Digital Downloads - recommendations
Posted by EZMac91@reddit | preppers | View on Reddit | 22 comments
Low key a prepper (don’t let my wife hear lol)
Most of my preps are to have a stocked pantry or ability to cook / have heat and clean water if utilities went out or we got a bad storm snowed us in.
Recently I’ve been playing around with ATAK with my brothers, and since I got an Android device to run it, than can have an SD card. It got me thinking, what are some PDFs or digital files I should save for the what if or shtf type moment. Or even nice to have while back country camping.
Things that come to my mind quick are first aid, radio manuals, knot tying type stuff.
I’d love to hear what other think would be good to have downloaded digitally, and if you have links or sources even better!
Appreciate you all
Bugsy_A@reddit
Where there are no Dr & " " vets.
EZMac91@reddit (OP)
?
Bugsy_A@reddit
They are books. Where there are no doctors & where there are no Veterinarians.
UnretiredDad@reddit
r/Kiwix is an open source resource that will let you download free zim files which are offline copies of online resources like Wikipedia, Canadian Prepper, Project Gutenberg, and many more.
Also, you might consider an offline small LLM like Gemma 4 to get Google like answers offline anywhere.
Laststep86@reddit
If you have an office job, print all your pdfs low key at work, 3 hole punch em, put them in a binder, put them in your bookshelf for reference.
Rude-Fox-3801@reddit
I keep a physical binder full of printed out info in case I don't have access to electricity. I've got basic first aid info, simple recipes, how to sanitize/find water, gardening tips/info, hunting and gathering guides and a bunch of other stuff.
It takes up more space than an SD card but I laminated everything so it won't be as easily lost or damaged. This really only works for sheltering in place because it's a HEAVY binder, last time I weighed it it was five pounds lol.
Signal_Brain_933@reddit
D&D campaigns - I wouldn’t have thought of that one… awesome idea!
axl3ros3@reddit
Maps
rbprepin@reddit
Maps are key. Especially topographical maps in the back country.
https://getready.team just released a “Routes” feature where you put in a location and destination and it gives you the Primary, Alternate, Contingency and Emergency paths.
It’s mostly for bugging out and getting home in a disaster, but they include topo maps and walking directions. Wouldn’t be bad to have on a hike if you weren’t familiar with the areas.
You can locate water sources and shelter locations on the trail. The big thing is saving the digital file or printing out a pdf in case Internet or devices go down.
rmesic@reddit
All good stuff only available in the $9.99 per month "plus" version, but also available via other Google searches. Not worth it if you can Google.
rbprepin@reddit
Yes and no.
You have two solid, free options: Google Maps and Google Earth. Google Maps provides directions for various modes of transportation, including car, bike, and walking. However, it lacks the ability to flag population centers, identify chokepoints, or pinpoint resource locations. On the other hand, Google Earth allows you to create polygons, paths, and markers, but it doesn’t offer location-based features.
If you’re looking to develop a comprehensive PACE plan that incorporates multiple terrain types (street, topo, and satellite imagery) and various modes of transportation, you can still use both Google Maps and Google Earth, but the process will take a few hours of research to accurately mark up and download the necessary maps.
For some, the $9.99 is worth it. Print out what you need and cancel the subscription. However, if one decides to go that route, I highly recommend printing out a few of the Area Studies available within the platform. The depth of information provided is incredible.
EZMac91@reddit (OP)
Great tool
rmesic@reddit
You'll have to wait for them to get back up and running after a disk failure, but: https://the-eye.eu/
QueenProvvy@reddit
The Medical Survivalist on Facebook posts awesome pdfs regularly. Wealth of knowledge being shared there all the time :) -not affiliated just a fan of them sharing knowledge.
Prestigious_Yak8551@reddit
Kiwix
Chief_Kief@reddit
This is the first I’ve heard of it! Thanks for mentioning Kiwix
DEADFLY6@reddit
Can you get it on android?
Trash_Panda2363@reddit
It's in Google PlayStore.
lincey@reddit
Copy/pasting from previous threads I've chimed in on:
Scattered among a Synology NAS, several external HDD's (both in and outside of my house), and cloud backups, I've made it a priority to have multiple copies of some of the following:
-Media (movies, TV shows, personal photos, YT videos (yt-dlp), music) -Games (GOG offline installers, emulators, offline MMOs with bots) -Software (operating systems with my own keys in ISO form, media players, digital book readers, various file type readers) -Tools (VLC player or Klite codec, 7-Zip, Chrome or Firefox, LibreOffice, .NET Framework installer) -Books and guides (how-to's, D&D campaigns, PDFs of all sorts, entire Gutenberg library) -Wikipedia (use kiwix, makes it easy, seriously, get kiwix) -Continued education material (learning languages, programming, medical training)
I have a ton of these random digital prep projects, current one is rotating SD cards with TV shows/movies and 2 backup tablets, just in case the power goes out I don't want to have to spin up my NAS just to watch something.
wigglytail@reddit
Just a quick note about kiwix on synology because I only found out afterwards: you do need access to (and minimal skill) ssh to "add" your downloaded pages. I'm running it as well and was a little surprised it didn't sync automatically
EZMac91@reddit (OP)
Thanks!
Adren0chrome@reddit
Following cause I’ve been thinking about this too.