TechPulseTechPulse
Back to News
Advertisement
Advertisement

⚡ Community Insights

Discussion Sentiment

82% Positive

Analyzed from 972 words in the discussion.

Trending Topics

#source#open#meshcore#https#meshtastic#client#app#don#reticulum#closed

Discussion (19 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

lukeasch21•about 2 hours ago
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

anthk•about 1 hour ago
I wish nomadnet got rewritten in Go.
forkerenok•41 minutes ago
There's a maturing implementation of the whole stack in go, so this is not far off.
anthk•40 minutes ago
For Reticulum itself, yes, but sadly not for Nomadnet.
NooneAtAll3•41 minutes ago
be the change you want to see in the world :)

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

LaserBeam1000•about 1 hour ago
I've never seen a working Reticulum network in the wild.

Only very very small testbeds.

forkerenok•42 minutes ago
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.

brk•about 2 hours ago
I've played with MeshCore and Meshtastic a bit, and while they are fun, the general hype seems overblown. The "SHTF" types that get involved with this tend to just taint the whole concept for me. I was/am interested in the use cases for building sensor networks, but most of the chatter seems to be around people who just want to send Hello World type texts back and forth, without realizing how poorly a network like this would perform in a real SHTF scenario.
RankingMember•about 1 hour ago
I feel the same way, and both mobile apps are pretty janky, with Meshtastic being extra obnoxious because the UI teams between Android and Apple apparently don't talk to each other- very hard to onboard/answer questions from someone new if you're on a different platform than them.

It was fun and cheap to set up, but I look forward to something with better messaging persistence so you can at least reliably not miss stuff.

Insanity•about 1 hour ago
SHTF?
brk•about 1 hour ago
Shit Hits The Fan.
Trannosaur•about 2 hours ago
What is it with mesh projects and having these super draconian trademark enforcers? Meshtastic is the same. One of the main reasons I got interested in MeshCore was reading the Meshtastic trademark rules and just finding them... really really over the top.
celsoazevedo•15 minutes ago
For now, I don't think it's fair to compare MeshCore with MeshTastic in terms of enforcement as that has not happened with MeshCore. This seems to be one guy getting a trademark in the UK without the approval of other members of the team. They're not going after anyone. Not yet, at least.
tbyehl•about 2 hours ago
I don't know any of the players but I'd bet they're licensed amateur radio operators.
amatecha•about 1 hour ago
Actually the opposite, tons of ppl in the meshtastic community (Discord) berate amateur radio operators. I stopped even discussing the subject because of how much derision I observed or was subjected to. Lots of insults and nasty jokes in passing as soon as the topic even comes up whatsoever. Kinda like your post, actually - offhanded derogatory remarks about an entire group of people solely because of the hobby they're involved in.
celsoazevedo•13 minutes ago
The person in question has many radios in the background of his videos, so maybe the comment you've replied to is into something :P
fooqux•about 2 hours ago
So?
busterarm•about 2 hours ago
IYKYK. Hams are known for a distinctive personality type that can be at strong odds from other tech people and other comms people. Usually in ways that clash with consequences.

I know a few hams that are chill and they are precious doves. I know quite a few more who I won't even engage with for fear of crossing them and them dedicating their lives to making mine hell. Because I've seen them do it to others.

That's not _just_ the hams, mind you. This behavior is overrepresented in hackerspaces in general. But there's a lot of overlap between those groups. Hasn't changed much in the 40-some-odd years I've been involved there either.

queenkjuul•about 2 hours ago
All meshtastic code is GPL, the name "meshtastic" is owned by the company that developed it. You can use any of the code, you can't use their name outside their rules. This is absolutely no different than, say, Firefox. The trademark policy is very permissable and you don't even need their permission to use the name on a commercial product.

I think it's totally sensible for the organization to want to have some level of control over what gets their label on it -- the Wi-Fi people wouldn't be very happy about someone slapping their logo all over a bunch of completely incompatible hardware.

the_gipsy•about 2 hours ago
Is this client app still closed source? Non-starter for me, also a strong indicator that anything like this was bound to happen, and this will not be the end of it.
LaserBeam1000•about 1 hour ago
https://github.com/zjs81/meshcore-open

The closed client isn't needed anymore.

queenkjuul•about 2 hours ago
Wow, very surprised to learn that it is closed source, and that's probably not changing.

My local mesh was testing out meshcore last week, this definitely kills my interest too

drpfenderson•about 2 hours ago
Thankfully there is an open-source client, which has pretty much all the features of the main client as well as some extras.

https://github.com/zjs81/meshcore-open

marssaxman•about 1 hour ago
Shame to hear that: the protocol works well, scaling up to thousands of nodes across hundreds of miles. This is the local mesh where I live: https://cascadiamesh.org/map/

You don't have to use the closed source app; there's an open-source client too, there are Blackberry-style client devices which don't require an app at all, and all the actual firmware is open source (MIT).

mtlynch•about 1 hour ago
>there are Blackberry-style client devices which don't require an app at all, and all the actual firmware is open source (MIT).

Worth noting that the Blackberry-style devices are also closed source and the hardware and software is way worse than Blackberry was 22 years ago.[0]

[0] https://mtlynch.io/first-impressions-of-meshcore/#this-is-no...

amatecha•about 1 hour ago
Wow, the coverage is nuts. I should hop on, looks like I've got solid coverage in my area. Been too lazy to properly give it a try but obviously I really should! Thanks for the link!
sidewndr46•about 2 hours ago
This reduced my interest to zero in this as well, when I learned it was closed source
celsoazevedo•11 minutes ago
Search for "meshcore-open". It's an open client, still in alpha, but already does many of the basics. Github only for now, I believe.
desireco42•about 2 hours ago
I love using AI to develop and I think it is important in modern development, but you definitely have to disclose it because there is a difference between AI and human written code is key.

It is essential to disclose it.