Sorry for my 2nd post here will be a rant - but i want to clarify my recognition of the project while getting started.
I stumbled upon meshtastic while browsing for some Communications projects. A friend recommended this as “to communicate when there is no network”.
So i started reading “Meshtastic is an off-grid…” STOP. NO.
To setup some microcontrollers and using with your cell phone, you need a grid.
On Android, you need the google play services (and update them on older android phones you find). On iPhone, you only can test 1.3 alpha firmware which does not contain features which are documented.
So for me as an IT expert (but not Microcontroller and Linux expert) the basic setup of two devices (firmware install, connect via BT using iphones and android devices) is a very hard task.
Can you imagine how this task to be done by non-experts?
What is the long-term goal of the project? Communicate with others in case of a shutdown of mobile networks? Then this is useless. How can we prepare a lot of devices for setting up a mesh to have others being able to communicate with their mobile phone without a mobile network (and only meshtastic available)? Not possible at all…
So my suggestion is to NOT start your web page with a promise you cannot hold even in the basics…
Sorry for rant, but i spent hours of time experimenting and resolving all the dependencies (firmware, iphone/android software to get a bluetooth connection, configuring the Lilygo devices, trying to send messages between them etc.)
Maybe this starts a discussion…
Take a breath and read some of the available documentation, flailing all around and using clearly labeled alpha preview software is going to be a bad experience.
So I started reading “So for me as an IT expert…” STOP. NO.
To test alpha software you need to be an IT expert. (Not really true but grid statement also not really true)
So my suggestion is to NOT start your rant claiming to be and IT expert and then complain Alpha/Beta software in not polished and well documented.
Joking aside I am glad you took an interest in the project and am sorry to hear that you had a frustrating experience. If you are looking for a finished product ready for the masses I don’t think we are there yet. If you would like help test/debug the community/documentation was great at helping me get started.
I hear gotenna pro has an off the shelf solution if that is what you need.
an off shelf solution is not what i want to play with. But to play should always follow some rules.
I know it is alpha, i know it is beta - but why don’t to tell from the beginning and go step by step through the topics you want to cover and finish them to work as desired?
I also know you must work with android, Mac, iOS and all of these systems have their problems - so your eager project will have more external problems than you want - so then do not create additional projects.
When you want to have people working with your project (in terms of using, not debugging and programming) the start should be not that weird that you cannot just use a mix of hardware (as it is supposed by the documentation). Now running with the 1.2.65 firmware and an old android S4 - which often loses the bluetooth connetion, and a mac which complains about needing 1.3 firmware but some messaging does work.
Do not worry about my experience which includes very big projects - my advise is just to keep things clear and make little steps and be honest in parts of documentation - software projects do also live from users, not only developers
Someone gave me a free car the other day, and I went off on them because I had to replace the front brakes and the bolts were all rusty!
How dare this free and open source software, still under development, exist in this universe!
BTW you don’t need Linux.
Download and run Windows installer of Python 3.x
Plug t-beam device into Windows computer with micro USB cable
Download and run Meshtastic Flasher app on Windows machine and follow the 1,2,3 steps
Download and run the Meshtastic app on your phone
Pair the device in the Meshtastic app
If my 10 year old daughter can do it, an “IT Expert” who has “experience which includes very big projects” can.
Seriously, we’re a community here to help, but lets keep the entitlement to a minimum. I myself have been doing IT for almost 30 years. I’ve met full stack developers who can’t even configure their monitors properly. On the flip side, one of the best project managers I’ve worked with never even worked in IT previously. We always have something new we can learn, and that’s a good thing. Even you yourself admit that you don’t have experience with micro-controllers, but then go on to suggest that a wide range of hardware shouldn’t be used. There’s reasons why some would choose a Lilygo device and others would choose a RAK. Instead, be in awe at this new world you get to discover.
There is one topic in OS which i a) love and b) hate - eager projects start fast and rich on features but do not find time to finish features to be “production ready” - at least long-term useable. So greetings to your daughter, but you did not read my initial post. Never promise things being there while they are to be delivered.
Everyone of us starts things and hopes to proceed them and most projects will struggle with lack of time. So i was keen on reading the first pages and started in experimental mode, just to see that i am not the only thing being at “alpha stage”
Let’s go on with the basics - my goal in participating is to have some long range text communications with friends when being “off grid”.
Be sure i will experiment and test more and mock about little details
It does sound like Gotenna may be a better fit for you if you need more support.
My recent experience of using a pair of TTgo t-echo’s on Meshtastic has been very satisfactory. They arrived pre-flashed. After a little fiddling around they connected to the Android app and I was able to use them as trackers and communicators over a range of a mile or so, which was adequate for my needs.
Hi, totally green in this field (except the limited experience I have received during setup). The off-grid claim is true. I have mine hooked to cheap prepaid phones with no SIM and it works no problem. The available APK can be transferred via bluetooth if necessary. The thing about off-grid and prepping is that you get setup prior to the grid going down (or going off-grid), not after. It’s definitely not a turnkey thing and it has a learning curve (for me at least).
How can we prepare a lot of devices for setting up a mesh to have others being able to communicate with their mobile phone without a mobile network (and only meshtastic available)? Not possible at all…
It’s not a good plan to wait until disaster strikes, or until you’re up in the mountains on vacation, to set up your equipment. So it seems an odd requirement that you should be able to prepare a device after you’re off grid. “Know before you go,” “Be prepared,” and so on.
It would be neat if you could plug an un-flashed device into a phone and have the app flash it, and not impossible to implement. Some devices support OTA upgrades but obviously they need to be running some version of Meshtastic for that to work. Fortunately you can buy devices with a Meshtastic firmware already flashed on them, so that’s solved.
That leaves distributing the app, which as @k1hrg points out can be done via bluetooth.
There’s a learning curve involved, but I found it all surprisingly easy, and the software and firmware very well polished for an alpha or beta.
Sounds very possible to me, as long as you don’t throw in unrealistic constraints.
If you do have devices prepared, or at least one laptop with the firmware and a lot of unprepared devices, and at least one copy of the Android app, you definitely should be able to roll out a mesh off-grid. But please don’t wait until you need to communicate to confirm that you already can.
Same is true of traditional two-way radios. Having a bunch of devices doesn’t mean they’re all configured and everyone know how to use them, unless you configure them and train everyone before you go off-grid. That’s why you hear hams having what sounds like the same conversation every week on the air.
This is FREE software. You didn’t pay for it. So I would recommend not coming in here feeling entitled to a polished experience.
With that said, I’m currently working on a product (hardware and software) which will use meshtastic and hopefully it’ll be easier for everyday novice users.
Even then, one would have to install the app from play store, or an apk file from elsewhere. I don’t see how that can be avoided. Loading the APK itself onto the device isn’t possible usually due to storage space constraints.
And for ios, you cannot even sideload apps easily, at least not from the meshtastic device itself.
I agree there are bugs and the user experience isn’t the most polished one out there, but it’s completely free software and no one has a right to complain like you are. The only respectful thing is to either contribute code or request contributors to fix or improve things.
