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Hosting a website on a disposable vape

(bogdanthegeek.github.io)
1386 points BogdanTheGeek | 7 comments | 15 Sep 25 17:53 UTC | HN request time: 0.039s | source | bottom
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SXX ◴[15 Sep 25 15:17 UTC] No.45250676[source]▶
Talking of cheap and powerful devices one can also look at Chinese UZ801 4G LTE (Qualcomm MSM8916) dongles. They cost like only $4-5 and pack quite impressive HW: 4GB eMMC, 512MB RAM, actual 4G modem sometimes with 2 sim switching support. Since it's actually old Android SOC there is even GPU and GPS in there. And a lot of work was already done on supporting them:

https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Zhihe_series_LTE_dongles_...

https://github.com/OpenStick/OpenStick

So yeah if you looking for hardware platform for weird homelab projects that's can be it.

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marcosscriven ◴[15 Sep 25 19:17 UTC] No.45253803[source]▶
Where do you get them for $5? Cheapest I can find is around £8 (11 USD), and it’s not clear if they have this chip.
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1. haunter ◴[15 Sep 25 19:45 UTC] No.45254091[source]▶
Yeah you won't find them for $5 unless you buy in bulk on Alibaba

Aliexpress has this as the best selling one though the chipset is not confirmed https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006924641101.html

Well I take my gamble, wait 2 weeks and see what I'll get

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2. mrandish ◴[15 Sep 25 20:45 UTC] No.45254694[source]▶
Just fyi, the device at that link is currently showing $9.62 for a single unit, once logged in and the one-time-only "Welcome deals" are eliminated. But AliExpress pricing can vary hour by hour based on seller, inventory, algorithm, RNG.
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3. stavros ◴[15 Sep 25 22:36 UTC] No.45255802[source]▶
Which one did you buy, the red one or the white one? I do want a device that runs openstick, but I don't want more ewaste if it's the wrong one.

EDIT: According to this post[1] above, this listing[2] should be the real thing, as the red variant does say SSID 4G-UFI-XX under the cap.

[1] https://wvthoog.nl/openstick/ [2] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006860833351.html

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4. haunter ◴[15 Sep 25 22:46 UTC] No.45255907[source]▶
Looks like both those are the same, judging by the review pictures too

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006924641101.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006860833351.html

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5. SXX ◴[16 Sep 25 00:54 UTC] No.45256766{3}[source]▶
They basically all come in 4-6 designs, but only difference is how easy it to get to edl / adb.

On some of them you just load debug webpage and on others you might need to ground some pins.

6. fivestones ◴[16 Sep 25 03:33 UTC] No.45257759[source]▶
I just bought one for $1.07 US with free shipping. I was buying with a new account so I probably got that discount. But even so, before buying I got $2.99 the first time I loaded the page, then $9.89 or thereabouts, and finally $0.99 (which I bought, it had an additional $0.08 in fees for $1.07 total). We’ll see if it shows up and is hackable, but at that price it feels too good to pass up the chance.
7. krackers ◴[16 Sep 25 05:13 UTC] No.45258251[source]▶
I've noticed the wild fluctuations in price as well (by $10), is there some trick to timing the RNG right? I'm guessing it's intentional to get you to keep refreshing.