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+# A web server on a solar phone
+
+I have this old low-cost phone which was the first one offered to my kid when
+he was 15 (he is now 21), before he moved to a more fashionable model. I
+noticed that without a SIM card, only on WIFI, the phone needed to be recharged
+not after 1 or 2 days, but only after 2 weeks! So this small device, plugged to
+a small solar panel, could be the perfect always-on personal web server. The
+site that you are browsing right now is hosted on it.
+
+![The server with its solar panel, and a cat](server.jpeg)
+
+## Hardware
+
+The phone is an entry-level Motorola G7 Play, purchased in 2019 for 120€ or so,
+worth nothing today. It was used by my son for less than 2 years, then dormant
+since. The display is slighly shattered, but it doesn't matter, as I use it
+headless.
+
+I bought a small solar panel on Amazon, 10W produced by 2 plates of 17x17 cm.
+Cost: 28€. I could probably get something less expensive.
+
+And that's it. The solar panel is just suspended vertically at a south window.
+The phone sits below, connected to the panel by a USB cable, in the shadow
+(do not put the phone directly under the sun, or closed without fresh air).
+
+## Software
+
+The single purpose of this device is now to run a small standalone static web
+server. By using termux on top of Android, I can run a ssh server for remote
+access and Nginx, an efficient web server. I do not need to root the phone, as
+port redirection from my internet router compensate for the restriction of not
+using a port number below 1024.
+
+Nevertheless, I installed LineageOS on the phone, as it supports my model and
+keeps the system updated. I could have kept the stock android image, at the
+expanse of a less secure system. I could have gone further and install PostmarketOS
+on it, to have a full unrestricted Linux machine, but I was both lazy and curious
+to see what I could get from just Android.
+
+I then installed F-Droid, only to install Termux from it. Do not install Termux
+from the Google Play Store, it is too limited. The version from F-Droid is fine.
+
+The phone connects to my internet box via WIFI and my internet service provider
+allows me to have a static IP4 address at no additional cost.
+
+The last part is to configure the SSL certificate. I used Acme.sh,
+downloaded directly from Github.
+
+## Operation
+
+It's too early to say. Lets see how it goes over time (a few months), and if a
+relatively old phone can find a second life and be used as an autonomous web
+server, running solely on free photons and electrons.
+
+But for now, we are in june and the battery level is almost always at 100%.