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> how can I browse an offline copy of Wikipedia." Those problems would probably last longer than you want to schlep around and item like this. Which is why you

> how can I browse an offline copy of Wikipedia." Those problems would probably last longer than you want to schlep around and item like this. Which is why you download offline Wikipedia before the disaster. I know "preppers" have a bad rap for cos-playing, but this project strikes me as the tech equivalent of "Prepare an emergency go bag,and buy some tarp to seal your windows and doors in case of a shelter-in-place order[1]". Sure, buying your gear/rations from an Army Surplus store is cos-playey (as is the EMP shielding), but the principle is sound. > IMHO, if it's an actual doomsday, it's probably safe to assume technological society will collapse and not recover for generations, and any high technology would in reality be a short-to-medium term consumable that will break without replacement. I suspect you're overthinking it - this is a computing equivalent of a go bag, not a nuclear bunker. Having offline useful information will be useful from day 0 (maps, emergency frequencies, agricultural & disease info, for example). The RPi has no moving parts and can run for years: my 1st-gen pi is chugging along just fine. 1. Which is always a good idea; see https://ready.gov/kit https://ready.gov/kit

tablespoon 4y ago
> Which is why you download offline Wikipedia before the disaster. You misunderstand. I'm saying that browsing a downloaded copy of Wikipedia is a counterproductive waste of time in a disaster. Investing effort into making sure you'll be able to access Wikipedia at all times in even the most dire of circumstances is probably having your priorities out of whack. It's like a kid packing for a trip by filling their bag with toys. > I suspect you're overthinking it No, I'm questioning some of the fundamental assumptions that would cause one to construct a device like this for anything besides cyberpunk cosplay. > but this project strikes me as the tech equivalent of "Prepare an emergency go bag,and buy some tarp to seal your windows and doors in case of a shelter-in-place order[1] > this is a computing equivalent of a go bag It's like the exercise-equipment equivalent of a go bag, or the kitchen-gadget equivalent of a go bag (e.g. the kind of thing that shouldn't be in a go bag in the first place). I think the idea that this is for anything but cosplay is the result of tech people fallaciously believing their most familiar tools (i.e. general purpose computers) will always be useful, and therefore making elaborate plans to preserve their access in situations where their PC will be as obsolete as a buggy whips. > Having offline useful information will be useful from day 0 (maps, emergency frequencies, agricultural & disease info, for example). Even assuming that is so, I think a bulky mains-powered PC is not anything close to the right tool to provide any of that. It would be about 1000x better to have compact amount of judiciously-selected paper reference material, augmented with a kindle with an appropriate selection of eBooks if you must be less judicious.
- sangnoir 4y ago
  > Even assuming that is so, I think a bulky mains-powered PC is not anything close to the right tool to provide any of that. I must ask: did you read the article? It's about a 5V system with a Raspberry pi in a case with an official raspberry pi screen packaged in a water-tight container with a custom keyboard - not too far off from a kindle, just with room for a battery/power bank. Add a modest 50W solar panel, and you have better data-density and durability than a stack of paper.
  - wildmanx 4y ago
    > better data-density and durability than a stack of paper Eh, what? Paper has survived for hundreds if not thousands of years. Show me your RPi 1000 years for now, next to an equally old bible, and we'll chat again. (Not a religious argument, the bible is just an example.) Edit: Make it 100 years from now, the effects should be obviously already at that point.
    - hoseja 4y ago
      Is the bible printed on lambskin parchment? If not, the paper probably dissolved.
      - tablespoon 4y ago
        > Is the bible printed on lambskin parchment? If not, the paper probably dissolved. Even the lowest quality paper can easily last 50 years when stored in acceptable conditions. IIRC, they've even recovered 2000 year old readable papyrus from ancient garbage dumps in Egypt. And SD card (especially a high-density one) will almost certainly fail with catastrophic data loss before a decade or two, if not sooner.
    - sangnoir 4y ago
      > Eh, what? Paper has survived for hundreds if not thousands of years. Show me your RPi 1000 years for now If my RPi has a long chain of monasteries taking care of it and making new copies every few decades, I will have more than a few RPis to show you. I think paper is an extreme example of survivorship bias: how much of it was preserved vs the total amount that was produced. If you want durability, go with clay tablets, or carving on rocks (but you're trading off against data density)

tablespoon 4y ago

> Which is why you download offline Wikipedia before the disaster. You misunderstand. I'm saying that browsing a downloaded copy of Wikipedia is a counterproductive waste of time in a disaster. Investing effort into making sure you'll be able to access Wikipedia at all times in even the most dire of circumstances is probably having your priorities out of whack. It's like a kid packing for a trip by filling their bag with toys. > I suspect you're overthinking it No, I'm questioning some of the fundamental assumptions that would cause one to construct a device like this for anything besides cyberpunk cosplay. > but this project strikes me as the tech equivalent of "Prepare an emergency go bag,and buy some tarp to seal your windows and doors in case of a shelter-in-place order[1] > this is a computing equivalent of a go bag It's like the exercise-equipment equivalent of a go bag, or the kitchen-gadget equivalent of a go bag (e.g. the kind of thing that shouldn't be in a go bag in the first place). I think the idea that this is for anything but cosplay is the result of tech people fallaciously believing their most familiar tools (i.e. general purpose computers) will always be useful, and therefore making elaborate plans to preserve their access in situations where their PC will be as obsolete as a buggy whips. > Having offline useful information will be useful from day 0 (maps, emergency frequencies, agricultural & disease info, for example). Even assuming that is so, I think a bulky mains-powered PC is not anything close to the right tool to provide any of that. It would be about 1000x better to have compact amount of judiciously-selected paper reference material, augmented with a kindle with an appropriate selection of eBooks if you must be less judicious.

sangnoir 4y ago
> Even assuming that is so, I think a bulky mains-powered PC is not anything close to the right tool to provide any of that. I must ask: did you read the article? It's about a 5V system with a Raspberry pi in a case with an official raspberry pi screen packaged in a water-tight container with a custom keyboard - not too far off from a kindle, just with room for a battery/power bank. Add a modest 50W solar panel, and you have better data-density and durability than a stack of paper.
- wildmanx 4y ago
  > better data-density and durability than a stack of paper Eh, what? Paper has survived for hundreds if not thousands of years. Show me your RPi 1000 years for now, next to an equally old bible, and we'll chat again. (Not a religious argument, the bible is just an example.) Edit: Make it 100 years from now, the effects should be obviously already at that point.
  - hoseja 4y ago
    Is the bible printed on lambskin parchment? If not, the paper probably dissolved.
    - tablespoon 4y ago
      > Is the bible printed on lambskin parchment? If not, the paper probably dissolved. Even the lowest quality paper can easily last 50 years when stored in acceptable conditions. IIRC, they've even recovered 2000 year old readable papyrus from ancient garbage dumps in Egypt. And SD card (especially a high-density one) will almost certainly fail with catastrophic data loss before a decade or two, if not sooner.
  - sangnoir 4y ago
    > Eh, what? Paper has survived for hundreds if not thousands of years. Show me your RPi 1000 years for now If my RPi has a long chain of monasteries taking care of it and making new copies every few decades, I will have more than a few RPis to show you. I think paper is an extreme example of survivorship bias: how much of it was preserved vs the total amount that was produced. If you want durability, go with clay tablets, or carving on rocks (but you're trading off against data density)