This is probably a fool’s errand, but I really want to connect with local-ish people to build and test mesh networks.

It’s genuinely fun stuff, and the possibilities are pretty wild if you have an open mind.

Anyway, I started a community on my own server. The idea is to complement what Michmesh is doing, not replace it. They’re doing fantastic work, and I’m grateful for it.

Full disclosure: I have no idea how to start a community, and the various fediverse quirks haven’t exactly made it easier. 😂

I’m mostly just doing this for the fuck of it. I want to connect with people around West Michigan who are interested in this stuff and see if we can build some actual infrastructure together.

No grand plan, no ulterior motive. Just a place to find each other, share what we’re tinkering with, and maybe turn some ideas into something real.

If that sounds interesting, come check it out. Tell us (me lol) what you’ve got running, what you’re experimenting with, or what you’d like to build.

And if you join just to lurk, that’s cool too. We all start somewhere.

Community: https://piefed.aurionblack.com/c/[email protected]/p/2205/roll-call-who-s-on-the-air-in-gr

    • aurion@piefed.aurionblack.comOPEnglish
      2·
      15 days ago

      Thank you for the rec! I’ll check him out!

      Edit: oh heck yeah, this guy is great and exactly what I’m looking for!

  • Nednarb44@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    16 days ago

    I’m down to start tinkering with this. I’ve been meaning to give it a shot since I read about it about a year or so ago

    • aurion@piefed.aurionblack.comOPEnglish
      2·
      16 days ago

      Would love to hear your build!

      What protocol are you running?

      I really want to develop an always on car node. It will have a little solar panel, 2 LoRa radios for reticulum and meshtastic, an open source car computer, gps.

      Self hosted map/navigation stack, off grid com, sync vehicle info to my home automation software, and most importantly be a mobile, always on infrastructure node.

      But mostly, I want to live in a city where I can get reception almost anywhere in and around the city 🤣

      • Nednarb44@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        16 days ago

        I have nothing started unfortunately, so I’ll be starting from scratch really. The last year my main focus was getting the home energy situation as resilient as possible with solar and batteries. That’s wrapping up soon, so I’ll have more mental bandwidth for this project.

        And yours sounds solid, I’m not even sure what my goals for mine would be, since I don’t even know what’s out there yet. I’ll definitely try to follow up with you to see how yours turns out too

  • sevenseg@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    15 days ago

    I have been wanting to get in to mesh networking! I figured I would be only one of like 5 people in West Michigan with a LoRa device though. I would be down to purchase some hardware.

    • aurion@piefed.aurionblack.comOPEnglish
      1·
      15 days ago

      I bought a wis block module and it came pre-flashed with Meshtastic. I didn’t see shit for days. Then I found michmesh and changed the settings up to what they suggested. Then I found a, I don’t know what you wanna call, it a router node in my area? It’s basically infrastructure connected to the Internet. They use MQTT to connect to other nodes that aren’t reachable by radio. Once I connected to that node my map lit up. I was seeing messages from Ann Arbor, Detroit, and all the way up into the UP.

      But I kinda wanna take it a different direction. I think Meshtastic is cool, but there’s a lot left to be desired. It seems that reticulum is the protocol with the most potential.

      So I found this repo that describes a build for a multi protocol interface/router. Basically I need a raspberry pi running reticulum. Connected to that will be the radio for whatever other protocols you want. So right now I have a T beam supreme, running reticulum attached to it. I want to reflash my wis block to Meshtastic, or mesh core and then connect to the raspberry pi. And then that would be my home node. Constantly and connected to the Internet. It is useful for my personal private network, but then can also be used as an infrastructure node for others.

      Like a Rosetta Stone/translator, router, receiver and transmitter all in one.