clif

I still have my previous phone… S5 that I used for seven years until it couldn’t get updates and I “needed” some apps that wouldn’t run on the old android version (I don’t remember what they were at this point or if there was a way around it). It’s been sitting on my desk for the past 5 years waiting for a purpose. The battery is shot but it still “works”. Maybe this is that purpose because I was specifically looking for something like this a few months back …because I thought it would be funny to have that phone as a server.

Same. I quit whatsapp the day after facebook bought it. Switched to signal and never looked back. The few people I talked with on whatsapp moved too.

That’s mostly correct. If we want to be super technical, I’m not “logging in” to my router, just using it as a Tailscale network bridge to gain LAN access so I can SSH from my phone to my server. But, in general, yeah. I currently don’t allow any direct access to my server from the internet. The only way to access it is Tailscale. I have Tailscale installed on both my desktop (always on) and my router (also, always on). The reason I installed it on the router is because my desktop is also full disk encrypted. So, if there’s a power outage then both the server and desktop will reboot and both will be waiting for LUKS unlock, rendering my desktop useless as a Tailscale jump point. Since the router boots automatically then it will always start back up and allow Tailscale access after an outage and therefore I can use it to access my LAN and SSH to the server to enter the password. Basically the same setup you’ve got with the RPi - having a node that comes online automatically after a power outage, automatically starts Tailscale, and allows LAN access. You use an RPi, I use my router. (I briefly did the exact same thing as you, with an RPi, until I found I could install it on the router : )

I used Mint for about a decade. When I upgraded the drives on my desktop RAID from 2TB to 14TB the newest version only recognized 999GB. After some troubleshooting I begrudgingly tried Ubuntu, same thing. I figured Debian would be the same since that's Grandma but I tried anyway. It worked perfect so I've been on Debian for a few years now and haven't noticed any big differences so here I'll stay. Love me some Debian

I recently picked up a 2024 model moto g power 5g. The main reason is that I needed the cheapest smart phone I could find locally to test a new provider (phreeli) before committing. That, and to serve as a ready backup if one of ours dies. $115 at a big box store. It's... fine. Even after debloating I get about half the battery life of my galaxy s20 which is now 5 years old. I haven't been able to figure out what's eating it, or maybe it just has a smaller battery... I should check that.

I’m still running spinny disks for my big-ish data. I can’t afford a 16TB SSD… I know that’s off topic, but HDDs are still a thing too.

Went to a wedding shower that was nature themed awhile back and the attendance prize was a small jar of local honey with one of these attached. I’ve never used one so I am curious to give it a try.

Biggest rock is best rock. I still use this joke any time rocks or size comes up in conversation but it’s so old that nobody ever gets it and they just look at me like I had a stroke.