8 ms·

Nomad, communicate off-grid mesh, forward secrecy and extreme privacy

385 points by pyinstallwoes 2y ago

fullspectrumdev 2y ago
The underlying Reticulum network this uses is really quite interesting given how many transport media it offers (packet radio, etc).
- mcshicks 2y ago
  Oh that's so funny that is a real thing I thought it was a joke about the fictional reticulum computer network from the Neal Stephenson novel Anathem.
- nexus_six 2y ago
  Reticulum is incredibly versatile and has an entire ecosystem of tools under development. NomadNet is just one of the messengers. There is Sideband, a mobile app client (https://github.com/markqvist/Sideband https://github.com/markqvist/Sideband), and Reticulum MeshChat, developed by Liam Cottle which is a browser based client https://github.com/liamcottle/reticulum-meshchat https://github.com/liamcottle/reticulum-meshchat. Reticulum can work over anything that has a throughput greater than 5 bits a second (yes, bits) and a MDU of 500 bytes. Not only can it work over hundreds of different carriers (LoRa, BLE, Packet Radio, overlay networks like Tor and I2P) but each of these carriers can be apart of the same network. I threw together a quick proof of concept of it working over HF radio. I setup two nodes about 144 km (90 miles) separate. Both were ICOM-7300's with a Raspberry Pi 5 driving the software modem that would take packets from Reticulum and send them over the air. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blwNVumLujc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blwNVumLujc Node 1 was out in the field while Node 2 was back at my house. Node 2 had two interfaces setup, one for the HF modem and another connected to the TCP testnet. This means that Node 1 could access any peer that was over on the TCP testnet. Here is a quick primer on Reticulum that explains some of the basic concepts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ltLt5SK6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ltLt5SK6A
  - kragen 2y ago
    is there maybe an explanation of how the network works that isn't a video? is chapter 4 of the manual the best explanation? i admit i'm spoiled by the great explanations provided by academic projects, and i don't know where to look for, say, how it defends against traffic analysis attacks to statistically deanonymize speakers, or whether that's outside of its threat model if it were a mechanical device or a graphics rendering algorithm i would think a video would be better, but it's a peer-to-peer networking protocol, and the video just looks like distracting eye candy
    - nexus_six 2y ago
      It's meant to just be a quick explanation of some of the very basic concepts. But if you want to understand the network stack in-depth the manual is the best resource: https://reticulum.network/manual/index.html https://reticulum.network/manual/index.html
      - generalizations 2y ago
        Is there a more formal description of the algorithm? I'd be interested in understanding not the implementation, but how the algo has been constructed, to understand its strengths and weaknesses.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - franek 2y ago
      > chapter 4 of the manual To me that chapter ("Understanding Reticulum") was a very pleasant read a few weeks ago, and inspiring too. I would love to get some HN expert opinions on it, especially about routing, so I posted it separately: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41257619 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41257619
  - cyberax 2y ago
    How does Reticulum solve the fundamental issue of mesh networks: either you have to have a central controlling authority for addressing, or an adversary can just flood your network? Does it have some kind of blockchain crap tie-in?
- Rhapso 2y ago
  I'm starting to look at the latency tolerance components of the protocol, once it supports sneakernet as a transport, it will be perfect. edit: nvmd, looks like it is set at a global level not a link level
  - nexus_six 2y ago
    > once it supports sneakernet as a transport, it will be perfect. Sneakernet transport has a wide array of definitions, but my favorite part about NomadNet and Sideband is the fact you can print paper QR code messages and have a recipient or LXMF propagation node scan them and have your message delivered. I have a $13 thermal printer I was able to get messages printed with.
tazu 2y ago
I searched around and couldn't find anything, has this been audited?
- macintux 2y ago
  > Nomad Network is beta software, and should be considered as such. While it has been built with cryptography best-practices very foremost in mind, it has not been externally security audited, and there could very well be privacy-breaking bugs. If you want to help out, or help sponsor an audit, please do get in touch.
- Rhapso 2y ago
  At this point, unless you want to pay for it or drive the fundraiser, I don't think it is reasonable to expect non-commercial products to be audited formally.
1oooqooq 2y ago
uses https://github.com/markqvist/Reticulum https://github.com/markqvist/Reticulum > Coordination-less globally unique addressing and identification > Fully self-configuring multi-hop routing > Unforgeable packet delivery confirmations > Initiator anonymity So the noisiest protocol ever with zero flood protection? Anyone knows better than my superficial hot take? But I doubt they solved those problems for real, that would be real news and academic progress.
