Thread 2946936

Absolutely NOT a "tech guy". 45y/o tradeworker, left off at DOS & Qbasic in '93. Found some 2016 tech during eviction remodel: 2016 Galaxy Tab-A and 2016 HP Stream 11. Do not be fooled; all the "tekkie lingo", specs and processes I will be citing are new to me, learned over the course of these projects. I knew absolutely fuck-all about it before I started.

SM-T580 tablet has 2gb ram. when found, it was running Android Oreo. slow as shit and no storage space for anything. I could surf the web and shitpost on Chan, but had no space for memes, Pepes and/or videos. did lots of research and relied on Grok for a fair amount of process. that said, NOTHING was easy aboot this... for me. I found the tablet and craptop last December. tablet has been in a bedside table since it had
no storage and was too slow to be of practical use. I will try to outline the entire 2 day ordeal (15 fucking hours) as succinct and condensed as possible.

I found a 32GB micro SDHC card while tearing oot the carpet & padding in a remodel. my first thought was "COOL! I can double the eMMC storage on my Linux Stream Craptop!" however, after a quick discussion with Grok, I decided my first use of it would be to flash a new OS onto the Samsung Tablet. did a little research into available OS options and learned aboot the basic hardware/software that operates little phones, tablets, etc. quite different from "regular" computers, it turns oot. Decided on "LineageOS" for what is essentially a clone of Android 13 but with full current patch and security support. I found the Lineage file on some website, perhaps Github, unsure exactly where. I was also told that I needed to I stall "MindTheGapps" to access Google app store and run anything other than basic web browser on it. I started my questionable journey at 8:00 Saturday morning. I wrote the aforementioned files onto SD then connected tablet to craptop via USB data cable, which I used to install something called TWRP by "TeamWin".

>>2946936 (OP)
>2016 Galaxy Tab-A
these are worthless, they are out of date and barely work. I had a pair my kids used as tablets up until last year and I wound up throwing them away (fuck you mother earth). I have neighbors with young kids but the tech headache of keeping these going wasn't worth saddling them with outdated system and hardware. I saw them going for $100 used at the time and I can't imagine they were selling for that but many such listings.

TWRP is required to enter some mode that allows removal of old OS & data and the installation of new OS and the Google app store "bridge" program "Gapps". this is when my (literal) headache began. i wiped, fashed, and rebooted this thing for hours. kept getting various installation errors. by 20:00 all I had managed was to get a stalled soft-brick screen with a blue "frown" logo with a blue 'O' moving across it. finally, had to take a sumitriptan (migraine abortive) and call it a night. I had pretty much given up. the next morning, after a bit more dead-end Ouroboros action, Grok suggested a full format and exFAT swap in addition to the wipe. FINALLY I was able to successfully install Lineage20 OS. "Gapps" continued to fail. at long last, I was able to at least get the fucking thing to boot up and it did, indeed, function as a browser. great, but useless outside of surfing. After several hours and multiple conflicting suggestions of "MindTheGapps" arm64 vs arm(32) file installations (for the record i DID need the arm64), Grok finally suggested that perhaps the files were simply too large for my pathetic little tablet. It directed me to hunt down NikGapps-arm64-core, a much smaller version of the same program. FUCKING HELL!! it worked on the first try. BOOM! I now have an awesome & fully functional tablet, that I don't even need. it was 15:00 on Sunday, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!

I do enjoy it now. it's nice for couch and bed browsing on The Chan. easier on the eyes than my little Galaxy Note 20 phone screen.

>>2946937

that was the purpose of the process. The LineageOS takes up aboot 2.25GB less space than the Oreo AndroidOS and it operates much faster and more smoothly. on top of that, I may eventually add SD storage to it if I feel it's nessesary. for now, it seems to do everything I could want or need.

