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20x overspec'd solar panel. No battery. Broadcast a wifi hotspot at minimum radio power. Keep the components cold just above freezing and never allow them to fr

20x overspec'd solar panel. No battery. Broadcast a wifi hotspot at minimum radio power. Keep the components cold just above freezing and never allow them to freeze. You can accomplish this by using geothermal engineering to your benefit and burying the device with an appropriate heat exchanger so the planet can regulate the server temperature. Add in high availability and failover by using multiple buried devices connected over ethernet shielded with corrosion and abrasion resistant material at the lowest power and speed settings, then using raft algorithm and heartbeat. Seal everything with heaps of epoxy resin. Cut cable insulation off near where the cable enters the epoxy cube and reseal exposed wire with epoxy. This way water cannot wick into the main epoxy cube.

hobbes78 5y ago
One system based on semiconductors will eventually fail, as their failure rate follows the bathtub curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve As much as I call cryptocurrencies a cancer, I admit storing on Bitcoin blockchain is probably the most resilient way, as its constantly being replicated across a huge amount of machines around the planet...
- orangepurple 5y ago
  You can do a lot to mitigate semiconductor failure rate over time by controlling temperature and humidity and temperature swings
philipswood 5y ago
Aren't solar panel lifetimes in the decade range?
- orangepurple 5y ago
  I don't know if the decay is linear or exponential with a long tail, but I assume solar panels don't fail outright unless they experience a short circuit or extreme temperature swings. Instead their output progressively declines. I bet a very large solar panel in the shade will last a very long time.
denton-scratch 5y ago
10-year-old solar panels are already deteriorating, and producing diminished output. All these technological (digital) solutions are pissing in the wind; digital technology has lasted just 50 years so far, and people will discard it in an instant when something better comes along. But think of all the websites! Yeah, OK. They're nearly all going to be gone in a decade or two. Conserving bits has already proved to be difficult. How would you set about conserving an 8" floppy disk you found in your Dad's belongings when he died? Yeah, I know, you could probably source an antique 8" floppy drive. But 8" floppies only went obsolete in about 1985. Internet archive? So you want to rely on a website to preserve your website? You have to be quite young, to be susceptible to the notion that the web will last. As people up-thread have suggested, if you want your writings conserved, write something that the people of the future will spend effort to conserve. And forget about your descendants 500 years in the future; you have no reason to think your bloodline will survive. Wars have become progressively more destructive. And there's a slim chance that if your descendants do survive, they will know you're their ancestor anyway. I know about my ancestors back to 4 generations, beyond that I only know their names (and without supporting documentation). People have spoken of using gravestones. Good luck with that. Gravestones as young as 50 years are being knocked down by councils because they are dangerous. And graveyards are full; they are being re-used, old monments removed and replaced with new ones. And have you ever tried to get detail off even a 200-year-old monument? Instead, since you're in the churchyard, go inside and read the parish register.

hobbes78 5y ago

One system based on semiconductors will eventually fail, as their failure rate follows the bathtub curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve As much as I call cryptocurrencies a cancer, I admit storing on Bitcoin blockchain is probably the most resilient way, as its constantly being replicated across a huge amount of machines around the planet...

orangepurple 5y ago
You can do a lot to mitigate semiconductor failure rate over time by controlling temperature and humidity and temperature swings

philipswood 5y ago

Aren't solar panel lifetimes in the decade range?

orangepurple 5y ago
I don't know if the decay is linear or exponential with a long tail, but I assume solar panels don't fail outright unless they experience a short circuit or extreme temperature swings. Instead their output progressively declines. I bet a very large solar panel in the shade will last a very long time.

denton-scratch 5y ago

10-year-old solar panels are already deteriorating, and producing diminished output. All these technological (digital) solutions are pissing in the wind; digital technology has lasted just 50 years so far, and people will discard it in an instant when something better comes along. But think of all the websites! Yeah, OK. They're nearly all going to be gone in a decade or two. Conserving bits has already proved to be difficult. How would you set about conserving an 8" floppy disk you found in your Dad's belongings when he died? Yeah, I know, you could probably source an antique 8" floppy drive. But 8" floppies only went obsolete in about 1985. Internet archive? So you want to rely on a website to preserve your website? You have to be quite young, to be susceptible to the notion that the web will last. As people up-thread have suggested, if you want your writings conserved, write something that the people of the future will spend effort to conserve. And forget about your descendants 500 years in the future; you have no reason to think your bloodline will survive. Wars have become progressively more destructive. And there's a slim chance that if your descendants do survive, they will know you're their ancestor anyway. I know about my ancestors back to 4 generations, beyond that I only know their names (and without supporting documentation). People have spoken of using gravestones. Good luck with that. Gravestones as young as 50 years are being knocked down by councils because they are dangerous. And graveyards are full; they are being re-used, old monments removed and replaced with new ones. And have you ever tried to get detail off even a 200-year-old monument? Instead, since you're in the churchyard, go inside and read the parish register.