Build an Off Grid Wikipedia with

[@element14presents]

Kaleb's going completely offgrid! See the projects he's up to now bit.ly/405R0fv

[@cris10smit]

Imagine the joy coming across a skeleton in the wasteland and you notice it's grasping an interesting looking box that contains all of humanity's knowledge

[@czechmix221]

fallout new vegas moment

[@skornie123]

Wasnt that something of a feature the GECK had in Fallout 2 ?

[@gavincurtis]

On FLASH memory that is now blank. Only guaranteed to hold data 5-10 years, some rate at 30 years. Perhaps in Antarctica, where it is very cold...you might get 100+ years. Then the data is corrupt. Have to reformat and start over. Need longer term storage. Fuse ROM.

[@b42thomas]

imagine being an archeaologist from 2300 and this being the rosetta stone if our timep

[@worlore1651]

skeleton accidently deletes it cus he doesnt know wtf it is.

[@thomaspalazzolo5902]

Don't forget to put the words "DON'T PANIC" on the back in large, friendly-looking letters.

[@maker_karen1785]

Instructions must include: Always know where your towel is.

[@brakelateracing727]

The answer is 42

[@MikaelMurstam]

@@brakelateracing727 don't spoil

[@TheOnlyTominator]

Ha - nice! 'Funny to think that Adams didn't envision a wifi enabled Guide!

[@bobtheblob2770]

comic sans

[@WoodmanFFM]

Now you only need to make the enclosure EMP-proof and you've got a winner for the post-apocalyptic survival game...

[@TheMuddman74]

Probably already is and if not it would be really easy. In fact most current electronics wouldn't be harmed by an EMP. The movies and myths are mostly bullshit. I could write a book about this but the quickest gist I can give you is this: Soooo many things give off electromagnetic waves and most electronics would interfere with each other if critical components were not shielded from the electromagnetic pulses as well as other forces. A couple examples would be your car and its ECM/PCM are shielded (no issues). Your PC/Laptop are shielded (no issues). Also EMPs dont effect the batteries, cables, wires, resistors, bussbars, fuses, mechanical switches/relays. Soooo....99% sure this thing is fine already but if you are worried just stick it inside a potato chip bag.

[@WoodmanFFM]

@@TheMuddman74 Really that easy? o0 The texts I've read about EMP-proofing electronics all hinted at substantial effort that needs to be made in order to make stuff survive e.g. an EMP from a bomb or something similar... Do you happen to have some links with more info? Also, if you ever do write that book, please hook me up with a copy... :-)

[@Tore_Lund]

@@WoodmanFFM Remeber, those are called books! 2000 year old ones have been found i caves and 5000+ yeras old clay tablets.

[@czechmix221]

@@WoodmanFFM faraday cage, same shit that stops microwaves coming out of your microwave, plus lead foil

[@benjaminpierce8835]

@@TheMuddman74 that depends on the strength of the EMP, shielding is not some perfect end all be all of electromagnetism, your curtains shield7 you from moonlight but during the day plenty of light still manages to get through EMP's can be strong or weak, you seem to believe there is some universal level of EMP.

[@Titousensei]

Missed opportunity: solar power bank.

[@HobkinBoi]

I doubt it'd be difficult to add this honestly. They make folding solar chargers for USB, that'd work well. Could also use one of those other larger panels in conjunction with a regulator. I just think though that's a lot of wasted space, if you built up your own battery pack, you could make this thing run for possibly days on end. Solar panel would easily extend that. I built a smallish 12v li ion battery bank, combined it with a 10w solar panel, and some regulators, and I was able to run a Pi Zero W for almost 2 full days. The Pi was just functioning as a very dirty FM transmitter. I was out in the woods with literally no other radio sources nearby, so I was not interfering with anything, also the range was only 200-300 feet. If the sun was out more of the day, It'd likely run a third, maybe forth day. So yeah, larger battery pack, and some solar, and boom, you're pretty set.

[@XInfinity2024]

@@Hex-Mas If you aren't leaving it running 24/7 I don't think it will matter as much but I might have to test this theory my self.

[@mjsvitek]

Onboard handcrank generator.

[@snuffying]

hamster wheel

[@yourzombiemop8259]

Nuclear generator

[@junkaccount2535]

"We want survival articles" *skips over chemistry and goes immediately to coffee* Videogames have taught you well fine sir.

