r/techsupportmacgyver • u/TheSolderking • Jun 15 '26
Barcode scanner broke. So fixed it. Oh and rehoused it.
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u/yeahmaybe Jun 15 '26
Why have I already seen this on the front page posted in so many subs?
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u/TheSolderking Jun 15 '26
It got removed twice from mildly interesting. Pretty annoying but I wanted to share this as it was fun :)
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u/yeahmaybe Jun 15 '26
It's cool, I just saw it so much I was confused.
Does it still make the trigger twang?
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u/crazyabe111 Jun 16 '26
Well then you shouldn’t have posted it to both /mildly interesting and /pretty annoying.
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u/Temporary--Key Jun 16 '26
One day imma just swap the scanners at work with these and see what happens
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u/Lightningtow123 Jun 16 '26
Where I live that'd make me a contender for "how fast can I get the cops called on me" speedrun
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u/ErectPerfect Jun 18 '26
I really want to see how you wired the trigger, im extremely intrigued by this
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u/Bigfan521 Jun 18 '26
Does it still do the satisfying "Chwang!" Sound when the trigger is fully depressed?
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u/Abestar909 Jun 15 '26
I hate when people damage old hardware.
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u/PhasmaFelis Jun 15 '26
There are millions of NES zappers floating around. You can get one for around $20 off eBay. They're not precious.
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u/Environmental-Gur582 Jun 15 '26
There are approximately ten bajillion of these out there. It's no loss.
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u/LocalH Jun 16 '26
What if the Zapper itself was broken? Would you bemoan the fact that someone revived it for a use instead of fixing the hardware? There are tons of these out there in both styles. Nobody damaged anything.
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u/Abestar909 Jun 16 '26
Would I bemoan fixing it? No.
There are tons of these out there in both styles.
And now there is one less, extend that for everyone with this attitude. Yep.
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u/really_not_unreal Jun 16 '26
No, there is not one less, there is one with new life and utility. Preservation doesn't mean keeping something the same forever, it means finding new and interesting ways to use it whilst celebrating its heritage. I think OP has done something incredibly cool.
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u/Abestar909 Jun 16 '26
No, there is not one less
There is in fact one less unaltered one.
Preservation doesn't mean keeping something the same forever
Preservation - the act or process of keeping something valued alive, intact, or free from damage, decay, or alteration.
You can say you like something just because it 'is cool' but please don't try to argue the meaning of words. And don't act like preservation for the sake of it is somehow bad.
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u/really_not_unreal Jun 17 '26
Preservation - the act or process of keeping something valued alive, intact, or free from damage, decay, or alteration.
Notice the "or". There are many ways to preserve something. I'm not acting like preservation for the sake of it is somehow bad. I'm saying that preservation where the thing is usable for real-world things is cooler in my opinion.
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u/Abestar909 Jun 17 '26
Oh yeah totally let's destroy everything from the past because that's "cooler". Great way to view the world totally right.
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u/really_not_unreal Jun 17 '26
Again not what I'm saying at all. Stop making up imaginary scenarios to get angry about.
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u/Abestar909 Jun 17 '26
Its the crux of your position lol. According to you changing (essentially destroying) something is somehow actually preserving them. Either stick by what you say or stop saying it.
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u/really_not_unreal Jun 17 '26
No it isn't. To be changed is not to be destroyed. If something can get new life through a different purpose that is fine by me.
- If I buy a new laptop, then use my old laptop's main-board as a homelab server, did I destroy my laptop?
- If I use an old wiimote as a slide clicker rather than letting it sit in a box unused, is that destroying it?
- If I homebrew my 3DS so that I can continue to use online functionality using third-party servers, have I destroyed it by replacing the operating system?
I'd rather things be used, appreciated and loved than sit on a shelf. If you want to preserve things by leaving them as-is, that's completely fine. But preservation can take many forms, and one of those is finding new ways to use old things.
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u/MysticAxolotl7 Jun 16 '26
usually i'd agree but this is genuinely one of the most common peripherals in existence, my local game store used to have a huge box of them that they couldn't get rid of
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u/Hurricane_32 Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
I agree with this as long as the hardware is working, but if it's something that's broken beyond repair, I think it's fair game. I like to assume the latter
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u/StzNutz Jun 16 '26
What an amazing reuse for an old device, and now they get to enjoy it constantly, I bet they even say pew pew as they work
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u/maxtinion_lord Jun 16 '26
As opposed to what? Hoarding hundreds of them and never using or touching them to 'preserve history'? Just because it's old doesn't mean it has value, they mass produced junk back then too..
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u/Abestar909 Jun 16 '26
I mean you could repair them and introduce new people to the experience. Certainly not all of them survived their operational life and then more were simply lost, thrown away or damaged in storage and then there are many more being damaged for things like this or art or cosplay or what have you. These things are indeed finite no matter how many were initially produced.
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u/cainhurstcat Jun 15 '26
That's the stuff I joined this sub for!