Hey, I just started reading a lot about Meshtastic today; excuse me if my question is not accurate. For a project, I’d like to create an off-grid mesh network. Meshtastic seems to meet my requirements on many points. However, one important thing I’d like to set up is the ability to connect to the network without necessarily having a LoRa device.
I’m considering having these devices connected to WiFi routers (since the web client is not working for multiple users, as I read). This way, users could connect to the LAN network, chat with others connected to the same network, and bridge with other users on different networks using Meshtastic (as explained in question 2 of this post: Networking schools in Sub-Saharan Africa - #3 by Scout).
I know it’s probably not something that Meshtastic is handling (yet?), but I’d like to know if any of you have already set up networks like this. Is there another technology that accomplishes this WiFi/LoRa bridge? I checked disaster.radio, but this project seems not to be maintained anymore. Would I probably need MQTT? How would you evaluate the complexity of additional code for doing this? (I code a bit, but I’m definitely not an expert.)
I hope my questions are clear. I’ve been reading tons of posts, and I haven’t really had clear answers to these questions. Thank you
I understand this.
I would like some clarification on the communication between the LoRa device and the WiFi router. Specifically, I’m wondering whether I should focus on MQTT, the API, or any other relevant aspects.
After some research, if it can interest some people, I will go for the Reticulum project, which seems similar to Meshtastic but may offer more versatility in terms of available network technologies. NomadNetwork with OpenModem seems to be what I’m trying to achieve
Unsigned.io has some super cool projects. I have played with his microAPRS project. I flashed his hex code on an Arduino nano and made AX25 modem. I am impressed with how he uses 4 dios to make a 4bit dac to generate the audio. Genuis! I don’t quite understand the Reticulum project yet. I would be curious to see how people are making use of that project. My project
Same impression. I started looking at the different projects on their site, and it looks really vast and a little bit confusing. But the community managed to answer me quite quickly on their Matrix channel. I didn’t know about APRS; I will definitely check that out. Thanks for sharing your work. I will also share my project; it’s a paid job for an artist, but he’s pretty open to making it open source.
I have and use some RNodes. There’s a big (imo) philosophical difference between Reticulum-based systems and Meshtastic, and I’m not at all sure it’s a gulf that either side really wants to bridge.
This is all IMO, so reread this sentence before anyone bursts into flames.
Reticulum is intended to provide security and anonymity, then reliability. nomadnet or whatever other systems that are built on the reticulum framework, are continued expressions of that design philosophy.
Meshtastic was not conceived with security as a primary characteristic. It is good and getting better at a lot of things, but the user base that has evolved with it is not very concerned with security, and more concerned with how many other people they can connect to publicly.
Natural selection pressure from the majority of users means the development arc bends away from worrying about (for example) problems like sending unencrypted information about sender, recipient, and other information in headers. To people who say things like “if you aren’t doing anything wrong, you don’t have anything to hide,” this is a feature, not a bug. Convincing them otherwise is usually an exercise in frustration.