[@mikeorjimmy2885]

And Cats, but at least it wasn't cat videos. That would take several petabytes of storage.

[@SlickPickle88]

Offline topo maps would be awesome to add to this

[@kalebclark5826]

yes, great idea!

[@charliebrownau]

I saw an offline openstreetmap project the other day

[@shanewilson3653]

@@charliebrownau " osmAnd "

[@nursoweilja1487]

or a translater

[@Acecool]

You should have a separate switch for the monitor - so if you only want to use it as a hotspot you don't waste energy on a display. Although, you could have it sleep too and wait for a touch input, but that costs energy too... A simple switch would likely give you more usage.

[@kalebclark5826]

Good call. Funny how the simple features slip through on a build like this. I should dig it out and add that.

[@marlboro9tibike]

basically creating magic boxes that will be destroyed as blasphemy or witchery in the bright future apocalyptic world

[@pgtmr2713]

Hahaha burn it if it floats!

[@mjsvitek]

@@pgtmr2713 if it floats, it's made of wood, and therefore, a witch.

[@CanadianB.O.W]

Worship the Wiki!

[@williamrutherford553]

Ah yes, Bulbapedia. For when you're trying to catch and train animals in the apocalypse. You never know when you might run into another trainer!

[@nosuchthing8]

Information is information.

[@ShinoSarna]

"Japanese language learning" great, in case of apocalypse I can watch anime without subs

[@ArnaudMEURET]

Well, hundreds of thousands of foreigners like me live in Japan where the risk of a major natural disaster is a daily concern

[@joecobra48]

Naniiii!!

[@NoorquackerInd]

@@niw-w1f Fukushima wasn't even that much of an explosion and it was caused by an earthquake. You know, _the_ natural disaster that happens in Japan all the time?

[@LemonRush7777]

@@niw-w1f Not like they have much choice in Japan.

[@sirparzival9372]

so much potential here. With a bigger case, you can add supplies for repairs, a small solar panels, extra batteries, additional accessories....

[@Hexen_Wulf]

Might be smarter to include those in separate cases, that way the main case remains light and easy to carry, and if you lose the supplemental cases, it isn't a catastrophy. If you're going post-apoc, you should have redundancy, and putting all your eggs in one basket isn't that.

[@higihups]

@@Hexen_Wulf I would argue, that a little hinge on the display frame, with a small solar panel hidden behind the display, would not add too much weight or size. You could pop that out and put the solar panel out to recharge. This will also create redundancy, as your hotspot becomes independent. In that situation, even worse than putting all eggs in one basket, is to store the cans in a different location than the can opener.

[@kingmasterlord]

solar power bank would allow for watertight seals and peltier cooling

[@EngageBlueberry1]

The Mechanicus are going to be lining up for that STC!

[@delphicdescant]

Including the power conversion circuitry to be able to charge from unreliable or variable power sources (like solar panels, turbines, or something powered by a campfire) would be cool if there's room left over near the battery. And ports for pos/neg leads for that kind of thing too.

[@Woodscraps-lr5vz]

The only thing this needs is a faraday cage over-case in the event of a CME or EMP event. Good work!

[@kalebclark5826]

Thank you!

[@jarredelijah6803]

Well he can make another content out of that! Kinda an upgrade, an Anti-EMP version

[@jarredelijah6803]

Or anti-nuke version

[@jarredelijah6803]

@@dement3djoker ahahahahaha

[@jarredelijah6803]

@@dement3djoker no I won't

[@TheTwober]

Some ideas to enhance it: - No movable parts as they can break. So no fan, but passive cooling. Metal box will come in handy for EMP reasons anyways. - Add a solar panel that will keep the battery charged, even if fully empty. Never know how long the Zombie apocalypse lasts. - Include basic programming tools (C++ comes to mind) so it can be expanded if needed. - Here Maps with offline world data. The entire world with navigation running on the PI.

[@billcarson9565]

Cant believe I only found this video now! excellent content, inspired much to make one of these!!! subscribed!

[@RickBaucom]

Well, this is the most useful video for the pi that I have seen yet. I can understand how this would be good information to have in a survival (long-term) situation. Thanks for the video.

[@kalebclark5826]

Thanks Rick!

