IANAL, but Massachusetts (where I live) has a Right To Repair law in place, under which manufacturers (e.g., Bosch) are legally required to make official repair manuals, materials, etc. available to consumers for a reasonable cost. If Bosch sells their e-bikes in Mass, chances are they’re on the hook for this.
I’d like to see a right to repair law applied to almost everything. It’s horrifying how many devices get thrown away because they had a faulty switch or old battery.
I could be wrong, but I remember back when there was issue with farmers in America not being able to repair their equipment that they were getting hold of firmware updates from Europe so that they could do so - something about the European ones not having code that banned third party repair.
The issue of copyright and DMCA being used to prevent repair in the transport industry is more widespread that the article mentions. One of the first instances that I have seen is John Deer using it to prevent tractor repair1. As more and more logic moves to software it becomes easier for them to abuse this power.
The current state of (dis-) repair is depressing when compared to our past prime. I’d highly recommend skimming through history in https://archive.org/details/manuals for old device manuals in terms of repairability and consumer education. Should we raise the bar today, there should be mastering- files included with the purchase, whether it is for circuits, plastic, …
I read the article just after finishing up a pinball repair session (highly recommended hobby). On top of the machines themselves being some kind of interesting marriage between mechanics, electronics, embedded software, art and culture - these things come with detailed schematics of the parts, the electronics, design explanation, replacement part lists, the works. Not that they are not without fault, the software+DRM mentality from the mid-80ies and onwards is there - albeit against the tools of today, a nuisance - not a threat.
Maybe a limiting move, but my personal principle these days is that if its embedded electronics and I don’t have open access to tinkering with it, I’m not buying.
I just had a skim of that archive.org page and it’s incredible (Arcade machines were before my time). The current method of repairing stuff is just finding the module that’s broken and swapping the entire thing, this is even worse on the horror devices coming from Apple.
The basic flaw is that these ultra-thin keys are easily paralyzed by particulate matter. Dust can block the keycap from pressing the switch
…
The keyboard itself can’t simply be swapped out. You can’t even swap out the upper case containing the keyboard on its own. You also have to replace the glued-in battery, trackpad, and speakers at the same time.
I really don’t know what can be done about this issue, few care because the cost of electronics is so low I could buy a new phone every few months and not care.
There is some push for open hardware and firmware but I have doubts if it will ever take off outside of hobby groups.
Is it open source/have open source reference implementation
CAD schematics
Anecdotal discussions about thing
Hacking related to object
If you get a few of those, then the ecosystem will grow and take off. If not, when the thing dies, nobody will care. Cars suck with this, but even some cars have obtainable service manuals (torrents, piracy, cause fuck them seriously).
It does mean I dont buy the newest blingiest hardware, and especially not cloud-only shit. But things I do have work now, work 5 years from now, and will work 10 years from now when I have to fix things.
Same here. This is political, and as much as we might like to pretend otherwise, all technology is inherently political. +1 for this kind of post, and more of them.
This is political, and as much as we might like to pretend otherwise, all technology is inherently political.
I dislike this justification being used to shoehorn politics into spaces which previously had functioned somewhat as a refuge from the sturm und drang of the times. I’ve also never seen a good stacktrace for the sentiment.
The article is was freely given. I have no doubt you can offer the author something for a license to remix their content. The bike was already paid for.
Could you tell me why one would one to remix an article? The current license lets you quote the whole thing or sections of it for use in your own work. I’m not sure what extra would be gained by derivatives but I am happy to change it if there is reason.
Outside of eBikes, which I don’t know much about, the rest of the bicycle world scores pretty well on repairability, in my experience.
I built up my current bike from components, and I’ve done all of my own maintenance for years now, and although there are a lot of standards (some official, some not), most companies are really good about saying which ones they’re using and what they’re compatible with. And for pre-built assemblies, like derailleurs, hubs, and free wheels, most of the better manufacturers will have PDFs available on their website showing how to disassemble, clean, and reassemble them.
SRAM and Shimano are “okay” on this, but the mid-to-high end companies, like Paul, White Industries, Industry Nine, etc. are usually really good.
