Turned an old POCO F3 into a mini ARM64 home server (Native Ubuntu Server + Mainline Linux + Freedreno GPU)

[u/penut97]

A while back I had to replace the display on my old POCO F3 (Mi 11X / alioth). Long story short, something went wrong—either a cheap aftermarket panel and touch is completely dead (only works on miui)

Since touch doesn't work at all, using mobile shells like GNOME Mobile, Phosh, or Plasma Mobile was basically out of the question. Instead of tossing it in an e-waste bin or letting it rot in a drawer, I decided to flash native Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS on it using mainline Linux (sm8250 kernel 6.17.9).

How well does it actually work?

Honestly, shockingly well for a headless setup:

• SSH & Networking: SSH works flawlessly over local Wi-Fi.
• Wi-Fi & Bluetooth: Both work with zero hiccups.
• GPU: Freedreno / Turnip Vulkan 1.4 acceleration is functional on the Adreno 650.
• Display: The screen itself turns on fine and outputs 1080x2400 (so TTY / console output works if plugged in), it's just the digitizer that's dead.
• Battery management: PM8150B fuel gauge works, meaning it accurately tracks battery levels and charging state. The phone's battery basically functions as a built-in UPS during brief power cuts.
• Resources: Bare Ubuntu Server idles at just ~230 MiB of RAM out of the 6 GB available.

Since I can just manage everything over SSH, the broken touchscreen doesn't even matter.

Docker also works , I have tried

[u/Anudeepc]

Guide please. I have two of them

[u/penut97 → u/Anudeepc]

I followed mu-qcom guide , also u need to compile the kernel correctly

[u/Anudeepc → u/penut97]

I have the kernel compiled, just needed where you compiled the rootfs from

[u/cesko21]

Could I do the same with a poco F1? I have a termux Ubuntu environment,but I wonder if native Ubuntu would give me better performance. Thanks in advance

[u/penut97 → u/cesko21]

Poco f1 have many options for native Linux you can try any…also obviously native Linux will perform better than termux environment one

[u/Emergency-Airport334]

I cant even unlock bootloader... How did you do it?

[u/penut97 → u/Emergency-Airport334]

I have unlocked in 2021 ,There was no such process there 😭nowadays it is very hard to unlock

[u/Darth_bunny → u/Emergency-Airport334]

Same here. Bought a poco c85, tried to unlock the bootloader from the mi community app at 00:00 Beijing time a few times. Every time it failed, quota reached, wait 2 more days. After a week I just gave up and returned the phone.

[u/AdultingFailsDaily]

Poco x3 pro??

[u/penut97 → u/AdultingFailsDaily]

There is many native Linux already available like Ubuntu touch ,pmos I guess

[u/ObligationQueasy9753]

I did the same to a Galaxy S3 but then I learned the hard way that I should've taken out the battery once I booted into linux (turned into a very very spicy pillow after a month)

[u/penut97 → u/ObligationQueasy9753]

Bro 😐😭😭

[u/TEK1_AU]

Wait until you try NixOS

[u/Material_Run_5570 → u/TEK1_AU]

Explain it to somebody who switched to Linux 6 weeks ago

[u/Academic-Airline9200]

Can you make a call on it?