2020-11-08: Building Sustainable Electronics xkp

I've noticed quite a few sundogs here are, like me, minidisc fans. I originally

bought mine because I was interested in a semi-analogue medium for recording

shortwave dxing sessions. I also noticed the sync-record function would work

well on the timer with my ICF-9600GR radio's programming function.

Unfortunately for me, Sony implemented the world's arsiest DRM to stop people

copying from Minidisc to PC and I can't be bothered ruining my one player to

try and crack it.

But I still use the Minidisc recorder/player for listening to music. Music has

always been important to me. It's a big part of my life. I've been working on

a dork web mix disc to go out at some point and playing the mixes on my mini-

disc player.

For me, using minidisc instead of buying an ipod is an important personal

commitment to sustainable electronics. If I buy new stuff I'm actively

contributing to the negative outcomes associated with that stuff, namely waste,

climate change and in the case of many electronic devices, child exploitation

as the raw materials are often (but not always) obtained through child labour

in conflict zones like the Congo.

Likewise I build and design a lot of hardware. This in turn creates waste and

honestly I don't know how to deal with that. That's not what I'm writing about.

I'm working on a new computer designed to be sustainable over the next 50-100

years. It's through-hole but uses modern tech like the ESP32 at it's core. It

supports things like Micro-SD cards through breakout boards that can be bought

second hand, and will support expansions that can be produced from recycled kit.

The device uses older relatively patent-free standards like VGA, PS/2 and 9-pin

peripheral connectors. Again, these can be obtained through scavenging as well

as from modern suppliers. After seeing what happened to the state of Amiga

chips I'm confident that people will still be able to maintain, repair and

build this system 50 years from now, with the possibility of maintaining it up

to 100 years from now. It's also a device a single person can understand, and

doesn't require a degree in electrical engineering to build.

At the moment it's in the prototype stage. I posted some pics of a newly built

prototype that I'm doing for a friend based on the main design. The prototype

has a surface mount SD card slot but that's because this particular version is

being built for a friend who's happy with surface mount components on the

board.

The final version will be fully Open Source Hardware and Software. It won't be

as fast as a big boy computer but you'll certainly be able to do almost

anything you could do on a big boy computer with it.Congo.