[@jmpattillo]

This is awesome. My only suggestion would be more clicky switches on the bottom part.

[@di9italzero500]

Is this the guy from Collins lab? What a great idea. Knowledge will be worth more than food. I've started building mine.

[@DPTech_workroom]

Great job! May be I will do something similar in the future. Now I did a Touch Screen Case for a LinuxCNC control on Orange Pi PC.

[@kalebclark5826]

Thanks! I have not tried the Orange PI yet. I eventually want to get to it someday.

[@danielkert-dev]

A mini printer would be cool to make a book specific to the situation.

[@pikejuan]

this is very cool, there are a few things i'd change but the overall concept is sweet. thanks.

[@kalebclark5826]

Thank you!

[@jplusosec977]

I did this with my nook color. Used kiwix as well. Just not all of Wikipedia. Science, chemistry and technology. With a portable solar panel 21 watts. My ip rating is a zip lock bag. When camping LOL But I do find this project interesting. Might think about making one. Thanks for the info.

[@saderuscz]

this case need faraday cage... and gps, topomaps, solarpanels :-) great work anyway

[@ArnaudMEURET]

Enlighten me, please, what would be the benefit of the Faraday cage?

[@ex1tium]

@@ArnaudMEURET We might be hit by large enough solar flare/EMP to burn our power grids and all the unprotected electronics on the planet. Only way to protect electronics against that is to build faraday cage that is grounded around your electronics. I would just store the computer in another container lined with grounded metal film that acts as faraday cage. You'll lose Wifi and radio if you built it into the computer case itself and grounding it is difficult. Last known big solar flare capable of destroying electronics and power grids of today was called Carrington Event that happened in 1859 and it affected telegraphs all around the world. There have been other big flares but Earth hasn't been directly on their path.

[@ArnaudMEURET]

@@ex1tium Thanks. I get it now. It needs to be stored in a Faraday cage.

[@ngenius2]

and don't forget a secret compartment for a Glock and extra magazine, as well as a flux capacitor.

[@sammiller6631]

@@ex1tium The earth was directly in path of March 1989 geomagnetic storm, yet Hydro-Québec's power grid was only offline for nine hours while neighboring grids didn't go down at all. The solar storm of August 1972 was even more extreme, strong enough to cause magnetic sea mines during the Vietnam War to spontaneously detonate, but the power grid didn't fail catastrophically. Was the Carrington Event so bad because the telegraph is more fragile and less protected than modern electronics?

[@fabian24123]

Looks cool!

[@philhutchinson360]

Love this so so much!

[@wayne6220]

This is sooo cool. Thank you.

[@jwdory]

Cool project!

[@kbhasi]

I couldn't really get over the Pi showing the ⚡ icon on screen which means it's not getting enough power.

[@Crash5291]

my 3b+ and screen always did, didn't matter what supply i used. My use case was to be with a Ham radio so when i wired it up i added a buck converter set to 5.2v and a capacitor between that and the pi, problem solved.

[@SchoolforHackers]

Yeah it’s fun - do you know what the strawberries at boot mean?

[@becauseican2607]

Strawberry on Boot? 🤣

[@ShockburnVR]

@@Crash5291 Make sure to use good quality usb cables. try to use ones that have as low resistance in the cable as possible. i had that issue as well When you power up the pi try to measure the voltage you get from your supply and the voltage that enters the pi, there might be some significant losses there after a while I solder wires to the power pins on the usb input to eliminate that issue. this way you use the onboard power delivery circuit. You can bypass it but you have to make sure your power supply is stable and within spec of the pi

[@SchoolforHackers]

Yup - you’ll see one strawberry for each cpu core!

[@xXDeltaXxwhotookit]

Nice build.

[@dang48]

Looks great! I second the suggestion by WoodmanFFM to make the enclosure EMP-proof as well. Another suggestion would be to add an indicator LED to show when the battery is charging (been there where the charger was connected but didn't work), and when the battery is fully charged.

[@MechTronMan]

This is so cool!

[@Jon357roughashlar]

Excellent project!

[@kalebclark5826]

Thanks Buddy!

[@Zendail]

This is amazing!!

[@andrewfisher1051]

Great project

[@alohava]

This is an excellent idea! Thanks for sharing. Is there a mechanism to automatically update the data? New knowledge is added to Wikipedia every day. Would be good to have a weekly/monthly refresh.

