Comment by 🐙 norayr
Re: "How big is the intersection between Geminauts and…"
so we can't just hang linux boards with solar batteries and rechargeable batteries here and there.
2025-09-13 · 8 months ago
17 Later Comments ↓
🚀 shtrophic [OP/mod] · 2025-09-14 at 17:27:
Well, meshtastic is obviously not WiFi, but the same rationale applies to gemini, which is obviously not HTTP :)
🚀 devoid · 2025-09-15 at 17:08:
I'd like to but I'm not.
Would be good for the network too. There are no nodes within a 100 miles of me or so.
I've already determined where to place the nodes, now I just need the money and time (and a decent dev job) to set it up.
🐙 norayr · 2025-09-17 at 22:21:
i got my device because i saw a friend i knew from other town at art exhibition. and we talked and i told him about meshtastic. he have heard about lora but not meshtastic. and he said: i have already everything necessary to build it. don't bother buying anything, it is dirt cheap. he already had esp32, a screen, lora module and battery and antenna. and he printed a case for it.
he gave me a device a couple of days later, he said each component is like a couple of dollars.
but if you buy online an assembled device it is much more expensive.
👻 darkghost · 2025-09-17 at 22:42:
All true. It is about $30 in parts and people sell them for $80 or more.
i'd really like to go into lora... so far only running a reticulum/nomadnet node on an older smartphone with postmarketOS, which is amazing. but beeing able to comunicate without sim would be a dream @norayr: yes we can hang some boards on solarpanels and mount them guerilla stile on high places, people already doing this...
🐙 norayr · 2025-09-25 at 00:18:
yes we can hang some boards on solarpanels and mount them guerilla stile on high places, people already doing this...
not some boards but linux boards. linux boards are less power efficient than esp32 boards. i was discussing possibility of using linux plus halow plus yggdrasil instead of esp 32 with lorawan.
👻 darkghost · 2025-09-25 at 00:53:
I have a very energy efficient solar node based on the rak4631. It could go for a month without the sun. The panels are 2x 1 watt panels and the batteries are 2x 5Ah 21700 lithium batteries.
ESP32 is pretty power hungry for solar nodes. Linux boards like the Raspberry Pi are practically out of the question at least guerrilla style. I have run a Raspberry Pi 3 off of a 20 watt panel and a used car battery. It died after 9 days of rain. I had to charge it up to 60% and the sun slowly brought it back to a reasonable charge over a month or so.
then i would go for a flashed smarthphone...
I think the similarity of Meshtastic and Gemini is minimalist communication, as I'm not sure Gemini is best described as off-grid.
I've been operating Meshtastic relays for about a year now in ND.
One of the things I find appealing about Gemini is how well-suited it seems to something like a low-power high-altitude 802.11 deployment. Gemini needs TCP, which translated directly to radio typically involves the dark arts of AX.25 ...
@Ian_Grey thank you for mentioning AX.25, i was searching for such a protocol and could not find it.
i'll explore now!
👻 darkghost · Jan 21 at 17:12:
Linux has kernel modules to allow you to bind AX.25 to serial devices. There are reasonable things you can also do with raw audio (eg use a sound card as a modem.) It is a data link layer (like ethernet and WiFi) so TCP sits on top of it. You can use it without TCP like in APRS.
Conventionally on HF you use 300 BAUD, VHF 1200 BAUD, and UHF 9600 BAUD. These aren't fast protocols but are intended to fit in the space of a voice channel over the radio.
yes very cool.
am i right that unlike meshtastic these radios operate on frequencies for which i need a permit?
👻 darkghost · Jan 21 at 22:42:
That is correct. An amateur technician license will let you do VHF and UHF. You can do hundreds of watts and communicate a hundred miles or more.
@norayr AX.25 is explicitly disallowed on unlicensed TX frequencies. So, you more or less need licensure to legally use AX.25 anywhere. As long as you're not causing interference, you can mostly get away with unlicensed testing without any issues. However, never ever ever connect to the Internet via Winlink etc on a pirate connection, or the neckfat sleuths will be talking about you for weeks.
i guess this is very much offtop here, and if/when i get a license and equipment, i will know it, but i know you need to tell in the radio cast your identification, but ax.25 is not your voice, how do you identify yourself?
👻 darkghost · Jan 22 at 13:20:
The software you're using handles that.
Original Post
How big is the intersection between Geminauts and Meshtastic users? — I wonder how many people here are also meshtastic users! After all, one could say that Geminispace is as "Off-Grid" to the Internet as Meshtastic is to ... WiFi? Just on a different layer of the OSI model!