Now I'm thinking about a Small Computer shop.
What might a Small Town Small Computer store look like?
What products would we carry? What services would we offer?
Where would we be?
How would we measure our success?
Should such a thing even exist?
There is already so much eWaste in the world, after all.
My gut says:
What would we carry:
- A handful of SBCs and microcontrollers
- Standardized around a single line/form factor
- Various electrical and electronics components
- Upcycled computers, repaired and repurposed
- Parts, but only the commodity stuff, and really only as a convenience (RAM, cables, SSDs)
- Pinebook pro or equivalent
- Repair stuff, tools, soldering irons, spudgers, replacement glass
- Lots of adapters, etc.
What services would we offer:
- Recycling station, drop off stuff with us and we 1) raid it for the good bits, 2) destroy your data 3) get it to a real recycler
- Basic computer literacy classes
- an in house linux distro (or two)
- Importantly, we would not do data recovery or virus recovery. I've been that guy, I'll never be that guy again
Where would we be:
- A rack at the coffee shop, a rack at the antique mall, popups at the makerspace. If there's enough interest, a dedicated location.
@ajroach42 Public soldering table?
@joepie91 at that point, just go to the makerspace.
@ajroach42 Ah, given the "small town" context, I was assuming an area where no makerspace would be readily available
@ajroach42 Whoops, overlooked that, sorry :)
@joepie91 Oh, yeah. I thought I mentioned it in the thread.
I did. "Popups at the makerspace" in the "where would we be section"
I've been running the makerspace for two years. Considering doing this as a side effect or by product.