Thought of this the other day. I bet a lot of us are like this, because in today’s world a lot of things we used to tinker with are gone (electronics are made to be single use and unfixable, cars are proprietary and can rarely be modified or worked on without many many thousands of dollars now, etc).
Sure, there are still hardcore electronics projects going on and people doing massive restoration projects and such, but i consider them basically geniuses, not just tinkerers who enjoy messing around and learning in their spare time while working 50 hours a week.
Im glad linux gives us a space to exist!
I feel the exact opposite. Today I can tinker in ways I never ever could before for two reasons:
When I started out the cheapest computer was today’s equivalent of about $2000. To be able to buy a whole computer in a Raspberry Pi zero for $10 is insanely awesome! Electronic components from Radio Shack were few and very expensive. Test equipment like oscilloscopes were simply out-of-reach financially. Now I have a handheld one I bought for $200.
This is an amazing time to be alive with tinkering!
This is it.
You don’t have to tinker anymore, but if you want to, you can do so, so much more that years ago.
I created a handheld physiotherapy game console for sick kids using a Lilygo T-HMI ESP32-S3 board for €17. Performance-wise it’s somewhere between GBA and NDS. I built an OS with an app system where the users can load games from the SD card. It’s got a 3D printed shell and monitors inhalation/physiotherapy using an off-the-shelf air pressure sensor. All of that was doable as a one-man hobby project within a year.
I created a smartphone keyboard attachment. Blackberry spare keyboard, custom self-designed Arduino-compatible PCB, custom firmware, parametarized 3D printed shell. Works like any old USB keyboard and connects to the phone via USB C. I have been using this as a daily driver for the last four years.
All of that can be done on a tight budget as hobby projects next to real work. The resources are just available. No university degree necessary.
Tinkering much easier (and you have more abilities) than ever before!
This is so cool! I applaud you. I always figure all that stuff already exists so why build it again
Thank you!
These two things didn’t exist before I made them. My physiotherapy game console is currently the only one available, and in total the only one that is open source.
There is by now another smartphone keyboard attachment, the Clicks, but there wasn’t when I made my keyboard, and there still isn’t another one for the Fairphone 4 and the Samsung Galaxy A54.
How much of the hardware and software you use must be registered, requires internet access to work, a proprietary app? You don’t actually own anything that fits in those categories and they can be taken away from you at the manufacturer’s whim.
While there are certainly commercial versions of those that fall into those categories, there are many that don’t.
Then I guess Linux is not one of the last bastions for the tinkerer.
Yes, you can definitely do all those things, but they’re far outside of the realm of a normal consumer, and unless you know, to look for those things. It’s a lot harder to find.
This feels a little bit like the x k c.D comic where they’re talking about how everybody knows the chemical makeup of minerals.
I’m confused by your premise then. If you’re saying “Today’s consumer electronics can’t be tinkered because they require specialized knowledge.” I’d argue that was always the case. How much tinkering could be done to an Atari 2600 from 1977?
How much tinkering would be done to a VHS VCR from 1989 without specialized knowledge?
These are prime examples of prior generations of consumer electronics.
Its much easier to just look at those devices and guess how they work. Follow traces. Find a broken pin on an interconnect. Replace a rubber band on the drive mechanism.
Also its funny you brought that up because I’ve always been into atari and still have my 2600, 7800, And pong machine.
You cant do this on basically any device today because of planned obsolescence. Try repairing almost any laptop made today. Or better yet a phone. I fixed every single component on my razr and had it for 6 years. Id still be using it if it was supported and modern life didn’t basically require a smartphone.
Same with cars. It really started going downhill in 2015. Cars are basically a rolling Apple product now, totally proprietary and nearly impossible to fix without an ee degree.
Again, your average tinkerer or kid, is locked out of doing so, unless they really show initiative and go down a road of 3d printing and raspberry pis, but id say then youre in full nerd territory.
I feel your premise remains flawed with these examples. The average consumer is not tinkering in the ways you describe, regardless. The average person isn’t following traces, looking for broken pins, or guessing how devices work.
You may have an intimate understanding of the technologies of your youth/life but that is not a universal truth amongst people of the time you are referencing.
The same people repairing their VHS in the 90s are replacing their android smart phone screens or batteries today. As the other posters have mentioned, tinkerers today are even creating their own competition products or major revisions thanks to cheap compute modules, arduinos, 3d printers, and cheap electronic parts from China.
Check yourself, you are assuming life was better in the past when the reality is that today features far more opportunity at an affordable cost with copious resources/tutorials for any individual to manipulate their technology.
You right on some accounts! Don’t get me started on things that were better in the past lol, I can go on for days.
Ita true there’s still lots to do for those that seek it out! All I was originally saying is I love how linux hasn’t been corrupted by enshittification like everything else.
Also if you can fix any smartphone or laptop made today, you must have extremely precision tools avilable to you, because corps have made repair on almost everything impossible now vs how it used to be. I worked in a repair shop, I’ve experienced it.
Even outside of this, film has been seeing a resurgence in the photography world lately, and even in the more general art world, you can still pick up some crayons and some blank paper relatively cheaply and go to town with that, for example.
On top of Linux being a thing for computing and PCs not becoming as locked down as Apple devices or even mobile devices in general, yet, there’s going to be some level of ownership over your stuff for the foreseeable future.
This also extends to older cars which can still be tinkered with by the owner while those are still emissions-legal.