Staying in touch without the internet? It's possible
In a new step-by-step video tutorial, tech worker Kit explains how to send messages over a mesh network using a LoRa board and Meshcore.
And yes, that's without a mobile network or the internet.
Taking control of your communications infra is especially important for workers in the Netherlands. Because you don't want to be dependent on centralized, commercial platforms, do you?
Live at 9pm CET: https://youtu.be/VF52NYfdaJk
#LoRa technology allows people to establish an ad-hoc mesh network that supports AES256 encryption absolutely independent of the web. There are two competing approaches, #Meshtastic and #Meshcore. Messages are short. The mesh architecture supports Internet-free communication for fifty miles or so. If you connect to the Internet, you can have secure short message communication worldwide.
Okay. Add #Reticulum to the list.
#Heltec, manufacturer of cheap #ESP32 #LoRa boards describes its two biggests sources of demand, #Meshtastic and #Meshcore users.
Let's see if Reticulum gets traction.
@UrbanCityCowboy @Glenlivet @techwerkers
Here's the challenge under FCC rules in the U.S. anyway. No encryption on the 70 cm, 2 m, or HF amateur bands.
You can use ISM bands with power limitations encrypted and unlicensed.
Help me understand RNS.
@UrbanCityCowboy @Glenlivet @techwerkers
" [With #Reticulum you can never accidently send anything unencrypted."
With Packet Radio (amateur) you aren't allowed to send encrypted traffic, unless you publish the decryption algorithm...and that includes the keys.
@UrbanCityCowboy @Stinson_108 @Glenlivet @techwerkers Folks, do not reinvent the whole car just because you want a different wheel.
Reticulum will never get traction, because it tries to change everything at once and there is just a single hobby grade implementation. The networking theory uses the ISO/OSI for a reason.
You want to change transport layers and work over slow LoRa? Look at 802.15.4 and 6LowPAN for connected networks.
@UrbanCityCowboy @Stinson_108 @Glenlivet @techwerkers You want private network layer? Use TOR or a regular VPN (or wireguard).
You want your own high speed network? A simple and plain old WiFi or Ethernet will do the job. Peering with Internet is not mandatory.
You want your own address space? IPv6 private range fd00:: has you covered.
You want non-corporate secure chat? Why not GNU Jami?
Standards are useful for interoperability.
@UrbanCityCowboy @Stinson_108 @Glenlivet @techwerkers I know what it is. The full stack is exactly the issue. It won’t scale. IEEE and RFCs and IANA allow multiple vendors, hw builders and billions of devices to cooperate.
Small RTN works. Big one would choke. Learn and experiment, but be realistic.
TOR is theoretically perfect just like RTN. Unless you route something outside it or reveal yourself in the payload. Like RTN over TCP.
@UrbanCityCowboy @Stinson_108 @Glenlivet @techwerkers Reticulum as secure layer over Internet is exactly the same concept as TOR and onion web. The underlying infra still uses IP addresses.
Building independent sovereign infrastructure is a separate task and does not need Reticulum. Use WiFi, HaLow or any other standard protocol on top of IPv6 local addresses you can pick yourself. You will get speed hw and app support out of the box.
@UrbanCityCowboy @Stinson_108 @Glenlivet @techwerkers
TOR uses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.onion - automatically generated hash address derived from public key. Which is pretty much the same, isn’t it?
And since there is no Reticulum only infrastructure you have to use classic TCP or UDP to tunnel it through. So in practical sense, it does use IP addressing. Same as TOR.
So also respectfully, I prefer established and researched protocols.
@UrbanCityCowboy @Stinson_108 @Glenlivet @techwerkers Folks, please understand I am not trying to spoil your fun. Using protocols like MeshCore, Meshtastic or Reticulum, or better contributing to their development will teach you about network, radio and security.
But any statements about "replacing internet" or "taking privacy back", like I keep seeing, are not realistic. The standard procedures and protocols have decades of experience and research behind them. You can't just throw that away.
@marsik @Stinson_108 @Glenlivet @techwerkers Okay. Even though I have said Reticulum doesn't use IP addresses and have proved to you it doesn't use IP addresses what makes you still think it uses IP addresses? Yes - you can use Reticulum over TCP/IP as a transport layer - but if you don't and use other transport locations it doesn't use IP. For example - if I send an LXMF message or visit an Rweb page using RNS over Packet Radio - I have to send an announce. The recipient sees the announce and can converse with it. Not using any IP address just a cryptographic key. Completely anonymous. No trace back. I own my LXMF address. Everything is decentralized.
The problem with established and researched protocols is that they are easier to infiltrate and based on old world systems. Reticulum is designed to work with both old and new systems. But if the SHTF and the net goes down RNS's resilience will keep a real world network going.
@UrbanCityCowboy @Stinson_108 @Glenlivet @techwerkers In theory you are right, but how many links have you ever done without IP?
In case the Internet goes down I will setup private network with ubiquous wifi hardware. In fact, people have done that 20 years ago where I live (CZFree.net) using wifi and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RONJA
Or I could use the standardized delay tolerant BPv7 (RFC 9171) + BPSEC (RFC 9172). Transport agnostic, confidential and used by NASA for interplanetary networking!
Techwerkers
Robert H
Hannes Deeken
Richie McCoy aka Dr Deej
MarSik
