That’s awesome, but I was very confused by the first picture. I thought you ran ducts all through your house like a giant hamster cage. Very cool though!
Assuming that this is a tinkerer/hobby project and you know your odds of getting a daily-driver phone out of it aren’t good:
You can get various Pi add-ons and USB-addressable cards that supposedly have texting and/or voice call capability. Look up a company called Sixfab. How well they work in practice, I don’t know. Be prepared to immerse yourself in a large manual of AT commands and cell phone protocol stuff.
So things seem to be pointing at a pi for now? Yes this is meant as a hobby project but trying to daily drive it as a phone that can make calls(as it is the only feature of a phone that is really mandatory to me) is also amonv my plans
If you’re really against Pis, you could get one of the USB-controlled modules and try hooking it up to something like a LattePanda, but that’s going to be more expensive.
You could also theoretically get a cell modem chip from a company like Quectel and design the supporting add-on board yourself for any SBC of your choice, but I suspect that’s further down the rabbit hole than you want to go.
So, yeah, the Pi is probably the smartest choice if you really want to do your own hardware build instead of just buying a PinePhone.
I think making an “usable” phone (especially one that is able to make calls, etc.) yourself is extremely hard to do, if not impossible.
Many “tinker”-phone startups/ devices, like PinePhone or Librem, who made the phones from scratch or mostly themselves afaik, had huge problems in the beginning with basic functions, like making calls.
There’s a project (mainly for kids and students) somewhere to make E-readers themselves, maybe you can start with that?
I’ll link it to you if I found it.
That might act as a base.
If you want a good phone that gives off DIY-vibes (modularity, repairability, etc.) but want something proper and modern, then check out Fairphone. Afaik, the FP4 also supports PostmarketOS and other mobile distros.
Remember to take everything I said with a huge grin of salt, since I’m not that well informed in that area of DIY- or Linux phones. A lot of what I said might be wrong, take it only as idea or starting point.
But if you really want to start this project, good luck. You’ll need it 🫠
To add, in the US, most service providers will not let a device on their network until it has gone through FCC approval. You can get around this by buying a cell module, which has gone through approval, but most of those are data only last I looked.
Fairphone especially is such an attractive option to me but the thing is that it is a dream to me to build my own smartphone, one that truly is mine . But this gives me an idea I have seen videos of people building cyberdecks from framework laptop parts, makes me wonder if I could do such a thing with fairphone parts.
Your question reminded my immediately about one of my favorite 35c3 talks Butterbrotdosen-Smartphone - Mein DIY-Smartphone-Bau from 2018-12-29. It is in German language, but has an English translation, too. Maybe it can give you some good starting ideas?
Story, Translated with DeepL.com (free version)> I would like to show you how I built a smartphone from a Raspberry PI. The problems and difficulties I encountered and the solutions I found. The project is not yet finished, there are still a few small things missing. Nevertheless, I want to show you my smartphone in the practical sandwich box and tell you how it came about. > > I had no idea that building a smartphone could be so complicated. Raspberry Pi + touch display is not all there is to think about in this project. At the moment, the smartphone project lives in a sandwich box and attracts attention on the subway. If the power bank can passthrough, that’s an advantage, I’ve found. Setting up the X and Y axes on the touch display so that you can also use the on-screen keyboard was not so easy. And I had to realize that Landscape is not the right size to work smoothly. Most Linux programs are not directly touch-compatible or require too much memory. Then there were also big challenges! Learning to solder was one of them. First learning how to solder, then learning how to desolder, and then daring to use the PI. I would like to tell you these and other stories about building my smartphone.
Would planting a hedge or shrubs on your side be an option? Much nicer than a fence, provides a biotope for birds, insects and other animals, can bear fruit (yummy berries!)
Growing to a hight of 3 ft (~90 cm) should be a matter of 2 or 3 years, depending on the plants.
They can be kinda loud when they are playing on the ones in the hallway, but that wall is the other side of our closet, so it is mostly muffled thumps. Not enough to keep us awake or wake us up, but loud enough that you can hear when you are awake
Measure the ends, design some 3d printable caps, maybe? Except it sounds like you might need a LOT of them, 3d printing isn’t as good for that… maybe make a mold for a cap and then thermoform a bunch off of it? Orrr maybe it could be easier to grind the ends down instead?
I wouldn’t personally do it, but you might be able to hire a contractor who can ground down the points and then add a weatherproof coating to the tips. I would definitely talk to the neighbor before you do this, though. They also make rebar caps to keep people from impaling themselves on construction sites. Ugly as sin, but would make the fence safer for humans and animals alike.
Sounds like the fence company should be on the hook to remedy an improper installation, though.
Write or type a letter to your neighbor explaining that you’d like to help them make their fence safer, then leave it for them if they’re not home when you go to drop it off. Provide your name, a way to contact you, and be polite. Don’t make moves to alter their fence without them; changing your neighbors is expensive and good will is priceless.
If it’s a chain link style fence, with the exposed ends twisted together and jaggedly facing up, a top rail with fasteners is likely to be the easiest to set up. If there’s a fencing installer locally, try calling them up and telling them about it, then ask if they have the means to fabricate or modify a top rail to work for what’s going on. If you have the means to make a jig for an angle grinder you may be able to cut appropriate openings in the top rail yourself and secure them with ring clamps or appropriate hardware for connecting them to the upright posts. Wooden toppers might be less expensive to purchase or fabricate but will have their own upkeep needs - a router with a channel bit or a table saw with a dado blade could make short work of the recess needed to cover the sharp parts of the fence, and conduit clamps could be used to secure it in place.
Yeah, I will at least try to speak with the neighbor about it before I do anything. With the way the properties are set up, they barely even see the fence, whereas for me, it's kind of front and center in my backyard. I expect they may be surprised when I point out that it's technically their fence.
It is a chain link fence. A top rail sounds like a good idea which wouldn't be too unattractive or hard to install. I'd sure love to replace it with a proper wooden fence because the privacy in my backyard is severely lacking when they're on their front stoop or in their driveway, but with the grade and the need to remove the current fence, it would be very expensive.
You’d have to talk with your neighbor to make any modifications.
Something like this would probably work. You could DIY it with some plastic tubing from a hardware store cut lengthwise and stuffed over the tops of the fence. Maybe anchor it every few feet with zip ties or something.
Do It Yourself
Active