Comment by CountSessine
4 years ago
This was in a very different era, when manufacturing was difficult and expensive. Having the schematic didn't necessarily get you anywhere. That's no longer the case - now the design is expensive but the manufacturing is cheap.
Component level schematics should be freely available for all products. It's not like there are no schematics available for e.g. Macbooks. Third party repair shops use them all the time. It's just that they are not legally available.
I might entertain the argument that you don't want to show all internal details of your 6 layer PCB but those are also not necessary for repair. Just hand out the component level schematics.
a lot of consumer electronics are a bunch of strung together reference implementations. the schematic isn't really the secret sauce, especially since with a soldering iron, a multimeter (and maybe an lcr meter) and time, you could completely recreate it without difficulty. not practical for a repair shop's level of income/device, but if you wanted to steal a design, you could easily do this
Can you articulate what that has to do with repairability?
For one thing, I think it's an important point to make when someone else makes the, "look how repairability has regressed since the golden era of getting the Apple II schematics in the box with the computer!". At the time, design was cheap. Why not give it to your customers? It's not like they're going to go out and make one themselves.
The fact that manufacturing is cheap now and schematics are not only the key to repairability but also counterfeit Chinese knock-offs is a problem worth understanding.
I don't think this argument is related whether or not people should be able to source and repair the devices they own. R2R doesn't require redesign of products - only that parts and documentation should be made available so indie shops and DIYers can have the option.
This is as opposed to the status quo, where manufacturers like Apple and Samsung currently cause their phones to malfunction when replacing parts without proprietary software switches - even when those parts are OEM. [1]
[1] https://www.ifixit.com/News/45921/is-this-the-end-of-the-rep...
>The fact that manufacturing is cheap now and schematics are not only the key to repairability but also counterfeit Chinese knock-offs is a problem worth understanding.
I think you have a BIG misunderstanding here. The schematics do not include any Apple secrets, it is the repair schematic that is only high level stuff AND this schematics are already on the internet so China has it already (so honestly stop bringing the China argument here).
Is the same with diagnostic software, many companies only show you a error LED and you have to send the device to a repair person for that person to use the software and tell your the error message. Making the software(or the Google doc) available that translates and error code numbers into error messages will not make iPhones insecure or allow China to copy them (btw isn't iPhone already made in China> wtf is this About China FUD?, China's Apple factory must have much more info then only repair schematics )
I think Americans are still largely clueless about how extensively the PRC has infiltrated the governments and companies of the world, and how much IP they have stolen. If they want it; they have it. Heck, my company is doing everything they can to prevent users from messing with our firmware, but we have to give all the keys to China to sell our products there. All they had to do was ask. There’s no need to make it hard for owners to get to.