EDC Internet-in-a-Box project

I’m a bit of a prepper and part of my EDC laptop configuration includes a 3 day offgrid tech setup in my get home bag. This is an introduction to my setup, why it is important to me, and what I want to accomplish.

In the future there will be more posts on how each individual item is setup, plus the related hardware. For now, I want to get my goals written down so I can track them as I work on this project.

This is the first major project I have been working on with my new Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 that I’ve been writing about previously as my EDC laptop.

Where some of these ideas originate

Obviously, I spend a lot of time thinking about disaster preparedness. But, I expanded this project to be essentially an “internet in a bag” after reading a great post from Juha-Matti Santala about how they use an iPad and a Raspberry Pi as their on the go setup. Reading that post really expanded what I wanted in my setup.

This also isn’t my first build. For the last year I’ve had a slimmer version ready to go in my bag using a Raspberry Pi with all the data on a SD card. I liked that setup, but it was impractical. I would have to set it up along with a wifi hotspot and then connect another device to it. For that I would use my phone connected to a lapdock and then could access it on a private WLAN. Rebuilding with the Duet 3 means I can get it all onto a single device that is still low power.

I still get some ideas following the /r/cyberDeck subreddit, which is like a cyberpunk hangout for preppers.

A quick intro to a get home bag

For years I’ve been building a prepper kit at my house to help us through a catastrophe. These could be financial, health, climate, or personal. Not every prepper kit is planning for the end of the world. My kits are built around having a disaster that could be a major weather event like Hurricane Helene, or if we have some sort of personal financial catastrophe and I need to get through a few tough months.

A couple years ago it hit me that I need to also have a “get home bag”, which is slightly different from a “bug out bag”. If you search for these terms you will end up on a lot of websites about riots breaking out and having to shoot your way home, the sort of Mad Max toxic macho bullshit I try very hard to avoid.

In my mind I need a kit that will help me when I’m alone and out of the house and get stranded. Like my home kit, this isn’t predicated on some sort of zombie apocalypse or EMP starting WWIII. Rather, I want to be able to navigate realistic situations. My job takes me all over the place and into rural and remote locations. I can see scenarios where my truck breaks down and will take all day to get home. Or a severe storm that comes in before I can get home and need to camp out until the roads are cleared.

My get home bag has many components and I will document the other sections later. This post is just about my offgrid tech stack with my EDC laptop so I can work, relax, or be entertained completely offline and from battery power.

My goals

My setup is inspired by three different ideas.

Traditional bug-out bag

The first is obviously the concept of a standard bug-out bag. In a get home bag you have what you need for survival, such as maps, medical information, and important personal documents. With the new administration coming to the federal government in the US that I do not trust, I can think of scenarios where after a catastrophic event we would be left to fend for ourselves with no help.

For my kit I want to have:

• An copy of maps of my US state and the ones immediately surrounding it.
• First aid and medical information.
• Survival information such as building shelters, heat, water treatment, and various bushcraft tactics.
• Personal important documents.

These are what you would find in standard bug out bag builds. The last bullet point actually comes from a suggestion from the now defunct OSINT & Security Podcast. Having copies of my drivers license, SSN card, birth certficates, etc. in an encrypted file stored on a storage drive could be important in a catastrophic event.

Getting work done

As I mentioned, I work in a lot of remote areas. Sometimes I can get a decent cell data signal, but most of the time I am completely offline. In these times I still need to get work done, so I need a set of data on my device at all times and then can sync up when I get back to a data connection.

This means I want to have avaialble at all times:

• Our contracting business documents and spreadsheets, plus be able to manage and edit them.
• My Obsidian vault with my notes.
• Emails, calendars, and tasks.
• Password database.

This section is actually the easiest to setup. I already use Syncthing for my files, Obsidian works in offline mode, and everything else can be synced via the right Android apps. I already have this setup on my phone, so configuring on the Chromebook Duet is a similar process.

Comfortably living offline

Two of the three sections are for serious situations. In addition to being safe and being able to get work done, I want to be able to have fun or find a way to relax. The situations I can think of are being stuck in an airport, at a hotel, or in my truck waiting for someone in a parking lot or on the side of the road.

In these situations I want to watch some videos, read articles, play games, and maybe even do some Linux shenanigans. I am a Linux enthusiast and I have lots of misc. projects I’d love to try out.

With a lot of sudden free time, I want to have:

• Downloads of my bookmarks and read later articles.
• Access to technical information, such as Stack Overflow, the Arch wiki, or Super User.
• Installation of various apps I don’t use on a regular basis, but might need in a pinch. I keep offline copies of various flatpaks, Docker images, and Android apps. Why not have them with me?
• Movies, TV shows, YouTube videos, podcasts, books, and music.
• Games. In particular, retro games.

Is this overkill?

Probably. But, storage space is cheap and most of this information is readily available and all I need to do is assemble it.

I know for a fact I will have full copies of Wikipedia and other websites. I also know I will run a full apt clone, plus all the flatpaks, Docker images, and Android apps I keep in an archive. I’m sure I will have way more than 3 days of entertainment.

Some of the excess is to make sure I have enough for multiple people. Although I am alone most days, there are plenty of times we are on family excursions and I want to have enough for everyone to be safe and relaxed.

Last, I find doing these kinds of projects fun. Is all of this necessary? More than likely, no. However, I have fun thinking about this and building out the “ultimate offgrid tech kit”. Who cares if I never use it, I will enjoy making it. Remember, do more projects for the hell of it.

Look for more posts coming soon about each of these sections, what data is in it, and how I make it accessible.

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