SOL feeding frenzy?

From: Barry A. Watzman <Watzman_at_ibm.net>
Date: Wed Dec 16 22:40:44 1998

Actually, in the US, the FCC regulations on emissions did not go into effect until 1981 or 1982, before that the only laws were those general laws against operating an unlicensed or unauthorized transmitter. You could make an argument that any given item constituted such a transmitter, but even the FCC did not interpret things this way until the formal Class A / Class B certification rules went into effect.

Kits are a "grey" area, but generally it would be expected that they would comply when assembled according to the instructions (and believe me, pre-1980 computers are generally WAY out of compliance). Since you are dealing with a "regulation" and not a "law" (in the US, anyway), enforcement is an administrative function of the FCC rather than a civil/criminal action by the courts (although in some cases it can spill over).

The safety issue, in the US, is NOT a legal requirement (except in the state of Oregon and some cities/counties, including Los Angeles). Otherwise, there are generally no laws requiring UL approval. But just try to get insurance or defend a lawsuit if you are a company that markets a non-UL approved product. UL only applies to devices that use certain threshold levels of voltage; a board would not be impacted, but an IMSAI chassis that plugs into the wall, for example, would - and it would not pass (there is exposed full line voltage, among other things).



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From: Tony Duell [SMTP:ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk]
Sent: Wednesday, December 16, 1998 8:38 PM
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
Subject: Re: SOL feeding frenzy?

>
> I would actually like to be able to buy a "new" IMSAI (for example), =
> even if it wasn't made by IMSAI, but I would want it to be understood =
> that it was a newly produced copy. It won't happen, however, in part =
> because it would be illegal to make any of these computer as "new" =

Well, there might be interlectual property/copyright problems, but do the
other rules apply to kits/bare boards?

The UK rules are strange IIRC. Kits have to pass the appropriate
directives (covering EMC/safety, for example), when assembled as per the
instructions. But I seem to remember that bare boards can be classed as
components, and are thus exempt. Of course if you then populate the
board, you'd better make sure it causes no interference.

Or at least I think that's roughly how most people interpret the
regulations. The people who composed them seem not to realise that
experimental designs exist, that example circuits exist, and that nobody
can know what a circuit will do until it's built and tested...

> products. There were no FCC regulations when these machines were =

I am sure there _were_ FCC rules, mainly to do with causing interference
to other services.

Now, if it causes no intereference outside your house, who is to know or
care :-). OK, if %random-public buys a computer he should be able to
assume it'll not interfere with his TV in the same room. But if you build
one, then provided it only wipes out _your_ TV and not those of your
neighbours, then there's no real problem.

> originally built, and none of them are in compliance, and they couldn't =
> be put in compliance without a complete redesign (in fact, they are WAY =
> out of compliance). Most of these were also not UL approved either. So =

I don't see how UL approval can be applied to a bare board (OK, if it's
designed so user controls are live or something...), since whether it is
safe or not depends on how it is constructed, what parts are used,
whether or not it is cased, etc.

-tony
Received on Wed Dec 16 1998 - 22:40:44 GMT