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Update: I turned my old Motorola E5 Play into an actual WordPress server (lemmy.nz)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by tradicije@lemmy.zip to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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We did it boys! Battery is no more: https://lemmy.zip/post/72181546

This post is a follow-up to my original post: https://lemmy.zip/post/71885626

Surprisingly, it wasn’t that tough to set up.

My original plan was to install postmarketOS and turn the phone into a proper tiny Linux server. Unfortunately, my Moto E5 Play is the pettyl variant, while the available postmarketOS port is for james. I decided that turning the phone into a brick probably wasn’t an essential part of the project.

So I went with Termux instead.

It’s now running nginx, PHP, MariaDB, WordPress, SSH and cloudflared directly on the phone. Everything starts automatically on boot, and I even made a tiny WordPress plugin for anonymous Today / Total / Online visitor stats.

And yes, the website is being served by the exact phone in the photo.

1 GB of RAM. Somehow this thing is now a production server.

I named it Pettyl, after the device codename.

You can actually visit it at https://moto.dimitrium.org/.

The website is barebones, I plan to push it to the limits. Also, this project will soon be available on my GitHub page https://github.com/tradicije

Next problem: figuring out how long an old Motorola can tolerate my bullshit.

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[-] luciferofastora@feddit.org 2 points 13 hours ago

I have one accessibility quibble:

WCAG 2.2.2 recommends that any moving content, such as your carousel of reviews, have some mechanism to pause it. More information can be found in the accompanying Understanding WCAG document.

I didn't do any full accessibility test on your page. I don't know if you care about WCAG compliance anyway, and frankly, I wouldn't expect it for a hobby project. It's just one of the details a professor of mine drilled me on so thoroughly that I still remember it eight years later.

[-] tradicije@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 hours ago

As a UI/UX hobby designer I absolutely understand what you are talking about and yes, I should add the ability of the carousel to move with fingers/mouse, just haven’t gotten into it yet

[-] luciferofastora@feddit.org 2 points 4 hours ago

Then you're probably more knowledgeable on the topic than me. I did a great job of only learning the basic minimum of frontend development in my WebDev classes, never mind UI design or UX testing. If it weren't for a webapp QA gig I did for a while, I would've had no experience with usability at all.

[-] danielquinn@lemmy.ca 46 points 4 days ago

Back in the days when WordPress started out, 1GB of RAM was a lot! You'd be surprised what you can do when you're just running a server.

[-] bufalo1973@piefed.social 13 points 3 days ago

Back in the days, 1GB was the hard drive of a newspaper.

[-] a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

I had to look it up. I didn't realize they have been around for that long.

[-] non_burglar@lemmy.world 17 points 3 days ago

I'll say again, I love this.

I think you should keep posting these, I'd like to see more guerrilla servers.

[-] tradicije@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 days ago

Thanks very much! Expect more updates very soon!

[-] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 9 points 3 days ago

install ACCA to restrict battery charging current and capacity for safety

[-] arisunz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 3 days ago

put ddclient on that baby, have it update your dns records and you'll have a portable server. absolutely cursed. you're welcome.

[-] arisunz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 3 days ago

semi-offtopic, i wrote a custom client since ddclient doesn't work for non-eu ovhcloud accounts, hmu if you need it and i'll polish it a bit and publish it. homelab has been working great with it so far.

[-] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 4 days ago

Well done!

How did you connect it to the internet?

[-] tradicije@lemmy.zip 16 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Cloudflare Tunnel. cloudflared is running directly on the phone, so I didn’t need to open any ports on my router.

Also, if you meant how I connected the phone to the internet, not the website — just Wi-Fi. :)

[-] Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago

Thanks! So do you get a public IP or similar?

Ha ha no I'm only curious about how you went "public" 😁

[-] Telorand@reddthat.com 7 points 4 days ago

Boo Cloudflare, but I still love the idea. Given that I'm not planning to turn in this current phone for a few dollars of "credit" when I need to replace it, this seems like a cool weekend project!

[-] aBundleOfFerrets@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 days ago

Can always use your own tunnel, like wireguard or even just SSH. You are then responsible for where the tunnel terminates, of course.

[-] jaybone@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago

Does Tailscale offer public IPs on your “tailnet” or whatever it’s called?

[-] aBundleOfFerrets@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago

I haven’t used tailscale in a while, but afaik no, it’s strictly p2p besides their NAT punching hardware and (heavily throttled) backup relay servers.

[-] tradicije@lemmy.zip 9 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

update: Now you can leave your thoughts on the website, as @autriyo@feddit.org suggested, and I loved the idea so much I had to implement it immediately.

Note: No personal information is required. Visitor statistics use an anonymous browser identifier, and the guestbook only stores what you choose to submit.

[-] autriyo@feddit.org 4 points 3 days ago

Yay! This is a cool thing to wake up to :)

[-] frongt@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 days ago

You should put a webcam showing the server log scrolling on the phone screen. Sanitized of any sensitive info, of course.

[-] autriyo@feddit.org 8 points 4 days ago

That's super cool :)

I'd love a visitors book on the website, where one could leave a little message.

[-] tradicije@lemmy.zip 4 points 3 days ago

That’s a great shout, I’ll make this as soon as I have some free time, I would love for all of us to leave something on that poor little server ;)

[-] Kirk@startrek.website 8 points 4 days ago

This is awesome I appreciate you sharing all the details with us

[-] tradicije@lemmy.zip 5 points 4 days ago

Yeah, it’s a fun experience, I’ll update you again soon!

[-] Magnum@infosec.pub 6 points 3 days ago

How do you keep it powered?

[-] tradicije@lemmy.zip 11 points 3 days ago

For now, it's just sitting on a charger, until I find a solution on how to bypass the battery. The great thing about the Motorola E5 Play is that it has removable battery, so I just need to figure out how to turn it on without the battery inside.

[-] Magnum@infosec.pub 4 points 3 days ago

That's a fire hazard, its not meant to be plugged in 24/7

[-] tradicije@lemmy.zip 10 points 3 days ago

I know, as I said I'm working on it, but thank you for your concern.

[-] heartSagan5@lemmy.zip 5 points 3 days ago

Dude, that NAND is going to get chewed up by the database? Platter still do good with a long time of writes.

[-] NarrativeBear@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

What brand of keyboard is that in the background, looks comfortable. Also interesting project.

[-] tradicije@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 days ago
[-] foggy@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

I was gonna say it looks like a keychron. I have like 5 in my house. Their mice are great too. Big fan. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.

this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2026
331 points (99.7% liked)

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