- kragen 2y ago
  generally speaking, networks that support anonymity have much better flood protection than things like tcp/ip. ccn routers won't send you any data packets you haven't sent an interest packet for; i'm guessing reticulum works similarly
  - AnIrishDuck 2y ago
    What prevents an adversary from flooding the network with interest packets?
    - kragen 2y ago
      that's an obviously good question to ask, and i'm not sure what the answer is. the original ccn work by van jacobson et al. doesn't really attempt any security. one obvious thing to try is for a router to rate-limit its forwarding of the interest packets coming in on any one port, especially if it has a lot of active interest packets from that port already (in ndn systems the router has to remember where interest packets came from so that it can forward any answering data packets out the right port, so this doesn't require maintaining any extra data.) but i don't know if existing ndn work tackles this problem or what approaches have been found to work
      - nexus_six 2y ago
        https://reticulum.network/manual/interfaces.html#announce-rate-control https://reticulum.network/manual/interfaces.html#announce-ra... The manual has some documentation on some of the rate limiting features built into RNS
derelicta 2y ago
I wouldnt be surprised if in a few years such project would get criminalised
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
  - JIMJONGUN84 2y ago
    [flagged]
- giantg2 2y ago
  More likely to end up compromised but available - like Tor, where the NSA just runs a sufficient number of nodes to compromise the network.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- hedvig23 2y ago
  Doesn't Firechat fit in this conversation, possibly some vague event behind the scenes that shuts anything like this down
- Nifty3929 2y ago
  Only if it can't be infiltrated, which is usually the preferred option.
Borg3 2y ago
Hmm looks interesting. Too bad it is written in Python. So, few questions then. Can it be bootstraped completly offline? Also, what are node requirement for this? I mean, CPU and MEM. Can my P150 with 16MB RAM run it?
- nexus_six 2y ago
  There is a work in progress C++ port called microReticulum that can run on hardware such as the ESP32 https://github.com/attermann/microReticulum https://github.com/attermann/microReticulum
- winrid 2y ago
  You mean like a cyrex 6x86? 0.0
  - Borg3 2y ago
    No, I mean Intel Pentium 150MHz. I had Cyrix 6x86 CPU and I remember it was running hot.
    - winrid 2y ago
      Kudos keeping that running, just for fun I assume?
      - Borg3 2y ago
        Mostly, Yeah.. But im reducing my stuff because im running out of space :) I will keep my old Laptop running P3 633 and old Scovery desktop running P3 1000.
- AyyEye 2y ago
  You can run a node on an esp32 https://markqvist.github.io/Reticulum/manual/hardware.html https://markqvist.github.io/Reticulum/manual/hardware.html
dang 2y ago
Related ongoing thread: Private, Secure and Uncensorable Messaging over a LoRa Mesh (2022) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41256623 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41256623 - Aug 2024 (21 comments)
evbogue 2y ago
How does Nomadnet/Reticulum compare to yggdrasil, ipfs, nostr, or even scuttlebot?
- LinuxinaBIt 2y ago
  It’s hard to compare things that are so different like that, but I will try. Scuttlebutt: Reticulum is a network stack for routing data in real time, not a decentralized social network. Nostr: See Scuttlebutt IPFS: Reticulum transfers data, it does not store it (though some protocols that work over Reticulum like LXMF optionally have functionality that allows for temporary message storage) Yggdrasil is the closest analog to Reticulum you mentioned, but unfortunately from a cursory search I could not find any details about how it works. I can see that it currently works only over IPv6 (with IPv4 tunnels of some kind), unlike Reticulum which works over anything. I suggest at least reading http://reticulum.network/manual/understanding.html http://reticulum.network/manual/understanding.html to see how Reticulum works, if you are interested.
goodpoint 2y ago
How is this better than Briar? https://briarproject.org/ https://briarproject.org/ comes with quite a pedigree
- nexus_six 2y ago
  Briar is a standalone messaging application while NomadNet is designed to work with the Reticulum Network Stack (https://reticulum.network https://reticulum.network), which is a complete alternative to TCP/IP
sitkack 2y ago
Not if NextNav https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41226802 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41226802 gets a huge chunk of 900Mhz ISM band. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISM_radio_band https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISM_radio_band Register your feedback here https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/docket-detail/24-240 https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/docket-detail/24-240
- allknowingfrog 2y ago
  I don't see an obvious mechanism for leaving said feedback. If I'm dumb enough to miss it, maybe others are too. Could you point us in the right direction?
  - lfmunoz4 2y ago
    You click the huge button that says express filing and simply put name address and type your comment that is it. I just filed a comment.
- K0balt 2y ago
