Toolmakers and Tinkerers
Piers Cawley speaks in praise of toolmakers over here:
I don’t know my way around a machine shop, except in the vaguest and most theoretical way. The tools I’ve grown up knowing to use are programming languages, editors, fine manuals and the mental tools a grounding in mathematics brings.
He draws a parallel his dad manufacturing tools to keep his vintage Fraser Nash on the road and himself programming the bits of code he needs to supplement what’s already available.
He makes a good point but he could go further. Increasingly cars have at their core proprietary chunks of electronics that are completely inaccessible both to hobbyist tinkerers and non-franchised garages. Our local garage man is a wizard with Land Rovers and tractors but modern cars defeat him - not because he’s stupid but because all the interesting functionality is inside an inscrutible black box.
I feel the same frustration contemplating the engine room of a modern car that I do when I’m let down by a bit of closed source software. I can tell from the nature of the problem that I could probably fix it myself if only I could get in there. But I’m locked out - so instead I have to speak to the people I bought it from. That generally tends up being costly, frustrating or both - but the real kicker is that I’ve been denied the opportunity to use the skills I know I have to help myself. Against my will I’ve been transformed into a passive consumer.
That’s not the only reason free software is important but it’s a huge factor for me. I grew up with Meccano and Lego; I’m used to making my own toys and fixing or modifying them when they break. Long live the tinkerer and the toolmaker.
December 27th, 2006 at 7:16 pm
Oh, absolutely, but I didn’t labour the point because it was tangential to what I was trying to say.
The rise of commodity culture is a whole other rant that I really should get round to writing one of these days.
December 27th, 2006 at 10:28 pm
Sorry Piers - it just happened to be in my rant queue too :)
December 29th, 2006 at 8:54 pm
Not quite on the same tangent as your rant but…
http://www.megasquirt.info/
It’s a ‘homebrew’ fuel injection/engine management setup that’s popular with people doing strange engine swaps/upgrades and homemade turbo builds. Go on, stick a turbo on your Saxo ;-)
December 29th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
That’s fantastic. Maybe I could make the Land Rover a bit nippier? Worst idea ever!
January 2nd, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I’m guessing things like Land Rovers and old VWs are probably the closest there is to an open source car ;-)
January 2nd, 2007 at 12:28 pm
I still fancy a ‘76 911 Carrera. I reckon they’re in the sweet spot where they were still simple enough to work on but good enough to be a shitload of fun. Maybe one day… :)
January 25th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
My brother’s single seat GN Special, Piglet, is simple to the point of crude and is a whole _heap_ of fun. But then, when you strap a Model A Ford engine onto a light car chassis, fun is to be expected.