50% of what we do around here at DIY is just for the simple challenge and satisfaction of the accomplishment. that is exactly the story here. free shit, repaired & upgraded for free, with a free SD card, all found in units I was getting paid to remodel after evicting trash who then abandoned their mediocre possessions. I didn't need a tablet. I didn't need the HP stream Craptop. I have my wifes $3k Macbook pro if i need to use a computer other than my Galaxy Note 20 phone. they were free and taught me some new stuff in the process of salvaging them.

My little HP Linux Mint XFCE craptop is a similar story. I actually found it in the same eviction/remodel as the tablet. was passcode protected, but the lockscreen wallpaper had a giveaway password clue: "Last name 13". password was literally the evicted's last name + the number 13.

at that point (December 2024) I knew exactly Ø aboot modern computers, software, or coding. I tried to just use it as-was with the factory-installed Windows 10. it was totally unusable. could not update due to storage constraints (<2GB available) and it would take up to 2 minutes to load/view a 4MB image on Chan.

I knew aboot Linux from my childhood nerd days of Basic programming. I had never used it or even seen it, but I knew the older, better computer nerds gravitated to it. Anon from /g/ suggested Linux Mint XFCE. I dug around the ol' junk drawer and found a 32GB USB stick from the wife's old job. I found the XFCE file somewhere, downloaded it and probably some other bootloader crap, and after a bit of frustration & fucking with it, got it to install, boot and have been learning Linux & Terminal command ever since. Now it has 15GB eMMC available + the 32GB SDHC mentioned in the Galaxy Tab-A story above.

My XFCE craptop is now my daily driver. I don't touch my wife's $3k Mac because I am notoriously hard on equipment. if I fuck up my Craptop or spill coffee on it, little is lost. it's main purpose is tracking my dairy sheep pedigrees and shitposting on 4Chan.

2 months later, the battery failed & bloated. I got another one for FOR FREE from Amazon Vine. watched a few how-to videos on installation an voila: new life!

total cash investments on these projects: Ø.00

if I ever find the motivation & time I might consider learning Python or some other useful language, but as it stands now, I have more tech than I need as a Farmer/Rancher/Tradeworker.

You can pick up i5 thinkcentre m900 for next to nothing and have a reliable daily driver if you ever need a real pc op. I have two one with windows and one running mint XFCE. They can take regular sata ssds which can get up to pretty high capacity for memes. I even ran a wow private server off one of them. Better than using a raspberry pi.

>>2947039

I doubt I will ever need an actual computer, but I did look it up, just to keep learning and expand knowledge. luckily I don't have any real need for any form of computer. I do 90% of any sort of "computer stuff" (mostly how-to videos, Amazon for parts/supplies and occasional email) from my Note 20 phone. same goes for all of my shitposting and political information aggregation sites. I only use my HP linux craptop when I'm eating breakfast, because it's a better viewing angle & one-handed operation. Flashing/programming the Samsung Tablet was the first time I can remember in 10 years that I HAD to use an actual computer.

as a Farmer/Rancher/Tradeworker I'm just not in *need* of common computer technology. it was fun **in a very masochistic way** to do my little "programming" ventures with the Craptop and SM-T580, but It's just not something that is a nessesary part of my lifestyle.

>thanks to grok even a moron tradie can navigate the complex world of custom roms without bricking his device multiple times
so this is the power of ai

>>2947111

You are replaceable. my real world skills & experience, my hands, eyes, and body are not. where was this tablet for the last 10 months? in a bedside table, because it is a replaceable plaything. a superfluous gadget. something that is not *needed*.

>All of your jobs are belong to me

>-A.I.

>>2947128
all workers are replaceable

>>2947302

indeed.

however, *currently* desk, office, tech, factory & I.T. workers are on the chopping block at a rate of 20/1. by the time the trades are getting eliminated (be it Grok or Jeets) I'll be sitting on my porch, flocking my sheep, drinking my tea, on my own time.

