What are the "AK-47" of items? (cheap, durable, just works)
This is not a conversation about guns. This is a conversation about items that have withstood abuse that are near unbreakable.
Some items I have heard referenced as AK47 of:
Gerber MP600: It's a multi tool
Old Thinkpad Laptops
Mag lights
Toyota Hilux
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Open source soldering iron? How does that work?
The tip heats up enough to melt solder.
it has software for the temp control and such
specifically: https://github.com/Ralim/IronOS
It has some fancy features to allow for custom heating presets among other things. Also, it means you can easily repair/modify the hardware for whatever reason you might come up with.
The ironic part is that you’d need a second soldering iron to do that.
It has a display and even bluetooth. The Firmware is open source. The schematics are available.
Imo open source is not that important for an iron unless you want to add a klingon translation. But the iron is pretty good, although it is often rather >50 bucks including shipping.
Open source might be important if we want to run DOOM on it.
Open source is good because it means it can be maintained even if the manufacturer shuts down. One of the biggest issues with keeping older tech alive and in a useful state is proprietary firmware.
Sure there is this one guy who changes the oled to a different one bacause his screen broke and the old one has been difficult to source. Most people won't fix a 30$ iron. Especially since you need an iron to fix it...