Post B2NjIBysOQkPYVn3AW by DeltaLima@social.la10cy.net
(DIR) More posts by DeltaLima@social.la10cy.net
(DIR) Post #AyHzphitipojr41z96 by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-09-17T06:51:42Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
Could an old mobile device (phone or tablet) be used as a home server, FreedomBox styles?Imagine it has a big internal storage and/or SDcard, and it's running a custom ROM (a Mobile GNU distro) intended for the purpose. Plus it's permanently plugged into power and connected to reliable WiFi.Is this something we could realistically repurpose old mobiles for if they don't support 4G calling?#SelfHosting #HomeServer #FreedomBox
(DIR) Post #AyHzxUeKDK9LckbeZk by screwlisp@gamerplus.org
2025-09-17T06:53:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@strypey someone was posting about doing this on the mastodon about 4 days ago, but I don't remember who or what tags sorry.
(DIR) Post #AyI05BYp4MAojohUiu by Zergling_man@sacred.harpy.faith
2025-09-17T06:54:18.409089Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@strypey @Suiseiseki
(DIR) Post #AyI07yUC8YGV3Yrk1o by Salty@mastodon.nz
2025-09-17T06:54:57Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@strypey if u can run a web site on a disposable vape u can run a house on an old phone
(DIR) Post #AyI8MaOSnGJIJPfBKK by heejit@mastodon.bsd.cafe
2025-09-17T08:26:58Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@strypey there is https://termux.dev app for android which allow you to install many software
(DIR) Post #AyI9539ZE7YWFatiNM by strypey@mastodon.nzoss.nz
2025-09-17T08:35:17Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@heejit> there is https://termux.dev app for android which allow you to install many softwareNice tip, thanks. I see it's in F-Droid too. Neat. Installing now.How does this relate to my post? Or did you just think it was worth mentioning on the subject of liberating Androids?
(DIR) Post #AyI9VHTIc9TqBedQsS by heejit@mastodon.bsd.cafe
2025-09-17T08:39:29Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@strypey I like android but i dont like the way they control what application you can install/uninstall.
(DIR) Post #AyIK4t9vU4JWkYBv2O by fabianseyfried@mstdn.social
2025-09-17T10:38:26Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@strypey I looked into turning an old smartphone into a music player attached to the stereo. The biggest challenge seems to be that phones are not supposed to be plugged in permanently - the battery will deteriorate and possibly go up in flames... There are hacks for some devices to remove the battery and have a phone run only plugged in.
(DIR) Post #AyITTyf53uWgdtnl7A by Suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com
2025-09-17T12:23:57.987510Z
3 likes, 2 repeats
@Zergling_man @strypey Mobile and ARM stuff is just so cursed and proprietary that for a webserver, you're far better off grabbing a ThinkPad and GNUbooting it, or any old i686 or AMD64 computer that you get your hands on and installing GNU/Linux-libre and a webserver (ThinkPads tend to have acceptable power consumption - and crappy i686 netbooks and Atom boards use even less power - meaning you're unlikely to notice a difference in the power bill - but power companies are such scammers now, that if you already use little power, you can run a high-power KGPE-D16 with 2 130W CPUs (50W idle each) and not notice a difference on the power bill - as that much power consumption fits within the pricing floor).It's possible to use mobile devices instead - but I do not recommend spending the large amount of time it requires to add support for a mobile device unless you have at least a dozen exact units.The main issue is that Android tends to be very broken, which makes things like hosting web servers quite difficult.As mentioned, there is Termux, which allows installing GNU and a webserver onto Android, but that is now only compiled for semi-recent versions of Android and old versions can't connect to the package repository.While replacing Android with GNU/Linux is usually possible - the issue is with Linux - most companies do not comply with the GPLv2 for Linux for Android, meaning to get a replacement distro booting often requires working out how to unhandcuff the bootloader, then how to pack the boot partition (extremely difficult - for example I unpacked Replicant's boot partition, edited a configuration file and then repacked it exactly as it was packed and on writing it back it didn't boot) and then working out how to compile a working Linux executable.Generally the Linux executable from Android is useless, as it's usually some broken configuration and you can't easily go and add modules that weren't originally included.If the SoC and usb host controller, SD controller, NAND or eMMC controller and charge controller is supported in Linux mainline for some other device - then it's a matter of "merely" tweaking the .config and adding a new .dtb to suit (sometimes the existing one might work despite a different device) and then compiling and hoping it works.If there is only mainline support for similar SoC's, you would need to reverse engineer the hardware and program such drivers yourself to get it working.With such configuration, the screen, camera, often the buttons and Wi-Fi will not work, but you don't need those and that would reduce the power consumption a bit.If you have a Wi-Fi connection available, generally you already have a more capable device for hosting a webserver already that is likely easier to port GNU/Linux to.For most routers, the process is;- Remove a few largish screws.