Title: About the offline laptop project

	Title: About the offline laptop project
	Author: Solène
	Date: 10 November 2020
	Tags: life disconnected
	Description:

	Third article of the offline laptop serie.

	## Sometimes, network access is required

	Having a totally disconnected system isn't really practical for a few
	reasons. Sometimes, I really need to connect the offline laptop to the
	network. I do produce some content on the computer, so I need to do
	backups. The easiest way for me to have reliable backup is to host
	them on a remote server holding the data, this requires network
	connection for the time of the backup. Of course, backups could be
	done on external disks or usb memory sticks (I don't need to backup
	much), but I never liked this backup solution; don't get me wrong, I
	don't say it's ineffective, but it doesn't suit my needs.

	Besides the backup, I may need to sync files like my music files. I
	may have bought new music that I want to get on the offline laptop, so
	network access is required.

	I also require internet access to install new packages or upgrade the
	system, this isn't a regular need but I occasionnaly require a new
	program I forgot to install. This could be solved by downloaded the
	whole packages repository but this would require too many disk space
	for packages I would never use. This would also waste a lot of network
	transfer.

	Finally, when I work on my blog, I need to publish the files, I use
	rsync to sync the destination directory from my local computer and
	this requires access to the Internet through ssh.


	## A nice place at the right time

	The moments I enjoy using this computer the most is by taking the
	laptop on a table with nothing around me. I can then focus about what
	I am doing. I find comfortable setups being source of distraction, so
	a stool and a table are very nice in my opinion.

	In addition to have a clean place to use it, I like to dedicate some
	time for the use of this computer. I can write texts or some code in a
	given time frame.

	On a computer with 24/7 power and internet access I always feel
	everything is at reach, then I tend to slack with it.

	Having a rather limited battery life changes the way I experience the
	computer use. It has a finite time, I have N minutes until the
	computer has to be charged or shutdown. This produces for me the same
	effect than when starting watching a movie, sometimes I pick up a
	movie that fits the time I can spend on it.

	Knowing I have some time until the computer stops, I know I must keep
	focused because time is passing.