De-enshittification upgrades/tips/mods/repairs/ideas - Companion to BIFL, taking the shitty versions and making them better

[IdiotPlusPlus]

I though this might be an interesting topic(inspired by rants in Garbage Time YT Vids)

What can you do when a decent product is replaced by a shittier version using the same brand, or when the only options are all the same poorly made cheap shit, just with different company names?

Roll your own, or random upgrades/repairs with better parts.

As a opener :
Computer Desks getting a less shitty one than stores sell:
I can definitely recommend the 'hack' going around of using Wood Benchtop Panels from Big Box Hardware stores as a desktop for desks instead of the Laminated Cardboard/Chipboard Ikea, etc sell.
You can take advantage of the Hardware stores cutting service if you know the width you need(a couple of mates have got theirs cut to size for a alcove in their house) and if you have large enough scrap, free wooden cutting board.
I previously bought a 2.2m Panel, sat it on 2 Ikea cheap drawer units and just recently upgraded to putting it on a Standing Desk Frame, and since it's actual wood I didn't have any issues putting the screws in for the frame.
(example photo example of desktop)


Another random example, the crank handle on my Can opener broke as it was just a shitty molded plastic socket on a 12mm nut, which I have replaced with a 12mm tool socket so I can use a manual socket drive, or if I am being lazy a drill, instead of just throwing it away and buying another shitty plastic crank handle one, and as a bonus, now easier to open cans as I have better leverage and/or a motor lol.

I've definitely seen around people making stronger replacement parts via 3D printing as well which I want to try at some point.

But yeah, would love to see what people have done/come up with to make their stuff less shit.

 

[Flatline]

I previously bought a 2.2m Panel, sat it on 2 Ikea cheap drawer units and just recently upgraded to putting it on a Standing Desk Frame, and since it's actual wood I didn't have any issues putting the screws in for the frame.

Using a cheap piece of butcher's block wood will save you a lot of money when upgrading to a motorized standing desk.

 

[WhatInTheActualFuck]

Re: desks, I picked up a couple of those IKEA trestles and a solid core interior door from Home Depot. Hit the door with some roll-on truck bedliner and now it's got a durable matte black non-porous surface that has just enough texture to keep things like mousepads and the like solidly in place. Wanna say that the total investment was under $150, but that was pre-Biden, so it'd be a bit more to make now.

Added bonus: if the door is already cut for a knob, you can use that hole to route cables.

 

[Grim_Autismo]

Re: desks, I picked up a couple of those IKEA trestles and a solid core interior door from Home Depot. Hit the door with some roll-on truck bedliner and now it's got a durable matte black non-porous surface that has just enough texture to keep things like mousepads and the like solidly in place. Wanna say that the total investment was under $150, but that was pre-Biden, so it'd be a bit more to make now.

Doors are always a great way to go; you've got the pre-drilled lock/knob holes that you can use for cable management! But the workman's tabletops will give you a deeper working surface (if you're not just typing on there, some of us are doing work on the desk as well), which can help. Either way, it's a great way to go. They'll also drill those holes for cable management for you if you ask. You can also add in the little bristles later to keep your cables from getting fucked by the sides of the desk (I forget what they're called. They're like those brushes on a vacuum, but soft; you can mount the head of a 1" wide synthetic paintbrush in the hole there, and it'll do great! It just keeps them from rolling around and getting cut up by sharp edges of the desk if you missed any corners sanding later.

 

[Milk Float]

Doors are always a great way to go; you've got the pre-drilled lock/knob holes that you can use for cable management! But the workman's tabletops will give you a deeper working surface (if you're not just typing on there, some of us are doing work on the desk as well), which can help. Either way, it's a great way to go. They'll also drill those holes for cable management for you if you ask. You can also add in the little bristles later to keep your cables from getting fucked by the sides of the desk (I forget what they're called. They're like those brushes on a vacuum, but soft; you can mount the head of a 1" wide synthetic paintbrush in the hole there, and it'll do great! It just keeps them from rolling around and getting cut up by sharp edges of the desk if you missed any corners sanding later.

I believe you’re thinking of a grommet.

