# The Prepper's Tablet



## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

Now you might think it funny that I consider my Kindle to be a must have in any "rainy day" scenario. Hell, it weighs over a pound, suck downs batteries like they were free beers, and is too hard and flat to pack well. my tablet might be a pain in the ass, but it gives me the one thing I don't want to be without... information.

"Hey Preppa-D, I think these mushrooms are good to eat, you want some?"

Ummm, no. I'll be over here looking at some beautiful full color pics of edible fungus in one of my field guides. I would love to know all the things I can eat in the wild, but I can't remember them all. I know the ones I see around here a lot, but if it comes down to being dead if I'm wrong, I'll whip out the old tablet and double check, you know?

So I can easily carry with me all sorts of survival info. What else? Well, how about lots of issues of Mother Earth News and Home Power Magazine. How about the SAS Survival guide and the US Army Survival manual and a hundred other FMs and TMs? I carry books on medicine, reloading data, books on building with local materials, and all sorts of engineering stuff. Hey, I have 32 gigs to play with, might as well use some of it.

Of course it also plays movies and games. Great games like chess, cribbage, spades, and backgammon. And yes, some not so great games too. So anyway, it's worth having.

Powering the beast is another topic altogether.


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## Piratesailor (Nov 9, 2012)

My thoughts too.. As long as its not cooked in an EMP.


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

Yes the kindle's are nice, I use mine quite a bit and would suggest getting an inexpensive padded slip cover and a quality plastic screen protector for the device. I find that with the kindle it's a trade off, one gets a huge amount of information in a small package yet is tied to a battery charger. 

Most of the classic literature is free to down load and a lot of good information can be downloaded for less than five dollars. Buying new releases can get expensive, as can some manuals. Other than that it's a good deal. Like having an entire library in ones back pocket.


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## Nathan Jefferson (May 11, 2013)

And don't forget that used smart phones are a good substitute for these too! You can pick up early generation androids from friends and family and install all the same stuff as you can on a tablet - or just get a generic tablet for very cheap.

I'm working on creating a (used) tablet to leave at my BOL and an old droid phone to cache with extra batteries and chargers for both. This is in addition to my kindle that I keep with me most everywhere.


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## BigCheeseStick (Aug 7, 2013)

Scribd

Take your pick of any military manual or about anything else you like.


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## Nathan Jefferson (May 11, 2013)

BigCheeseStick said:


> Scribd
> 
> Take your pick of any military manual or about anything else you like.


my problem isn't 'not having something' its that I have too much. I'm sure you've seen the links all over the net with MASSIVE prepper type libraries for download - thousands of books, manuals, etc. But how do I wade through it all in a timely manner? That is my problem - if I have 10,000 PDFs on my tablet how do I know which ones I'll really need?


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## BigCheeseStick (Aug 7, 2013)

Tough one for sure! I keep the bulk of my library on such material on a 1tb portable hard drive inside a grounded metal gun cabinet. Removes any concern about EMP. If I remember right I got the hard drive at Samsclub for $79. The hard drive can be plugged into ANYTHING with a usb slot and the library loads right up.

I tried organizing it all into categories and folders, but to much of it fits under several different subjects. Anymore when I want info. on one particular thing I just search for keywords.


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

My main library contains well over 200,000 ebooks., many of them just dumped into one folder. It's a mess, to be sure.

I started a new folder called "Organized Library" and am going through and sorting them as I find time.

I immediately discard any less than great copies, unless it's a hard to find title. I'm also adding the publication dates to the titles and trying to keep just the newest, most useful books. It takes time, but I just do a batch now and then and am making headway.


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## Nathan Jefferson (May 11, 2013)

Hmm, just saw this in my inbox - I might have to check it out. SURVIVALKEY *shrug* downloadable to up to 3 different systems at a time, not too bad if it holds up to what they claim, I might check it out and get back to you.


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## Paltik (Jul 27, 2013)

My emergency Kindle.


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## Fuzzee (Nov 20, 2012)

I don't believe you guys for one second. I know you just can't live without porn and have downloaded a lot more than books.




:mrgreen:


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

Oh, I forgot to mention that mine contains fairly detailed maps of all of North America too.

FYI Fuzzee, I watched my very first porn movie the other night.

It's hard to believe how skinny I looked back then.


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## Meangreen (Dec 6, 2012)

Prepadoodle said:


> Oh, I forgot to mention that mine contains fairly detailed maps of all of North America too.
> 
> FYI Fuzzee, I watched my very first porn movie the other night.
> 
> It's hard to believe how skinny I looked back then.


Beat me to it


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## CWOLDOJAX (Sep 5, 2013)

interesting topic - does a kindle transmit? I know anything that connects to wifi must transmit.


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## Nathan Jefferson (May 11, 2013)

CWOLDOJAX said:


> interesting topic - does a kindle transmit? I know anything that connects to wifi must transmit.


Yes, I'm pretty sure all of them will transmit. I would actually suggest getting a knock off instead of a kindle, unless you want to use it a lot not just for 'prep use'.

Something like this is much cheaper. 

