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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 of luck. Most "repurpose your old phone" approaches have this problem. You can make it a server but you wouldn't want to expose it to the public Internet.

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.

Call out to World Wide Web (no affiliation) that sets up a web server on an iOS/iPadOS (€9.99 for PRO, https://apps.apple.com/it/app/worldwideweb-mobile/id16230068...)

All my old phones used to become BOINC nodes doing WorldCommunityGrid or seti@home, at least until we got to the point where you couldn't run the phone without a battery anymore. Came home to one too many spicy pillow'd phones even keeping them in a cool area with a rigged up fan blowing on them.

Don't even need postmarketOS.

Simple root, with a custom degoogled rom, and termux is all you need.

Title should be updated to include "unused android phone"

Related ongoing thread:

This blog is now hosted on a GPS/LTE modem (2021) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46049981

For some reason, I never buy phones that work with postmarketOS :( And I find phone naming confusing, it's difficult to find a used one locally to play with. Is it a Moto Play 2018 or a Play 2020? Trying to get that information from someone on Facebook marketplace is like pulling teeth.

It's through this link that I today discovered that a surface RT can run Linux. I think I got rid of mine already. Would have been nice to breathe some life into it

This sounds like a fun project. A perfect use for an old android phone sitting in the junk drawer.

Should be merged with: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46027554

For some reason I was expecting a RasPi in a rotary phone enclosure.

Nothing beats my toaster serving my webpages.

so once you have a web server on the phone how are you able to make it available publicly on the internet? don't ISPs detect these and ban? are you using wireguard or something like that?

ive been looking to build and serve my own servers and i have been considering to use old android phones to outright racks but the part I am still struggling to figure out is how to serve it publicly without ISP catching on as they require business plans for that and its not cheap

I use my old phone to proxy serial data to tcp. Also gives me macros and a video/audio feed. But most relevant to this is it has a built in webserver.

As others have mentioned you have to watch the battery if you do this for real.

The battery will swell and explode if you run 24x7 on a phone.

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.