[@michaelfixedsys7463]

The free online encyclopedia that no one will ever edit again!

[@eulusgarza5765]

interesting, very useful.

[@karlkoch1959]

how long battery life is posible with a medium xhamster backup??? i mean thats also a importent part of human "knowledge" :)

[@Yuzuki1337]

Imagine being one of a handful of people to sell pr0n in a post-apocalyptic world 🤑

[@paulm5873]

It has what everyone needs in an apocalypse situation, bulbapedia.

[@007videogamemaster]

ah yes bulbapedia very important for any bug out scenario

[@julianbello8376]

"bulbapedia" yeah we really need to know all about pokemon during the apocalypse

[@elizathegamer413]

This. this would be the device I would take back in time with me

[@Nunya369]

I just downloaded the offgrid Wikipedia file as well as prepping & survival pdfs to a spare phone with pdf app & the kiwis app installed for reading Wikipedia files etc offline. Shove it into a Faraday cage and that's the apocalypse knowledge base sorted. Smartphones/tabs are more user-friendly than raspberries.

You could fit all of that in a smartphone as well. Including the hotspot, if you root the device.

[@balls08]

if you did decide to add a mouse, you could hook up a mouse sensor. If you flip the x axis it can work similar to a trackpad.

[@zekester2097]

Does this also archive the talk pages on wiki articles? I feel that'd be really important to include, as you can see what's going on under the hood in more controversial articles and such.

[@noahpaulette1490]

Yeah basically anything political on Wikipedia is a toss up lol.

[@lander1591]

You need a DC-DC UP Converter set to 5.12 to 5.2 Volts to get rid of the lightning bolt and power your USB Host controller chip properly ;)

[@Tore_Lund]

A Power bank is bad enough for robbing power, it is already using a boost converter to make 5V from 3.7V. Two super caps and a 10W solar panel on the lid, a proper solar charger that regulates to 5.2V directly, then an E-paper display and some serious sleep routines, so the Pi goes into low power mode when not updating the screen. Ditch the WIFi, who carries a phone in the apocalypse? Just put a minimum of navigation buttons on it to navigate the screen and use them for OSK too. They can also have their own micro controller, that wakes up the PI so it doesn't has to pool for key presses constantly. The you have a device that can run in 200 years on a rainy day or indoors infront of a bonfire. Actually, it shouldn't even be nessecary to use a PI, an Aurdino or AVR should do, if you just format the pages as text and JPGs for a minimal gui.

[@sammiller6631]

@@Tore_Lund Wifi allows it to be a community resource used by multiple families for schooling.

[@richardattenborough5360]

Great video, and I plan to build a smaller version of this but I do have a couple of questions. In the video you mention that you figured out how to make use of an attached drive instead of the SD card. Do you have documents on that somewhere? also how did you get the Rasp Pi to start up in the browser?

[@sui101]

Loved the video. Had you thought about making one that would be protected from EMP? Being disconnected from any power grid helps, but I figured a metal faraday type enclosure would be better.

[@user-dc9cc6po9t]

Ask NASA for old pentiums with custom anti-EMP chips (if you wish to go to Mars)

[@GenkiBlast]

The more I watch these the more I believe we are making those STC's from war hammer. When I get the money I'll try my hand at making one.

[@ericitchyd2311]

This was the perfect opportunity for a eink display and some solar panels!

[@faultyinterface]

I am intrigued. I may try this

[@5am0036]

@@faultyinterface please update!

[@felderup]

it's good there's an 'and reference library' tacked on there, so many things that would make wikipedia barf if you tried to wedge it on there, just not available. surgical manuals for instance.

[@ChrisWMF]

I'd add exhaustive books for minerology, metallergy, and chemistry. Books for tech would be great too- stuff that could teach a person how to build almost all tech from scratch; tool making, metal working, machining, glass works, pottery, plastics, paper, electronics, computer chips.

[@Flyingpapaya]

Noticed the bit in the beginning about potentially wanting more storage and saw this is about 10 months old, 256GB Sandisk SD cards are quite affordable at about $35 a pop.

[@mwbgaming28]

Fake ones maybe

[@TheOnlyTominator]

I don't think I'm going to see the end of the world, but that's a fun project!

