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TheCommsChannel / TC2-BBS-mesh

A BBS server for Meshtastic for posting bulletins, sending mail to users, and channel directory.
GNU General Public License v3.0
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suggestion: Add recommended hardware to readme #20

Open joeketcham opened 4 days ago

joeketcham commented 4 days ago

So far I've tried the following combinations:

RPI3 with Rak starter kit (serial connection)

Windows 10 with Rak starter kit (serial connection)

Windows 10 with TBeam ESP32 chipset (serial connection)

I'll try the TBeam with RPI3 later tonight and see if it's also stable. I figure the RAK being an ultra low power device must not maintain a stable connection over USB and cycles occasionally to conserve power while the TBeam does not. Though in your videos it looked like you were using a RAK so I'm not sure.

Can others confirm similar results or state if their RAKs work?

joeketcham commented 4 days ago

I do have extra RAKs, I will try another RAK to see if it was just the one radio or if the problem follows with other RAKs too. Curious what other people are seeing with this

TheCommsChannel commented 4 days ago

May be something with your RAK. BBS1 shown on the video is a RAK with Pi Zero (version 1). Been running for a few days now with no issue. BBS2 is a Heltec V3 connected to the uConsole and BBS3 is another RAK connected to a Linux Mint VM.

OHTechDiver commented 3 days ago

I've had similar issues with various hardware. I've only been able to successfully use a combination of Raspberry Pi 4 (Bookworm 64-bit) with RAK4631 (12.3.14) for about 30-40 minutes before server stops reading traffic. Fresh install fails to communicate with ESP32-based devices (Heltec V3 and T-Beam Supreme) via serial connection.

joeketcham commented 3 days ago

Solution: I figured it out, at least for my hardware perhaps OHTechDiver can test same on his:

RAK was configured as a 'router'. I was using this as a repeater/router (repeater doesn't report battery status) out in the field and when I pulled it to use with the BBS I never gave it a thought. After 30-40 minutes as a router the BBS could no longer read traffic. The router would still receive and repeat, but BBS couldn't see it or respond.

I switched the RAK to 'client' and boom, off to the races. It's been stable now for over 4 hours no issue.

TheCommsChannel commented 3 days ago

Nice catch! Mine were all in 'client' as well during testing so this makes sense. The nodes I intend to deploy out in the field are router_client though 😬 I wonder if that role is affected as well.

joeketcham commented 3 days ago

I submitted a PR to update the readme with a note regarding device role to reflect what I found in testing. router_client might be OK! I didn't try that one out, but in router setting it definitely behaves as noted above and I would love to hear from OHTechDiver to see if can confirm.

thebigshed commented 3 days ago

Mine is set to CLIENT but still get the errors on RPI Rasbian 32bit and on Ubuntu 64 bit. Just enabled the serial module on the LILYGO and now am trying the different protocols. Started with Default. What do you use?

joeketcham commented 3 days ago

Only errors I saw were low power warnings. I had to play around with bigger power supplies and higher quality cables. Otherwise I haven't seen any more errors. Our testing has included:

I haven't tried the sync from BBS to BBS yet, but now that we have two running stable I'm sure we'll be doing that soon too

Hardware is RPI3 running standard latest RPI3 compliant OS. I think it's called 'bookworm', I'm not sure off hand. Its without a desktop client just running command line only along with a RAK starter kit radio and the TBeams work fine too as long as I set them to client role

TheCommsChannel commented 3 days ago

Testing out router_client now. I'll give it until later tonight and I'll add it to the README if it still works

adam-burns commented 2 days ago

Nice catch! Mine were all in 'client' as well during testing so this makes sense. The nodes I intend to deploy out in the field are router_client though 😬 I wonder if that role is affected as well.

I've been running T-ECHO in router-client mode via USB to RPi4 (OS: Devuan Daedalus) for a day or so & seems to be working.