alt Hacker News>they went out and bought machinery from 1987 so that it wouldn’t have a computer on it
That's fine and all but Deere still carries parts for that 1987 tractor, so you can keep it running. Ursa will probably be gone in 10 years?; it doesn't matter how mechanical the system is if you can't get new parts anyways.
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Other people can start manufacturing the parts if the demand is big enough and the designs are available or can be reverse engineered.
Not familiar with this world, but they could use relatively standard, widely used parts to build the tractor. For example, Yanmar engines are widely used in the marine world. The engine choice is abstracted away from the boat (for certain types of boats) and you don’t rely on the boat manufacturer sticking around. Everything can be retrofitted.
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I worked at the Henry Ford / Greenfield Village. They have a fleet of historical vehicles (Model T, Model AA, etc) and mechanics that are very passionate about the vehicles. They buy used and get whatever they can’t source made.