>>2947357
If sw engs are replaceable how come the average retard isn't making $$$?
That's right, coding is already only like 20% of my job and the rest is also barely replaceable by LLMs.
Most IT work is learning a specific domain and not coding from prepared tasks, I'm already well versed in finance, insurance and gov management of car stuff

>>2947051
>as a Farmer/Rancher/Tradeworker I'm just not in *need* of common computer technology
I'm not so sure about that anon. A lot of my customers are farmers and they have a whole bunch of embedded Linux devices controlling various equipment on their farm. These boxes the equipment vendors connect to the network add up quickly. If farmers want to keep up the well established tradition of fixing their own shit they are eventually going to have to learn a thing or two about computers and networks. Otherwise, the vendors are going to continue milking them dry with selling trivial shit on a raspberry pi for a 2000% markup.

>>2947524

which is why I am learning and teaching myself (cough* bullshit. Grok is teaching me) how to program, flash and create custom software, and build hardware systems and network integration. I'll admit being behind the curve, but I am learning. I have just begun to tiptoe into Python. everything has to start somewhere.

>>2947532
Check out /mcg/ and /ohm/ when Grok starts contradicting itself.

>>2947532
Python isn't so important just yet, though a programming language will eventually come in handy.

First step is getting networking under control. I usually discover 3-5 address conflicts the first time I look around a new customer's network because the guys who put up boxes like to assign random static IP addresses to their boxes. Once you've got that out of the way, you might want to play with eavesdropping network traffic by inserting switches with monitor ports in strategic places to listen in on traffic between devices, such as the computer talking to the milking robot's controllers and the controllers themselves. Communication over the wire tends not to be encrypted and you can learn a lot about things you may later want/need to emulate without being too deeply into reverse engineering.

If you want to go real crazy, you can learn a bit about flash storage and desoldering/accessing flash memory chips. That lets you access the box' software and allows and backup it as a first step. Often enough, that's not necessary, though - you'll find commodity SFF PCs inside lots of boxes. The programs running on these boxes often have fun little treasure troves such as the SPS code they send to the equipment's PLCs if e.g. you hit the "start feed pushing robot" button in the program. Also, you may find other stuff in common data formats that you may be able to work with. For instance, a lot of software keeps its data in sqlite databases - if you know a little bit of SQL or can query it using a graphical tool that'll go a long way.

Only at this stage, learning a programming language comes into play. As you develop theories on how communication works, you'll write small - at first - programs that will eventually involve into something that can control the equipment in question. Sometimes, the software running on various boxes will be written in scripting languages, such as Python. That is the ultimate lucky break for you'll be able to modify the program directly.

>>2947532
Also, having and reviving ancient hardware ain't all bad. I recently transferred an old-ish CNC mill's control software to a contemporary machine. I was only able to do that because I still had an ancient mainboard with an IDE controller around.

>>2946936 (OP)
Cool thread
For me the hardest part was unlocking the bootloader
Had to jump through hoops for unlocking xiaomi bootloaders.
You don't need gapps. Google has turned into shitshow.
Just install from free repos fdroid etc or plain apk files
Banking software wont work anyways or mostly will be unstable
I'm currently set to building lineageos for my own. Anyone experienced?

weekend bump. anyone doing any DIY-worthy nerd shit over the next 2.5 days?

>>2947524
>A lot of my customers are farmers and they have a whole bunch of embedded Linux devices controlling various equipment on their farm.
Different farmer/rancher here. Please give examples of these pieces of equipment, so I can know to avoid them at all costs.

>>2947128
god you are such a fucking blowhard

>>2946936 (OP)
OP, the other advantage of flashing a custom rom is, that you don't have to buy expensive phones(like your note 20). Buy a cheap <200$ xiaomi and install custom roms(like lineage) on it. Do note that not every phone has easily available custom roms or has a bootloader that's easily unlockable. When buying a new phone you would have to do some research on the availability of custom roms for the phone you are eyeing. As a general rule of thumb, the more popular a phone is globally, the higher the chances are, that someone's made a custom rom for it.

Also, you don't have to replace your phone every 2-3 years like how an average consumer does. i've been using mine for about 4 years now, and plan to use it for a decade. (unless i break it somehow or lose it). Your note 20 should have a bunch of custom roms available for it, so you could probably use it till you run it into ground.

