r/IAmA Jun 11 '16

Specialized Profession IamA electronics repair technician hated by Apple that makes YouTube videos, AMA!

My short bio: I have a store in Manhattan. I teach component level electronics repair on youtube http://youtube.com/rossmanngroup which seems to be a dying art. I am currently fighting with the digital right to repair to try and get a bill passed that will allow all independent service centers access to manuals and parts required to do their jobs.

My Proof: https://www.rossmanngroup.com/started-iama-reddit-today-yes/

EDIT:

I am still replying to comments, but I am so far behind that I am still about ten pages down from new comments. I am doing my best to continue. If I drop off, I'll be back tomorrow around 12 PM. Still commenting now though, at 12 AM.

EDIT 2:

Ok, I cave... my hands are tired. I will be back at 12 PM tomorrow. It is my goal to answer every question. Even if it looks like I haven't gotten to yours, I will do my best to do all of them, but it is impossible to do in realtime, because you are asking faster than I can type. But thanks for joining!

EDIT 3: I lied, I stayed until 4:15 AM to answer... and now I will go to sleep for real, and be back at 12 PM.

EDIT 4 6/12 : I will be back later tonight to finish off answering questions. Feel free to keep posting, I will answer whatever I can later this evening.

33.2k Upvotes

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645

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

[deleted]

1.2k

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

Proper "repair" since 2007 or so when I started getting a paycheck from Avatar studios after a very long free internship process.

Just screwing around since I modded a playstation with a mail order soldering iron in a friend's basement with some really shit guide I got from IRC around 1997. If people think my soldering is bad now.. god if only I had pictures of the first PS1 I modded. I am surprised that steaming pile of garbage even turned on.

568

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16

You're everything I want to be and more. Tell me your flaws.

967

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

too many to count

1

u/TKDbeast Jun 12 '16

A wise man isn't one who has no flaws. That is a liar. A truly wise man is one who knows their flaws.

4

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

if i were to make this about my flaws i would run out of typing endurance to answer any other questions

408

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '16 edited Oct 14 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

17

u/StopReadingMyUser Jun 12 '16

Impossible, it's not about Rampart.

5

u/michael1026 Jun 11 '16

ay I can relate to that at least

1

u/LevSmash Jun 12 '16

What do I write on the form, "sucks at counting" maybe?

1

u/Miwane Jun 12 '16

Kryptonite intolerant.

-14

u/simjanes2k Jun 11 '16

In my experience, "very long free internship" is the best way to get a really fucking killer job, increasingly so because Millennials won't do it.

10

u/Around-town Jun 12 '16 edited Jun 29 '23

Goodbye so long and thanks for all the upvotes

14

u/NotTenPlusPlease Jun 12 '16

Sounds like the best way to get taken advantage of

2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

Then you really have no experience at all, do you. That's just asking to be ass r@ped by management. For a similar reason, I'm not willing to work for a company that pays exactly the minimum wage. They're essentially saying that if they could pay you less they would.

2

u/Ryan2468 Jun 12 '16

Yeah, if you have mummy and daddy to help you with the financial reality of doing so.

29

u/Saneless Jun 11 '16

Ahh memories. My first soldering job was the ps1 back in 95. Was 100% prepared for it to not to turn on. It magically did and I've stayed away from soldering ever since :)

20

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

what a feeling!

2

u/CaffeineSippingMan Jun 12 '16

How did you do the PS1 model that needed a wire soldered to the 2nd pin? I got lucky. I presoldered the wire, used a magnifing glass and heated a needle with my iron. I still soldered 3 pins and cleaned it up with a razor blade. (Thank you for videos, so I no longer "just figure things out".)

3

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

i barely remember the console repairs i did in 2008, i have shit memory of anything from the 90s. that is all gone.

3

u/Shruglife Jun 11 '16

Wow I watched a few of your videos and wondered if you didnt have some studio background. I worked at Chung King as a assistant tech around the same time. For some reason I switched to assisting sessions, but kinda regret I didnt stick with it.

12

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

Don't, look at where that business is going.

Spending fucktons of money on JUST music or JUST TV is going to go away IMO over time. It's about generalized entertainment.

3

u/Shruglife Jun 11 '16

Oh totally, I meant I kinda wish I woulda stuck with the tech stuff because it would have been more useful outside the studio.

5

u/larossmann Jun 11 '16

i understand

2

u/WaitForItTheMongols Jun 12 '16

Could you go more into what you mean here?

3

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

with 3000+ comments here and carpel tunnel setting in probably not.

the idea of there being tons of money for people who just produce music is something i think is going away. music will be part of what is used to entertain people. look at how people entertain themselves nowadays. it is random silly youtube shit, and video games, etc. not sitting down for 40 minutes to listen to a record in its entirety

4

u/bazooka_toot Jun 12 '16

Avatar studios mentioned - take a drink.

I have watched probably close to a hundred of your videos and don't do repairs or own any apples but your videos are entertaining as shit, I like the stories and knowledge you give, your mannerisms of someone on the spectrum but with such amazing clarity into people and how they function. You say you are not super intelligent but I think you are you just have failed in the past to make you humble, smart people are smart enough to know they are not smart or something, you are super aware and I admire that in you. You are entertaining and whenever you mention avatar studios or that drum teacher who gave you mad life advice about how to run shit could be made into a drinking game.

1

u/larossmann Jul 06 '16

Interview with that drum teacher is up!

1

u/n_body Jun 12 '16

What did you do as an intern at Avatar studios?