 

[Rock hard as a Flintstone]

Those chinky electric desoldering guns are amazing for the price (where I'm from, the most basic Hakko is over 5x the cost so unless you are making a living from it there's no economic reason to buy one). That said they do come up short on multi layer boards and areas with big ground pours around pins (i.e. more thermal mass). I saw this the other day and thought it was a stroke of genius.

 

[Alligator Alcatraz]

Don't use the complimentary cutting service at Lowes and Home Depot for cutting wood countertops. Even if you manage to convince an employee to cut a countertop for you, the saws are very inaccurate and may crack the shitty hollow faux-wood. Don't be a nigger and just get your own quality saw to cut it at home.

 

[Squishie PP]

Would be really nice to know how to de-enshittify cars, since all the newer models have invasive electronics stuff. Things like unlocking the bootloader for your car's infotainment system and installing a custom OS would be nice. I hear that many cars run an OS called Android Automotive, which is of course based on Android.

 

[Flatline]

Would be really nice to know how to de-enshittify cars

Find and buy cars made before 2010.

 

[Squishie PP]

Find and buy cars made before 2010.

Besides that, I mean. At the very least, it would be good to find a way to airgap current car systems in order to disable all telemetry (for example, by physically removing the antennae.)

 

[DavidS877]

Besides that, I mean. At the very least, it would be good to find a way to airgap current car systems in order to disable all telemetry (for example, by physically removing the antennae.)

For OnStar(r)(tm). It depends on the car.
For one I owned, disconnecting the antennas wasn't enough, but you can open the OnStar module and pull the modem out, it does set a code, but no dashboard lights and didn't cause any problems except no compass. Can also use antenna terminators on both ports.
If you still wanted the head unit GPS/Nav to work you could then go to the antenna splitter where the OnStar and head unit GPS antennas connect to the actual antenna cable and remove the key where the OnStar antenna connects and move the receiver antenna there so the receiver could power the GPS antenna. GPS antennas don't transmit but they need power to run an amplifier.

 

[Squishie PP]

For OnStar(r)(tm). It depends on the car.
For one I owned, disconnecting the antennas wasn't enough, but you can open the OnStar module and pull the modem out, it does set a code, but no dashboard lights and didn't cause any problems except no compass. Can also use antenna terminators on both ports.
If you still wanted the head unit GPS/Nav to work you could then go to the antenna splitter where the OnStar and head unit GPS antennas connect to the actual antenna cable and remove the key where the OnStar antenna connects and move the receiver antenna there so the receiver could power the GPS antenna. GPS antennas don't transmit but they need power to run an amplifier.

Nice! It has been documented elsewhere that car companies now sell data to insurance companies, so this may save some people money. Unless of course the insurer defaults to the highest premium if they have no data; it probably depends on the insurer. In any case, it will prevent existing surveillance capitalism infrastructure from being used for actual surveillance.

 

[Dr. Sexbot]

enshittification​

As much as I agree with the sentiment, I wish we still had word filters here so we could replace that with "I"M A FAGGOT REDDITOR"
Seriously, just look at the Ars (aka Reddit spillover) comments on a relevant article and do a Find/Word Count.

 

[Xarpho's Return]

Apparently a lot of showerheads have a flow regulator that can be removed that will double water flow. It uses more water but you don't have to be cucked by regulations anymore.

 

[Cnidarian]

As much as I agree with the sentiment, I wish we still had word filters here so we could replace that with "I"M A FAGGOT REDDITOR"
Seriously, just look at the Ars (aka Reddit spillover) comments on a relevant article and do a Find/Word Count.

Redditors use unnecessarily polite and flowery language for whatever they find disgusting.

 

[AidsNiggerSupreme]

I can second 3D printing, If you know basic modeling you can measure things up pretty quick and replace them at super low cost. I recommend learning freecad and blender, both open source, and do everything you need for this purpose. Also a 3d scanner would kick ass for this if you want to spend all the money.

Other then that the options are very limited, when I find a product that I think stands up to the test I will buy a spare or maybe two before the manufacturer discontinues it or makes it shittier with cost cutting.

Sometimes there are aftermarket parts for things, but only expensive things with super high production numbers, and ofcourse companies want to put an end to that.

