The Prepped Computer

[whenfires]

Alongside Metatrons thread viewtopic.php?f=15&t=12675, I have been working on another possibility for a rugged computer to use in emergency situations based on a Panasonic Toughbook CF-19. I have copied the text here from my blog:


As part of my overall prepping, I have been debating keeping a prepped and ready tablet or laptop for use in any number of situations. My checklist of ideal specifications was:

1. Portable
2. Rugged
3. Usable (i.e. a level of power and performance is required)
4. Chargable from solar if required
5. Windows or Linux (Not android, chromeOS or other)
6. Redundancy (Replaceable components, with spares on-hand)
7. Free software
8. On-line and off-line facilities (don’t assume it will only be used when the power/internet is gone)

The hardware



I have some experience of Panasonic Toughbooks as we use them where I work and the CF-19 fits the bill very well and has the added benefit of being able to convert into a touch-screen Windows tablet. I picked up a MKII Refurbished model for £325 which was spec’d as follows:

Based on Intel® Centrino® Duo Mobile Technology
• Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7 Professional
• Vibration and shock resistant (MIL-STD 810F)
• Water and dust resistant (IP54, MIL-STD 810F)
• Lightweight at just 2.25kg
• High-brightness 10.4˝ LCD with Digitiser Screen
• Firewire (IEEE1394a), USB 2.0 and serial port
• Bluetooth® and WLAN integrated

DURABILITY FEATURES
• Designed using MIL-STD-810F test procedures
• Full magnesium alloy case
• Moisture- and dust-resistant LCD, keyboard and touchpad
• Sealed port and connector covers
• Shock-mounted removable HDD in stainless steel case
• Rugged hinge
• Vibration and drop-shock resistant

CPU
• Intel ® Core 2 ™ Duo Processor U2400
– 2MB L2 cache
– Processor speed 1.06GHz
– 533MHz FSB

STORAGE & MEMORY • 4GB SDRAM (DDR2),
• 500GB HDD

DISPLAY
• PC version: 10.4" 1024 x 768 (XGA) transmissive,
470 Nit daylight-readable TFT Active Matrix Color LCD
• Tablet PC version: 10.4" 1024 x 768 (XGA) transmissive,
550 Nit daylight-readable TFT Active Matrix Color LCD with Digitizer
• External video support up to 1280 x 1024 at 16 million colors (24 bit color depth)
• Intel ® 945GM graphic controller DVMT up to 128MB
• Low Re ection Screen Coating

AUDIO
• SigmaTel ™ STAC9751 AC-97 v2.2 Compliant Audio Codec
• Integrated speaker
• Convenient keyboard volume and mute controls

EXPANSION SLOTS
• PC Card Type II x 1
• Secure Digital (SD) Card
• Express Card/54 x 1

KEYBOARD & INPUT
• 82-key with dedicated Windows ® key
• Pressure sensitive touchpad with vertical scrolling support
• Active Digitizer LCD

INTERFACE
• External Video D-sub 15
• Headphones/Speaker Mini-jack Stereo
• Microphone/Line In Mini-jack
• Port Replicator Dedicated 100 pin
• Serial Port D-sub 9

It’s a portable, rugged, windows-based choice with interchangeable drives and batteries so ticks all the boxes as far as my requirements.

As far as spares and hardware add-ons, I wanted to make it as flexible and usable as possible and make sure I could keep it running for as long as possible with swappable parts before it ever broke down with something unrepairable so I added these to my kit:

• Spare PSU
• 2 x Spare batteries
• Notebook wireless mouse
• External USB-powered multi-CD/DVD
• USB hub, bus powered
• Spare HDD, cloned

I may swap the HDDs for SSDs at some point if I think there is enough gain to justify the cost.


