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Friday, April 09, 2010

The Makers' Bill of Rights

I hate owning things that can't be fixed.

If you can't open it, you don't own it:
a Maker's Bill of Rights to accessible, extensive, and repairable hardware.

by Mister Jalopy

  • Meaningful and specific parts lists shall be included.

  • Cases shall be easy to open.

  • Batteries should be replaceable.

  • Special tools are allowed only for darn good reasons.

  • Profiting by selling expensive special tools is wrong and not making special tools available is even worse.

  • Torx is OK; tamperproof is rarely OK.

  • Components, not entire sub-assemblies, shall be replaceable.

  • Consumables, like fuses and filters, shall be easy to access.

  • Circuit boards shall be commented.

  • Power from USB is good; power from proprietary power adapters is bad.

  • Standard connecters shall have pinouts defined.

  • If it snaps shut, it shall snap open.

  • Screws better than glues.

  • Docs and drivers shall have permalinks and shall reside for all perpetuity at archive.org.

  • Ease of repair shall be a design ideal, not an afterthought.

  • Metric or standard, not both.

  • Schematics shall be included.

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