I've thought about this a lot and I think homebrewing is increasing the only way to get a good product these days, at the cost of huge amounts of time to design and build it. Luckily many people share their designs online and of the few things I've made I would also like to share their designs. If enough people do the legwork it could eventually be easy to get designs and instructions to build an actually good whatever.

 

[ChefBourgeoisie]

Apparently a lot of showerheads have a flow regulator that can be removed that will double water flow. It uses more water but you don't have to be cucked by regulations anymore.

I remember some article from 15 years ago that described an illegal smuggling operation. It operated out of Canada and imported Canadian showerheads and related hardware that didn't abide US plumbing regulations. I guess the thought of any American having a gratifying bathing experience just really fucks up some bureaucrat's shit too much to tolerate. I should've taken notes, I might have liked to have some of those imported.

 

[WTBOnlineFather]

Besides that, I mean. At the very least, it would be good to find a way to airgap current car systems in order to disable all telemetry (for example, by physically removing the antennae.)

The short answer is that you're totally fucked. This is the current "meta" in car development:
1. integrate EVERYTHING into centralized ECUs and make it entirely computer operated
2. connect it to a central server
3. now that everything is a big interlinked computer clusterfuck, you have a plausible excuse to implement extreme anti-tampering measures under the guise of "safety & security", including shit like cloud-based telemetry heuristics
Short of just completely disconnecting the car, which will have numerous unintended consequences (and if not now, then future models certainly will), you can't really do shit.

 

[85CentSoda]

One of my biggest current pet peeves is people responding to bad tech/car/etc/ news with "well I guess I'll stick with (outdated software, hardware, car, etc), checkmate! LOL"
Like, no, you fucking idiot. Yes you will evade modern nonsense for a time, but you will eventually either have a bricked system or unusable hardware.
For example: people often times say, "oh Windows 11 sucks and has really bad telemetry. Good thing I'm sticking to windows 7!" Yes, as good as Windows 7 is, it does legitimately have bad security vulnerabilities now that it has reached the end of service ( https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerab...duct_id-17153/opec-1/Microsoft-Windows-7.html ). Additionally, you will eventually lose software comparability, like with Steam ending Windows 7 support.
Probably my biggest pet peeve is people saying "oh, now that the US is adding mandatory 'DUI' surveillance to new cars, I'll just stick with my current old car forever!"
So yeah, great for the next decade, but like all machines, your car will start to break down. Obviously if your're able to work on cars yourself (more than just changing the oil) then you will be alright for well over 10 years. Even if you are though, replacement parts will continue to become increasingly harder and harder to find, as is usually the case for older cars. So assuming everything else being equal you will eventually be forced to purchase a car (even used) that has all the computers and telemetry and anti-DUI cameras you're trying to avoid.
It would be like someone trying to avoid modern telemetry by using DOS or Windows 2000 (aside from security risks) and being fucked by legitimate hardware degradation that can't readily be fixed.
So good job everyone who responded to new US vehicle regulations with "I'll just use old cars." You're a fucking spic idiot and you will be assimilated.
Thead tax: Sorry I have none to say currently.

 

[Squishie PP]

The short answer is that you're totally fucked. This is the current "meta" in car development:
1. integrate EVERYTHING into centralized ECUs and make it entirely computer operated
2. connect it to a central server
3. now that everything is a big interlinked computer clusterfuck, you have a plausible excuse to implement extreme anti-tampering measures under the guise of "safety & security", including shit like cloud-based telemetry heuristics
Short of just completely disconnecting the car, which will have numerous unintended consequences (and if not now, then future models certainly will), you can't really do shit.

Well thats dumb. Hopefully motorcycles, motorized tricycles, etc. don't get infected by this bullshit for a while.
I would also imagine that this won't be as much of a problem when buying used fleet vehicles, but maybe I am too optimistic.

Apparently a lot of showerheads have a flow regulator that can be removed that will double water flow. It uses more water but you don't have to be cucked by regulations anymore.

Thats good. I've used showers with flow restrictors before, and it basically just means you have to double the time that you spend in the shower to get the same effect. So this is very useful.