  Can’t find a comment area here? I’m old and blind, but I don’t see it and my agent also cannot find a link.
  - gonational 2y ago
    Click on "Submit an Express Filing" - it'll load a short comment form.
    - chrisweekly 2y ago
      That's some opaque word choice there!
      - K0balt 2y ago
        Huh. Yeah it really is. Almost like public comments aren’t something they are interested in.
Jaauthor 2y ago
Super exciting to read about this! Building an off-grid mesh is the central premise of my scifi novel 'Mesh.' https://inkican.com/mesh-middle-grade-scifi-thriller/ https://inkican.com/mesh-middle-grade-scifi-thriller/
tlhunter 2y ago
This reminds me of Meshtastic, but I suppose Nomad is for PCs while Meshtastic is for microcontrollers. https://meshtastic.org/ https://meshtastic.org/
- AyyEye 2y ago
  Reticulum works on microcontrollers. The rnode firmware that works on meshtastic boards https://markqvist.github.io/Reticulum/manual/hardware.html https://markqvist.github.io/Reticulum/manual/hardware.html
  - LinuxinaBIt 2y ago
    RNode is a transceiver program installed on a LoRa board to allow Sideband, Meshtastic, etc. to connect to a Reticulum network over LoRa. I think you’re looking for the C++ implementation of Reticulum made specifically for microcontrollers instead: https://github.com/attermann/microReticulum_Firmware https://github.com/attermann/microReticulum_Firmware https://github.com/attermann/microReticulum https://github.com/attermann/microReticulum
Aerbil313 2y ago
Such a thing is my dream for a long time now. A new type of "phone" that is charged via sun/hand crank, communicating entirely over radio, running a distributed mesh network. Applications and data are both decentralized, in the same way as Freenet. 30-year nominal lifespan. Perfect post-Collapse personal communications and compute device for masses. Seems they figured out the communication protocol part.
- SamPatt 2y ago
  It's an exciting dream. Even better than hand crank or solar would be miniature nuclear batteries that run for a decade or two. Can't wait for those to become available commercially.
K0balt 2y ago
MFW people somehow feel like there is any guarantee of privacy when typing on a touchscreen keyboard on an android or IOS device… If you want actual privacy you need to run a keyboard/ terminal running bare-metal code for capturing and displaying text, encryption, and sending the encrypted packet over your reticulum client as an encrypted blob. This could be a hardwired serial or Bluetooth, for example. Or you could run a separate MCU to handle networking and protocols. The important thing is to run verified code on bare metal with no binary blobs, and that the encrypted payload should be the only thing sent to the network node, preferably over a TTL serial link between the terminal controller and the network controller.
upofadown 2y ago
Just some quick, possibly uninformed, usability comments based on a quick glance... Puts the number used as identity (address) up front in a way that the user can understand what it means. So better than most. Combining that identity with trust in a dialog seems to be relatively understandable. Having a category other than trusted and untrusted (unknown) is a good idea but is not immediately understandable. The user of course would have to be instructed to know exactly what "trust" means in this context. The user doesn't need to know that they are using Curve25519. Just that some sort of encryption has been achieved. Hex for the identity number is the worst possible choice of base. Either decimal which is quite familiar for identifying things or base32 for shorter numbers. The identity number should be consistently displayed in some helpful grouping (4 groups of 5?).
mmwelt 2y ago
The concept is interesting, but a problem is communicating with others who use iOS/iPadOS devices. They typically can't use this kind of app, because of limitations imposed by the OS[1]. Then, because of networking effects, it becomes very difficult for most people to use. [1] https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/685525 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/685525
- LinuxinaBIt 2y ago
  Sideband, another LXMF/Reticulum client, has an IOS beta here: https://github.com/markqvist/Reticulum/discussions/307 https://github.com/markqvist/Reticulum/discussions/307 (currently the TestFlight link is https://testflight.apple.com/join/ftgW9n0Z https://testflight.apple.com/join/ftgW9n0Z but that might change in the future). Of course it has issues running the in the background, but there are possible solutions to this, like having Reticulum run entirely on an RNode, and it is being worked on somewhat actively.
zombot 2y ago
Super interesting to see this whole communications stack implemented in Python. Functionally, this is something that should be in everyone's hands, wrapped in an app on all mobile and desktop platforms. I imagine it would be quite the challenge to make it so.
blackfawn 2y ago
This looks interesting! Does anyone have any experience with this and meshtastic? I'm curious about pros/cons between the two
LinuxinaBIt 2y ago
Some FAQs for those who are interested in the Reticulum Network Stack: https://github.com/markqvist/Reticulum/wiki/Frequently-Asked-Questions https://github.com/markqvist/Reticulum/wiki/Frequently-Asked... It covers questions like: - How is Reticulum different from Insert System Here? - What's the legality of the system? - What's to stop someone from flooding the network? And many others.

