This is a real concern in today’s day and age, where corporations are encroaching on third spaces, both online and in person.

I’ve had some luck searching for coding clubs on meetup or other group event sites. For example: https://www.meetup.com/code-and-coffee-chicago/ , https://codeandcoffee.org/ , https://www.meetup.com/dearborn-coding-club/ , https://www.meetup.com/nyc-coders/

There are usually developers looking for work who you can talk to in person at these clubs, its a great way to network and get connected with people in the community who are trying to avoid the beaten path!

To be slightly more accurate, I wrote “I continued to mess around with a mobile broadband modem, and got it working! With a caveat… it only works when plugged into wall power.”, “it” referring to the mobile broadband modem. Only the usb connected broadband modem requires “wall” power to function, technically it only requires 25W consistently to be provided to the pi5, or some other direct power.

The device is a great little handheld that functions as a full linux computer that works completely on battery power! I bet your landline can’t do that!

But, that’s besides the point! Give the SPIRIT phone project a look on github! https://github.com/SPIRIT-org/SPIRIT

Yes, someone from the Linux community asked something similar. Not to steal their comment but they suggested the use of this board to pair with the CM5 https://www.pi-shop.ch/nano-base-board-a-for-raspberry-pi-compute-module-5 In terms of space saving, that would be a big help. But I do like the pi5 for the micro hdmi plugs, it allows the device to be used as both a “phone” and a desktop. So I’ve gotta think about it some more. Thanks for the suggestion!

See that comment here: https://lemmy.zip/post/53113975/22778634

50mmx130mmx82mm I measured it in freeCAD, so it might be a few millimeters off the real thing

I don’t necessarily disagree with you. And people do seem excited about the concept. I’m not even sure I’m far enough along to justify taking in donations though. So far I feel like all I’ve done is compile information that’s already available online into one document. I appreciate your perspective

Right now I’m using this “Gravity: CAT1 A7670G Global 4G IoT Communication Module”, connected through USB-C https://www.dfrobot.com/product-2802.html I am able to text reliably using a chat software, and connect to mobile data unreliably using ModemManager and mmcli. I haven’t been able to make a call yet, but I think this is due to a software issue, I’m still trying to get everything working reliably. Once I figure out how to do all of these things, I will add it to the guide in the repo https://codeberg.org/muhammadmanwar/cheaphone

Thanks for the suggestions! I’m not actually looking for any donations though. It probably sounds weird, but I don’t want to derive value from this, or even assign value to it, in the interest of keeping the information as freely accessible as possible. Not too get too ideological, seeking money often causes people to make a good idea bad, or to make a simple process inefficient, to make more money from it. I’m thankfully in a position where I can keep (slowly) working on this project in my free time, while still keeping my head above water.

That isn’t to say that no one else should make money from this idea. I just don’t want to personally.

I do like the idea of a copyleft license. I’ll have to look into it a bit more. Thanks again for your suggestions!

I’m not sure how to add more images to the post, sorry. But I uploaded images to a repo, in the pictures directory https://github.com/muhammadmanwar/cheaphone OR https://codeberg.org/muhammadmanwar/cheaphone

This is very much in line with what I was thinking, but I have not had the time to test the theory yet. I’ve also considered potentially adding some sort of clock limited state using a GPIO connected switch, but that definitely sounds harder.

Wow! That does seem really similar to what I’m doing. And they seem further along than I am. I’ll have to look into this project some more. Thank you!

Thanks for the suggestion, I mirrored the repo here: https://codeberg.org/muhammadmanwar/cheaphone

I may end up switching entirely to code berg, but I’ll see how bothersome it is to push changes to both before I fully migrate. Thanks again!

Correct, and right now the pi doesn’t actually get any info about the battery. The battery I’m using has an integrated protection circuit and controlled output, so all of the battery management is currently externally handled. Ideally this will change soon, but there are lots of other things that need to change with the battery. It’s not possible to charge the device and have it powered on at the same time, because the battery uses a single USB C connector for both power input and output. And the form factor of the battery is cylindrical, which is also not ideal. Its very much a proof of concept at the moment, I’ve got plans and ideas, but so far, its basically just a pi 5 with a touch screen, plugged into a power bank, with a fancy case

That’s actually the vision I have as well for the device, its basically just a Linux Desktop that fits in an average (cargo pants) pocket, and can do anything a PC can, so in my eyes it is functionally a cyberdeck. The biggest issues with the current configuration are that the UI is a bit tough to use, given the slightly smaller screen size than an average phone, and that it only gets about 7.5 hours of battery life when idling. I’ve already successfully made VOIP calls from the device, though it doesn’t have built in speakers or mics, so you have to use bluetooth or a USB to 3.5 mm adapter.