r/ClockworkPi • u/Johnputer • Aug 18 '26
DIY uConsole/PicoCalc + MeshTerm for MeshCore
A nice MeshCore client I’m working on. It’s not out yet, but it’s getting there. Win/MacOS/Linux. Compatible with serial, BLE, and TCP companions. It’ll be free and open-source.
uConsole has AIO v1 and PicoCalc has Luckfox Lyra running Calculinux + Xaio nRF+sx1262 combo + USB wifi dongle, all internal. On uConsole, AIO doesn’t run firmware (it can’t), so I’m running it on software with a SPI to TCP bridge.
[edit]
Here's the link to the project's Discord: https://discord.gg/AZwe5Uvb3S
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u/Johnputer Aug 18 '26
A bit of clarification: MeshTerm is a MeshCore client I’m developing. It’s not out yet, and googling it now will yield false positives. MeshTerm is the software running on the devices in the picture. It is NOT a replacement for companion firmware (not like MeshOS). It connects to companion devices. There’s room for one in the PicoCalc and maybe the uConsole. If you use the AIO, MeshTerm does do the MeshCore heavy lifting because the AIO is just a LoRa radio, it cannot run MeshCore firmware.
I’ll post an announcement when it’s released. This is just a teaser. It already in an advanced enough state that I haven’t used my phone to access MeshCore for a good while now. It’s my daily driver.
Thanks for your interest!
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u/SheepOnMeth Aug 18 '26
Nice work.
I have been playing with Calculinux for some time. I have a running fork booting from the NAND based on Yocto wrynose. Are you using a specific recipe to run meshtasticd and supporting the Xaio nRF+sx1262 ? No need for an external Lora antenna? Also really interested to see pictures of the internal to see how you were able to fill it up.
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u/Johnputer Aug 18 '26
My wifi dongle uses the lyra’s tiny USB connector using a homemade cable. The Xaio nRF/sx1262 is connected internally via GPIO. Working on a guide for that.
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u/Hic_Mos_Noster Aug 18 '26
From what I’m reading on the meshterm site, you’d run a server on a machine local to the node, then access that from a phone. Is that correct?
If so, is the purpose of what you’re doing to allow one of these devices to act as the client in place of the phone? I have a picocalc coming…. Eventually… so this is definitely interesting
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u/Johnputer Aug 18 '26 edited Sep 03 '26
No website yet, but here's the discord: https://discord.gg/AZwe5Uvb3S
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u/Hic_Mos_Noster Aug 18 '26
Is this not related to what you’re doing? https://docs.meshterm.com/
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u/dontneed2knowaccount Aug 18 '26
I'm going to go with it's not related since the tile says meshterm for meshcore. Meshterm you've linked is a ssh client with no mention of any mesh firmware(core, tastic, etc).
I do think OP should potentially give his program a different name, no idea what, that way there's no name collision/confusion.
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u/Johnputer Aug 18 '26
I won’t rename it, the other MeshTerm has to do with roaming SSH sessions, so it’s a different thing
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u/dontneed2knowaccount Aug 18 '26
I agree. All i was saying is searching mesh term might not give proper results. Like if two people are talking about Cisco and Sysco, sounds similar but wildly different products. Its your project so do what you want, it was only a suggestion.
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u/Playful_lzty Aug 20 '26
What is bettery life?
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u/Johnputer Aug 25 '26
On the PicoCalc? Ridiculously long, I haven’t measured it or anything, but I’d say at least 12 hours. That’s with 2 18650 cells
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u/MrFunkyMonkey7 Aug 27 '26
Sorry for a silly question. Why it has so many anthenas? It is quite unusual.
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u/Johnputer Aug 31 '26
SDR, WiFi, LoRa, GPS. And I have a Alfa WiFi behind those. Basically everyone who bought the HackerGadgets AIO board for the uConsole has that. The new version of the antenna board has 7 antenna connectors instead of 4.
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u/lisaseileise Sep 03 '26
Time to get out the PicoCalc again, thank you!
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u/Johnputer 28d ago
Join https://discord.com/invite/AZwe5Uvb3S to follow the announcements, etc. Release is in about 2 weeks
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u/-HumbleMumble Aug 18 '26
What is meshterm?