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Meshtastic is another project that has recently made serious strides[0] in their UX on the Lilygo T-deck (and similar ESP32 devices), but specifically regarding

Meshtastic is another project that has recently made serious strides[0] in their UX on the Lilygo T-deck (and similar ESP32 devices), but specifically regarding LoRA-enabled devices. It's still on a branch, but I compiled and ran it, and now I have two T-decks that can communicate with eachother off-the-grid without a smartphone attached to send messages; it's actually usable in emergencies now, which is why I bought the devices in the first place. Currently in the process to deploy a mesh from me to my parents and family. [0]: https://github.com/meshtastic/firmware/pull/3259 https://github.com/meshtastic/firmware/pull/3259

jeroenhd 2y ago
What's the data transfer speeds you can attain with LoRA devices like these? My understanding is that they're geared more towards bytes per hour than bytes per second, and other than some kind of "I'm alive" message, I don't get the impression these devices are very usable for communication.
- K0balt 2y ago
  It’s fine for text messages. It takes 5-10 seconds to send a kb of data (1000 characters roughly) at its longest range setting. At shorter ranges it can do upwards of 20k per second.
- gh02t 2y ago
  Meshtastic let's you select different compromises between throughput and range. The main limitation is that everybody has to agree on the same setting up front to be able to communicate with each other within a network. The default (and most widely used, including on the de facto public channel) setting is one of the longer range options and gives you around 1 kbps, and it's quite usable on the default for normal texting and positioning telemetry with a handful of active users in my experience. The fastest setting is over 20 kbps and still gets ok range, the slowest is a mere 0.09 kbps and is only useful in some limited scenarios. It's legitimately useful, and I actually use it regularly. Mostly for hiking, as I do a lot of hikes where we split and meet up. It's also far cheaper than commercial options, and getting close to being as polished as the commercial options like Beartooth or GoTenna. https://meshtastic.org/docs/overview/radio-settings/ https://meshtastic.org/docs/overview/radio-settings/

jeroenhd 2y ago

What's the data transfer speeds you can attain with LoRA devices like these? My understanding is that they're geared more towards bytes per hour than bytes per second, and other than some kind of "I'm alive" message, I don't get the impression these devices are very usable for communication.

K0balt 2y ago
It’s fine for text messages. It takes 5-10 seconds to send a kb of data (1000 characters roughly) at its longest range setting. At shorter ranges it can do upwards of 20k per second.
gh02t 2y ago
Meshtastic let's you select different compromises between throughput and range. The main limitation is that everybody has to agree on the same setting up front to be able to communicate with each other within a network. The default (and most widely used, including on the de facto public channel) setting is one of the longer range options and gives you around 1 kbps, and it's quite usable on the default for normal texting and positioning telemetry with a handful of active users in my experience. The fastest setting is over 20 kbps and still gets ok range, the slowest is a mere 0.09 kbps and is only useful in some limited scenarios. It's legitimately useful, and I actually use it regularly. Mostly for hiking, as I do a lot of hikes where we split and meet up. It's also far cheaper than commercial options, and getting close to being as polished as the commercial options like Beartooth or GoTenna. https://meshtastic.org/docs/overview/radio-settings/ https://meshtastic.org/docs/overview/radio-settings/