Armageddon Computer?

5 pointslskatz2 comments

What is your favorite iso for an offline computer, if the Internet goes out? Maybe something with an encyclopedia, offline maps, photos?

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Depends on what you want out of a computer. If you want a general purpose (as in write programs and run them) Plan 9 is a pretty self-contained operating system and software system if you are confident in your C and C++ abilities. I've also heard that BSD is pretty well documented internally, so if you know that system, you should be ok.

Alternatively a fun retro setup could be an apple II or a windows 98 box with Encarta disks.

As a specific distro that is directly focused on what you specified, Endless OS seems to have the Encyclopedia and other preinstalled apps for online use you were talking about.

Which leads to another interesting take on the situation. Which OS would make a good starter to rebuild from? It should be small, easy to build, and cover just core features including network. Even single-user, single process like Windows 98 as suggested could work, although we'd want much newer source without cruft. The GUI also seems superfluous--maybe just high density text panes.

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