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Offline, off-grid, and self-sufficient

> damn aliens and their EMPs

Last summer, I learned to drive stick-shift ("manual transmission"). I'm old enough that I should have learned a long time ago, but young enough that it hasn't mattered.

In recent years, I've started to wonder about things like:

People on Gemini are no strangers to this kind of thinking, and I've recently read posts or listened to podcasts that visit this idea, directly or tangentially.

Here are just a few.

Offline and old computers

Solene (who wrote the Gemini server that runs this capsule) conducted a 10 day "Old Computer Challenge" which became semi-popular on gemini and on the web.

gemini://perso.pw/blog/articles/old-computer-challenge.gmi

gemini://perso.pw/blog/articles/old-computer-challenge-after.gmi

But she has also spent plenty of time thinking about how to deal with no internet connectivity (permanent or temporary).

gemini://perso.pw/blog/articles/huge-disaster-recovery-plan.gmi

gemini://perso.pw/blog/articles/offline-laptop-v3.gmi

Making Your Own Tools

Devine Lu Linvega (and Rekka, of the 100 Rabbits project) are the poster children for offline-first, low-power, DIY computing. They spend most of their lives on a boat, preparing every single meal, working/creating with no internet, and using solar power for everything.

https://100r.co/site/home.html

As much as they are already (re)defining what it means to "do computing", Devine goes on to describe an even more extreme version:

https://futureofcoding.org/episodes/044#117

The podcast interview is long, but fascinating.

Being Self Sufficient

In this interview with Richard Hipp, the author of SQLite, he discusses the kind of freedom you experience when you're not tied to external pressures, expectations, and dependencies.

The whole interview is worth listening to, if you're interestd in software development. The relevant portion is at 33:31, with the transcript here:

https://corecursive.com/066-sqlite-with-richard-hipp/#being-self-sufficient