The Software

As part of my ideal specifications I didn’t want to assume that the machine would only get used in a full-on SHTF situation where there was no power and no internet so I have tried to come up with a suite of applications that let me open and edit files, watch a DVD or media file or listen to music. As well as those, I added some utilities to search for files, scan networks, connect to servers and so on. The suite I have installed at the moment is made up of:


• Firefox
- Adblock Plus
- FireFTP
- Video DownloadHelper
• Adobe Acrobat
• Adobe Flash
• Adobe Shockwave
• Visual C++ Distribution Files
• Libre Office
• DVD player software (WinX DVD Player)
• 7Zip
• Truecrypt
• Evernote
• Google Earth
• Putty
• Advanced IP Scanner
• GIMP
• Keepass 2
• Dropbox
• CD Burner XP
• FileSeek
• FastImageResizer
• Dexpot (Virtual Desktops)
• VLC Media Player
• uTorrent
• Notepad++
• Primo PDF (PDF Printer Driver)

I am open to any suggestions for additions or replacements for these programs. I haven’t created the cloned spare hard drive until I am settled on the software installation. Has anyone got a use for this machine I haven’t accounted for?

I already have three cloned external USB hard drives full of my movies, TV shows and music. I am also building a library of survival and other manuals to add to these drives. My motto here is redundancy, redundancy, redundancy!

My long term plan is to get the whole thing set up and then seal it in a faraday box along with a decent solar charger and other electronics.

[Lanky Yankee]

I use those tough books at work as well. They are a decent piece of kit. They even work after falling off the roof of a car when pulling away at speed.

[Alloneword]

Double the RAM at the very least, more if you can, look at getting rid of the spinner and invest in a SSD, maybe small SSD and use the internal drive you have for back ups, SSD will draw less power and given mo moving parts hopefully tougher, also look for freeware apps, nowadays you can find almost pirated software for free but from my experience alot are bloated, and simple freeware apps can do the same with much less hdd space needed and less chance of virus etc just try to pick up from authors site not cnet etc

Sorry didnt read all your post before i started my reply SSD will be a good invest £100 for 500GB i saw the other day, also look at getting NON bus powered USB hub (either mains or seperate batt power) as just going bus route is not best option IMO.

The only other thing i would add is to also keep a cloned copy of just your windows OS (up to date), so you format drive, instal just windows 7 (or what ever OS) then take and image of that, then activate it if you have to then image that, then update all of windows and take another image of that, then update that last image every 3-6 months, that way you will always have a virgin windows instal up to date OK it will have no apps but nothing wrong with that it means your windows is virgin and of course you can keep normal images as and when you like.

All1

[mongrel]

I have to admit, yes, I have a laptop, running Ubuntu, an android tablet and a smart phone but as a prepper they come well down the list.
I'd willingly give them all up for more usual stuff, my bookcase is full of selected books, from gardening to game butchery, my kindle has my extensive collection of fiction of less importance .

Computers are great I use them everyday as part of my job,for pleasure and to stay in touch with family, but as they all rely on an external infrastructure to communicate I consider them unlikely to be as imperative if “something” went down!

[metatron]

I see mine as mixture of comms, tracking and repair tool.

Software:

PDW - pager decoding
Hamscope - encoding/decoding digital modes.
FreeScan - Scanner programming and GPS logging
EasyPal - Transmitting/receiving images
Microsoft Map point - Offline GPS it has businesses and other data too.
Diagnostic tools for my car and motorbikes.
Libre office - free Microsoft Office alternative.
Avast Antivirus - Very lightweight AV.

There is better radio software out there but I find the newer the software the more unneeded bloat they add.

[Hoipoloi]

SyncBack is a very good back up tool (and free). You can specify many different profiles for syncing or back up of files, folders or complete drives.
I use it everyday to backup software data to other internal drives, photos to external drives etc. You can even set scheduled times for it to work automatically.

http://www.2brightsparks.com/freeware/freeware-hub.html

[i11matic1795]

Looks a great bit of kit, I've been wanting one similar but can't justify the cost at the moment.

Only thing I'd add is DVD with Tails OS installed, for added security if you were to need it.
You can also boot from a USB but it's less secure (slightly).

i11matic

[whenfires]

Looks a great bit of kit, I've been wanting one similar but can't justify the cost at the moment.

Only thing I'd add is DVD with Tails OS installed, for added security if you were to need it.
You can also boot from a USB but it's less secure (slightly).

i11matic

I've had a play with Tails OS before but not for a while. I'll download a copy and have another look.

[Hoipoloi]

I'm very likely, in the next few minutes (impulsive buyer that I am) going to buy one of these
On the question of swapping the HDD for a SSD, would there be a problem with the HDD caddy heater? Would the SSD appreciate this?