>>2948650

my galaxy note 20 was already on the sale rack when I got it. whatever replaced it had already been released. it's currently 5 years old. I drive my tech until the wheels fall off. I'm not into "keeping up with the Joneses"

I was actually researching your topic this afternoon, since my Note is getting glitchy and painfully slow. Bluetooth rarely works, my earbuds almost never connect, contact charging stopped working over a year ago and lots of common apps don't want to work on it.

turns out it does not play well with custom ROMs. high likelihood of putting it in brick mode. I was thinking about just buying another one (they run about $180) but that probably won't solve app compatibility. perhaps I will look into your suggestion. I would like to have the new Samsung whatever, with the stylus, but I can't imagine paying $1400 for a phone. any suggestions on what brand and where from for a large, flat phone with a stylus that I can custom ROM? any other ROMs I should look into? I only found out about Lineage 2 weeks ago.

>>2947466

this. work done by AI alone needs major checking for integration into any existing systems.

Plus lots of people give a shit about problematic bias, which means constant output checking and having people (with the right motivations and approved politics) editing the algos.

AI is helping less skilled people tackle certain problems right now, but its definitely not replacing any seasoned systems developer yet.

>>2948667
>its definitely not replacing any seasoned systems developer yet.
>seasoned
lmao wyppo think humans are meant to be seasoned. seasoning's for steak and beans, not for people. all a man needs to work is a little google and the right set o tools.

>>2948659
moto g stylus(2022) has an official lineage os port but specs are a bit dated compared to your note 20.

samsung's S24 ultra has unofficial custom rom support(certain features in the roms don't work, check out it's XDA page)

if you can ditch the stylus requirement then google's pixel line has hands down the best custom rom support overall.

>other custom roms beside lineage os
while lineage is the most popular custom rom project, there are many like crdroid, evolutionX, pixel experience etc.

security focused roms: /e/ os, graphene os, calyx os.

Checkout the device compatibility page of any of the custom rom project you are interested in, and buy one of the devices listed on there.

>>2948650
>>2947682
google is actually actively trying to kill custom roms
payment apps don't work and lot of normie apps need integrity checks
only scenario in which a custom rom seems useful is if you want to root the thing and use it for some special purpose like a security wildlife cam or whatever but even then an open platform is much better
>use it for a decade
i've been using mine for 9 years now and still changing it feels like a hassle

>>2949126
i prefer custom roms(lineage) bc of battery life.
>banking apps wont work
this is not usually the case. ive had some success there, mostly by doing some retarded cargo cult shit. the same goes for "integrity checks"
Most of my stock phones had some sort of weird behavior , glitches here and there, they get hot at night or at some weird moments, battery is shit. Lineage has been more stable than default os on various phones ive had, mostly xiaomi and google.

>>2946936 (OP)
Similar story here. Found an ancient 3070 GPU on eBay for chump change and have just extended my windows desktop lifespan for at least another 2 years. Don't know why everyone buys the latest gear when it's out of date quicker than a mexican can eat a taco

Today I experimented repairing my Samsung Galaxy S9's screen (I needed to change GLASS only, but not the oled).

Since I knew it was gonna be hard, I installed lineageOS, activated USB Debugging and downloaded scrcpy on my pc.

Everything started fine but went downhill fast, as I tore my oled while separating the glass.

The screen doesn't work, but the phone is super fine and will now serve as a Raspberry Pi replacement with termux, probably will use it to install Klipper for my 3D Printer.

>>2951643
Changing glass is almost impossible. You need a purpose built heated bed and squeegee to scrape it off. Unless you're specialized in it you.gotta just order them

>>2951643
3d printer niggers can't into actually doing anything

>>2951940
Speak for yourself. I get up to all sorts of stuff. The printer is just another tool.

>>2946936 (OP)
>I will try to outline the entire 2 day ordeal
please don't

>>2946936 (OP)
>after a quick discussion with Grok
why the fuck would you be talking to an aI.

is there anything fun i can do with a first gen ipad mini? or just make it not a bloated shit? i sometimes read on it and even that is a laggy mess.