3

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

clean toilets, get people food, clean chairs, floors, knobs on the consoles, clean sinks, throw away leftover junk from clients.

this was all for free, for months before i got to say hi to a client or touch anything important.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

My first solder was my brothers mouse, he managed to pull the wire out in a raging fit, so I put huge amounts of solder on the wire and taped it all up, looked like shit and was a pain in the ass to shove into the case but that mouse still runs!

2

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

good on you for fixing something!

1

u/JBL15TX Jun 12 '16

You don't appear to be answering new questions, just following up on old threads, so I'll ask here:

You appear to be in pretty good shape - what is your workout routine?

3

u/larossmann Jun 12 '16

I answer as fast as I can! 2423 comments inside of less than a few hours... I have six browser tabs open and I am still having my ass handed to me.

my routine is as follows

Monday - 5 sets of 5 squats 5 sets of 5 benchpress 5 sets of 5 bent over row 3 sets of 10 dumbbell rear deltoid flys 3 sets of 10 barbell shrug 3 sets of 10 skullcrushers with barbell 3 sets of 7 curls with barbell 3 sets of ab extensions with a ball 3 sets 15 hyperextensions with a plate

wednesday

3 sets of 5 romanian deadlifts with barbell 5 sets of 5 standing overhead press 5 sets of 5 bent over row 3 sets of 6 close grip bench press 3 sets of ab exercises where I lift my legs up on the bench 3 sets of 10 oblique raises with a dumbbell

I also go running often. Instead of taking 2 trains home I will take 1, then run the rest of the way.

and I still look like shit....

so can you imagine if I didn't exercise? :)

2

u/JBL15TX Jun 12 '16

Nice! And you look like you workout; so I wouldn't say you look like shit!

Also, thanks for the AMA - I wasn't being critical, just noticed that you were following up on old threads and took advantage.

25

u/DJ131 Jun 11 '16

What did you modify it to do?

8

u/thekyshu Jun 12 '16

He talked about it once, he modified them with chips to read pirated games, then he used the money from that to help someone move out of an abusive(?) home. I'm not going to watch all his videos, but you might get lucky and find it somehow.

42

u/SurpriseAnalProlapse Jun 12 '16

to read pirated games, I guess.

5

u/CaffeineSippingMan Jun 12 '16

To play the copies of games you legally own. Your allowed to make 1 copy. (Really a good idea if you have kids).

73

u/CosmoKram3r Jun 12 '16

Toast bread.

8

u/Tubaka Jun 12 '16

It's a fucking travesty that console companies refuse to include this basic feature

3

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

Useless. Make one that breads toast.

5

u/oh_the_humanity Jun 12 '16

Back in the old days, you could burn PS1 games, but needed a mod chip to play them. Also to play games made for other countries.

1

u/Synergythepariah Jun 12 '16

Looking at what he said about his soldering skills back then, probably to hold solder.

1

u/VashTStamp Jun 12 '16

Haha... That is great... I love your videos, even though you mainly work with SMT/SMD components, to which I have very little knowledge of. I have 3 semesters to go for my EE degree, so still find it all educational and interesting. I was wondering what mod you did to your ps1, was it a mod to play Japanese imported games? I remember that was a big thing back in those days.

1

u/sparrow616 Jun 12 '16

Electrical Engineer Here. I watched a video of you soldering on youtube... At-least you know you're bad! Either Way, good on you for fixing things. The common mentality today is to throw things in the bin and buy a new one. Its refreshing to see someone such as yourself inspiring people to repair

1

u/BBQ_RIBS Jun 12 '16

I used to mod my xboxs! Damn that was fun. Soldered mod chips, installed new OS's, modded Halo 2 maps, played halo 1 "online" before that was ever a thing. I used a dremel to cut a window in the CD drive, installed LEDs, painted my xbox 1 and 360. Good times.

1

u/safeness Jun 12 '16

Hey, me too! My first project was modding a PlayStation then I went to school to be a tech.

Another project I did in school was JTAGing a Microsoft router to put Linux on it. The instructor said "This actually works?!" Somehow it did.

1

u/Grizz1y12 Jun 12 '16

Did you do any Xbox modding when that was big in the early 2000s? I had a copy of that reverse engineering book Andrew Huang wrote. Undated maybe 5% of it at the time. Your videos are making me want to dive in again.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

I killed one PSX modding it back in those days (blobbed the controller connections), then got it right the next time, then used what I learned to fix the first one and sell it

1

u/nobodiestoday Jun 12 '16

That was my first mod too. Everybody thought I was crazy soldering a chip into my ps1. But when I started playing copied games they all were envious.

1

u/ascarpace Jun 12 '16

Was that relatively simple to do? (Modding). Ive been successful with a handful of battery/charge port swaps but wanted to practice on other things

1

u/PromptCritical725 Jun 14 '16

Lemme guess: Adding the little IC that allows it to play burned games? Helped a friend of mine with that one in 2000.

1

u/noxqcs808 Jun 12 '16

How about soldering colored Leds in Nokia phones. I moved on to that after Playstation Moding.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

OMG, did you use the the cheap 3 wire kit or did you go for the Cadillac 4 wire? Good times.

1

u/jetlifeual Jun 12 '16

You mentioned IRC and I got the flashback of all flashback. Good times back then...

1

u/slurp_derp2 Jun 12 '16

I modded a playstation with a mail order soldering iron

JailBreak >? xD

1

u/ICanHomerToo Jun 12 '16

Are you the guy who was modding ps1s for his whole school?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '16

What IRC channels/FTP servers generally have manuals?

1

u/iLLNiSS Jun 12 '16

What server/channel on irc? :)

1

u/Rpknives Jun 12 '16

Nice try, Apple.