Yeah, the official app isn’t super open-source, but the protocol is, and other companion apps are being developed. So far the only restriction I’ve found is that I’ve got to wait 10 seconds when doing remote repeater admin via the mesh.

Or just run it on a standalone, like a T-Deck, which is what I normally do! Bonus, you can stick M5 Launcher on the T-Deck, and bounce back and forth between 'tastic and 'core with a simple reboot.

If you go to the firmware flasher: flasher.meshcore.dev

That shows what’s supported with ready-to-go firmware. The community firmware is what’s mostly used. MeshOS and Ripple are more special cases that you probably don’t need to worry about when you’re getting started.

Then this is far from an exhaustive list of devices, but not bad for getting started:

nodakmesh.org/meshcore/devices

If you want a ready-to-go device, and are brand new to LoRa radio, just look at the pictures for the devices that are already in cases and with antennas, vs. the bare boards. And basically, there’s almost total cross-compatibility with devices running Meshtastic or Meshcore. You can always flash the firmware from one to the other to try each one out.