[QUOTE=M344587487;527306]I remember userland being very finicky in how you get it started, navigate to the wrong tab and back or switching tabs while it was still loading and it stalled.[/QUOTE]

I've found what appears to be a reliable workaround - i.e. not needing reinstall nor risking data loss - for such startup-hangs, also described in the aforementioned update to the Mlucas readme page - The workaround is to touch the 3 vertical dots at top right of the main UserLAnd menu bar, select "Clear All Support Files", then retry Ubuntu startup. This may need WiFi to be enabled - been a while since I ran into the problem, and no longer 100% sure if I needed WiFi for the workaround, or for the older clean-reinstall kludge).

[QUOTE=kriesel;527046]They left out Mlucas [url]https://www.computerworld.com/article/2487680/20-great-uses-for-an-old-android-device.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab[/url][/QUOTE]

Update -- I managed to dig up an e-mail contact for the author of that article, sent him links to the Mlucas readme (highlighting the Android-phone section) just heard back from him: "Hey, [i]there's[/i] an interesting use! Thanks for passing it along." No corresponding edits in the article, though, at least not as of this writing.

A new use for old phones:
[url]https://www.androidcentral.com/artist-creates-fake-traffic-jams-google-maps-99-phones-and-wagon[/url]

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;536615]A new use for old phones:
[URL]https://www.androidcentral.com/artist-creates-fake-traffic-jams-google-maps-99-phones-and-wagon[/URL][/QUOTE]An obvious solution to the traffic jam spoofing is to confirm or contradict traffic density indications by reference to increasingly ubiquitous traffic cameras, many of which are publicly available on the internet.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;548645]I'm down to just 3 of the 12 Andoid broke-o-phones which were my main GIMPS-crunching hardware outlay last year, I doubt more than one of those will last through end of this year, the batteries slowly deteriorate and apparently the system software does not allow the damn things to run sans working battery, simply off a microUSB power/recharge cable.[/QUOTE]So how much do broke-o-phone battery replacement or reconditioning cost? Getting only one year out of most before their value drops for lack of a battery does not seem like what you had budgeted for. That's an unfortunate turn of events.

[QUOTE=kriesel;548835]So how much do broke-o-phone battery replacement or reconditioning cost? Getting only one year out of most before their value drops for lack of a battery does not seem like what you had budgeted for. That's an unfortunate turn of events.[/QUOTE]

Batteries are difficult if not impossible to replace in these things ... you can peruse ifixit.com for the gory details. The smooth-case ones are bad enough, the 2 sides of the metallized plastic clamshell case are glued together but with careful application of heat and some really delicate prying one can allegedly open them nondestructively. When I tried it on 1 of the 2 such ones I bought out of my Dirty Dozen, I shattered the caseback. Then one encounters the glued-into-place battery and lots of tiny routed-through-multiple-parts-of-the-chassis wiring. That phone was not a dead-battery one, but was the first batteries-swell-with-flammable-gas-accumulation case I ran into. I.e. I didn't so much want to replace the battery as to see if there was a simple way to release the gas while leaving the battery insides otherwise functional. Answer is yes, but I destroyed that battery in figuring it out. The other 10 phones are rubberized all-glued-together 'extreme' models, there one can deswell the battery using a sewing needle poked through a small gap in the swelling-induced separation of front and back halves of the case, but good luck getting said halves apart for e.g. battery replacement.

See my Mlucas readme page for further adventures with battery-degasification. The 'flammable' bit comes into play at a later point. long story short, all 12 phone batteries within months suffered the pains of intestinal bloating, 3 did not survive my attempts to release the pressure. The remaining 9 lasted on average around a year, but are now down to 3. Sure I'm disappointed they don't last longer, but the $ outlay was not huge for what I consider a useful proof-of-principle, namely that ARM-based phone CPUs running code tuned for that instruction set can be quite fast, relatively speaking. The units as a whole are simply designed, like so much modern e-gear, for planned and rapid obsolescence.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;548838]Batteries are difficult if not impossible to replace in these things ... you can peruse ifixit.com for the gory details.[/QUOTE]Yeah, seen that elsewhere.

J7's are easier; no adhesive involved for the back plate, and there's a little notch there to peel it off using a fingernail. Light pressure snaps the catches back in place.

For S7, [URL]https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Upgraded-Li-Polymer-Replacement-Warranty/dp/B07T4FB799/ref=psdc_2407780011_t3_B06XCJMR2R[/URL]
One site indicated 15 to 45 minutes required. A new kit of tools would not be needed for each. Kind of expensive by the ounce.
[url]https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Replacement-Battery-for-Samsung-Galaxy-S10-Plus-S9-S8-Plus-S7-S6-edge-S5-S4/283238094849?hash=item41f24e5801:g:kqQAAOSwEOJb2gN1[/url]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;548929]Batteries are difficult if not impossible to replace in these things ...[/QUOTE]Yeah, true that.[QUOTE=retina;506996]I suggest that if you use these things long term 24/7 at raised temperatures to remove the battery.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=retina;508184]If you can, then I suggest to remove the battery from the system. Long term it will die anyway. So unless you have a source of new batteries every few years then you will at some point have to deal with having no available battery. Might as well deal with it now IMO.[/QUOTE]:showoff: :razz:

[QUOTE=ewmayer;522874]The 10 S7 Active phones alas are [URL="https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Samsung+Galaxy+S7+Active+Battery+Replacement/108065"]such a tight integrated package that it's nigh-impossible to get at the battery[/URL], but [B]I tried disconnecting it in the one regular-S7 phone that had swelling, only to find the phone won't power up without the battery connected[/B].[/QUOTE]
Ernst had that covered. (Saw that when I reread the thread recently.)
I've seen similar uncooperative battery-required behavior in other models, that I own.

I'm missing something important.

It is trivial to replace the battery of all three phones in our house (SWMBO's, my UK and my Spanish). Indeed, the first thing we did after purchasing them was to install the separately packed battery into the phone and then put it on charge for a few hours.

May this be a EU/US dichotomy perhaps?

[QUOTE=xilman;549008]I'm missing something important.

It is trivial to replace the battery of all three phones in our house (SWMBO's, my UK and my Spanish). Indeed, the first thing we did after purchasing them was to install the separately packed battery into the phone and then put it on charge for a few hours.

May this be a EU/US dichotomy perhaps?[/QUOTE]Same here, Samsung J7 or Moto QA30 before that, easy battery swap. But mine resist being USED without a battery present. They can be powered up, but there's very soon a popup in the way about the missing battery, stating it's unable to charge. Just retested today on a spare QA30.
The S7 Actives have a ruggedizing rubber cover, per Ernst, and have adhesive, which is intended to seal the back and make it water resistant, per various online battery remove/replace instructions for the S7.