It has 4GB of internal storage (that is a LOT of books!) and you can plug a microSD card in to expand it - I just bought 32GB at staples for 30$...


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

I have to ask - because I am 63 today and these tablets are something I know little about.

Do these operate as a computer? What OS? 4GB is not a lot of "permanent" storage... is more available?

I am not thinking of prep stuff but it would be nice to be able to take "part" of my computer with me when I am "away from home".


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## Nathan Jefferson (May 11, 2013)

PaulS said:


> I have to ask - because I am 63 today and these tablets are something I know little about.
> 
> Do these operate as a computer? What OS? 4GB is not a lot of "permanent" storage... is more available?
> 
> I am not thinking of prep stuff but it would be nice to be able to take "part" of my computer with me when I am "away from home".


Most run on 'android' operating system, just like an android phone. You can use a lot of 'similar' applications and surf the web on them. I use mine to read books, review (not create!) word/excel/powerpoint, send/receive email, browse the web, etc.

Most will have an SD or MicroSD slot that you can expand the memory with, some will have USB or micro USB that you can attach to other external harddrives.

For daily use - spend a little money and get a samsung galaxy or other nice tablet if you can. For throwing in a box a cheap one is fine (less memory, less processing power, etc - fine for SHTF use but annoying if you use it daily).

I also think the 7 inch models are the best size.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Holy crap! You do realize that for the same $200 I can get a notebook or laptop computer.
I can put Linux on it for free and run everything I have on my desktop on it. The laptop can have over a terabyte of storage and there is an app for sending text messages. 
The size difference is negligible for me as I would be less likely to lose the laptop. I guess I don't see the advantage of the smaller package.


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## Nathan Jefferson (May 11, 2013)

PaulS said:


> Holy crap! You do realize that for the same $200 I can get a notebook or laptop computer.
> I can put Linux on it for free and run everything I have on my desktop on it. The laptop can have over a terabyte of storage and there is an app for sending text messages.
> The size difference is negligible for me as I would be less likely to lose the laptop. I guess I don't see the advantage of the smaller package.


Size/weight/battery life(and power consumption! less power in a grid down situation would be important). But you are spot on, you lose a lot of functionality for those trade offs. You could try one of the el-cheapos for ~75 but I wouldn't use it for much more than email/web/books, most won't have the horsepower to watch streaming video or other things like that.


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

I have the 9" Kindle Fire HD and an old Kindle. The old Kindle would run weeks on a charge, the new one only 4 - 6 hours. But the Fire HD is color, which is important to me because I use it for field guides and need color pictures.

If I had it to do over, I would have gotten the 7" Kindle Fire or maybe something else altogether. I don't like the way Kindles restrict (or try to) what apps you can use and where you can buy them. I mean really, no Google Apps?

PaulS, Happy birthday! You can get tons of apps for tablets. For example, I run a ballistics calculator, MapQuest, and a lot of others. You can't connect an unpowered external drive to the Kindles. As far as I know, the micro USB ports don't supply power. The ones on the Kindle are fr charging and data only. So why are there two ports? Good Question.

The Fire I have has 32 Gb, but won't take an expansion SD card.


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## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Yeah, streaming videos are not a priority but the horsepower is.... I started using computers back in 1978 - when you had to be able to use basic just to get it to work. 
I have yet to buy anything but desktop computers just because the laptops don't last more than about three years before they burn up. I've never had a cell phone either so if history repeats itself then I will be without electronics in the event of mass grid failure - but then if the grid fails so will all the phones and the tablets will be of less value than my rack of three ring binders full of information and my library of books.

I do thank you for the honest answers to my questions - a lot!


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

TRS-80- Model 1 - 1979

You pretty much had to write your own software... in BASIC.

Those were the days, huh?


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## CWOLDOJAX (Sep 5, 2013)

Nathan Jefferson said:


> Yes, I'm pretty sure all of them will transmit. I would actually suggest getting a knock off instead of a kindle, unless you want to use it a lot not just for 'prep use'.
> 
> Something like this is much cheaper.
> 
> It has 4GB of internal storage (that is a LOT of books!) and you can plug a microSD card in to expand it - I just bought 32GB at staples for 30$...


Hmm. With a USB port that makes more sense than some more $$ ones.


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## Nathan Jefferson (May 11, 2013)

Prepadoodle said:


> I have the 9" Kindle Fire HD and an old Kindle. The old Kindle would run weeks on a charge, the new one only 4 - 6 hours. But the Fire HD is color, which is important to me because I use it for field guides and need color pictures.
> 
> If I had it to do over, I would have gotten the 7" Kindle Fire or maybe something else altogether. I don't like the way Kindles restrict (or try to) what apps you can use and where you can buy them. I mean really, no Google Apps?
> 
> ...


I have the 7" kindle fire and the size is just about perfect - the Ipad mini my wife has is a great size too but the cost is way to much (we got both of ours for free through her work as 'bonus's'). I too would stay away form the kindles because they are locked down and require jailbreaking/hacking to get the majority of apps installed. That is unless you are talking about the old school kindles with the black and white displays - one of those would be great because the as you mentioned the battery life is weeks, but you only get black/white low resolution pictures.


