this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2025
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I am specifically asking about software and needed libraries, not stuff like Wikipedia or the writings of Ernest Hemmingway.

To keep people from archiving all of github on thousands of shucked external hard drives cobbled together all Frankenstein-y to create a postapocalyptic data center assume a ~1TB storage limitation. Though I'm sure that person exists here on Lemmy somewhere :D

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Other than the obvious archives and survival/legal information, anything and everything to do with ham radio, meshtastic, SMS obfuscation, and LORA WAN.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago

FreeBSD ports with distfiles for things really necessary, with dependencies. I guess that would fit in 1TB and leave some for ebooks and music.

Also software RAID is not Frankensteiny at all, neither are storage clusters of Ceph or alternatives.

What those things necessary would encompass, I don't know. I suppose similar to Slackware full installation.

It would all make little sense without the Internet. You'd suddenly find that a year 1995 machine, one year older than me, and a few friendly BBSes are not as unrealistically small as they seem now.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Probably just clone and host a pornhub

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Pornhub, but it's just your cul-de-sac

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I need 800 GiB to host a Gentoo distfile mirror. This is what I would do.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Jellyfin collection and lots of cracked games.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

TrashRobot. So i can crate a simple local wireless network and share data with people

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

I don't use Web apps/software to begin with, explicitly because I don't live under the illusion that everything will somehow exists forever, exactly the way it is.

I've been homeless, so I know how it is to be an artist without being online all the time. If the tool you use needs to be always online for some reason (and it's not specifically related to the Internet), it's a bad and useless tool.

It's the reason I'm not jumping on the Photopea train until they release a proper installable program.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Maps would be the most valuable data.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Printed maps exist already though

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

How do we get this locally

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

openstreetmaps I think, and GPS.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago
  1. Fire Zeal and Fetch every API documentation listed there
  2. Pull latest deepseek models
  3. Clone entire debian current repo
  4. Clone Firefox, Linux and the gnu coreutils
  5. Clone Litecoin and Litewallet
  6. Download the most recent dump of Wikipedia
  7. Download all the maps and data available today in OSM

That should do for me

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago

Open source collaboration will be difficult on mesh, so my contribution would be jailbreaks and cracked versions of softwares. My local government will need it since all their systems run on licensed software 🥲

I'd also get my hands on a bunch of iphone and android jailbreaks, because phone OSes might just stop working in 9 months if they're left unmodified.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I'd be fucked because I work on and use OSS multiple times a day, and have no idea what a distributed maven central looks like

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

I'd just go back to living without it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'd raid a Google data center and work on rebuilding the Internet with whatever remains of their infrastructure. Wait is this us talking about our apocalypse plans or...?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

If apocalypse is another word for thursday...

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

I always see a lot of great and diverse solutions for maintaining information and even being self sufficient in the face of some sort of societal collapse and loss of infrastructure. I never see plans mentioned for what to do afterwards. The point being, there seems to be an assumption of either permanence to things like storage and alternative energy sources, or perhaps an implied having to just last a decade or so and things will be rebuilt.

So hypothetical, something happens and things go away, but someone in your community has set up a center of preservation of knowledge that can be tapped into through a mesh network, and everyone has a minimal power setup to use some things to do this and other electronic based work. Now what? Is asking this question too vague since there can be so many scenarios possible and we just have to figure it out from there?

TL;DR - what happens to a post-collapse tech center in the long run since we see all the time that there are limits to even the best storage media and parts wear out even in non-moving solar panels. Mass replacements and salvage are a given, but even that has limits and problems.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Keeping the electricity on long enough to enjoy games or movies is gonna be difficult if you rely on the grid right now.

So maybe archive the electronics stack exchange, and solar/battery installation guides so you can steal it if the neighbors roof.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

If internet shuts down you'll have trouble keeping your life long enough to enjoy this.

I know it's a fun hypothetical but without internet wed be falling into an immediate collapse which we might recover from but many wouldn't make it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Raspberry pi os , it can also be run on non raspberry pis*. all the recommended packages in its menu (libre office?) that should get you a nice os.

Some torrenting software to ensure you can help share it around.

I recently heard of something called a 'Pirate box' which is a WiFi router without a password and storage attached for people to upload and download stuff to / from .

I wouldn't do it myself, but if it was a country town, it could be something similar to a virtual notice board in the pub.

  • Might as well get Debian and Ubuntu too.
[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

As much as I dislike Microsoft, the world runs on Excel, so it's got to be near the top of the list.

For myself.. calibre and my ebook collection and all the games I can manage.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Nothing, I would just to plant some potatoes instead or something

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago

FYI it can take up to 3 years to bring enough nutrients and biodiversity to a patch of land to get really decent harvests, so if you haven't started already now is the time to. Good luck, and may your potato harvests be bountiful!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

To start, I’d download nixpkgs. That would cover pretty much anything I could want.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Besides the basics (operating systems, compilers, office, CAD, database, etc software):

  • A copy of open street map together with the linked Wikipedia articles, along with the software to view and edit them. I know you said no wikipedia, (since that's pretty much a given), but this is basically the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.

  • A copy of Godot's editor so people can still make games.

  • As many games as I could fit in the remaining space, concentrating on the ones that give you the most bang for your buck in terms of space.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (2 children)

what are you looking at in terms of bang for buck games?

just hours per MB so all retro?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Retro is a good starting point. You can store just about every NES game ever released in less than a GB, and the SNES isn't that much bigger. Once you get into the 3D era you might have to be a little more selective, but you could still fit a lot of early 3D games in there.

Another way to economize space would be video game mods. Since many mods reuse the same models and textures to make a new game, you could multiply the amount of content you get per MB that way. And there are a ton of Half Life 1 mods, Thief mods, and Doom WADs out there. Gmod can run over LAN, and there's an absolute ton of maps and game modes for that.

Finally, there are some more modern games that are remarkably small. Animal Well is only 35 MB. Gloomwood is only 2.07 GB, comparable to the size of its inspiration Thief (1998), though Gloomwood is unfinished at the moment and will probably be bigger once it's out of early access. Shadows of Doubt is 1.31 GB. Lethal Company weighs in at 1.07 GB and can apparently be made to work over LAN. ADACA at 2.44 GB is actually smaller than its inspirations Half Life 2 and STALKER, probably by dint of having only vertex colors and no textures.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Honestly, its a great way to go. I have a handheld for emulation. 1tb micro SD has a lot of games on it. Even if you're just looking at PS1/N64 to PS2/GameCube era, you can get enough games to last you years and it won't cost much.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

oh yeah I'm well aware, I have an anbernic SP and I just ordered a retroid flip 2!

fingers crossed it doesn't get hit by the tariffs but they earned an ounce of trust in me from how they handled the mini screen issue.

that being said, it is only an ounce of trust. I know well enough to not be blindsided by them potentially dropping the ball forcing me to eat the cost.

here's hoping I don't have to though!!

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I have started to do this and I'm using Docker to host Kiwix. I'm currently using it to provide offline versions of Wikipedia, medical guides and tutorials for various programming languages. My plan is to put essential apps and information on an RPi and provide a broadcast hotspot where anyone can access the info.

I also live on top of a hill, so I'm saving up to put together a solar powered Meshtastic repeater that I can mount to my aerial pole.

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