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Reading a 1980s manual, the number of discrete parts in a basic nav unit shocked me
It was a Collins unit, and the parts list ran over 400 items for something we'd now replace with a single box. Found it in a storage room at a small airfield in Nebraska. Does anyone still have to source those old discrete components, or is it all just swap-and-go now?
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jana_hart1819h agoMost Upvoted
Reminds me of fixing my old radio with my dad. We'd hunt for a single burnt-out resistor at a hobby shop. Now you just toss the whole circuit board. Makes you wonder what skills we've lost by not having to understand how things work anymore.
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phoenixb3418h ago
Yeah, I used to roll my eyes at the "back in my day" stuff, but you're right. I tried to fix my coffee maker last month. The whole thing is one sealed plastic piece. Even if I knew which part broke, I couldn't get to it without breaking the case. We're not just losing the skill to fix things, we're losing the chance to even try. That feels different.
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miles_garcia8h ago
Exactly. It's not even about being cheap, it's about feeling helpless. They design stuff to be thrown away now, not fixed. My dad could keep anything running with some spare parts and patience. Now you need a whole new unit and a special tool just to open it. That connection to how things work is totally gone.
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