>>2947128
You installed LineageOS on a tablet. Not really a career defining moment but I'm glad you learnt how to do something fun. You've changed it from completely useless junk to mostly useless junk.
>My body is not replaceable
Robots.

>>2952484
Not meant to be groundbreaking, just "fun" & educational. If Ineed an actual computer, I can use Wife's Mac. (Typed from shitty OP tablet)

>Robots
Not before I retire.

-oldfag

This thread makes me feel very insecure because I just recently "upgraded" to devices of this era. A 2016 HTC 10 phone (which aint even that weak), a mid 2010s i7 8700k build with an "ancient" 2060 super, and my good old trusty T420 Thinkpad and Nexus 7 2013 tablet. None of these is *that* old, or underpowered, but all of mine are still or arguable prehistoric software (Android 4-7 and Windows 7).

So why am I making this post? idk, depression and neglect, self neglect included, made me kind of sleepwalk through the last decade. Whatever thats not important, whats important is that I am trying to get my life back on track but also I am broke, like fucking destitute, derelict, done. Tech and social media dominate the modern discourse and I cannot do much on unsuported software,but hoepfully the hardware is still good! Im not sure where to start to be honest, the real problem will be bringing my laptop to W10 (that just became unsupported lmfao) and HTC to the highest usable android version.

Of course, performance will determine whether it was worth trying to revive them or not

On second thought, the truly hard part will be dealing with the linkrot inherent to 10+ year old devices, and the typical problem of guy asks about very specific tech problem, replies to himself with "nvm i solved" it BUT NEVER EXPLAINS HOW or mods being powertripping fags deleting responses or removing links

I have no idea how OP did what he did following chatgpt of all things. One typo and youre bricked. Around that era most people were giving up trying to gain root and mod their phones + android was changing a lot, something about new immutable partition tables and encryption, readonly system partition and other dumbfuckingshit google introduced. XDAs quality went down the drown (youre free to speculate why) and half the posts were people getting annoying intermitent problems (deleted IMEI and EFS partitions). My T420s (ackshually a T520, so even with libreboot I cannot use Ivy Bridge) Sandy Bridge HD3000 igpu never got official W10 support. And a lot of other annoying stuff.

>>2953265
>idk, depression and neglect, self neglect included, made me kind of sleepwalk through the last decade. Whatever thats not important, whats important is that I am trying to get my life back on track but also I am broke, like fucking destitute, derelict, done.
relatable
>the real problem will be bringing my laptop to W10 (that just became unsupported lmfao)
Try Linux, Mint is probably the easiest "just works" option when switching from Windows. Linux has gotten a lot more user-friendly and Windows less so in the last decade. >>>/g//fglt/
-sent from my T430 with Mint

i got a factory reset, near perfect condition in terms of battery usage, iphone 6s. All it needs is a new charge port. The verizon store people asked me to trade it in over 15 times in the span of a 45 minute buy for some new iphone. This worth fixing?

>>2953265
>the real problem will be bringing my laptop to W10 (that just became unsupported lmfao)
Look up massgravel on github, W10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2021 is supported until 2032 after you activate with the massgravel patch.
>>2953319
>This worth fixing?
No. It's stuck on iOS 15 and it's not getting updates anymore.

bump for this interesting thread
what do you do with old laptops and pcs?

>>2953265
I have an x230 and W10 sort of runs on it but it's not really comfortable at all. I suppose it's fine if you're used to slop but if you're used to newer more powerful hardware or more optimised setups, you'll feel it slugging. I run linux on it now, consider doing the same. It's incredible how powerful "old" hardware can be when it isn't being hindered by shitty software.
A more realistic real problem for you will be the batteries. On the thinkpad you can still find chinesium batteries or rebuild them yourself if you're handy enough, but on the others you're kind of fucked.

>>2955373
Depends on how old. They might be usable or be good enough for a home server.