you buy a prebuilt or just build from scratch.

Drones are just an example, there are plenty of other areas where people might get sucked into DIY electroncisbuilding. E-skateboard/bike/scooter modification and fixing, keyboard hobbyists, cosplay, 3d printing, home automation etc...

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#178

Post by h4ck_th3_pl4n3t »

lproven wrote: post #131
h4ck_th3_pl4n3t wrote: post #63

There was this famous guy, which sold custom old Thinkpads, but with newer mainboards and Intel 10th gen chips in it, with custom USB-C adapters and all. At some point he kind of disappeared and rumors appeared that he is now in mandatory military service, but will come back afterwards. Well, that was pre-COVID. He also knows a friend that backports coreboot to the new mainboards. No idea how they manage to do that i…

Try: https://www.tpart.net/

Holy shit. X210 with an Intel 7 Ultra 165H in it? Damn. I'm sold.

Anyone got one of these already or are they still in pre-production?

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#179

Post by knowitnone »

nirui wrote: post #119

> “...For instance, we salvage parts from old laptop motherboards, such as capacitors, mouse pads, transistors, diodes, and certain ICs and use them in the newly refurbished ones,” says Prasad. This highlights the problem of parts availability, especially for older laptops (10 years old or even older). Since no one, the original manufacturer as well as the "dup(licat)ors", is going to make parts for laptops that old.…

It is somewhat standard. CPU, memory, drives, LCD. The only thing not standard is the motherboard. With 3d printing, you can print your own base to contain the motherboard, plug all those parts back in, screw on the LCD. Framework Computer is doing repairable laptops

Re: India's repair culture gives new life to dead laptops

#180

Post by knowitnone »

nxobject wrote: post #9

I’d love to learn some of the advanced rework skills they need to work on modern motherboards - especially BGA part replacement. And how to build a workshop on the cheap! I’m always in awe at the skills they need to learn that are nonexistent in the western world.

tons of videos on youtube on how to do this
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