Offline and away from home
What each app does with no network, with only a hotspot, and with your server. And how to reach your server from anywhere.
PennyOS assumes you will often have no connection at all. Apps that fetch something save it, draw the saved copy first, and say how old it is in the footer. A screen that could not check something says so, instead of drawing an empty list that looks like an answer.
What works where
| App | No network | Internet only | Your server |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notes, Journal | Full | Full | Syncs to the vault inbox |
| Vault | Reads the mirror | Reads the mirror | Pulls a fresh mirror |
| Keys, Clock, Solitaire | Full | Full | Full |
| Weather | Last forecast, with its age | Full | Full |
| Field | Saved city dossiers | Full, and builds dossiers | Full |
| News | Headlines and article text from the last refresh | Full | Full |
| Store | History of past lookups | Full, in San Francisco | Adds the dig |
| Link | Nothing | Full | Full |
| Inbox and message text from the last sync | Same as offline | Full | |
| Search | History of results under a week old | Same as offline | Full |
| Glance, Usage | Last answer, with its age | Same as offline | Full |
| Ask, Chat | Past conversation only | Past conversation only | Full |
Sync before you go
A sync pulls the vault mirror, pushes notes and journal entries, and refreshes Mail, News and Glance, including the text behind unread headlines and each message. Press s on Home, or let Auto sync run every 30 minutes while the server answers.
Travelling somewhere new? Open Field, press l, choose or add the city, and press b to build its dossier while you still have Wi-Fi. It is saved and reads with the radio off. See Field.
Reaching your server from anywhere
mini_host in /etc/pennyos.conf is a list. PennyOS tries each name in order and keeps using whichever answers on port 22, so put the local network name first and a Tailscale name second:
/etc/pennyos.conf
mini_host = server.local, serverThen install Tailscale on the device from its Debian repository and join your tailnet once:
On the Beepy
sudo tailscale up --hostname beepyWith your phone's hotspot saved in Settings, Ask, Mail, Glance, Search and sync now work from any network. The status bar shows a mark when the server answers.
Radio off
Settings > Wi-Fi and sync has a radio switch. Off is the cheapest thing the device can do for its battery, and every offline column above still applies.
Clearing what the device holds
Settings > Device > Clear cache shows how much is cached and removes all of it: mail and its text, headlines and articles, Search and Store history and results, dossiers, the forecast and the glance. Notes, journal entries, the vault mirror and saved property records are not cache and stay. Search and Store can also clear just their own history with x twice.