People usually underestimate collapse computing because the chances of a general collapse are, fortunately, (relatively) low. But this does not matter that much. We already have parts of the world where computing resources are scarce. And the 2020-21 pandemic clearly showed how much our supply chains are fragile.

More generally speaking: low-power, self-contained, easy to assemble/repair/use computing machines are a good thing. Simply, we're not used to see things this way anymore. Consumerism and late stage capitalism turned us into passive consumers of technology, with almost no agency on it.

I've always thought that cyberpunk-style cyberdecks are a good starting point to design a post-collapse computer. They’re self-contained, portable, with an optimized interface. In fact, the cyberdeck concept is so popular that there are many real world versions made by hobbysts. Some are impressive in how they replicate cyberpunk vibe and aesthetics. And most of them are based on SBCs, so they already are (relatively) easy to assemble and repair – if you know what you’re doing.

In general, hardware is not an issue in designing post-collapse computing devices. Most hobbyst boards have enough computing power and can be connected to a wide range of peripherals.

The real fun for me is in their software, because designing a frugal software environment goes against what normal developers do today: writing code assuming you have unlimited resources to manage an unlimited complexity.

Collapse/frugal computing forces you to work with constraints and to develop a software environment that is simple, robust, adaptable, efficient. Any modern OS doesn’t have all this features. And a “collapse machine” shouldn’t even be based on a conventional OS concept, or a GUI.

The most efficient user interface for a collapse/frugal device is first of all a text-based interface (a TUI) with, in perfect Unix style, a collection of programs designed to do a single thing, but doint it well. The step further is, I think, a REPL environment where you can build programs stp by step. Defining your own functions and assembling them in complex sequences. In some ways, REPLs are (also) OSes.

A functional language makes sense, in a collapse device, because it makes problem solving easier. Decompose your problem in steps, turn them into functions, code and test them in the REPL. It’s easier than sitting at your desk – maybe you don’t even have one after the collapse – and writing long code pages in an imperative language you then have to compile and load.

Collapse/frugal computing simplicity leads to native REPL environments: Forth or Lisp. Yes, they’re old languages but that’s a plus, post-collapse: they’ve been engineered to work on basic machines, with basic interfaces and (if needed) no external libraries. Launch the REPL, create your functions/words, assemble your programs.

Lisp and Forth REPLs on single-board computers are nothing new and are not hard to implement. MicroLisp is a Lisp for SBCs available for many platforms and I’ve directly tested it on a very basic Arduino Uno board (one of my pet projects is to create a whole system around that implementation, we’ll see…).