AI is not universally bad. There are some things it does well. The problem is that there are a lot more things it does badly, often in harmful ways, and most people using it have no idea how to tell the difference.

You seem to be using it the right way, with caution and awareness.

As with many people, it isn’t just about me. I am not willing to move my family and my elderly parent onto the streets at this stage.

The government could have taken all my assets at any point in the last 50 years if they wanted. We all have to deal with the current reality. I think we are still at a stage where protesting and voting may be enough to turn things around. Meanwhile, I am supporting local efforts to protect vulnerable people from the new policies. There is organized resistance and it is scaling up.

Understand that I don’t entirely disagree with you. Particularly on the first two points. Not going into work and not paying for housing are only effective if large numbers of other people are doing it too. We may get to that point, organized resistance is happening, but anyone doing those things right now is simply going to become homeless and desperate.

People rarely take actions that they know will destroy their lives unless they feel that they have nothing further to lose. More people are reaching that point every day and that may eventually make that kind of resistance effective. For better or worse, the average citizen is not there yet. I hope the growing protest movement will force changes first. It is still early days.

So you recommend becoming homeless as the best solution?

I’m just curious. What, exactly, would you be doing to stop this? And tell me how you think it would work.

Actual computer scientists should also be included with those groups.

I have tried to charge my Samsung watch on all kinds of Qi devices. They don’t work. The newer Samsung phones can charge them, but only because they have a separate set of coils that support watches.

Absolutely.

We desperately need to change the laws that govern corporations. Our legal system requires them to behave like sociopaths.

It’s hard to differentiate between the malicious lying and the incompetence of execution. The results come out the same, either way. It hurts all of us, except for the very wealthy.

The Christian left is quite large and active, but it doesn’t attract media attention. Treating everyone like human beings and trying to help those in need isn’t nearly as interesting as spewing mindless hatred and engaging in constant hypocrisy. Those who follow “Republican Jesus” make for better entertainment.

The new model is SAAH (Software As A Hostage). You would think that overpaid CTOs and CEOS would be able to anticipate something as obvious as this. “The Cloud” just means “someone else’s server”.

I don’t think any of the current Meshtastic radios can be used in the usual way via ethernet. Some support WiFi, but not the RAKs that I know about. That leaves USB and Bluetooth.

There is a very neat option that allows you to set up to remotely administer a node via radio. That has saved me a lot of trouble with my repeater. You can’t do everything that way that you could with a direct connection, but you can do most of it.

The repeater will automatically forward messages from your personal radio to anyone who is outside your direct range. You don’t have to do anything special to make that happen. Likewise, any node, including your repeater and your personal radio, will automatically forward encrypted messages without knowing what’s in them. Only the endpoints need to have the encryption keys. Anything in between just forwards the raw data.

I’m glad it was useful to you!

Easiest and least expensive are a little different, so I’ll talk briefly about both.

The easiest is to go on Etsy and search for Meshtastic. You will find plenty of people who will build you a ready-to-go unit, both individual radios and solar-powered repeaters. (If you plan to put your repeater somewhere with power you can use any radio as a repeater, just put a good antenna on it.) Pre-built units start at around $60 and can go up into the hundreds, but $60 to $90 will get you a great personal radio.

The least expensive is to order a kit from one of the many companies that sell them. If the kit does not come with a case, check Etsy for cases that match your kit. Most kits do not require soldering, you just have to plug in various cables and connectors, then fit everything into the case. Some actually come fully assembled. This approach generally costs somewhere between half and two-thirds of what a pre-built setup will run. Kits start as low as $10, although most or $20 to $40, and cases are mostly $20 to $35.

One of the harder parts is to figure out which radio kit you want, but there are just two major types. Those built around the ESP32 processor tend to be a little less expensive and offer the option of WiFi, but they have a much shorter battery life. Those built around the nRF52 processor cost a little more, do not offer WiFi, but have nearly 10 times the battery life. WiFi is only used in a few specific cases, usually by repeaters and not personal units, so you may well not need it. Battery life is not usually an issue for personal radios, since nearly all of them will go for a full day between charges, but sometimes you may want more than that. Stand-alone repeaters that run off solar panels are almost all based on the nRF52 because of the battery life.

The most common starter radios are based on the Heltec V3 kit, which is based on the ESP32. It has been around a long time, it is relatively inexpensive, and it can do pretty much everything. The only downside is battery life, which may or may not matter to you. Unless that’s a concern, you can’t go wrong with a V3. My personal favorite is the T114 kit, also from Heltec, which is based on the nRF52. It is much like the V3, but without WiFi and with much better battery life.

I would wait until you’ve played with a personal radio before buying a repeater. Every Meshtastic radio acts as a repeater, so you don’t necessarily need a dedicated repeated. Find out how many nodes are in your area and what kind of coverage you get. If there aren’t many nodes, or distance is limited, you can consider a dedicated repeater.

Basically, a repeater is just a node with a good location that’s put in a good location, up as high as possible. Because Meshtastic radios use very little power, it is practical to make completely self-sufficient solar repeater units that never require charging. You can put one of those on your roof, up in a tree, or on top of a nearby hill or mountain, without having to worry about regularly climbing back up there.

I strongly recommend that you go to meshtastic.org and read through the Getting Started documentation. It provides a lot more detail (and less personal opinion). And check out the Meshtastic communities on Lemmy. Have fun!

My wife and I each have a radio, as do several of my friends. They’re handy for anything where you may not have cell coverage, like camping. We also use them at protests, to avoid the heavy surveillance that’s being done on cell networks. Even if the authorities start looking at Meshtastic, everything except the public channel uses PGP end-to-end encryption, and there is no middleman that has access to the unencrypted data.

We have also put up a repeater node. It’s on top of a house at the top of the highest ridge near us. Before it went up we rarely saw more than our own nodes. Now we see several dozen, and sometimes a lot more. And the repeater serves the whole community, not just us. The beauty of a mesh is that everyone contributes to everyone else’s coverage.

The mesh in our city is growing rapidly right now. Not only are there a lot of people getting their own nodes, there are a surprising number of people putting up repeaters to help spread the coverage. It’s amazing to watch our whole neighborhoods suddenly appear as gaps are filled in.

It is more difficult to change course after you pass a turning point, but never impossible. Even if we have passed it, we need to keep working to improve the situation. The only certainty is that giving up will not make things better.

My father went back to school at 50, while still working full-time, and earned a doctorate. He never advertised the fact, and he would ask people call him by his first name if they referred to him as Doctor or Doctor Smith. Very few people, including those he worked with, ever new he had the degree.

I can’t tell you home much I respect both the humility and the entirely personal appreciation for learning.

I came here for this!

And “No step on snek!” is still ours.

To quote a popular bumper sticker: Be nice to America or we’ll bring democracy to your country.