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A comment on Why get an expensive Pi when I have an old phone?. Parent comment

Re:Why get an expensive Pi when I have an old phone? by cowlevel on Saturday November 14, 2026 @05:08AM (#50495685)
Your phone has GPIOs inside it, but you can't access them without at least root.
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Re:Why get an expensive Pi when I have an old phone? by randomblock1 on Saturday November 14, 2026 @05:20AM (#50495772)
Cool, didn't know that. But like are they physically accessible? I don't think you can use the USB port as GPIO. Maybe some unused pins on the SOC itself, but that means opening up the phone and probably removing the shielding/heatsink...
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Re:Why get an expensive Pi when I have an old phone? by amelius on Saturday November 14, 2026 @06:02AM (#50496000)
You can attach some photodiodes to your screen to control things. And use the camera/mic for input.
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Re:Why get an expensive Pi when I have an old phone? by cowlevel on Saturday November 14, 2026 @06:30AM (#50496156)
Now that's a funny idea. But it's true!
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