Why I support the “Right to Repair”

I have a friend who wanted some help with her Dell laptop. I converted her to Linux several years ago but this system is now about 5 years old.

It started because she’d been unable to perform upgrades from Fedora 37 to newer versions. There were also a couple other minor problems that were causing her some pain.

The easy problem

I’ve done some of the upgrades in the past, and she did some, but for various reasons — life — my friend hadn’t been able to do so recently. She was using the doUpdates.sh program I wrote a few years ago, and was following the instructions I printed out for her. It should have worked. But, well — it didn’t.

It turns out the problem with upgrades and updates was with a repository that was returning errors. I disabled that repo in its configuration file and all of the updates and upgrades from Fedora 37 to Fedora 42 went quite well.

So that’s the first problem fixed.

The hard problem

My friend’s laptop also had a couple keytops missing and those keys, B and M, weren’t working at all. She’d been using an external keyboard to do her work, but that sort of limits the portability of the laptop. I asked her if she wanted me to replace the keyboard, which I’d priced out at about $20US, and she agreed.

Using the service manual for her laptop, I disassembled it so I could be ready when the keyboard arrived.

The first issue I encountered is that the entire laptop must be disassembled to even get access to the “keyboard and palmrest assembly.” I had every part of that computer laid out on my workdesk.

The real problem is that the keyboard itself cannot be removed from the palmrest assembly. It’s sandwiched between the palmrest and a metal sheet that covers the entire keyboard.

Rather than use screws to fasten the metal plate to the palmrest, the palmrest has dozens of little plastic rods molded as part of its construction. These rods protrude through holes in the metal plate. Each plastic rod is melted down to secure the metal plate, and therefore the keyboard, to the palmrest. This makes it impossible to remove the metal plate to access and replace the keyboard itself.

This method of fastening is also probably cheaper than using screws.

I ordered the entire keyboard palmrest assembly and am now waiting for that to arrive.

Another example

Dell uses nonstandard cases, parts, and construction intentionally designed to lock us in to their repair services and unique, proprietary hardware. Upgrades to new motherboards that will accommodate faster processors are not possible with these systems. I’ve also seen instances of Dell laptops that had an otherwise available but empty memory slot intentionally blocked so that a new memory module can’t be installed. This motherboard was the same as another Dell computer that did not have that slot blocked but cost more because it “supported more RAM.”

HP does much the same. If you do have Dell or HP be aware of their artificial, non-standard limitations.

Those intentionally imposed limitations do force people into discarding old computers that could otherwise be repaired, and requiring them to purchase new computers.

How it should be done

It’s much easier to replace the keyboard on my System76 Oryx Pro 4. I’ve done it when a couple keys broke after a rather hard impact from a dropped object. It was only necessary to remove the bottom cover, a couple additional screws, and the keyboard could be popped out from the bottom. It’s the work of only a couple minutes and no other parts need to be removed. System76 designs their systems to be repairable.

Another company that makes repair easy is Framework. These systems are also designed to be repairable and upgradable. I plan to try one of their laptops the next time I need a new one. Which, unfortunately or fortunately as the case may be, may be a long time.

Right to Repair

The Right to Repair is intended to allow anyone to have choices. Choices about repairing and upgrading older computers. With the parts I use when building my own computers, I can repair and upgrade my systems’ hardware and keep them running for decades. A good local computer store will have computers with standard components available pre-built, or you can just order a computer to your own specifications and they’ll build it for you. But stay away from those big-box stores.

And, of course, I use Linux to ensure that my operating system doesn’t impose any other unnecessary and artificial constraints on the use of those old computers. Linux helps to ensure the longevity of your older hardware by supporting it without restriction.