Mark  8h ago

I want to give an update about my project #TinyBBS, a #Meshtastic #BBS that runs on the meshtastic firmware itself without an rpi. It is now NRF52 based. The NRF is a more lightweight and efficient.
The BBS has Email, bulletins, daily wordle, a pretty rich LORD style multiplayer RPG, survival skills, chess, QSLboard, and Airplane QSL Board. The BBS is about 70KB and I do a neat party trick to store knowledge files like a full 12k #wordle dictionary on the external flash.

https://github.com/GoatsAndMonkeys/TinyBBS

Show threadMark  

I was running the #BBS on #ESP32 and making a companion mobile BBS #firmware that ran on NRF. I realized I could actually fit 85% of the BBS functionality on the NRF52.

You can't write to the enormous 2MB of external flash from terminal. however you can connect to the node with BT or serial so I wrote some code that takes up less than 2kb that allows you to send the files to the node and have the node write it to external flash.

2:12pmWeb
Show threadMark  8h ago
I also want to flag #blind and #disability because the entire project is text based. A blind person can load the firmware entirely in text terminal or even use claude code to install everything. The #BBS itself is entirely text. unlike traditional BBS that have more resources I don't have a lot of ASCII/ANSI art that a reader can't deal well with. it's just text.
#meshtastic #firmware #nRF52 #nrf52840
Show threadMark  8h ago
I have a Full version where you use a #python script to send the knowledge files on the the BBS to external flash. There is a Lite version that's just flash and dash. some NRF boards have less flash and can only run the lite version.
I also wanted to show the minimum hardware requirements for a fully functioning #meshtastic node #BBS. These are so low power you can retro fit a solar light into a solar powered node. the #ESP32 have way more capabilities but are power hogs
https://www.seeedstudio.com/XIAO-nRF52840-Wio-SX1262-Kit-for-Meshtastic-p-6400.html
Show threadAstraLuma8h ago

@Mark ok

* That's neat as heck
* I kinda want one
* I kinda want to bridge it to conventional ip protocols
* I want mesh fido

Show threadMark  8h ago
@astraluma Tahnk you. my old version of the software on ESP32 uses Wifi. if someone asks for a weather forecast I serve it from the web based on their location. you could have a home ESP bridge that only connects to your node end to end encrypted that can serve you email or whatever you want.
What's your use case for bridging IP to mesh? the general consensus is to keep internet off meshtastic and keep it off grid only.
Show threadAstraLuma7h ago

@Mark interacting with users who haven't bought into mesh

I guess it depends on if you want your BBS community to be "locals" or "locals who have the ability & will to be on meshtastic"

Show threadAstraLuma7h ago
@Mark interacting with the BBS community while not being physically present
Show threadMark  8h ago
@astraluma What's fido?
Show threadAstraLuma7h ago
@Mark referencing fidonet, one of the systems that allowed BBSes to exchange messages, files, etc
Show threadMark  6h ago
@astraluma that's coming. TC2 has data syncing. what I want to do is a kind of asynchronous datasync for email where nodes can lose contact temporarily or you could have a Beeper size portable BBS that woudl sync your email with your home BBS in a decentralized distributed way. Well at least I hope to add it.
Show threadMark  6h ago
@astraluma I may transition to meshcore. meshcore firmware is much smaller so there's more room for the firmware. Also the way meshcore works I wouldn't flood the mesh with syncing BBS.