Host A Server On A Device/Android?

Has anyone here hosted a server on a device or on an obsolete Android phone?

I'm thinking of doing this.

My interest is in trying this is having an inexpensive low power server -- since most servers are unpopulated most of the time.

I don't want to, for instance, leave my Ubuntu desktop on all the time.

So the thought of hosting a server on an old Android device, I imagine the power consumption is very low.
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Going to check out Ballerburg's research on free servers ...

https://forums.xonotic.org/showthread.ph...619&page=2

Phone CPUs are unsuitable for Xonotic server.

A Cortex-A55 can barely run 3-4 players at almost 100% CPU load. With A72 (RPi 4) it might support 4-5 players. Note that performance has decreased with 0.8.5 and possibly 0.8.6 might run somewhat less players than what I stated. This is also not considering much variations in map performance. So worst case subtract another 1-3 players from those numbers plus maybe random CPU spikes causing lag in the lower percentiles.

So at best you can make a kind of dodgy duel server.

If you want to run Linux on phones, try Ubuntu Touch. For a TV box you can try Armbian and LibreELEC. Note though there are various challenges with different vendors, and you might need to update firmware (if u-boot is <2016 or so) and use alternative repos (e.g. ophub/amlogic-s9xxx-armbian) for Linux to run on a TV box.

If you want a free ARM server, then try Oracle Cloud. It is really awesome and powerful. I made a thread about it. If you want to host ARM at home, not even the most expensive TV box on the market will be really satisfactory. But I suppose a $300 TV box (insofar as that Linux support for the SoC exists yet!) might run some 10-16 players maybe.

In order to run Xonotic on ARM, you can directly execute "make server" in the Xonotic directory from the autobuilds. Or you can use or cross-compile a docker image.

More info here: https://github.com/ballerburg9005/xonotic.us.to

Hey Ballerburg, thanks for the reply.

Yeah, I already went to your Oracle free server site and was considering signing up and using your instructions. Amazon seems to have something similar.

If the Oracle and Amazon didn't require my credit card number, I would have punched the ticket on those.

I may still try their free servers, but I want to read the fine print.

My reason for hesitation is that about a decade ago, I got screwed over by a site that offered free hosting for $5/year and then a couple of years later I discovered they were intermittently charging me $20, $40, $70 for upgrades.

They only require the credit card number, so people won't make 10 accounts in a row. And yeah, also to make it easier to switch to something paid.

The "free trial" lasts one month. In that time you can spend $250 free credits. If the trial is over after 30 days, I believe it is impossible for you to book anything paid unless you specifically confirm it. I think it can also result in suspension and deletion of anything that was booked with cost associated to it.

On the account of one of my relatives, while in the free trial, they were out of storage and I did use up like $2 before I noticed and deleted the server. It said something about "no xy block storage available, do you really want to ..?" and I just didn't read it and confirmed, because I didn't realize it could cost anything at all. Since then I am no longer in the "only free stuff" category and it doesn't ask me anymore. I think this is only because of the free trial, since it has already booked $250 in credits. I believe if it weren't for that, it would be literally impossible to book paid services without explicitly switching or charging your account with credits, but not 100% sure.

So yeah, be careful just to make sure check in your profile if it is charging you. When you book a server it also shows you the monthly/daily? cost estimate. And as long as you only book "forever free eligible" options, and it shows $0 at the end in the lower right corner, then its really $0.

I did something similar a while back with an old tablet and it worked surprisingly well for light tasks like file storage and running a small website. The power consumption was indeed minimal, which was a big plus.
I get what you mean about not wanting to leave a full desktop on all the time just for occasional server needs. It's all about finding that balance between functionality and efficiency.
As for Ballerburg's research on free servers, I haven't checked that out yet, but it sounds intriguing! Exploring options like offshore hosting can be a good idea too. I once needed a secure setup for a project and found a reliable hosting provider that really fit the bill.

I just wanted a free server to host experiments -- I don't want to pay to host the experiments.

If I were more serious, I think I could find someone who I might be able to get to host a server.

What my point is that most servers sit idle 99% of the time and so would mine, so I think I'll end up finding someone who already hosts something so my 99% idle server can do its idle thing somewhere already paid for.