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Hosting a website on a disposable vape

(bogdanthegeek.github.io)
1386 points BogdanTheGeek | 3 comments | 15 Sep 25 17:53 UTC | HN request time: 0.019s | source
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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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happyhardcore ◴[15 Sep 25 15:44 UTC] No.45251087[source]▶
I've found [1] to be the best guide for getting started with them; you need to make a copy of the firmware partitions that you re-flash after installing Linux onto it in order to get the 4G modem working. It's honestly absurd how much you're getting for a fiver with it; add a power bank (or make your own from scavenged vape batteries in the spirit of this post) and you have a full Linux machine with WiFi and 4G that can work almost anywhere.

[1] https://wvthoog.nl/openstick/

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1. alias_neo ◴[16 Sep 25 10:42 UTC] No.45260486[source]▶
> or make your own from scavenged vape batteries in the spirit of this post

On this note, anyone got a tut or links to where I can get an appropriate charge controller/BMS (UK) to do this?

Like the post's author, I've been collecting vape batteries for a while and would love to build a power bank or use them in some IoT projects.

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2. jdietrich ◴[16 Sep 25 11:39 UTC] No.45260866[source]▶
Aliexpress. A simple TP4056 usb-c charging board costs as little as 50p. For a few pence more you can get a power bank board with a charge controller and a 5v boost converter.
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3. alias_neo ◴[16 Sep 25 13:31 UTC] No.45262023[source]▶
Interesting, I have some TP4056 already, but wouldn't I need some form of "balance" circuitry if I want to connect multiple of these together, to ensure they're all charged and discharged evenly?