ScreenWall – Turn old phones into synced widgets for your space
45 points by buibuibui 5 days ago | 19 comments
  • buibuibui 4 days ago |
    The oldest device I found that works with ScreenWall as a widget display, is an iPad 3 (2012)!
  • prmoustache 4 hours ago |
    Usually I replace a smartphone because it has some hardware fault that makes it unusable and it is hard to repair or the cost of repair vs capability is not very favorable.

    Even if I was replacing smartphone before they died, I would probably sell them anyway. Do people really have various phones in working order waiting in a drawer?

    • NeuroWinter 3 hours ago |
      I will upgrade when my device is many generations out of date. So no one really wants to buy one and I will then buy not the latest but a generation or two “out of date” so it’s cheaper. So I have a heap of phones over the years that no one wants. Not even me.
    • gonzalohm 42 minutes ago |
      Usually I replace my phone when the battery is almost dead and a full charge doesn't last more than a few hours. At that point the phone is usable but not good enough to sell. I usually keep it as an emergency backup phone
      • crefiz 13 minutes ago |
        You might as well buy a new battery then

        Did that for 20 € for my Oppo Find X3 Pro at my closest tech store and saved me from buying a brand new phone

      • prmoustache 6 minutes ago |
        For some reason I tend to break screens way before the battery dies usually. I am not afraid to replace a battery or even a screen if phone is not totally out of date. Having said that there seems to always be a point when they start acting semi eratically or stop booting.

        I had a totally outdated and probably insecure Samsung S6 edge 2 years ago that started rebooting randomly. I think that prior to that it was so old I could only install stuff from f-droid and aurora because roots certs installed on that old android version were too old for playstore to work. Too bad as you can't easily find smartphones in similar sizes anymore.

        Knocking on wood my pixel 6a still going strong after 2 years.

  • buibuibui 2 hours ago |
    Oh wow, although I submitted it some days ago, I somehow got on the front page! Thanks for that! Also as a note: this platform is nowhere near finished! I had this idea in my mind for a long time that I wanted to reuse my old phones and tablets as displays in my home. I also know that finding the right apps for these old platforms is a challenge in itself, that's why I went the route of creating an ES5 (that nobody writes anymore!) web app that most of these devices still support. The client's whole purpose is to display canvas and media files that the server dictates on-demand via websocket, while keeping a synchronized clock. On Instagram I always saw these very cool widgets like retro clocks, split-flip boards, YouTube subscriber counters that I felt urged to buy. But I thought to myself that the old phones I already have could also do the same. I am a long-time software engineer myself, but could never take the time to validate whether my ideas work. So I thought, why not try it out with Codex. After long prompting, supervising and correcting, I got a very usable solution that I now pleasantly use myself at home.
    • buibuibui 2 hours ago |
      You can also vibe-code your widget if you want! You are not restricted to use the built-in ones. Just copy the "Canvas Widget Guide" you find under "Left Sidebar > Create > Smart Widget > Tutorial" and copy that article in ChatGPT or Claude while describing what your widget should display.

      Then paste the code to "Create > Smart Widget > Edit the Code" in the Widget Details. (this flow should be more intuitive...)

      You are able to send JSON data to your widget via an API.

      It's all just canvas and old Javascript code!

    • rippeltippel an hour ago |
      Very nice project, thank you for sharing it on HN! May I ask why login is required, and how are emails/passwords stored?
      • buibuibui an hour ago |
        An account is necessary to couple your devices to your wall. And auth is implemented via Better-Auth. I stopped Codex immediately when he tried to implement the login stuff from scratch. :)
  • kotaKat 2 hours ago |
    Junkyard Jumbotron redux? ;)

    https://github.com/mitmedialab/Junkyard-Jumbotron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAUtSVSTbzU

    • buibuibui 2 hours ago |
      I like the wall position detection feature via markers! :)
    • takenotice an hour ago |
      That’s what I was thinking. I loved that project.
  • JackMorgan 2 hours ago |
    I've wanted to build this myself for a long time but couldn't figure out how to overcome the spicy pillow problem.

    Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree, but I thought it was risky to leave a phone plugged in all the time. Does it need to be a modern version of Android OS that has the smart charging that stops at like 85%?

    • cydodon an hour ago |
      The safest option is probably to remove the battery and run the phone from a (well defined/build) external power source, e.g. like this: https://yaky.dev/2022-09-06-smartphone-without-battery/
      • NordStreamYacht 44 minutes ago |
        Not all phones work without a battery in the case.
    • khurs 29 minutes ago |
      >I thought it was risky to leave a phone plugged in all the time

      I have had phones on a charging dock for long periods. No issues.

      Unless you have some budget small brand phone that was too cheap to be true, most phones are fine plugged in.

  • joenot443 14 minutes ago |
    I'm confused - is the product finished yet?
  • TheJCDenton 8 minutes ago |
    Congrats, this looks very cool! I haven't tested it yet, but is it possible to make it work offline? I'd prefer devices running unsupported or unmaintained operating systems to avoid Internet access altogether.