385 points by pyinstallwoes 2y ago

The underlying Reticulum network this uses is really quite interesting given how many transport media it offers (packet radio, etc).

mcshicks 2y ago
Oh that's so funny that is a real thing I thought it was a joke about the fictional reticulum computer network from the Neal Stephenson novel Anathem.
nexus_six 2y ago
Reticulum is incredibly versatile and has an entire ecosystem of tools under development. NomadNet is just one of the messengers. There is Sideband, a mobile app client (https://github.com/markqvist/Sideband https://github.com/markqvist/Sideband), and Reticulum MeshChat, developed by Liam Cottle which is a browser based client https://github.com/liamcottle/reticulum-meshchat https://github.com/liamcottle/reticulum-meshchat. Reticulum can work over anything that has a throughput greater than 5 bits a second (yes, bits) and a MDU of 500 bytes. Not only can it work over hundreds of different carriers (LoRa, BLE, Packet Radio, overlay networks like Tor and I2P) but each of these carriers can be apart of the same network. I threw together a quick proof of concept of it working over HF radio. I setup two nodes about 144 km (90 miles) separate. Both were ICOM-7300's with a Raspberry Pi 5 driving the software modem that would take packets from Reticulum and send them over the air. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blwNVumLujc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blwNVumLujc Node 1 was out in the field while Node 2 was back at my house. Node 2 had two interfaces setup, one for the HF modem and another connected to the TCP testnet. This means that Node 1 could access any peer that was over on the TCP testnet. Here is a quick primer on Reticulum that explains some of the basic concepts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ltLt5SK6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ltLt5SK6A
- kragen 2y ago
  is there maybe an explanation of how the network works that isn't a video? is chapter 4 of the manual the best explanation? i admit i'm spoiled by the great explanations provided by academic projects, and i don't know where to look for, say, how it defends against traffic analysis attacks to statistically deanonymize speakers, or whether that's outside of its threat model if it were a mechanical device or a graphics rendering algorithm i would think a video would be better, but it's a peer-to-peer networking protocol, and the video just looks like distracting eye candy
  - nexus_six 2y ago
    It's meant to just be a quick explanation of some of the very basic concepts. But if you want to understand the network stack in-depth the manual is the best resource: https://reticulum.network/manual/index.html https://reticulum.network/manual/index.html
    - generalizations 2y ago
      Is there a more formal description of the algorithm? I'd be interested in understanding not the implementation, but how the algo has been constructed, to understand its strengths and weaknesses.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - franek 2y ago
    > chapter 4 of the manual To me that chapter ("Understanding Reticulum") was a very pleasant read a few weeks ago, and inspiring too. I would love to get some HN expert opinions on it, especially about routing, so I posted it separately: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41257619 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41257619
- cyberax 2y ago
  How does Reticulum solve the fundamental issue of mesh networks: either you have to have a central controlling authority for addressing, or an adversary can just flood your network? Does it have some kind of blockchain crap tie-in?
Rhapso 2y ago
I'm starting to look at the latency tolerance components of the protocol, once it supports sneakernet as a transport, it will be perfect. edit: nvmd, looks like it is set at a global level not a link level
- nexus_six 2y ago
  > once it supports sneakernet as a transport, it will be perfect. Sneakernet transport has a wide array of definitions, but my favorite part about NomadNet and Sideband is the fact you can print paper QR code messages and have a recipient or LXMF propagation node scan them and have your message delivered. I have a $13 thermal printer I was able to get messages printed with.

