Lilygo T-Deck Plus is a $70 handheld with GPS, LoRa, and a BlackBerry keyboard | Hacker News Reader

Lilygo T-Deck Plus is a $70 handheld with GPS, LoRa, and a BlackBerry keyboard

liliputing.com

48 pointsedward16 comments

For some context, Lilygo dev boards are a popular option for running Meshtastic software which provides a common protocol for sending text messages over LoRA https://meshtastic.org/docs/introduction/ including a mesh relay where other radios relay your messages to a final destination https://meshtastic.org/docs/overview/mesh-algo/

(LoRA - long range, low power radio in unlicenced bands - up to 200-254km line of sight even without mesh relay https://meshtastic.org/docs/overview/range-tests/#current-gr...)

Lilygo's original lora devboards had no display and no GPS (although IO pins to add your own) and you used the bluetooth connection to a phone to send and recieve the messages.

What are the typical use cases for this kind of device? What do you do with it?

Other than for hobby use, you could use this for text messaging in situations where you don't have cell signal or wifi. Say you're out camping and don't have a connection, assuming everyone had a LoRa radio running meshtastic, you could text each other. It also allows encryption, unlike traditional radio services like FRS/GMRS/CB/MURS or ham radio. And since it's a mesh, you can somewhat get around line of sight issues.

Oh that sounds pretty cool!

Yea, it's mainly for fun/experimentation. I got a $15 Heltec board and a decent antenna and could reach some nodes in SF down to San Bruno from hills in the East Bay.

But I was surprised that there's only 5-10 active nodes in the North Bay and fewer people than that - Bay Area being what it is (was), I was hoping there'd be a a little underground community.

Talk to 20 or so other nerds (and some preppers) in your city when you're driving around, or if you go up to a high point, about how well (or poorly) your Meshtastic experience is going.

At least in the Midwest, USA. It sounds like in the UK, parts of the country have had issues with overloading the mesh with current firmwares.

There is a new 5G non cellular standard namely DECT NR+ that is more open, reliable and has higher bandwidth than LoRa [1]. A communication device similar to this Lilygo T-Deck running the new DECT NR+ that's backward compatible with the old DECT standard will be very exciting for off-grid and off-network adhoc wireless communication.

[1] What is DECT-2020 New Radio (NR), and how big a deal is it? (2021):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39849335

Something like that would be awesome. I suspect that it won't happen until someone makes a DECT NR+ moduke with eady to use API exposed by it's firmware. So, something with Nordic in it.

Has anyone done rigorous security auditing of any of the popular ESP32 modules?

In the photo that shows an external antenna connector, how rugged/fragile will that be?

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0617/7190/7253/files/lilyg...

I dont have much interest in LoRa, I do think an esp32 device like this but with a modem would be very cool for a simple hackable phone, sort of in the same vein as the tangara mp3 player.

> 【Keyboard letter styles are sent randomly】

Are new parts being made, or are they only sourcing from old stock?

Wonder if they're coming from recycled phones?

It'd be more exciting if GPS supports RTK, but still I would buy this in a heartbeat.

I use old cheap cellphones and connect stuff using an OTG serial port

Ha, I expected to read about something designed for on-device/off-network intended LLM inference of customized models (LoRA vs LoRa).

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