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

So I always feel like a fool when this topic comes up because I make my living developing software. But I cannot figure out a use case for why I need a tablet. I have wanted one for a couple years just to be able to play around writing applications for it just to figure it out. But I'll be damned if I am going to spend $200+ for something that does not do anything more than I can do with laptop and adds an additional pound or two to my briefcase and causes me to have one more thing to unpack when I go through the security lines at airport.

So I ask this question honestly, not as a rhetorical slam... What does an Android tablet do for me that I cannot accomplish with a Linux/Windoze laptop? Or maybe more important, how can I make more money than I do now by owning one?


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## Nathan Jefferson (May 11, 2013)

Inor said:


> So I ask this question honestly, not as a rhetorical slam... What does an Android tablet do for me that I cannot accomplish with a Linux/Windoze laptop? Nothing. but it is lighter and more portable and they are getting closer to laptop replacements. In the next year or so I'd wager the majority of 'laptops' will go away to be replaced with tablets with dockable keyboards - some are already hitting the market.. Or maybe more important, how can I make more money than I do now by owning one? C'mon app development is all the rage!  My company can not, CAN NOT, keep decent development on staff anymore - if they are good they go and start developing apps for many Xs what they get paid (and they are paid pretty well to begin with...)


The best use I have for mine is just reading books, and as a prep to keep the many many manuals and books I have with me at all times - but again you are right the price may not justify the utility, especially if you are comparing it to a laptop.

And a neat article on the direction of computers/tablets/smart phones...
http://www.market-ticker.org/akcs-www?singlepost=3243347

Although he should be shutting his website down soon for a 24 hour protest.


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## Fuzzee (Nov 20, 2012)

Prepadoodle said:


> Oh, I forgot to mention that mine contains fairly detailed maps of all of North America too.
> 
> FYI Fuzzee, I watched my very first porn movie the other night.
> 
> It's hard to believe how skinny I looked back then.


I don't believe ya. Not to get all dirty in subject on the forum, but every guy who's on the net has seen some porn, even if they didn't mean to. As a red blooded American guy period, you have to have come across a Playboy or more in your lifetime, whether through friends or locker room hoodowns. Especially in the military. I'm not buying it. Sorry. Watching yourself too, kind goes against the purpose. :mrgreen:

That's enough about bouncing funbags in this discussion anyways. This is a family environment, sheesh. 

I can understand how good a tablet would be for info, but I know I want to rely on anything with batteries as little as possible post shtf. That's why I study and train and carry the SAS Handbook, edible mushrooms pamphlet, and edible plant guide in my pack with a laminate state map. There heavier than a tablet, but they don't need power to use and are EMP proof.


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

If a lap top, desk top tablet is available and useful why not make use of it? I wouldn't forgo technology simply because it may not be available in the future.


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

Inor said:


> ...So I ask this question honestly, not as a rhetorical slam... What does an Android tablet do for me that I cannot accomplish with a Linux/Windoze laptop? Or maybe more important, how can I make more money than I do now by owning one?


An 18 wheeler is more powerful and has greater capacity and more capabilities than a car or pickup truck. So why doesn't everyone drive a huge truck? Well, because they are larger, heavier, more expensive, and require more power to operate.

The same is true with a tablet vs a laptop.

In our current environment of seemingly unlimited electrical power, the energy usage is more or less a moot point, but what if this suddenly changed? A small, portable solar array might take 8-10 hours to recharge a laptop and give you only a few hours of use. The same solar arrays could charge a tablet in 2 hours or so and give you a longer run-time too. Sure, if you are using a big home array for your electrical needs, it's not a big deal, but what if you have to carry all the gear? It could be a huge difference.

A good tablet will do almost anything a laptop will do, but is lighter, smaller, and uses less electricity, much like the automobile will do many of the things a big rig will do. A car will carry enough to suit our everyday needs, is cheaper, will take us from here to there, is easier to park, and uses less fuel.

Like it or not Inor, the trend is towards mobile devices like tablets and smartphones, and this trend will continue. Don't be the guy developing for steam locomotives in an age of diesel electrics. Don't be the guy inventing new Betamax technology in a DVD world. Don't be the guy stubbornly committed to scraping out a living in overpopulated Europe when a brave new world of opportunity is yours for the taking.

I can't think of any more cheesy analogies, so I guess I'm done.


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## CWOLDOJAX (Sep 5, 2013)

Seneca said:


> If a lap top, desk top tablet is available and useful why not make use of it? I wouldn't forgo technology simply because it may not be available in the future.


I agree. Just be careful not to transmit, and keep it charged up.


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## IggyThump (Sep 7, 2013)

Solid idea, I'm going to get right on downloading some field manuals and books for my iPad. The battery holds up awesome in it.


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

I've had my Kindle Fire for a couple of years now. I turn on the Wifi for down loads, books etc. the rest of the time it's off. Which really extends the battery life. I can go to the book store and wander about and maybe find something maybe not. I can go on line and in short order find what I want, download it and press on. It's too freaking easy not to make use of it. I read a lot so that may be why I like having one. YMMV.


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