Reading the offline archive without the grid: solar power and low-power devices

Use a low-power device (tablet, laptop or Raspberry Pi) running Kiwix, a 50 W solar panel with a charge controller and battery, spare cables, and two copies of the drive. A Pi serving Wi-Fi can share the library with every phone in a camp.

Part of Day Zero, the plan for an AI-related crisis that gets out of control. Why it exists. General information, not medical advice: how these guides are reviewed.

A drive full of knowledge is useless if nothing can read it. Plan the reader as carefully as the library.

What you need

• A low-power device to read the archive: a laptop, tablet or small computer (for example a Raspberry Pi) that can run the Kiwix reader. Keep two, plus the app installers for each operating system on the drive.
• A way to charge it: a small solar panel (20 to 100 watts is plenty for a laptop and lights), a charge controller, a battery (a 12 V battery or a power bank), and the right cables and adapters.
• A storage plan: two copies of the drive in different places, protected from water, heat and shocks.

Power budget

A 50 W panel in good sun gives roughly 150 to 250 watt-hours a day. That is enough for several hours of reading on a laptop or all day on a tablet.

Share it

• A small computer with Wi-Fi can serve the archive to every phone and tablet in the group with no internet (the Internet-in-a-Box and Kiwix-hotspot approach). See Downloads.
• A reading room in one building with a table, a lamp and the device.

Keep it working

• Keep spare cables, chargers and batteries; they fail before the archive does.
• Protect from damp and dust: silica gel, sealed containers.
• Copy the drive every year and check its checksum.
• Print the vital pages in case all devices fail.