all users need to be running the reticulum network stack to be able to send, receive, and route packets.
reticulum itself describes the network stack (like tcp/ip) and it has its own protocols like LXMF for messaging and LXST for streaming. applications can be built on top of these protocols.
it’s different than IP, instead of addresses, each node has an identity that’s a cryptographic key pair that you send messages to, the routing happens in the background regardless of network topology or diversity of link types.
you CAN send reticulum packets over a TCP/IP adapter and thus across the normal Internet (there are a lot of testnet and community nodes that are accessed this way), but the protocol also seamlessly bridges over any interface (lora, bluetooth, HAM radio, etc) that is attached to the node.
so like, there could be a message sent over lora to a base station that relays it to another server through the internet, then that server sends it out over a ham radio link to another computer somewhere else, etc.
all the message sender has to know is the pubkey of the node they want to talk to, and the network figures out how to establish a link.
128 hops maximum.
the prerolled binaries of the aforementioned software include the network stack and easy enough presets to find content from other nodes and people to talk to.
you can already send photos and voice chat over lora, and when lora runs out of bandwidth or if there’s no link, the protocol can seamlessly go over any other link type.
there’s still quite a lot of chat in the element group, active github projects, the “official” stack hit v1.0.0 this summer, and it works.
him stepping away might slow things a little but there’s already enough functional stuff and actively maintained nomadnet pages that i’m frankly surprised at how few people have heard of this project.
