[gentoo-amd64] Re: routers and mp3 players that do FLOSS Was: slaveryware

[Duncan]

"Boyd Stephen Smith Jr." <bss03@××××××××××.net> posted
200610011958.25777.bss03@××××××××××.net, excerpted below, on  Sun, 01 Oct
2006 19:58:21 -0500:

> I was at the iriveramerica site earlier this week and remember it saying
> neither the HD nor the battery was replaceable.  That said, sometimes
> official websites give out information the manufacturer *wants* to be
> true, so rockbox or other project sites might be better information -- in
> any case, the iriveramerica site, after a little bit of fighting, can do
> interactively queried about the devices.

I've a very strong suspicion that's simply the standard "No user
serviceable parts inside" thing that most of us geeks have been ignoring
since before we could even read it!  =8^)

I'd particularly say that's the case with the battery, as it's virtually a
given that /those/ are replaceable, even if they are custom lithium-ion
shaped batteries and finding one that'd actually fit the case would be
difficult.  Match up the voltage and get in roughly the same or higher
amp-hour range, and it should work, even if it's simply pulling the dead
one and replacing it with a plug for an external battery to plugin, since
it won't fit the custom shaped slot.  Again, that's /exactly/ the sort of
thing I've been replacing since not long after I could read.  While the
newer li-ion custom shaped gelpacks are changing things a bit, you'd be
surprised at how many battery packs are simply prewired triple-pack AA
rechargeables with a plug wired onto them, or the like.

If that's the case with the battery, and they make the same
non-user-replaceable claim for both the battery and the hard drive, I'm
extremely skeptical about their claim on the hard drive as well.  Of
course, one has to be careful to get the right interface -- buying a new
120 gig 1.8" SATA won't do any good if the drive being replaced is a 20
gig 1.8" IDE, and then there's the question of whether they use one of the
industry standard interface pinouts or went with something proprietary,
but that info is often available well before the community firmware
support is ready.

Remember, the iPod batteries weren't officially user replaceable either,
and may still not be.  Same with their hard drives.  However,
determined users have been replacing those for years.  There's even sites
documenting how to replace an iPod's 1.8" drive (say it died) with a full
desktop sized 3.5" drive of several hundred gigs, altho of course in that
case the iPod is strapped to the drive and the drive requires an external
power supply.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman

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