Comment by imoverclocked

Comment by imoverclocked 11 days ago

More than downloading a bunch of information, I would also think about hoarding computers that might last a long time if taken care of... along with a durable power source that doesn't require fossil fuels. (eg: This potentially includes gasification based generators)

For the internet to "go down for an indefinite period" there would need to be some pretty big changes to our current world. The reason it "goes down" also matters a lot.

1) Political reasons (eg: whomever is in power wants to control information flow)

This will likely mean that certain kinds of information can still flow because we don't want to crash the entire economy.

In this case, I would want all of the information I could get my hands on about known history. This includes previous regimes and how they ultimately played out.

2) Geo-political (some other country bans your access to their resources)

This is a harder case to enforce without complete isolation ... but theoretically possible.

In this case, technical howtos are still useful as you can probably still get modern supplies. Depending on what my country produces, I would probably want to get all information about those processes as I could. Also, if my country doesn't produce a lot of food, information on what can be grown locally would be helpful... along with ways to protect it from nature.

3) Global catastrophe (plague/virus/nuclear winter/etc...)

Maybe enough of the internet is just "lost" and the technical means to resurrect it has also disappeared.

At this point, you need to think about being completely self-sufficient. ie: Grow your own food, make your own tools, protect yourself from animals and people. It would be helpful to have some tools at the start for this. Maybe even just basic gardening tools and a greenhouse ... and whatever form of protection makes the most sense to you. Find some land that can sustain you; Leftover city supplies will likely disappear very fast.

4) All of the above, simultaneously.

It's time to just get a Bible and start praying. Maybe a bunker, too. Survival will likely be a lot of luck and a lot of cunning.

neverartful 11 days ago

"computers that might last a long time if taken care of"

Any examples? Do all computers have capacitors that will die within a certain number of years?

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imoverclocked 10 days ago

Avoiding electrolytic caps is a good start for sure. There are plenty of boards out there without them.
Running CPUs and boards at lower power settings can also help. Thermal cycling is the enemy of longevity. Being able to control CPU frequency will be helpful.
Many power supplies have electrolytic caps in them as well. If you can stick to a standard that’s easy to find then there is a good chance you can just salvage an existing power supply that has managed to survive.
Some cheaper examples to consider would be raspberrypi boards with usb-c power. Don’t run them at full speed to reduce long-term thermal effects. About a decade ago I would have suggested Intel Atom based systems for similar reasons.
Server hardware is often made to a better spec for longevity. I miss old sparc hardware; I feel like those machines could last forever.
Today, arm based systems are probably a good bet since you can find lots of software for them and they run cooler than (say) x86 variants of similar caliber.
Storage is the next Achilles heel to consider. Cheap flash will die sooner rather than later. I’m not up on the best tech in this space anymore though so somebody else might chime in here.
Finally, displays can be pretty fragile. Phone displays actually come to mind as a decently ruggedized technology. Bigger displays are probably more prone to damage long-term so, small and durable is probably valuable here.
I’ll probably catch flak for this but… a smartphone is actually a pretty decent computer that can last a very long time. If you can run arbitrary software on it and keep it in one place instead of in your pocket, it could be a good get. The issue I know of here is the battery; if it gets too weak then some phones may not be able to power up completely even with a power supply attached.

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