tazu 2y ago

I searched around and couldn't find anything, has this been audited?

macintux 2y ago
> Nomad Network is beta software, and should be considered as such. While it has been built with cryptography best-practices very foremost in mind, it has not been externally security audited, and there could very well be privacy-breaking bugs. If you want to help out, or help sponsor an audit, please do get in touch.
Rhapso 2y ago
At this point, unless you want to pay for it or drive the fundraiser, I don't think it is reasonable to expect non-commercial products to be audited formally.

1oooqooq 2y ago

uses https://github.com/markqvist/Reticulum https://github.com/markqvist/Reticulum > Coordination-less globally unique addressing and identification > Fully self-configuring multi-hop routing > Unforgeable packet delivery confirmations > Initiator anonymity So the noisiest protocol ever with zero flood protection? Anyone knows better than my superficial hot take? But I doubt they solved those problems for real, that would be real news and academic progress.

kragen 2y ago
generally speaking, networks that support anonymity have much better flood protection than things like tcp/ip. ccn routers won't send you any data packets you haven't sent an interest packet for; i'm guessing reticulum works similarly
- AnIrishDuck 2y ago
  What prevents an adversary from flooding the network with interest packets?
  - kragen 2y ago
    that's an obviously good question to ask, and i'm not sure what the answer is. the original ccn work by van jacobson et al. doesn't really attempt any security. one obvious thing to try is for a router to rate-limit its forwarding of the interest packets coming in on any one port, especially if it has a lot of active interest packets from that port already (in ndn systems the router has to remember where interest packets came from so that it can forward any answering data packets out the right port, so this doesn't require maintaining any extra data.) but i don't know if existing ndn work tackles this problem or what approaches have been found to work
    - nexus_six 2y ago
      https://reticulum.network/manual/interfaces.html#announce-rate-control https://reticulum.network/manual/interfaces.html#announce-ra... The manual has some documentation on some of the rate limiting features built into RNS

derelicta 2y ago

I wouldnt be surprised if in a few years such project would get criminalised

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
- JIMJONGUN84 2y ago
  [flagged]
giantg2 2y ago
More likely to end up compromised but available - like Tor, where the NSA just runs a sufficient number of nodes to compromise the network.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
hedvig23 2y ago
Doesn't Firechat fit in this conversation, possibly some vague event behind the scenes that shuts anything like this down
Nifty3929 2y ago
Only if it can't be infiltrated, which is usually the preferred option.

