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diff --git a/this-server/index.html b/this-server/index.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..019b7db --- /dev/null +++ b/this-server/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,48 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<!-- generated by build.sh. DO NOT EDIT. --> +<html lang="en"> +<title>A web server on a solar phone</title> +<meta name="description" content="Hosting a web server on a solar powered phone"> +<meta charset="UTF-8"> +<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> +<style> + body { + max-width: 45rem; + margin: auto; + padding: 0.5em; + text-align: justify; + } + h1 { text-align: center } + pre { + padding: 1ch; + background-color: #f5f5f5; + overflow: auto; + } + img { + display: block; + margin: auto; + } + .footer { + text-align: center; + font-size: 0.8em; + } +</style> + +<a href="..">Marc's Notes</a><hr> +<h1> A web server on a solar phone</h1> +<p>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.</p> +<p><img src="server.jpeg" alt="The server with its solar panel, and a cat"></p> +<h2> Hardware</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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).</p> +<h2> Software</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>The last part is to configure the SSL certificate. I used Acme.sh, downloaded directly from Github.</p> +<h2> Operation</h2> +<p>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.</p> +<p>But for now, we are in june and the battery level is almost always at 100%.</p> +<hr>From: Marc Vertes, 20 june 2025 |