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1. Solar. 2. 3. Raspberry Pi's are cheap. You could buy a few. 4. You could wrap the Pelican case in multiple layers of tin foil, or sheet metal. 5. Con

1. Solar. 2. 3. Raspberry Pi's are cheap. You could buy a few. 4. You could wrap the Pelican case in multiple layers of tin foil, or sheet metal. 5. Connectors can be stripped, and wires twisted together.

tablespoon 4y ago
You're looking at if from the perspective of "how can I make this thing work?", which is backwards. In a doomsday scenario, I think it's almost certain you will not need a general purpose computer, and such a thing will be an albatross. You will need be mobile to find food and safe shelter. You will not need to hack the Vault-Tec mainframe to download a map to lightly-guarded supply depots. You will not have the luxury of trying to construct a power generator for a new settlement.
- hunterb123 4y ago
  I think you're trying to assign the first scenario you thought of and project that as other's viewpoint when it isn't. The main use-case I can think of for this would be as a low-power PC at a basecamp connected to a solar source. During extreme weather or events you would close it, it could be transported safely via raft / boat / etc. I find the descriptor "off-grid" apt to indicate this. Under your scenario of being mobile in some sort of doomsday scavenging scenario, a mobile phone would be appropriate. This isn't suited for that, but I don't think anyone suggested it to be.
- Karrot_Kream 4y ago
  I've seen lots of really silly projects about resilient computing that miss the forest for the trees (and feel a bit like LARPing) but this is actually a fairly sensible project that makes good tradeoffs (though the comments in this post about connectors and SD cards are good.) Remember, the title here is "Off-Grid" not "Post cataclysmic disaster". There's lots of quotidian off-grid experiences people experience all the time. Sometimes you end up in "nature" where there is power but it's a bit hard to come by and you're a day or two out from civilization. Sometimes you're traveling and you just don't have a power outlet with steady power near you or you just have enough access on a plane/train/etc to power your smartphone and nothing else. My partner's parents' power was knocked out during a hurricaine a couple years ago and they were without power for a few days. They had their smartphones but wanted to conserve power in case they needed maps or something. This solution actually works quite well for that situation.
  - tablespoon 4y ago
    > Remember, the title here is "Off-Grid" not "Post cataclysmic disaster". There's lots of quotidian off-grid experiences people experience all the time. That's what the title says, but he's also trying to EMP shield it, so he's definitely thinking about "post cataclysmic disaster" cases. If the bombs fall, I don't think PC will be very useful, and putting effort into making sure you have one actually seems like it could do more harm than good. My sense is there might be fallacy underlying this of computer-people assuming the tool they're most skilled with will always remain important and useful to them.
    - Karrot_Kream 4y ago
      Hm I did fine the EMP shield to be silly and sorta mentally edited it out. Maybe you're right. I still think this project is more practical than most.
serf 4y ago
>3. Raspberry Pi's are cheap. You could buy a few. I wish that they were either cheap or available. they are neither lately.

tablespoon 4y ago

You're looking at if from the perspective of "how can I make this thing work?", which is backwards. In a doomsday scenario, I think it's almost certain you will not need a general purpose computer, and such a thing will be an albatross. You will need be mobile to find food and safe shelter. You will not need to hack the Vault-Tec mainframe to download a map to lightly-guarded supply depots. You will not have the luxury of trying to construct a power generator for a new settlement.

hunterb123 4y ago
I think you're trying to assign the first scenario you thought of and project that as other's viewpoint when it isn't. The main use-case I can think of for this would be as a low-power PC at a basecamp connected to a solar source. During extreme weather or events you would close it, it could be transported safely via raft / boat / etc. I find the descriptor "off-grid" apt to indicate this. Under your scenario of being mobile in some sort of doomsday scavenging scenario, a mobile phone would be appropriate. This isn't suited for that, but I don't think anyone suggested it to be.
Karrot_Kream 4y ago
I've seen lots of really silly projects about resilient computing that miss the forest for the trees (and feel a bit like LARPing) but this is actually a fairly sensible project that makes good tradeoffs (though the comments in this post about connectors and SD cards are good.) Remember, the title here is "Off-Grid" not "Post cataclysmic disaster". There's lots of quotidian off-grid experiences people experience all the time. Sometimes you end up in "nature" where there is power but it's a bit hard to come by and you're a day or two out from civilization. Sometimes you're traveling and you just don't have a power outlet with steady power near you or you just have enough access on a plane/train/etc to power your smartphone and nothing else. My partner's parents' power was knocked out during a hurricaine a couple years ago and they were without power for a few days. They had their smartphones but wanted to conserve power in case they needed maps or something. This solution actually works quite well for that situation.
- tablespoon 4y ago
  > Remember, the title here is "Off-Grid" not "Post cataclysmic disaster". There's lots of quotidian off-grid experiences people experience all the time. That's what the title says, but he's also trying to EMP shield it, so he's definitely thinking about "post cataclysmic disaster" cases. If the bombs fall, I don't think PC will be very useful, and putting effort into making sure you have one actually seems like it could do more harm than good. My sense is there might be fallacy underlying this of computer-people assuming the tool they're most skilled with will always remain important and useful to them.
  - Karrot_Kream 4y ago
    Hm I did fine the EMP shield to be silly and sorta mentally edited it out. Maybe you're right. I still think this project is more practical than most.

serf 4y ago

>3. Raspberry Pi's are cheap. You could buy a few. I wish that they were either cheap or available. they are neither lately.