I can run a web server on a $1 microcontroller, so what?
How to repurpose your old phone into a web server
81–90 of 122 posts
Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server
#82I tried this once a few years ago.. had half a dozen Samsung Android phones running an SSH daemon with some functionality that could be remotely accessed. However, what I learned is that phones generally don't like to run 24/7 as servers. They start giving you trouble after a while, never figured out why.
But I suspect it's just the "always on" nature and the battery. The usage pattern is just entirely different than having a phone in your pocket and using when you need it.
You're welcome to try though, maybe phones got more reliable.
Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server
#83I tried this once a few years ago.. had half a dozen Samsung Android phones running an SSH daemon with some functionality that could be remotely accessed. However, what I learned is that phones generally don't like to run 24/7 as servers. They start giving you trouble after a while, never figured out why. But I suspect it's just the "always on" nature and the battery. The usage pattern is just entirely different than…
I don't think people generally turn off their phones so it would be interesting to learn exactly what the difference was.
Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server
#84I tried this once a few years ago.. had half a dozen Samsung Android phones running an SSH daemon with some functionality that could be remotely accessed. However, what I learned is that phones generally don't like to run 24/7 as servers. They start giving you trouble after a while, never figured out why. But I suspect it's just the "always on" nature and the battery. The usage pattern is just entirely different than…
I don't think people generally turn off their phones so it would be interesting to learn exactly what the difference was.
Exactly but I suspect phones last longer when they are in idle/near sleep mode with screen off.
Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Place the "server" into a shoebox. Place another shoebox on top, filled with sand. Tape together and hide behind a furniture.
Then put that in a garage at least 50ft away from your home
Next, fully encase the garage in concrete. Surround it with a ring of jagged concentric spikes and skull symbols to warn future archaeologists.
Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server
#86The 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.
hopefully "bypass charging" becomes more of a thing in the future. a few of the latest pixel phones use it but the only other time ive seen it is on tablets aimed at gaming
Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server
#87The 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.
maybe because phones have a battery (built in UPS) so they will keep running if the power goes out. its only useful if you have a router that can be powered by an external battery pack i supoose
Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server
#88If 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…
s/mainstream/mainline/ But yes, this is definitely an issue. I've been playing with a 2013-era Samsung device that came with a 3.0 kernel. It can run pmos with said kernel but there are multiple root LPE vulns. I've been looking into getting it to run a mainline kernel just for fun, but it's not going to be easy.
I note that Linux mainline has a device tree for the "Samsung Galaxy S1 (GT-I9000) based on S5PV210", not sure how complete it is though. Lots of others too:
$ grep -rhoE 'Samsung Galaxy[^"]+' ./arch/arm*/boot/dts/ | sort -uRe: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server
#89Earlier 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?
How uh, does one find out about battery problems? I almost exclusively use laptops, and I tend to leave them plugged in most of the time. I don't want a sudden lithium-ion battery fire. Can I detect ahead of time that things are going bad?
(My current machine is a Thinkpad P52 if it matters, but I also use older Macbooks and newer Thinkpads and older Dell machines this way, although they're plugged in less often these days.)
Re: How to repurpose your old phone into a web server
#90better of compiling android kernel with docker support and using docker