[@kinleyage]

oh my sweet summer child

[@charliebrownau]

Gday Great idea , possibly expand it to Solar panel on the outside, speaker and RLT SDR card Also needs a RED BUTTON and some switch's

[@Adnaneee]

That's very cool.

[@dr_j0nes]

I see ArmA in the explorer. I like!

[@soulrobotics]

Excellent

[@kayezero703]

that looks vary good

[@kalebclark5826]

Thank you!

[@swandonovan]

I'd say even very good

[@SarkarMotion]

@@swandonovan opinions "VARY" ....

[@DiyintheGhetto]

Hello I have a question is it possible to store everything on a external drive on the raspberry pi if I wanted to add more of the content? Also I was wondering if we can just run it on the network? Instead of a hotspot.

[@BLBlackDragon]

Spiffy project. 80GB for all of Wikipedia? I'm floored. I noticed the under-voltage on the display. I assume the issue is that the 7" display, plugged into the Pi 4, has the Pi trying to draw more power than the PowerBank can provide? (by my math, you would need between 3,5 and 4,0A to eliminate the warning) Any thoughts on a replacement battery?

[@DanBamberAudio]

What code did you use to make the virtual keyboard pop up from a momentary switch? 14:10

[@LorisRavera]

Love the show. I would suggest getting rid of the AudioJungle watermark on the opening audio though :0

[@jaurybeltraoengers5986]

Some kind of EMP protection (idk if that would be possible), and a solar panel you retrieve from inside and i think it would be apocalypse ready

[@radar536]

Nice vid. I am just a curious guy that loves electronics, but don't have a brain for it. I would love to see a project of a "multi purpose" device. Like "pc diagnostics, computer, with some sensors(I don't know, temp, humidity, em....) I really admire you guys that plays with electrons. My father was one electron-player.

[@CancunMimosa]

Have you done a submersion test for the case’s unknown IP rating?

[@faultyinterface]

Love the project, got it all set up, but I get url not found errors when I try to access any of the pages, ie ‘The requested URL “/wikibooks_en_maxi.en” was not found on this server.’ So I'm shelving it for now. I look forward to when I can figure out how to fix it though, very cool

[@user-dy5ho4sj2w]

We should start building these for people in other countries to use as educational devices in areas with little to no internet service.

[@konstissfx]

Something to recharge the batteries without a socket would also be nice, something like Solar panels or a Dynamo 😉

[@element14presents]

Join the conversation about this build and get replies from Kaleb (or other engineers and makers interested in this project) on the element14 Community bit.ly/33AkZRl

[@indianOutlaw87.5]

would it be possible to build inside a faraday cage to protect in case of a large solar storm or EMP attacks?

[@jefftorella1096]

Was there a way to add external storage im interested in this whole KIWIX install now

[@faultyinterface]

Not on Kiwix Hotspot. It only supports reading straight from the SD card.

[@ArnaudMEURET]

@@faultyinterface What an amazing shame !! 😰

[@FreedomAirguns]

I've used xowa to download the entirety of wiki, wikiversity, books and news, in English, back in 2016. Approximately 243GB of data (back then) in a magnetic disk. I then covered it in antistatic bag and cardboard, and I keep it in a metallic cover under a soft purse, and it's either stored in a wooden cabin under meters of cement (the building I live in) or a cooler bag inside another backpack when on the go. I now keep an SMG with it and I'm damn proud of it all !!! XD LOL I gotta say, in all honesty, that I'm for real. I've also developed a lossless compression algorithm and I plan on printing the whole thing with it (maybe in metallic sheets too). The only drawback is that, at the moment, I need the same amount of space in ram to do that and I can't overcome this problem. I did manage to find alternative ways but they're a mess. TMI, I know, but who knows. Maybe this saves a life or, should I ever die, lucky those who find the thing (and the rifle). Humanity has a chance ! XD

[@FreedomAirguns]

@UCoeHLSlNQnA475AY9TkhmJA I've got plenty of physics books too, plus engineering, architecture, mathematics, medicine, agriculture, organic chemistry, mineralogy and many other vital fields, even comedy, totaling some thousands titles. You never know... :P

[@di9italzero500]

@@FreedomAirguns Me too brother. Stay strong

[@MichVaugier]

You jumped the best part: The mounting on the casing :(

[@Crimsonedge1]

Nice design but I feel v2 could use a ruggedised solar charging system built into the lid to trickle-charge the battery over time.

