Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

-----Original Message-----
Another reason: may people think a schematic contains all necessary info to
actually build something. WRONG!

...

The inclusion of schematics for our products is to help the kit builder both
build and learn but they are not designed to allow duplication of the
product...... There is "magic" in what we do and like good
magicians everywhere, we don't let go of all the secrets......



---Reply----
I have no problem with any of this thinking. I don't see any reason why you
should be obligated to provide DIY "pirates" with every bit of info,
including PCB layouts, parts sources, etc., to recreate the project from
scratch. (After an item was completely discontinued, it might be nice for
this info to survive as historical documentation, of course.)

I think all anyone is asking for is a basic schematic. You know... "I just
plugged in my module and a puff of smoke came out of it... let's see what's
going on in the area of the power supply input to the board..." Just some
help with troubleshooting, and some general appreciation of what's going on
in the circuit. "Oh, so THAT's how you sum three incoming control voltages!
So I could easily add a fourth input by sticking another jack and resistor
in there..."

I don't think anyone would argue that manufacturers are honor-bound to
supply complete info to help pirates steal their circuits.

And, personally, I think only an insane person would try to build an
MOTM/Blacet/etc circuit from scratch when, for a modest sum, a full parts
kit with professionally-etched PCB is available! But I guess there are some
real masochists out there! There's no way you're going to ∗really∗ get away
any cheaper---not at that quality level---unless you place absolutely no
value on your own time. Someone with enough skill to etch a really good PCB
for cheaper ought to have more respect for the whole process (and as I say,
something better to do with their time). If I order an MOTM EG kit, it
arrives, and a couple of hours later it's built and running. For what it
costs to get a 'real' one (in time and $$$), why on earth would I try to
make a sloppy knock-off on breadboard?