I have an old android xiaomi phone with 128 GB of storage that I want to use as a music streaming server that I can access from my current phone and computer.
I want to know if this is possible and if it is, can it be done without rooting?
Install termux and use navidrome on it? Or copyparty?
I second the use of copyparty. It’s very easy to setup under Termux, and has a quite nice web UI, and since it exposes the raw files, you can play them in anything that supports playing remote files, like VLC
whatever you go with, you might have an issue with it being constantly plugged in if that’s your plan.
I used to run a piratebox off a nexus s years ago and I’d regularly unplug it to let it run off the battery for a while. constant charging can cause excess heat and that’s not good for the battery.
Constant plugin isn’t actually the problem. When the battery’s in good condition, they can stay plugged in and it only charges when it hits 99%, it stops again at 100. But as the battery gets older, the cells degrade and the resistance gets higher. They can start trying to push to 100% when it can no longer get here. At that point, they’re supposed to be some smart software to determine that you can no longer charge to that level and reduce the capacity that tries to charge to. But if you never discharge fully and recharge that software often doesn’t work.
The best solution for the condition is to use software that makes the phone stop charging it 80%. It takes the battery a very, very long time to lose 20% of its capacity if you don’t hit the overcharging over temperature issues.
Having the battery stop at 50% or 80% the battery will probably outlast the hardware.
Is there such software
Is there such software
There is an app but is also requires a dongle: https://chargie.org/
There is also bcl on fdroid, requires no dongle but root access, as it just changes some lines in a config file on the root partition.
To properly do this the phone has to support it at hardware level. Pixel and iPhone have this feature but don’t know about yours. There are apps like battery guru which will alert you, but you have to manually unplug at that point.
Late-ish model samsung too
Just install a switch that hard-disconnects the battery from the phone so’s you can run it off the outlet without fear of it constantly charging the battery
Termux and Termux:Boot should be able to do this, but make sure you can limit the charge to something like 50% since it’ll always be plugged in and keep an eye on the settings/limits so it doesn’t run hot.
If you’re hoping to use your phone as is and just install a “server app” onto it to use as a streaming service, I have some bad news for you.
That’s definitely not gonna work. If you think you’re gonna be able to run a server without root, that’s also probably not going to work.
You’re most likely going to have to install a custom ROM onto your phone or some version of Linux onto your phone in order to do the thing you want to do.
I don’t have much knowledge of it, but the Android communities will probably be the better place to reach out about running a server from a phone
Thank you, I originally posted it here because it was piracy related.
No, I totally understand that, but for the thing you’re doing, if you take away piracy, you’re just trying to run a server on an Android phone, so you’re gonna find better results in an Android forum from sysadmins who want to run a server.
People get nervous with torrenting and pirating, so when you go on the Android forums, don’t mention that’s the reason you’re looking for this.
Try one of the android communities
Don’t have experience with setting up servers, but one idea I have for when I go set up one of my own is a Linux-based server through Termux. Only problem is if you need to change permissions for Android files, as then you’d need root to run sudo-based commands.
Mpd
above my pay grade tbh… it would be just easier to use an old laptop with linux on it tbh.
I wouldn’t. I like the idea of repurposing old electronics, but the issue is, it’s meant to be a low powered device meant to run off a battery.
You can run Plex off a RPi and those are like $20. A bit more if you want the case and heatsinks and such. They are also (similar to the Android) low powered ARM64 computers, but the hardware and software is more open.
I also have an old 128GB Android phone. I use it as a cosplay prop and I treat it like an iPod Touch. I’m primarily an iPhone guy, so of course it has Apple Music on it, but I also know Android and know where Android excels, so it also has Firefox with uBlock Origin, and Nova Launcher Prime. It’s way better to type on because the iOS keyboard has always been dogshit.
Also, you’re in the Piracy community. Not to be pedantic, but this is where you’d go to ask how to get the files to populate your music streaming server with. That’s my weakness there — I mostly self-host stuff I’ve bought and ripped myself. There are good tools and you’ll find good advice here, but something something old dogs, something something new tricks (me being the old dog, not you, unless you are, in which case, good on you for trying to break the mould). Right. So, what you want is the Self-Hosted community. Don’t ask them about where to get the music (that’s this community), but they can help on hardware and software. Me, I just use Plex, and I host it off a Mac mini. My desktop computer. You don’t need to spend nearly that much on a server. My Mac is a couple generations out now, but it’s still overkill for a music server.
The only time I use either of my phones as servers in any capacity is to like send a few files or something — and yes, I can do it just as capably with either. Honestly though both of them can easily host a file server another phone (either platform) can connect to and download from.
You can run Plex off a RPi and those are like $20
Non-Zero Pi models haven’t been even close to $20 for a while now. Any Pi these days is gonna be $60-80 for a fully functioning setup (Pi + SD + case + power adapter), at the minimum. And I wouldn’t run Plex off a Pi Zero, those have more or less the same specs as the 1st/2nd gen Pis.
