[sdiy] Real cause of DIY death

[R. D. Davis]

Quothe jbv, from writings of Mon, Jul 18, 2005 at 10:48:58AM +0200:
> According to my contacts with  a few young trainees I've met
> in different companies I worked for during the past few years,
> I have the feeling that the "amazement" or "excitement" has
> shifted from hardware to software : the Linux / Open source

Starting out as an electronics hobbyist as a young child, then later
getting into computer software and working as a programmer for years,
who spent many sleepless nights ingesting large quantities of caffeine
and hacking code (WARNING: that's more of a health hazard than leaded
solder!  ...add some NSAIDs and stress to the mix and you really don't
want to know what can happen.), I can only look back and say that all
that time spent on hacking code was boring in comparison to
electronics... so much time wasted on waiting for code to compile, for
computers to do this or that, etc.  On the other hand, the time that
it takes to build or repair something depends only upon parts
availability and one's own abilities.  The pleasure that one gets from
building an electronic circuit, scavenging parts off of something,
finding interesting items at hamfests, repairing something "real,"
etc. is much greater than writing or repairing a computer program.

I never really found there to be much of a "thrill" from new
developments in technology... maybe that explains why I'm content
driving 30+ to nearly 40 year old cars and even more content riding a
horse using classical riding techniques.  Much new technology just
plain sucks.  On a quiet day, if you listen carefully, you just may be
able to hear the sucking sound! ;-)

Newer equipment stuffed with miniaturized digital circuitry, surface
mount devices, unlabeled chips, undocumented (for the consumer, that
is) firmware, etc.  is far less interesting, and vastly less fun, than
analog circuitry, especially circuitry using tubes.  So much waste
results from many new designs as well when products become throwaway
items rather than repairable devices with long lifetimes.  Of course,
it has its uses and someone has to do the dirty work and work with it,
design it, etc. :-)  

This is slightly off-topic, but an example of new ways of engineering
things: when an almost new clothes dryer was repaired recently (the
old one had to be replaced because there was no way to find a
replacement gas valve/solenoid for it, even though everything else was
in good condition and working! ...I couldn't even find a suitable part
to modify and use as a replacement, but I kept the motor, some of the
sheet metal, controls, screws, etc. from the old dryer... never know
when they might be useful for something or other...).  The repairman
showed me a Teflon coated piece of rounded metal that a drive belt ran
over instead of a pulley!  Needless to say, it caused the belt to wear
out and the part itself wore out.  The company had to end up replacing
the rounded, Teflon-coated, pieces of metal with pulleys like those
used in the older dryers.  The repairman who'd gone to meetings with
the engineers and managers said that they were mostly a bunch of young
kids who didn't want to listen to anyone who was older and thought
they knew best how to do everything... no relying on old and proven
ways of doing thing.  The result: wasteful and cruddy product design
due to excessive cost-cutting and not listening to their elders.

> Furthermore, I think there's a big difference with old DIY
> electronics : in the open source movement, there's the
> additional excitement of contributing to something bigger, and

What additional excitement?  I fail to see the point, although I
appreciate the open source movement.  

> possibly having some of your code used / modified /improved

...or screwed up

> by others, while old DIY electronics were a more "lonely
> pleasure"...

That's not exactly true.  Take ham radio, for example.  Anyway,
pleasure from solitude is not without its merits.
  
-- 
Copyright (C) 2005 R.D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals: an
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