OK - I think this is a dead issue in so far as the question I originally
asked of the board.  However, there are a couple of points here which
I want to discuss.

First, the scanner was list at $200 three years ago - not that cheap.
I got it for $150 on sale - 25% off list.

I have spent zero time with them on the phone - all communications
have been by email.

I didn't ask them to repair it - I told them on line one that it was over
two
years old and therefore obviously out of warranty.  It is a model which
was discontinued over a year ago.

I was not expecting to obtain spare parts from them. I am quite certain
that they have spares, but not for resale - nor would they be likely to
have their accounting set up to do parts sales. Actually, had I found
that one of the big SMT chips on the main board was the likely culprit
I would have been happy to buy a replacement PCB from them.

I didn't ask for a service manual - I agree that there probably is no such
thing, except as internal documents. From my experience those in-house
service notes can be very cryptic.

However, they obviously have schematics and board layouts for the
scanner - otherwise they couldn't produce and sell them.  All I wanted
was a copy of the schematic and layout so I would have a clue as to
what I was looking at during troubleshooting.  I offered to pay for the
copying and mailing.

While it is true that I could be a competitor, how much am I going to
learn from a design which is a least three years old?  And frankly, when
I have actually needed to know what a competitor was doing, we have
purchased one of the latest & greatest and taken it apart for study. You
can learn an awful lot that way.

Finally, while I understand that the best thing to do here is to kiss it
goodbye and buy a new one, that in not an option at the moment.  Time
to troubleshoot I have in plenty - money to buy a new scanner I do not.

[End of rant from my end.]

RJG

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Alan B. Pearce" <A.B.Pearce@rl.ac.uk>
> To: "Microcontroller discussion list - Public." <piclist@mit.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 12:21 PM
> Subject: Re: [EE]: looking for schematics or other info on
> Microtek4900scanner
>
>
> > >That's exactly the point. A monitor, especially an expensive monitor,
> > >does still have an expectation of being "repairable", hence the fact
> > >that a service manual is available.
> > >
> > >But you ARE talking about an $80 scanner.
> > >
> > >> You could argue that there is a lot more IP in those
> > >> schematics than there is in the schematics of a $80 scanner, as there
> is
> > a
> > >> lot more non-trivial electronics.
> > >
> > >Remember, it doesn't MATTER how much "IP" there is in the schematics,
> > >it's the fact that there MIGHT be something "good" in those schematics
> > >that a competitor might be able to use that scares companies.
> >
> > I think you guys are forgetting another factor in making something
> > repairable. The cost of stocking spares, and the cost of technical
labour
> to
> > do the repair. This is another reason why so much repair is done by
board
> > jockeys these days. A school kid could replace the PCB in the scanner,
and
> > the cost of the spare is probably about $10 to the company, but to have
a
> > technical person repair it plus stocking a range of spares for it is
> dearer
> > than a complete scanner - so they sell you a complete scanner as a
> > replacement, and have the schoolboys wages.
> >
> > This is irrespective of any IP in the product.
> >
> > The monitor has enough built in price to make the cost of individual
spare
> > parts worth while, especially as many of the items will not necessarily
be
> > on the PCB. it is also an item where there is a reasonable chance of an
> > observable rate of infant mortality failure, which the service
> organisation
> > will have to deal with to keep the company name. The scanner is cheap
> enough
> > and of a construction where the infant mortality will be negligible, and
> > complete unit swap for any that do fail.
> >
> > --
> > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
> > View/change your membership options at
> > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
>
>

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