3 ms·

I don't understand how this is different from Meshtastic. Can someone compare and contrast?

cschmittiey 1y ago
so far it seems like better routing protocol, the ability to set what path your packets take if needed, and some different ideas about roles on the network. i’ve been playing with it for a week or so and people at my hackerspace have been contributing and i’m excited to see how it does, but it’s not good enough to the point where everyone is just going to switch over. some board support and polish needed before that happens imo
- aeblyve 1y ago
  Meshtastic has unicast next-hop routing since firmware version 2.6 released, like, a week ago.
  - linker3000 1y ago
    About a month or so ago now in the alphas.
apitman 1y ago
> Unlike Meshtastic, which is tailored for casual LoRa communication, or Reticulum, which offers advanced networking, MeshCore balances simplicity with scalability, making it ideal for custom embedded solutions., where devices (nodes) can communicate over long distances by relaying messages through intermediate nodes
- sparrish 1y ago
  Yeah... that doesn't say anything. "Advanced networking"? Meshtastic can also communicate over long distances by relaying through other nodes. So what's the difference?
  - linker3000 1y ago
    Right now, Meshtastic's core comms protocol is based on flood messaging - no significant smart routing, although the Devs have recently introduced some route discovery features on private channels, but not in the public one. MeshCore started out with the concept of static router nodes as well as clients, so it performs better if there is a router nearby to use, otherwise it falls back to flooding.
    - Nux 1y ago
      This ^. I struggled to get messages delivered with Meshtastic in my location. I'll try Meshcore when I get some time.
      - jeffhuys 1y ago
        To provide another perspective: where I live, I can basically reach the entire country if I’m lucky (Netherlands) or my entire city when I’m extremely unlucky. It totally depends on the amount of people / nodes strengthening the network. I’m deploying nodes near dead spots up in trees and the like, with solar panels and batteries, to work even better and without power.
    - ConanRus 1y ago
      why don't just contribute to Meshtastic then?
      - linker3000 1y ago
        The devs involved apparently tried...then MeshCore became a thing. You can read between the lines here.
      - meshtdevssuck 1y ago
        JAQing off eh? Have folks ever tired to even communicate with the devs? They are the most toxic group of individuals that I have ever encountered. Saying that they act like children is insulting to little kids.
      - 1y ago
bb88 1y ago
Meshtastic's routing system (up until this last version), wasn't great. I haven't tried the latest version, because it's gonna need to take a while for people to update their firmwares. Also, a lot of nodes tend to flood their battery state for the entire network, which uses up the airtime for something that could be more important like routing information, and also wastes their battery. Even though things like AlohaNet have been around for years, Meshtastic chose to reinvent the wheel. The primary difference is that Meshcore started with "routing" first, and then save the airtime and therefore battery for routing messages. geerlingguy did a video on it, and it's highly worth while checking it out. I think he was kind enough to use the term "Beta". Supposedly the new firmware from Meshtastic fixes a lot of this, but it's gonna be a while for people to upgrade, and I'm not too keen on wasting time again on something if it's not fit to work for it's stated purpose originally.

so far it seems like better routing protocol, the ability to set what path your packets take if needed, and some different ideas about roles on the network. i’ve been playing with it for a week or so and people at my hackerspace have been contributing and i’m excited to see how it does, but it’s not good enough to the point where everyone is just going to switch over. some board support and polish needed before that happens imo

aeblyve 1y ago
Meshtastic has unicast next-hop routing since firmware version 2.6 released, like, a week ago.
- linker3000 1y ago
  About a month or so ago now in the alphas.

apitman 1y ago

> Unlike Meshtastic, which is tailored for casual LoRa communication, or Reticulum, which offers advanced networking, MeshCore balances simplicity with scalability, making it ideal for custom embedded solutions., where devices (nodes) can communicate over long distances by relaying messages through intermediate nodes

sparrish 1y ago
Yeah... that doesn't say anything. "Advanced networking"? Meshtastic can also communicate over long distances by relaying through other nodes. So what's the difference?
- linker3000 1y ago
  Right now, Meshtastic's core comms protocol is based on flood messaging - no significant smart routing, although the Devs have recently introduced some route discovery features on private channels, but not in the public one. MeshCore started out with the concept of static router nodes as well as clients, so it performs better if there is a router nearby to use, otherwise it falls back to flooding.
  - Nux 1y ago
    This ^. I struggled to get messages delivered with Meshtastic in my location. I'll try Meshcore when I get some time.
    - jeffhuys 1y ago
      To provide another perspective: where I live, I can basically reach the entire country if I’m lucky (Netherlands) or my entire city when I’m extremely unlucky. It totally depends on the amount of people / nodes strengthening the network. I’m deploying nodes near dead spots up in trees and the like, with solar panels and batteries, to work even better and without power.
  - ConanRus 1y ago
    why don't just contribute to Meshtastic then?
    - linker3000 1y ago
      The devs involved apparently tried...then MeshCore became a thing. You can read between the lines here.
    - meshtdevssuck 1y ago
      JAQing off eh? Have folks ever tired to even communicate with the devs? They are the most toxic group of individuals that I have ever encountered. Saying that they act like children is insulting to little kids.
    - 1y ago

bb88 1y ago

Meshtastic's routing system (up until this last version), wasn't great. I haven't tried the latest version, because it's gonna need to take a while for people to update their firmwares. Also, a lot of nodes tend to flood their battery state for the entire network, which uses up the airtime for something that could be more important like routing information, and also wastes their battery. Even though things like AlohaNet have been around for years, Meshtastic chose to reinvent the wheel. The primary difference is that Meshcore started with "routing" first, and then save the airtime and therefore battery for routing messages. geerlingguy did a video on it, and it's highly worth while checking it out. I think he was kind enough to use the term "Beta". Supposedly the new firmware from Meshtastic fixes a lot of this, but it's gonna be a while for people to upgrade, and I'm not too keen on wasting time again on something if it's not fit to work for it's stated purpose originally.