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How to repurpose your old phone into a web server

far.computer

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Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server

#51

Post by norman784 »

retrac wrote: post #42

If the device can run PostmarketOS with a mainstream kernel, then it can run any Linux distribution. (I put Arch ARM on such devices, since I like that distro.) That's the big hurdle though - mainstream kernel support. For most devices, even if they can be rooted and jailbroken, you're stuck with the kernel they come with. Doesn't have a new feature you need? A horrible security flaw in the network stack? You're out…

Is Arch ARM officially supported by the same team? If not, what might be the reason?

Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server

#52

Post by retrac »

norman784 wrote: post #51
retrac wrote: post #42

If the device can run PostmarketOS with a mainstream kernel, then it can run any Linux distribution. (I put Arch ARM on such devices, since I like that distro.) That's the big hurdle though - mainstream kernel support. For most devices, even if they can be rooted and jailbroken, you're stuck with the kernel they come with. Doesn't have a new feature you need? A horrible security flaw in the network stack? You're out…

Is Arch ARM officially supported by the same team? If not, what might be the reason?

x86_64 is the only official Arch Linux. All other ports are unofficial. They are community projects where many of the members are the same as the main Arch Linux.

I think it's basically for the same reason as why they dropped 32-bit x86 support about 8 years ago. Not enough users. (That resulted in the unofficial Arch Linux 32 to maintain support.)

Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server

#53

Post by KetoManx64 »

hn_acc1 wrote: post #47

The main question is WHY? I already have a 3570K box running our NAS, plex, Wifi repeater admin, etc, etc, and it would be trivial to put up a web server via python or something.. If I had any need for it.

How do I use your box to host my web server?

Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server

#54

Post by smeej »

ActorNightly wrote: post #29
jjice wrote: post #27

The thing that holds me back from this is always the battery. I want to have my battery removed so that it doesn't eventually become a time bomb, but it's a pain on modern phones and I'm not even sure if they boot without. The mobile hardware reuse space can suck for hobbyists.

Most phones can have battery removed somewhat destructively, but without affecting the rest of the phone. Generally, as long as you keep the phone plugged in, the battery should be safe virtually indefinitely - the battery management on board will keep it in a state where its a constant charge which means the chemistry will be stable.

Of the six old Android phones I have around, two of them I don't dare turn on due to swollen batteries. I guess it depends how old the devices are whether this was a real risk, but I won't leave devices plugged in anymore for this reason.

Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server

#55

Post by [deleted] »

eptcyka wrote: post #7
agentifysh wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i see so just run cf tunnel and ISP wouldn't be able to see I am hosting web apps? what if I am streaming large files (not torrent)? couldn't they see the bandwidths being consumed and then tell me to upgrade to business ?

What kind of an ISP prohibits self-hosting?

[deleted]

Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server

#57

Post by lelandbatey »

hn_acc1 wrote: post #44
lelandbatey wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ISPs don't care, actually. They care about operational problems, but you serving a constant stream of web traffic is probably not going to matter to them; web traffic for even a pretty successful blog is going to be a tiny volume compared to you streaming 4k movies from Netflix. ISPs will have rules (maximum data volume per month) and restrictions (ISP equipment auto-drops all sending/receiving packets on port 25, 80…

If you're already paying someone monthly to "forward" ports, why not just pay for a blog somewhere? Way more secure.

Cause the server in your house is a lot cheaper to upgrade with more RAM/storage than a VPS. By using a VPS as just a way to make traffic available, you can choose an extremely cheap VPS. It's pretty easy to find places that'll charge you $2 USD/month for a tiny VPS with 1TB monthly data transfer allowances; for $5 you can get unlimited data transfer. There's tons of good deals.

Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server

#58

Post by lelandbatey »

euroderf wrote: post #32
lelandbatey wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ISPs don't care, actually. They care about operational problems, but you serving a constant stream of web traffic is probably not going to matter to them; web traffic for even a pretty successful blog is going to be a tiny volume compared to you streaming 4k movies from Netflix. ISPs will have rules (maximum data volume per month) and restrictions (ISP equipment auto-drops all sending/receiving packets on port 25, 80…

Would this involve "the usual" dangers of someone hacking the in-your-house server ?

Yes, with asterisks. If you're serving static files from your house, the risk of having your server taken over is incredibly low. If you're hosting Wordpress on your home server, that risk spikes massively. So make sure you understand what is and is not dangerous, and of course, only expose the "low risk parts" to the outside world.

Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server

#59

Post by fao_ »

jprd wrote: post #40
ActorNightly wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most phones can have battery removed somewhat destructively, but without affecting the rest of the phone. Generally, as long as you keep the phone plugged in, the battery should be safe virtually indefinitely - the battery management on board will keep it in a state where its a constant charge which means the chemistry will be stable.

I'm not educated enough in this area to have any expertise, however, in my personal experience leaving a lithium-ion battery plugged all the time results in scary semi-exploded batteries that also stop working. Would you say this is a chemistry/QA problem? Have there been advances in battery / controller technology that achieves the above?

Yeah I was about to say the same thing! I leave my steam deck plugged in all the time (it is my main computer) and the battery still popped (valve replaced it for free ofc)
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