// ZDNET — MOBILE & WEB
I turned an old Android phone into a server for my LAN - here's how and why
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.
I often adapt old phones and tablets for uses other than their intended purpose. Usually, it's just for fun; sometimes there's a method to my madness. Over the weekend, I decided to try turning a phone that had been resting silently in a drawer into a server…specifically, a Linux server.
That's right. I wanted to see what I could do with Apache and a few other bits and pieces. In the end, I wound up with a fun little website as a test, and now I'm going to show you how I did it.
Also: I found a free Android app that makes deleting photos as easy as swiping left
Termux is a free, open-source Linux terminal emulator that lets you run a Linux environment on Android. It's not exactly a 1:1, perfectly binary-compatible match (there are some permissions issues and a few other quirks that prevent it from behaving exactly like a true Linux distribution), but it's close enough.
You can install Termux from the Google Play Store, but don't. The version available on the Play Store is out of date. Instead, you need to install F-Droid (download the APK from the F-Droid site and then sideload it), and then install Termux from within that app.
Also: How I converted my Android phone into the perfect bedside clock - and why it makes sense