30 October 2016

On fixing hardware

There is a certain satisfaction in fixing hardware. It can be pretty trivial at times: unscrew a bunch of pieces, replace the broken bit, screw everything back together. The worst that can happen is to end up with one or two screws that don't seem to go anywhere once you put things back.

I recently fixed a Kindle from a few years ago (model D00901, aka "the one with a little keyboard"), and I had exactly this experience, minus the extra screws. I just opened it all up, disconnected the broken screen, replaced it with a new one from eBay (£16), and put it all back together - done. By then I'd already bought a replacement Voyage, but I can now give this to my kids. I was also pretty happy to get this particular model back, because it's much easier to hack than the Voyage (Amazon, wtf? I still can't change screensaver images, in 2016??)

Moral of the story - always try to fix broken hardware. It might save you a few pennies and, in the age of youtube, you don't even have to be an expert to do it.