I think AMD run a course on Stern and Bally Williams platforms - but no one has ever offered an SS course. I don't think it will ever happen.
There's the rub.
Forget about PC based systems, if no-one is capable of repairing these older SS systems they will eventually become little more than obsolescent paperweights by natural effluxion of time.
In Aus, you can already count the number of people who repair these older SS machines on a regular basis on one hand.
I sure don't envision the next generation willing to pick up where people like Strangeways, beaky et al have kept it alive.
What worries me a lot is that I do get a lot of questions regarding old Bally Bingos. There is a growing market, but literally, only a handful of technicians that know their way around the game. This is the sobering thought. These games were described by my Father as "the first computers". I think he was close (The Enigma machine would be just in front of a Bally Bingo)..
Mike at Homepin has been responsible for some fantastic replacement boards that no one else covered off - Zaccaria Gen2 CPU boards and the Hankin boardset. I think the future lies with the technician's ability to swap the boards around. "Hard to find" items like transformers seldom die, so basic crimping and an ability to troubleshoot the problem is where the future lies.
PC based systems are quick and nasty solutions that "live for the moment". Pinball companies will have to train PC techs that have an understanding of operating systems, drivers and hardware. For every motherboard produced this month, they will be superseded the next month - with new drivers that can "break" existing drivers and the host O/S. I had a career in Server based technologies for over 20 years. The change was drastic, and the pinball industry will never be able to emulate the development and technologies fast enough to sustain a viable platform (PC Based). This might sound a bit nasty - the current crop of boutique manufacturers that have chosen a PC Based platform won't succeed. There's a good reason Stern will never move off the tried and trusted boardsets. Ditto Homepin.
As long as people an interested in electronics, pinballs will be repaired. Sadly, the removal of the Pinball guides was a very bad move, as that information was not accessible to all the "recent" newbies". But now thee are Wiki documents etc - the web really opened up the sharing of info (the whole purpose of the web) - and hopefully it will continue. I recall the formation of this forum was to assist and educate pinheads. Everything is free, and I think every problem ever logged was sorted out - eventually !
