>they went out and bought machinery from 1987 so that it wouldn’t have a computer on it
That's fine and all but Deere still carries parts for that 1987 tractor, so you can keep it running. Ursa will probably be gone in 10 years?; it doesn't matter how mechanical the system is if you can't get new parts anyways.
I'd love to see an Oxide Computer Company but for tractors. Open source firmware and tooling, but in this case the design would have to focus on repairability, transparency, and use of easily replaceable components for compute and sensors, similar to how the mechanical components are chosen.
Oxide goes to great lengths to allow you to own your servers and operate them in an airgapped environment. Could a tractor be built to operate airgapped even with onboard tech? Or to be able to connect to a local base station over e.g. LoRaWAN instead of the cloud?
You can look into Eastern Europe - i.e. Zetor is building relatively low tech tractors, but importing something like this into USA is going to be a pain
After reading the title, it reminded me of a high-tech bolt. I thought people were making even bolts more complicated, gradually finding ways to monetize them by integrating ads or unnecessary technology. Even bolts are becoming harder to use. It’s surprising to see that tractors are becoming less tech heavy now, as people prefer more usable and easy-to-repair technology again. MAKE ANALOG GREAT AGAIN(MAGA)!
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 25.0 ms ] threadI's not the technology itself that they object to --- it's the fact that it is being used (patents, DMCA, etc.) to rape them on repairs.
That's fine and all but Deere still carries parts for that 1987 tractor, so you can keep it running. Ursa will probably be gone in 10 years?; it doesn't matter how mechanical the system is if you can't get new parts anyways.
Oxide goes to great lengths to allow you to own your servers and operate them in an airgapped environment. Could a tractor be built to operate airgapped even with onboard tech? Or to be able to connect to a local base station over e.g. LoRaWAN instead of the cloud?
SMART BOLT TECHNOLOGY:
https://smartbolts.com/
https://imbu.nl/projects/smartbolt/