Comment by SXX

I've found [1] to be the best guide for getting started with them; you need to make a copy of the firmware partitions that you re-flash after installing Linux onto it in order to get the 4G modem working. It's honestly absurd how much you're getting for a fiver with it; add a power bank (or make your own from scavenged vape batteries in the spirit of this post) and you have a full Linux machine with WiFi and 4G that can work almost anywhere.

[1] https://wvthoog.nl/openstick/

> 4GB eMMC, 512MB RAM

And, that Snapdragon is 1.4 GHz, I think.

That's enough for a bare-bones WordPress installation.

My first laptop had a 100 MB had drive, 8 MB of RAM, and a 25 MHz processor, and I remember running a web server on it too, in addition to Windows 3.11 and word processors and other software. One of those dongles would have been godlike power back in those days.

I feel like somewhere along the way scripting got out of hand. Stuff like Wordpress is absurdly resource intensive.

In case anyone wants a few links containing this SOC or similar, there's an entire article on Hackaday and a bunch of links shared in the comments:

https://hackaday.com/2022/08/03/hackable-20-modem-combines-l... (search for Alibaba/Aliexpress/Amazon)

Before stumbling on this link I actually found one that mentions a MSM8916 in the description (it even has a screen, sadly no RAM information):

https://aliexpress.com/item/1005007496178143.html

> Qualcomm MSM8916

Well hullo there, turns out that's my old mate, the Snapdragon 410! Quite an unexpected surprise!

And funnily in retrospect, my Moto G3 from 2015 (which I still occasionally use for whatsapp!) has the exact same processor, and turns out base android (7) is (un?)surprisingly efficient when you're not doing much! I totally believe you could get a lightweight linux distro going on; I'm more impressed by such an old (and mobile!) chipset still having some sort of vestigial support!

(Fun fact, iirc this was one of the first processors to get 64 bit support for android but motorola wasn't able to port it over in time for the launch. Hence it runs 32 bit android instead!)

My biggest Problem with these devices is

a.) the world of electronics is moving too fast

b.) My lack of skills and time to build something really cool with something like this

A while ago i bought a licheerv nano (similar to luckfox pico or Milk-v duo) to build an open source iPod nano via usb-c audio Jack and the open source buildroot for the licheerv nano.

I did not find a suitable 2.4 inch or at least < 3"touch display that worked with the integrated MPI port.

With LVGL it should be doable to build a small portable audioplayer with acceptable features... But not for me :-)

Where do you get them for $5? Cheapest I can find is around £8 (11 USD), and it’s not clear if they have this chip.

Speaking of cheap and powerful, I’m looking for a dirt cheap android phone that has a decent camera. I used to ship out GoPros to my customers but I don’t actually need them to film in 4K, 1080p with a decent CCD would be fine. And lately new GoPro models have become a pain to setup, they require pairing with a modern mobile phone which my customers sometimes don’t have.

Where do i get a MSM8916 board for commercial usage at low volumes(1k)?

Reminds me of the LTE dongles Freedom Pop would give out that were running Linux. If you took them apart you got UART access, too.

Now what I'd like to see is the other way around - you know, like the "old" UMTS sticks, just for 5G. No OS, especially not one so prone to all sorts of security like Android, just a pure baseband chip, some interface chip that talks USB3, two built-in antennas and the option to connect more powerful/higher directionality external antennas.

Do any of the modem bands work in America? If so... what carrier?