Author: John Poole
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Reticulum on Rust: Comparison Of Two Projects
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">highly technical</span></strong></p> <p>There are two projects that came to my attention where the Reticulum implementation is built using the Rust programming language. I know very little Rust, but I have been impressed with everything so far. Scott Lamb of the <a href="https://github.com/scottlamb/moonfire-nvr">Moonfire NVR</a> project has been suggesting I learn Rust since 2018, and…
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Creating A Specification After the Fact Using AI
Introduction Protocol specifications are normally written before independent implementations are attempted. The specification is the common contract: it tells each implementer what must be sent, what must be accepted, what may be rejected, and what behavior is expected. Reticulum and LXMF present a different problem: much of the “protocol” must be inferred from a working…
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Herding T-Beam Cats
Highly technical, but written for those who are blessed with curiosity Introduction I’m testing microReticulum, a C++ implementation of the Reticulum protocol developed by Chad Attermann, on 7 LilyGo T-Beam SUPREMEs. The T-Beams use the ESP32-S, a game-changing small processor. I’ve built an elaborate testing bench which I wanted to document should someone in the…
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Bluetooth Signal Strength Testing
<p>Now that I have Bluetooth working with Reticulum on the T-Beam, I have the option of testing my Reticulum mesh using Bluetooth instead of Lora. Were I using LoRa, I would have several people walking the neighborhood in an expanding circle fashion so that each node can only reach one other node. This requires having…
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Raspberry Pis Using Reticulum Via Bluetooth
<p>Two \$17 Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W units exchange encrypted poems over Reticulum using Bluetooth only. Here’s a high precision re-enactment of the real time communications.</p> <div class="reticulum-replay-centered"><iframe src="https://salemdata.us/dev/paired_ble_poetry_replay_20260522_Fri_193030.html"></iframe></div> <p><a href="https://reticulum.network/">Reticulum</a> is a protocol that encrypts content and destination providing one of the most secure way communicating currently available.</p> <p>It is the brainchild of Mark…
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A Better Way to Record Timed Linux Terminal Sessions
<h2>Timed Terminal Captures with <code>script</code>, <code>timeout</code>, and a Future Launch Time</h2> <p>I recently needed to run the same command on two separate Raspberry Pi Zero 2W systems at almost exactly the same time. Both machines were disciplined to the same local stratum-1 time server, so their clocks were already close enough, e.g. less than 1…
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From Python Prototype to C++ Protocol Core: A BLE Reticulum Milestone
<h3><strong>highly technical</strong></h3> <p><strong>The goal is simple to state and hard to implement: move the Reticulum node closer to the radio hardware, so the T-Beam is no longer merely a modem for a phone, but a Reticulum participant in its own right.</strong></p> <p>GitHub user <a href="https://github.com/torlando-tech">torlando-tech</a> designed a Bluetooth protocol for <a href="https://reticulum.network/">Reticulum</a>. Bluetooth is not…
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Testing Reticulum’s Bluetooth Interface
Highly Technical GitHub user Torlando (torlando-tech) developed a bluetooth protocol for Reticulum. The protocol is implemented in Python. I wanted to kick the tires and determine the interface’s resiliency. My interest in this is that if the protocol works (which I am satisfied it does), then I would then implement a Reticulum interface in C++…
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T-Beam Magnetometer Investigation
<p>5/1/2026 – <strong>Update</strong>: over 100k hits on my Forgejo server, presumably bots, so I now require sign-in to explore. Contact me if you want an account.</p> <h1>Introduction</h1> <p>This is a <em>deep technical</em> dive, possibly only of interest to people programming the LilyGO T-Beam SUPREME. Much of the working below are snippets taken from Wikipedia. What’s…
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Building A Better Mouse Trap
Our white house has one or more rats in it. We discovered a 2″ hole that apparently is their access. While traditional trapping and rat zappers work from time to time, preventing rats from entering is the priority. But, I don’t want to hinder their exit and I do not like resorting to traps, I’d…