Meshtastic @mander.xyz EvilCartyen @feddit.dk 1mo ago

OK... so what can you do with this?

I'm interested in this project, but I am unsure if there's anything actually useful or fun you can do with it.

So tell me about the fun stuff you've built!

19 comments

It has the potential to replace cell networks and give people sovereignty and privacy over their communications.

It can be used in emergency situations when power goes out or cellular traffic becomes saturated (concerts, sports events or other events), or when there simply is no cell service (I think the original intent of LoRa is long range monitoring of various sensor data).

It can be used to transmit location data that is visible for miles and miles around from a drone or plane, in case of emergency.

But really its mostly just for fun.
- (I think the original intent of LoRa is long range monitoring of various sensor data)
  
  Indeed. I use it professionally in agricultural r&d. Infrequent, remote data sampling.
  
  I found meshtastic the other way around: wouldn't it be cool to use this for text messaging. Turned out: someone beat me to the idea :)
  
  I'd be interested in exploring LoRa sensors - but I am not sure how many of those are available to hobbyists.
- I agree with you but
  
  It has the potential to replace cell networks
  
  Is that really the case? I'd love a decentralized hardware network but unfortunately LoRa can't do more than basic SMS
  
  I mean, for the purposes of basic "text messaging", yes. And probably could support a lot of the features that many modern messengers have, except the ones that have large file sizes.
I have one that I will keep in my tent when I'm hiking so I can get back super easy. I'm thinking about building a weather station. Other than that it's really more of a tool for communication when the cell service goes down. Going to try to build a few cheap ones for friends in case of emergency.
As far as what we have built, I have one that is on top of the roof that is in a solar light. Its my main node that is the most reliable.

I broadcast the weather once a day just for fun on longfast.Its based on a script I saw on github. I tweaked it for my purposes. Its just a simple python script.
You could be surrounded by cool people all chatting away. You'll never know, unless you buy a device. I have absolutely no need for one. But I've ordered one out of curiosity. I'm actually quite excited about getting it. Later, I might get bored and disconnect.

19 comments