SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Imagine being isolated off-grid for an unknown number of years. Maybe you're stuck somewhere like Davidge or Mark Watney; or perhaps you've chosen a life of isolation like Yoda or Obi-Wan Kenobi. Maybe you're a survivor of the $Apocalypse. Wouldn't keeping a journal be a great idea? You could pass on your knowledge, keep track of daily activities, maybe even keep yourself from going insane!
Forget all the wastefulness, extravagance, and complexity of most modern devices, you've got survival to think about! Obviously power usage would be a major concern, but ergonomics, searchability, repairability, and data robustness would be important too. Keeping in mind that this is a dedicated device for journaling and barring the old Russian pencil and paper, what would the best solution look like with off-the-shelf modern technology?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by urza9814 on Monday June 11 2018, @09:52PM
If we're starting from an assumption that you can have a computer system that will survive whatever duration is required in whatever environment it's required for, then surely you could also have a sufficient quantity of solar panels (plus the requisite redundant backups).
But that does make the old machines look even worse compared to a big bucket of RPis if you've got any constraints on size or cost...