Raspberry Pi Zero end of the world laptop

Christopher Bonnie

I think this would be the last thing to have given your scenario.

Now I love technology as much as anyone but..

I can purify water.

I know I can get aspirin from willow tree bark and penicillin from bread mould.

I know how to make splints and crutches from branches.

I can make a pencil from a twig and can pulp down wood to make paper.

I can make fire from two twigs and a piece of string. I can make string from reeds. I can make a shelter from (well, pretty much anything).

I often go on foraging expeditions with my wife and children, pointing out the safe and unsafe things to eat.

I can make crude weapons like bows and have passed this knowledge on.

I can find magnetic north by day or night. I can make a compass using a pin and a blade of grass.

I can make hides, snares, traps and know how to survive being stuck in a burning field.

I can fish using lures, bait and even bits of aluminium foil.

I can prepare a fish for cooking.

I love cooking over open flame (barbecues and fire pits).

I know how to make a safe fire pit.

I know that I can heat rocks in my fire pit to give me hours of added warmth once the fire dies down.

I know how to read the clouds for weather.

I can do lots more, but those basics will see me through the initial days and weeks while I locate help or find somewhere to keep myself and my family safe.

You have a laptop that has been destroyed because of an electromagnetic pulse.

Who wins?

Get the information you and your family need to survive, and make a game of doing it. Who knows, you may enjoy it - and it may save your life. Plus barbecued fresh fish is the best!

Greg

I don't see a emp hitting the earth any time soon I'm more worried about the collapse of society and rules and I'd like to have access to my pictures,  videos,  ability to document anything that happens, and even if society collapse I'd still like to be a techy.

Putting aside the pointlessness of such a device, the amount effort required to "make" a laptop from a raspberry pi further adds to the unnecessary nature of this endeavour.

If you insist on obtaining your very own post-apocalyptic piece of computing hardware they already exist on the market.

Just be VERY careful with it, one small accident and you'll be waiting on spare parts for the next 'Best Buy' to be built.

Guys, although I fully agree with the statement that the "end-of-the-world" laptop idea is weird/useless/not-going-to-work, I think we should just "humor him" and help him with this project.

Even if you don't see the use of the final product, there is a good learning experience along the way. Christopher is going to learn how to put things together, try planning for the worst, gaining some computer/electronics experience etc etc. All things that are useful even when the apocalypse does NOT hit.

Having a goal that is perceived by the participant to be useful is a very good learning incentive. Some 25 years ago, they tried teaching my girlfriend to solder. The "project" was a current-current amplifier. (input signal is a current, output signal too, the amplifier well amplifies it). Not very successful. Saturday she had fun on the same learning experience because I gave her a "Christmas tree kit" that needed soldering. Call me stupid for not doing that 25 years ago. :-)

So, back to Christopher: We say: "Wouldn't a simple laptop be better?" Christopher comes back with a few reasons why he thinks his present plan is better. Nobody needs to know what those are and how easy those reasons can be circumvented. Whatever you argue  Christopher will stick with his plan.

Consider that discussion passed, lets get on with Christopher's "end-of-the-world-laptop".

To be honest you seem to know quite a lot of "preper " type stuff maybe you've been making some plans for Armageddon too ?

Wouldn't the functionality you stated be better implemented in seperate devices you can get straight from off the street retailers Radio then Solar power etc. Also wouldn't some form of old laptop or desk top be better as they would be much tougher than a RPI held together with bits and pieces.

Yes I would assume that EMP is less likely than say civil unrest..turn the internet off for a couple of days then they would riot about that !

I wouldn't say I am a prepper, I just love the outdoors life. I guess in a roundabout way that makes me a prepper by default

Sensible head on now

The biggest power drain on a PI Zero based laptop would be the display.

Have you considered an E-Ink display rather than a TFT or LCD screen?

A bluetooth keyboard with built in trackpad rather than an attached keyboard?

Using text mode rather than a graphical UI?

Greg

The concept itself is (IMHO) fundamentally flawed, depending on this kind of hardware in an environment where it cannot be supported.

Perhaps a more widely adopted usage-case could be an off-grid device. This way people can take advantage of such a development without waiting for the 'End Of The World'.

You might get away with a normal LCD if the usage is kept fairly low. Use it for a couple of hours, then charge for a good few more.

E-Ink displays, by comparison, will use much less power but have significantly poorer refresh cycles. The current commercially available E-Ink technology may not be ideal for displaying photos and video.