Borg3 2y ago

Hmm looks interesting. Too bad it is written in Python. So, few questions then. Can it be bootstraped completly offline? Also, what are node requirement for this? I mean, CPU and MEM. Can my P150 with 16MB RAM run it?

nexus_six 2y ago
There is a work in progress C++ port called microReticulum that can run on hardware such as the ESP32 https://github.com/attermann/microReticulum https://github.com/attermann/microReticulum
winrid 2y ago
You mean like a cyrex 6x86? 0.0
- Borg3 2y ago
  No, I mean Intel Pentium 150MHz. I had Cyrix 6x86 CPU and I remember it was running hot.
  - winrid 2y ago
    Kudos keeping that running, just for fun I assume?
    - Borg3 2y ago
      Mostly, Yeah.. But im reducing my stuff because im running out of space :) I will keep my old Laptop running P3 633 and old Scovery desktop running P3 1000.
AyyEye 2y ago
You can run a node on an esp32 https://markqvist.github.io/Reticulum/manual/hardware.html https://markqvist.github.io/Reticulum/manual/hardware.html

dang 2y ago

Related ongoing thread: Private, Secure and Uncensorable Messaging over a LoRa Mesh (2022) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41256623 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41256623 - Aug 2024 (21 comments)

evbogue 2y ago

How does Nomadnet/Reticulum compare to yggdrasil, ipfs, nostr, or even scuttlebot?

LinuxinaBIt 2y ago
It’s hard to compare things that are so different like that, but I will try. Scuttlebutt: Reticulum is a network stack for routing data in real time, not a decentralized social network. Nostr: See Scuttlebutt IPFS: Reticulum transfers data, it does not store it (though some protocols that work over Reticulum like LXMF optionally have functionality that allows for temporary message storage) Yggdrasil is the closest analog to Reticulum you mentioned, but unfortunately from a cursory search I could not find any details about how it works. I can see that it currently works only over IPv6 (with IPv4 tunnels of some kind), unlike Reticulum which works over anything. I suggest at least reading http://reticulum.network/manual/understanding.html http://reticulum.network/manual/understanding.html to see how Reticulum works, if you are interested.

goodpoint 2y ago

How is this better than Briar? https://briarproject.org/ https://briarproject.org/ comes with quite a pedigree

nexus_six 2y ago
Briar is a standalone messaging application while NomadNet is designed to work with the Reticulum Network Stack (https://reticulum.network https://reticulum.network), which is a complete alternative to TCP/IP

sitkack 2y ago

Not if NextNav https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41226802 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41226802 gets a huge chunk of 900Mhz ISM band. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISM_radio_band https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISM_radio_band Register your feedback here https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/docket-detail/24-240 https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/docket-detail/24-240

allknowingfrog 2y ago
I don't see an obvious mechanism for leaving said feedback. If I'm dumb enough to miss it, maybe others are too. Could you point us in the right direction?
- lfmunoz4 2y ago
  You click the huge button that says express filing and simply put name address and type your comment that is it. I just filed a comment.
K0balt 2y ago
Can’t find a comment area here? I’m old and blind, but I don’t see it and my agent also cannot find a link.
- gonational 2y ago
  Click on "Submit an Express Filing" - it'll load a short comment form.
  - chrisweekly 2y ago
    That's some opaque word choice there!
    - K0balt 2y ago
      Huh. Yeah it really is. Almost like public comments aren’t something they are interested in.