- Find the UART header - often marked and sometimes even has 2.54mm male pins already soldered - if not marked you can look online or guess.- See u-boot on powerup and see if the SoC and other hardware details are printed out and if you get a shell in the existing BusyBox/Linux install (you can go and add ssh access at this stage and use BusyBox's webserver, but likely the current software contains known vulnerabilities).- If you have shell access via UART, the current .config and dtb's and the partition layout and format can be determined.- Grab latest version of Linux-libre and try compiling with .config and dtb's with wanted changes.- Power on the router and press Ctrl+C and load each image of Linux via u-boot tftp load until Linux reaches panic() on attempting to load the init (you can even pass command line flags so Linux finds the existing root filesystem and boots it).- Write Linux to the boot partition and GNU+other wanted software to the the root filesystem and look at the UART boot output to see if it boots, or why it doesn't (if it doesn't, you can boot a cut down version of in-RAM BusyBox/Linux via u-boot and flash a new root filesystem).(Most routers use a limited set of SoC's, thus chances are someone has already written a SoC and NAND and usb driver).For an Android device, the process is;- Unlock the bootloader.- Install TWRP or replicant's bootloader to the recovery partition.- Spend ages preparing what you guess would be a working boot partition and GNU filesystem.- Enter recovery mode combination and install the partitions and hope it works first try to the point that you can netcat or ssh in via usb.- If it doesn't boot - see if you can guess what's broken and try again and again and again.(Mobile devices usually do have unmarked UART or I2C debug pins, but taking apart a mobile is quite annoying and even with a known pinout, incredibly fine soldering is required and sometimes the UART is 1.8V - which requires a 1.8V UART device which are somewhat rare).Hosting over Wi-Fi usually results in quite poor performance due to the packet loss, jitter and latency - Ethernet over usb is what you would want - which kind of requires a computer already.For a LTE device that doesn't support LTE calls, an internet connection via the modem would mitigate the need of already having a more capable computer, but;- The mobile provider spies on the device location.- Everything is NAT'd to hell and even if IPv6 is supported - nobody externally can connect to you - meaning you can only host tor, i2p or GNUnet sites (you can setup a web proxy, but that requires already having a server connected to the internet).- Mobile plans tend to have ridiculous prices for piddly amounts of data.Of course, getting a modem working is an incredible pain unless the modem already has the software on it (like the Pinephone's modem) - Replicant for example had to write a library that loads the proprietary modem software from the modem partition and then implements its commands to get GSM data and calls working.
(DIR) Post #AyIU9KoHcTN5CvpJQm by Suiseiseki@freesoftwareextremist.com
2025-09-17T12:31:27.801795Z
2 likes, 0 repeats
@fabianseyfried @strypey >phones are not supposed to be plugged in permanently - the battery will deteriorate and possibly go up in flamesThe battery will not go up into flames, but it is true that keeping a crappy battery at 100% charge will cause it to lose capacity quite rapidly.If you have root access, you should be able to access /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0 and set charge_stop_threshold to 90 or whatever (but let me guess, Android uses some other method and you'd need to use Magisk ACC+https://f-droid.org/packages/mattecarra.accapp/).>There are hacks for some devices to remove the battery and have a phone run only plugged in.Many Android devices, especially recent Android tablets don't have capacitors for the DC-DC convertors anymore - rather the battery is used as a (garbage) capacitor - meaning the device won't turn on without a battery.Microusb and USB-C, especially after many cycles doesn't tend to make the most solid power delivery connection, thus you really need a battery that holds at least a couple of minutes of charge for the device to be able to handle power delivery fluctuations without crashing.
(DIR) Post #AyIVWb8FCWBeRZotQO by warmbeverageenjoyer
2025-09-17T12:46:53.973066Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@strypey if you're gonna keep a phone plugged in and working 24/7 consider removing the battery and doing the needed soldering etc to bypass it entirelyOtherwise you're running a ticking fire bomb for no real gain
(DIR) Post #B2NjIBysOQkPYVn3AW by DeltaLima@social.la10cy.net
2026-01-17T16:42:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@strypey theoretically this shouldnt be a Problem at all. You can try to Flash postmarket os and install everything within there, or you can use some userland Linux App, Like GNU Root Debian , where you can run Debian within android