u/jackharvest

I've worked on this off and on for the last 2 months. I actually had the idea about 13 months ago, and bought the few pieces of hardware required back then.

I'm a software engineer by day, and a 3D model dabbler by night, so I take great care and pride in this thing. I'll be upfront and mention, if it matters to you, that AI was definitely used; I'm only familiar with a few languages, but I really really wanted it available on multiple platforms (including Linux ARM) which means I had to ask for help on that front. Testing was done in VMs, so I'd appreciate any gotchas you run into. Development was initially on Mac OS, so I expect that front to be the most hammered out.

Initially, I wanted to just fork another *ARR development for that familiar layout, however, quickly learned that the Orange Pi Zero 2W (and other 2W variants with the same footprint) are simply a bit weak, and some pre-reqs weren't available for the lightweight ARM distro that gets installed. Instead I opted for resembling the layout as faithfully as I could, and I'm pretty satisfied with where that ended up.

This is mostly meant for casuals. I haven't implemented rip settings. It quite literally finds the largest title, and grabs it in the default language, and drops an MKV to your network share you tell it about directly. It's absolutely capable of settings though, so let me know what scenarios would be great additions. I plan on using this till it falls apart, so I'm married to the project; I wouldn't worry about support falling off a cliff.

Updates are cooked into the preparer tool, as well as the web interface, so if updates come up, its nice and easy to run those updates through.

Make ripping easier on yourself.

Download: https://github.com/jackharvest/riparr

3D Print Chassis: https://makerworld.com/en/models/3382847-riparr-blu-ray-dvd-ripper-box-for-plex-jellyfin#profileId-3849135

Just add to your App folder and you'll be walked through signing in with the 4 digit plex sign-in process. Boom, your libraries show up.

It is completely terminal based, the only requirement is that you be networked for normal use; Downloading is supported for offline play though, so if you want to load up your favorite TV shows or movies before a long trip, do it! It will launch you straight to a friendly menu where Downloads is still available if you've got no network.

https://github.com/jackharvest/PocketFlex

My github has a few other projects for getting Plex and Jellyfin onto TCL flip phones as well. Similar concept, completely different language.

If there's interest in porting PocketFlex to a JellyFin app as well (PocketFin?) let me know; Should take an afternoon to cut over the APIs to JellyFin instead of Plex; Someone already made a Jellyfin app, I was just hesitant to flood the market if it doesn't need to be flooded.

https://github.com/jackharvest/FlipFin <-- The github repo. It is missing images because my son is at camp with the phone, but it is identical to https://github.com/jackharvest/FlipFlex FlipFlex's images, but blue.

Please, enjoy! Report any bugs you come across. My kids used it for about a week and I integrated all their feedback already.

The video is slow and methodical. I don't know what I was thinking. Just seek around the video to see more about it -- or better yet, visit the github where there's a lot of description next to screenshots. https://github.com/jackharvest/FlipFlex

You'll have to root the phone, but that's probably fairly commonplace in an environment like this. Can't help you there - but after that, you just sideload the app, input the Plex 4 digit pin to add to your Plex account and you're in.

Nearly every feature is present you'd find on a smartphone, including caching the videos to your device for offline play, warning you when you're not on Wi-Fi before playing (ok that ones not on smartphones, just here), and manually checking for updates in the app and automatically updating directly from github if there are new updates (I always hate it when devs make it hard to upgrade -- like if you want me on the latest whatever, make it easy, dangit).

Ask me whatever you want. :D Oh, and YES, it is deeply assisted with Claude Opus 5. I'm a software application developer, but Android apps aren't my native tongue, so while I did my best to follow typical dev best practices, I definitely needed help for this environment I wasn't as familiar with.

Hopefully this blesses the 8 others of you using this particular flip phone. XD