IANAL, but Massachusetts (where I live) has a Right To Repair law in place, under which manufacturers (e.g., Bosch) are legally required to make official repair manuals, materials, etc. available to consumers for a reasonable cost. If Bosch sells their e-bikes in Mass, chances are they’re on the hook for this.
EDIT: Never mind, motorized bicycles do not count as motor vehicles in MA. The Right to Repair Act does not apply here.
I’d like to see a right to repair law applied to almost everything. It’s horrifying how many devices get thrown away because they had a faulty switch or old battery.
I would like to see that in EU as well…
I thought the right to repair is already well established in the EU.
Is it? It didn’t notice it being voted on yet.
I could be wrong, but I remember back when there was issue with farmers in America not being able to repair their equipment that they were getting hold of firmware updates from Europe so that they could do so - something about the European ones not having code that banned third party repair.
The issue of copyright and DMCA being used to prevent repair in the transport industry is more widespread that the article mentions. One of the first instances that I have seen is John Deer using it to prevent tractor repair1. As more and more logic moves to software it becomes easier for them to abuse this power.
The current state of (dis-) repair is depressing when compared to our past prime. I’d highly recommend skimming through history in https://archive.org/details/manuals for old device manuals in terms of repairability and consumer education. Should we raise the bar today, there should be mastering- files included with the purchase, whether it is for circuits, plastic, …
I read the article just after finishing up a pinball repair session (highly recommended hobby). On top of the machines themselves being some kind of interesting marriage between mechanics, electronics, embedded software, art and culture - these things come with detailed schematics of the parts, the electronics, design explanation, replacement part lists, the works. Not that they are not without fault, the software+DRM mentality from the mid-80ies and onwards is there - albeit against the tools of today, a nuisance - not a threat.
Maybe a limiting move, but my personal principle these days is that if its embedded electronics and I don’t have open access to tinkering with it, I’m not buying.
I just had a skim of that archive.org page and it’s incredible (Arcade machines were before my time). The current method of repairing stuff is just finding the module that’s broken and swapping the entire thing, this is even worse on the horror devices coming from Apple.
…
(https://ifixit.org/blog/10229/macbook-pro-keyboard/)
I really don’t know what can be done about this issue, few care because the cost of electronics is so low I could buy a new phone every few months and not care.
There is some push for open hardware and firmware but I have doubts if it will ever take off outside of hobby groups.
What I do these days:
If you get a few of those, then the ecosystem will grow and take off. If not, when the thing dies, nobody will care. Cars suck with this, but even some cars have obtainable service manuals (torrents, piracy, cause fuck them seriously).
It does mean I dont buy the newest blingiest hardware, and especially not cloud-only shit. But things I do have work now, work 5 years from now, and will work 10 years from now when I have to fix things.
There is no technical content in that post :(
Ah sorry. I wasn’t sure how focused this site was meant to be on tech. I’d delete the post but there is no feature for that here.
Personally, I found the post interesting.
Same here. This is political, and as much as we might like to pretend otherwise, all technology is inherently political. +1 for this kind of post, and more of them.
I dislike this justification being used to shoehorn politics into spaces which previously had functioned somewhat as a refuge from the sturm und drang of the times. I’ve also never seen a good stacktrace for the sentiment.
Lots of things are interesting but have better homes elsewhere.
The license of this article doesn’t allow derivative works.
It seems in conflict with arguing for right to repair if you don’t want the right to remix..
The article is was freely given. I have no doubt you can offer the author something for a license to remix their content. The bike was already paid for.
Could you tell me why one would one to remix an article? The current license lets you quote the whole thing or sections of it for use in your own work. I’m not sure what extra would be gained by derivatives but I am happy to change it if there is reason.
Outside of eBikes, which I don’t know much about, the rest of the bicycle world scores pretty well on repairability, in my experience.
I built up my current bike from components, and I’ve done all of my own maintenance for years now, and although there are a lot of standards (some official, some not), most companies are really good about saying which ones they’re using and what they’re compatible with. And for pre-built assemblies, like derailleurs, hubs, and free wheels, most of the better manufacturers will have PDFs available on their website showing how to disassemble, clean, and reassemble them.
SRAM and Shimano are “okay” on this, but the mid-to-high end companies, like Paul, White Industries, Industry Nine, etc. are usually really good.