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We're happy to announce the creation of a Restart Wiki!
What this is: The Restart Wiki is a place where those of us in the Restart community with experience and skills in mending appliances and gadgets can share them with those who are starting out, or whose own knowledge lies in different areas. It's aimed at anyone with a curiosity about how things work and how to fix them. No prior knowledge is assumed.
What it isn't: It isn't going to show you how to fix a particular make and model of device, which we leave to the various fix-it sites and many disassembly videos. Instead, we concentrate on basic and widely applicable principles.
Who it's for: In the spirit of sharing knowledge as widely as possible, everyone is welcome to read it (though access may be limited whilst it's still in development). But in order to maintain quality, additions and updates are limited to known individuals within the Restart community.
If you wish to reuse anything here, you are welcome do so under the terms of the Creative Commons ShareAlike Licence 3.0.
Getting started
Pages
The following pages currently exist. (Those in red don't yet exist but are projected.)
How to repair with others
- Recipe - The basics you need to host a Restart Party
- Tools - Our list of useful tools for community electronics repair.
- Restarter Safety Guidelines - Safety instructions to be adhered to at all Restart Parties.
- Measuring impact
DIY repair general
- Tools - You can pick and choose what you need.
- How to search - Tips on how to search for useful material.
- Resources - Good sites for fixit or disassemble guides, service manuals etc.
Basic electrics and electronics
- Electric circuits, volts amps watts and ohms - what every Restarter should know.
- PAT testing survival guide.
- Electronic components - recognition, failure modes and testing:
- Basic electronic components - Resistors, capacitors, inductors and transformers.
- Active components - Diodes and rectifiers, transistors, and integrated circuits (ICs).
- Passive components - Switches, push-buttons and connectors.
- Power supplies - how they work, what can go wrong, and how to test and fix them.
- Electric motors - different types, how to recognise them, test them and maybe fix them.
- How to use a multimeter - the most useful addition to your toolbox after screwdrivers etc.
- AC and DC - what's the deal?
- How to wire a mains plug.
Computers and home office
- CD/USB bootable tools - many of them applicable whatever your operating system.
- How to deal with a slow laptop - mainly Windows oriented.
- Windows miscellaneous.
- How to speed up a slow OS X computer.
- Apple miscellaneous including OS X and Macs.
- Linux migration - throwing Windows out of computers.
- Laptop power problems.
- Clean up! Cool down! - dealing with dust build-up and overheating in laptop and desktop computers.
- Advanced hard disk tools - and some simpler ones too. When the data is in danger.
Printers
- Troubleshooting inkjet printers.
Electronic gadgets
Feature phones
Smartphones (except Apple)
iPods, iPhones, iPads
- Summary of iPhone, iPad and iPod repairs.
Headphones
- How to mend Headphones
Cameras
Home entertainment
Kitchen and Household items
Scratch Pad
Unfinished articles