Jaauthor 2y ago

Super exciting to read about this! Building an off-grid mesh is the central premise of my scifi novel 'Mesh.' https://inkican.com/mesh-middle-grade-scifi-thriller/ https://inkican.com/mesh-middle-grade-scifi-thriller/

tlhunter 2y ago

This reminds me of Meshtastic, but I suppose Nomad is for PCs while Meshtastic is for microcontrollers. https://meshtastic.org/ https://meshtastic.org/

AyyEye 2y ago
Reticulum works on microcontrollers. The rnode firmware that works on meshtastic boards https://markqvist.github.io/Reticulum/manual/hardware.html https://markqvist.github.io/Reticulum/manual/hardware.html
- LinuxinaBIt 2y ago
  RNode is a transceiver program installed on a LoRa board to allow Sideband, Meshtastic, etc. to connect to a Reticulum network over LoRa. I think you’re looking for the C++ implementation of Reticulum made specifically for microcontrollers instead: https://github.com/attermann/microReticulum_Firmware https://github.com/attermann/microReticulum_Firmware https://github.com/attermann/microReticulum https://github.com/attermann/microReticulum

Aerbil313 2y ago

Such a thing is my dream for a long time now. A new type of "phone" that is charged via sun/hand crank, communicating entirely over radio, running a distributed mesh network. Applications and data are both decentralized, in the same way as Freenet. 30-year nominal lifespan. Perfect post-Collapse personal communications and compute device for masses. Seems they figured out the communication protocol part.

SamPatt 2y ago
It's an exciting dream. Even better than hand crank or solar would be miniature nuclear batteries that run for a decade or two. Can't wait for those to become available commercially.

K0balt 2y ago

MFW people somehow feel like there is any guarantee of privacy when typing on a touchscreen keyboard on an android or IOS device… If you want actual privacy you need to run a keyboard/ terminal running bare-metal code for capturing and displaying text, encryption, and sending the encrypted packet over your reticulum client as an encrypted blob. This could be a hardwired serial or Bluetooth, for example. Or you could run a separate MCU to handle networking and protocols. The important thing is to run verified code on bare metal with no binary blobs, and that the encrypted payload should be the only thing sent to the network node, preferably over a TTL serial link between the terminal controller and the network controller.

upofadown 2y ago

Just some quick, possibly uninformed, usability comments based on a quick glance... Puts the number used as identity (address) up front in a way that the user can understand what it means. So better than most. Combining that identity with trust in a dialog seems to be relatively understandable. Having a category other than trusted and untrusted (unknown) is a good idea but is not immediately understandable. The user of course would have to be instructed to know exactly what "trust" means in this context. The user doesn't need to know that they are using Curve25519. Just that some sort of encryption has been achieved. Hex for the identity number is the worst possible choice of base. Either decimal which is quite familiar for identifying things or base32 for shorter numbers. The identity number should be consistently displayed in some helpful grouping (4 groups of 5?).

mmwelt 2y ago

The concept is interesting, but a problem is communicating with others who use iOS/iPadOS devices. They typically can't use this kind of app, because of limitations imposed by the OS[1]. Then, because of networking effects, it becomes very difficult for most people to use. [1] https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/685525 https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/685525

LinuxinaBIt 2y ago
Sideband, another LXMF/Reticulum client, has an IOS beta here: https://github.com/markqvist/Reticulum/discussions/307 https://github.com/markqvist/Reticulum/discussions/307 (currently the TestFlight link is https://testflight.apple.com/join/ftgW9n0Z https://testflight.apple.com/join/ftgW9n0Z but that might change in the future). Of course it has issues running the in the background, but there are possible solutions to this, like having Reticulum run entirely on an RNode, and it is being worked on somewhat actively.

zombot 2y ago

Super interesting to see this whole communications stack implemented in Python. Functionally, this is something that should be in everyone's hands, wrapped in an app on all mobile and desktop platforms. I imagine it would be quite the challenge to make it so.

blackfawn 2y ago

This looks interesting! Does anyone have any experience with this and meshtastic? I'm curious about pros/cons between the two

LinuxinaBIt 2y ago

Some FAQs for those who are interested in the Reticulum Network Stack: https://github.com/markqvist/Reticulum/wiki/Frequently-Asked-Questions https://github.com/markqvist/Reticulum/wiki/Frequently-Asked... It covers questions like: - How is Reticulum different from Insert System Here? - What's the legality of the system? - What's to stop someone from flooding the network? And many others.