[@RandomAccountHolder]

I wanted to do a similar thing, but with ebooks.

[@DaveAuld]

Looking at Farnell site, the yellow cases appear to be Weatherproof and the black ones are Waterproof. I guess they have never received official IP certifications, so cannot give an IP rating.

[@SlyPearTree]

A company made an offline wikipedia device years ago that was sold in stores. It used a touchscreen but was text only. It had a micro sd card that could be updated, not from the device as it did not have any kind of connectivity. The touchscreen was the old style and not that great to use.

[@ElisandroDeLeon]

Im glad Matt Damon is still acting at his age

[@digitalchaos1980]

🤣

[@unoyoshiblu700]

Everyone's ideas: cool robot, helps people My ideas:

[@richardgenck2692]

Which Raspberry Pi version do you recommend? Is the Pi 4 8GB worth getting, or would it be too much of a power drain, and total overkill?

[@jganzie2632]

Any chance you could do an updated version with solar and larger storage

[@theofficialsoldierthatreviews]

I have been trying to do this since the first raspberry pie came out

[@mywifeh8sthis864]

How much would something like this cost and would it be possible to have enough memory to have a library of movies and music stored as well as the ability to use solar panels to recharge? Maybe even have an area inside the case to store said charging panels so when covered in a faraday cage it’s protected?

[@MagicPlants]

Nice!! Next do some CSS and make a dark mode to save battery life (and your eyes!)

[@kalebclark5826]

Thanks! Good suggestion for dark mode!

[@devonking8727]

very cool, i want one :) that ribbon cable is a bit of a week link though

[@kalebclark5826]

Agreed, Display with HDMI would be much more robust in that area.

[@ethanperry569]

Thanks Matt Damon!

[@DrEews1]

Thought I'd try to make one. Just wondering if you thought I could add an SDR software to find radio to that kit? Give myself the ability to listen to radio frequencies and have access to Wikipedia.

[@di9italzero500]

If you can add SDR software to any raspberry pi os

[@SeraphimKnight]

You just need a button the shut the display and a solar panel to charge the battery and you've got an amazing thing.

[@richardanthonymorris]

I was just wondering how you made it auto-login to the chromium Kiwix interface?

[@can2835]

Is there a way to add the ability to redirect https addresses to the server?

[@weirdsciencetv4999]

The lightning bolt means your are undervolting. Geekworm makes a good UPS that runs on those 18650 lion batteries used in vapes and laptop battery packs. It had auto shutdown and also an external lighted button for power on/off. It will also fully power off during shutdown after rpi halts

[@wpilgrim1]

That would be in addition to the power bank that he installed? Ie the UPS would supply the extras needed during boot or heavy demand? looking into your recommendation now.

[@weirdsciencetv4999]

@@wpilgrim1 Yes it can power everything independently. it also survived being the the Mohave Desert for a year. I found an open wifi out there believe it or not and accessed my “RPI Desert Server” over TOR for a year before having to scoop it up for cleaning the solar cells. Geekworm X728

[@weirdsciencetv4999]

@@wpilgrim1 Also this unit can power a RPI, 7 inch LCD, limeSDR, 4W RF power amp, all from same geekworm UPS, even boots fine. Its a beast

[@wpilgrim1]

@WeirdscienceTV awesome! planning my build right now. Thanks for the added help here.

[@weirdsciencetv4999]

@@wpilgrim1 You’re welcome! Im guessing like me, you want something that is robust and not just a toy

[@NerdDad85]

So when I try to do all of the software updates and retrievals, nothing works. Should I be connected to the internet? Everything works great, the box is perfect, the 3D prints came out great but I cannot get the touchscreen to work. All of the sudo commands for the software portion fail. Please, someone, let me know. Yes, I am way above my abilities here and need a little guidance. Thanks in advance!

[@steviestrange]

How did you get it to boot into chromium on the screen? When you flash the image to SD it doesnt write the xwindows environment or chromium? hotspot works as shown but can't figure out how you got it running on screen?

[@DanielPierce]

You can do this on your smartphone if you want, download Kiwix from the App Store.

[@eaasness]

Will it run on a pi zero w?

[@turtlewmiller]

Could you do this with some version of an arduino, perthaps an arduino uno Rev. 3?