I would absolutely encourage everyone reading this to check out Reticulum [1] if you haven't already. I believe the base project might be in need of new maintainers(?) at the moment and the main dev has some very strong takes, but it is a very well-thought out approach to distributed networking at the protocol layer. The existing implementations out there include a desktop app which can function over the internet (IP) or a USB connection to some existing LoRA boards. I recently purchased a LilyGo T-Echo [2] and have had a great experience flashing the open-source firmware and using it connected to a desktop over USB or connected over Bluetooth to the fantastic new companion app Columba [3]. This app seriously makes Reticulum feel like a first class citizen when it comes to parity support for messaging. You can even send files/images (with limitations of course)! And since it works at the network level, you can make your own apps to run over Reticulum as well.

[1] https://reticulum.network/ [2] https://lilygo.cc/products/t-echo-lilygo [3] https://github.com/torlando-tech/columba

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405nm 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

don’t forget that although it already works fine on lora, it’s a protocol that’s transport channel agnostic, and is gonna do great with other transports (halow, optical, wifi, whatever) when people finally start realizing that lora is never going to be able to keep up with bandwidth/speed requirements of anything much beyond simple text messaging.

although, i’ve already done real time voice calls over 1 hop of reticulum lora on and it works pretty ok.

edit - community wiki with getting started instructions is here:

https://reticulum.miraheze.org/wiki/Welcome

	▲	Levitating 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> simple text messaging Also great for position tracking, sensor data or motion detection etc.

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montyanne 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I spent an entire month trying to build something with Reticulum, but there just isn’t great tooling for dealing with the protocol. Makes for a pretty infuriating devex if you’re just trying to build your app.

Neat concept but so many footguns that (imo) it’s not really sustainable to try bootstrapping.

Specifically, I had tried to port the stack to Rust no-std to use on nrf52 LoRA devices to use/abuse the existing MeshCore network to deliver reticulum packets. Turned out to be a nightmare just trying to figure out if my packets were even correctly formed.

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LaserBeam1000 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I've never seen a working Reticulum network in the wild.

Only very very small testbeds.

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forkerenok 7 hours ago | parent [-]

There are tons of entry points available now [0], and I get thousands of announcements every day.

https://rmap.world/

It's so much fun with little pages, message boards and random people hitting you up for a chat. I brought up my own transport node and propagation node too to contribute to the mesh.

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fooqux 3 hours ago | parent [-]

I'd love to get a node working just for fun. But it also seems like a waste since I'm extremely rural. The closest node is 200+ miles away. The chances of seeing any other device but my own connect to it seem slim.

Is there still a reason to do this?

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405nm 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

because the protocol is transport agnostic, there are a lot of interfaces to the public reticulum net that you can access over TCP, I2P, or yggdrasil.

https://github.com/markqvist/Reticulum/wiki/Community-Node-L...

takes away some of the fun of imagining the SHTF-all-corporate-infrastructure-is-gone scenario i guess but i think that for realistic mesh networking applications it’s cool to build out many infrastructure types and enjoy the fact that the mesh will reconfigure itself realtime across a variety of scenarios.

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randerson 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Perhaps there are others in your neighborhood in the same position, who would only get into it if there were other nodes. So be the first, get your friends into it, and maybe more nodes will follow. It's only $30 or so for a device.

They have a decent range (15 miles or more) so depending on how rural you are, you might be able to create a line of repeaters back to a major population center.

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fooqux an hour ago | parent [-]

Lol, I'm rural enough that the concept of "neighborhood" has no meaning here. I'd have to have a neighbor first. And friends all live further away than 15 miles.

Your point still stands though.

	▲	brewtide 2 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I literally just put the meshtastic antenna on the roof today, in an old services box. Been in the window for months, had a few weird perfect weather moments show a few nodes and a ping. Put it on the roof, hours ago, nothing yet. Someone has to start up the area! (I live in nowhere maine).

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bb88 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I ended up getting a ham radio license and now I get to use technology that actually works (even if it's a little more janky than meshtastic/reticulum).

My friend is across town and I should be able to hit him with the line of sight meshtastic repeater from my house, but I've never been able to.

OTOH, we can hear each other clear on any of the ham bands.

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adammarples 5 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Which frequency do you get? Does it matter?

	▲	jonah 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It matters legally. Different countries allow unlicensed use on different frequencies. Look up which is correct for your location.

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anthk 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I wish nomadnet got rewritten in Go.

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NooneAtAll3 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

be the change you want to see in the world :)

at the very least, try it. maybe it's simpler than you think

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forkerenok 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

There's a maturing implementation of the whole stack in go, so this is not far off.

	▲	anthk 7 hours ago \| parent [-]
		For Reticulum itself, yes, but sadly not for Nomadnet.