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] 65 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

As a base: The Linux kernel source, GNU software sources and compiler binaries so I can - in theory - write missing software myself. For convenience probably some stable, offline-installable, ready to use distros.

I would probably also archive sources and binaries of day-to-day software like web-browsers (I might still have an intranet to use), office tools, photo management software, audio/video players and all the codecs, etc.

I think that's a solid starting point but im sure I'm missing something important :D

[–] [email protected] 1 points 34 minutes ago

How hard would it be to write a software to share the display of android or ipad to a pc? Like a extendable monitor/drawing table

Current solutions are either paid monthly or laggy to all hell

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I’d also keep DNS, DHCP and routing software,detailed manuals about how IPV4 and 6 work, nginx and maybe Wordpress, lemmy, Peertube, and other federated software

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Good point! And Docker. Also: Encryption software

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day 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] 42 points 2 days ago (5 children)

My home servers time to shine

Everyone shitting on me for having a nas with ~ 200tb of storage and tape backups would finally have to eat shit because I’d have the only streaming service in town

I got enough anime to make crunchy roll blush, I have something like 3,000 series of manga and like 8,000 books in my komga server, I got non weeb shit. I archive tons of webpages and youtube channels, terabytes of music, etc.

In a situation like this I could even throw a lemmy instance on it or something. I don’t do that now but I could

Also all my anime has dubs stripped out to save space and the majority of my manga is in Japanese. 英語しか話せない奴らはクソくらえ

So I eschew your 1tb limitation. I have seen this scenario coming. I planned for it. I’m ready for it. There are others like me on lemmy in the home server page, plus if you look on the truenas, proxmox, unraid, etc forums you’ll find even more

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 days ago (3 children)

That's bonkers! How much physical space does your setup take? A room? A house?

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

I recently bought a 2U nas with 12 bays. 6x20T disks at the moment, but with 12 disks it could be configured as a single 200T array.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

I have 90tb and it sits on a shelf 6' up in my laundry room (4x in server router/4x in external nas usb-c enclosure)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

20TB hard drives are around $300/each. 12 gets you there with excellent redundancy built in.

Toss them in one of these and you have 200TB, with redundancy and room to grow.

Not cheap to do, but the above would only run about 5-6k.

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[–] [email protected] 41 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I shall open a pub 🍺🍺🍺

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'll be at the Winchester, having a nice cold pint and waiting for this all to blow over.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

Yeah boiii!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago

Yeah I was like shiit I'll just go to the bar while the world burns

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

Maps would be the most valuable data.

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

Printed maps exist already though

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

How do we get this locally

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

openstreetmaps I think, and GPS.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago
[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 days ago (4 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.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

emulators, keep gaming alive

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago

I keep a raspberry pi dedicated just to have NES/SNES/etc emulators via the "retropie" distro. I have thousands of ROMs that I can plug into any TV with HDMI and SNES/NES USB controllers for it. $100 for a full raspi kit to have full access to anything just by copying some files over to a microsd card. Can't remember controller cost but that's kind of a given requirement.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 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.

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

Probably just clone and host a pornhub

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

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

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 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] 14 points 2 days ago (5 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.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 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] 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Probably guides on how to make a mesh-net and the appropriate hardware to do so. No idea how that's done.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago (3 children)

My first thought was debian installer plus everything on a debian mirror. You could get "all" plus "amd64" in 998gb.

However, the majority of that wouldn't be very useful. While a bunch of the stuff on the selfhosted awesome list certainly would be.

The problem is, because this hypothetical scenario is so broad, IDK which things would actually be appropriate.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 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] 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 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] 8 points 2 days ago

Lots of good things already mentioned. So I'll say Shareboxx

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

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 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] 6 points 2 days ago

Though I’m sure that person exists here on Lemmy somewhere :D

I feel seen!

In all honesty, I've been doing something somewhat similar for the last 2 decades or so. Originally I was building my archives because I was often away from internet access. Now, though, it's just become habit.

I started with basic first aid and medical texts and whatever other books and reference texts I found interesting. To that I also archive proprietary software and the source code and releases for the open source software I find useful. Add to that ISOs of the distributions I tend to use and I'm at roughly 3TB. I could probably cut that to 2TB if I remove the older Ubuntu and NixOS releases. I'm over 30TB if you include CD and DVD rips.

About the only thing I am missing from my current archives would be a clone of the Ubuntu and NixOS repositories for all of the "glue" dependencies that no one ever thinks of. After that you would just need the hardware to build out the network.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 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] 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 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] 5 points 2 days ago

I'd download my entire GOG library of games. The offline installer versions they offer without GOG Galaxy client.

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

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

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