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Reticulum Network System R+D Experiment

What: Create a Reticulum based R+D system for IoT and Retro BBS stuff.

Why: This looks like fun for IoT and doing retro BBS stuff and just plain old having fun. I think I have enough gear to set this up with nothing additional required other than time because I have some leftover LoRA radio stuff and some Pi Zeros laying around.

How: Research, determine some goals, and implement.

A first location to start reading docs could be https://unsigned.io/

The system overall is probably best described as a replacement for and/or run on top of the traditional OSI model.

Not-Really-OSI Layers

Layer 7

Layer 4/5/6

Layer 3

Layer 1/2

  • https://github.com/markqvist/RNode_Firmware and https://unsigned.io/website/rnode/
  • Looking at the LoRA hardware support list I think I have several usable LoRA radios in stock.
  • There is one way to use ethernet that autoconfigures over broadcasts but "might" or "might not" work over Docker (well, technically I bet it works on Docker Desktop but my MetalLB load balancer on the K8S cluster likely has no idea what to do with it)
  • The other way to use ethernet is tunnel over defined TCP/UDP ports I'll probably use UDP
  • Interesting protocol backend is I2P which I will have to experiment with.

Preliminary and Optimistic Architecture

  • A Hub VM 24x7 providing broadcast ethernet, and connectable UDP ports. This will be the first system I set up and everything connects to it. Probably it'll connect to the testnet or public net in some way maybe or maybe not. In theory, this can connect using I2P as a backend also. I can mesh things up later. Theoretically, I could run one hub on each of the main K8S hosts as a cluster.
  • Around 2 Docker Webtops living on the K8S server and connecting to the hub VM UDP port for end to end testing and experimentation and playing around. I need a webtop and not just CLI access to run sideband and meshchat.
  • A gateway on the existing "usb" passthru VM connecting the hub to the LoRA
  • Some Pi Zero with USB LoRA radios doing vaguely IoT type things. Longer term goals would be something like a solar powered radio connected weather station, using GPS to map out radio coverage, and "various intriguing remote sensor ideas".
  • Some desktop/laptop installs for enduser-ish activity and testing. Also set up sideband on my phone.
  • I want to experiment with the MQTT bridge and maybe extend it to thingsboard
  • I also want to see what it would take to gateway into a more traditional BBS type thing. Door games, who knows.
  • I have made Node-RED nodes and I bet I can make a Node-RED node that interfaces with LXMF or at least as an app like the famous lxmf-bot. I'm looking for more integration than having the Node-RED mqtt node talk to the LXMF MQTT-tools bridge.
  • I don't know about the security implications of lxmf_terminal but I was thinking of running a "linux in docker" connected to it as an experiment.
  • Using something like the various bot interfaces I want to run text adventures as a user, so multiple people can connect to the Zork1Bot perhaps.
  • I remain intrigued by the idea of tunneling Morse Code over LXST, its just a fun idea. I know LXST is oriented toward AV file streaming but morse code is just low speed, maybe 120 bits per second, 1-bit audio, sort of, so I think I can wedge it in there. There was a lot of existing work done on "morse over IRC" a quarter century ago and it would be amusing to be compatible with that.
  • Finally a fun app I want to try is something very much like tunneling retro UUCP over the system. The idea of running UUCP between multiple remote radio-connected Ultrix nodes amuses me for some reason.

Measure of Success: At lest something works and everything is properly documented.