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The guide mentions that the phone doesn't have a wired connection, but couldn't you just plug in an external USB ethernet adapter. Would be curious if anybody has tried this.
In general, I really find that this is an underappreciated use for old phones. There's an advantage over using something like RPI since you have a touchscreen built in, making it much easier to troubleshoot without having to plug in a monitor and a keyboard. Meanwhile, the battery can act as a built in UPS. Given how abundant old phones are, seems like it would be cool to make an Android distro specifically designed for this use case. Especially if you could plug in a USB hub for stuff like external storage. This could be a home server, music player, etc.
Generally speaking I find USB hubs with ports on them work pretty well with android as they're just relying on the Linux kernel drivers for the USB support.
That's what I expected, gonna have to play around with an old phone I've got lying around.
At a functional level I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Though my preffered method for that has always been old desktops over phones as it gives a lot more flexibility overall.
Power wise, and backup battery, wouldn't a phone be better?
If those are important to you yes but the old desktop route generally means you'll get access to more powerful chips plus the ability to add more storage and memory.
I just tried and my hub allows powering the phone while plugging a drive in. I haven't tried a USB network card though. I agree old desktops or laptops work also work pretty well. It just bothers me how. old phones are fully fledged computers in a really nice small package, and there's no easy way to make them useful.
If that's the case then I bet this would work with older phones using microusb
https://www.amazon.com/MakerSpot-Accessories-Charging-Extension-Raspberry/dp/B01JL837X8
Since it claims to be built for a Raspberry Pi. All my older devices are still microusb.
yeah that should work
I have successfully plugged my android into an Ethernet-usbc adapter, yes. A special Ethernet icon actually pops up in my icon bar when it's using that connection.
oh nice!
At first I thought you were insane but I'm slowly coming around to the idea.
Too bad the screen breaking is usually why mine get replaced
There are just so many of them floating around now, and it feels like such a waste not to use them for anything.
I take it you had to flash the particular rom to install docker (it would work natively on android?)
yeah you need a custom rom to run Docker
The main suggestion I would have in regards to using the battery as a UPS:
If you want the battery to last a long time, you need to figure out how long it takes for it to charge and discharge, and set up an outlet timer (either a manual one or a zigbee operated one) so that the outlet the phone is plugged into turns on just long enough for the battery to charge, and then turns off just long enough for it to discharge, with the aim to keep it in the 30% to 80% charged range.
Otherwise you're just always charging the battery and significantly reducing it's life and ability to be a UPS.
https://www.amazon.com/Century-Indoor-24-Hour-Mechanical-Outlet/dp/B01LPSGBZS
I just use these, I have a few old phones set up as a surveillance system. I've never tried an external ethernet dongle because unless you search for a special connector cable, you can't charge the phone and have it plugged into ethernet at the same time.
If you're selfhosting stuff, you easily host Home Assistant, install the app on the phone, and use the battery sensor from the app to turn on and off a smart plug.
Oh yeah good point with the battery cycling.