Would be nice if you support me: https://buymeacoffee.com/bmks — thank you very much!!

Important: Use at your own risk. You, the device owner, are responsible for any damage, data loss, or bricked devices.

MeshCore RPI (forked MeshCore) WIP

With a Waveshare LoRa HAT on Raspberry Pi, this fork (based on MeshCore v1.13.0) can build and run native MeshCore: Tested with the following LoRa HAT: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0C61XFGHC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Important to know:

• Default you can only use Repeater OR Companion.
• If you are crazy like me, you could use my spi-bridge (create multiple VIRTUAL-spi devices out of one HW-spi) and start Repeater AND Companion on the same Raspberry PI :D. Here you go for the SPI-Bridge: https://github.com/dabeani/RPI_spi-bridge

Current status:

• Repeater is working fine.
• Connect to Companion from Mobile Phone via Ethernet, BLE untestet until now.

Reference hardware settings (recommended to mirror in env files):

• pyMC_Repeater radio settings JSON: https://github.com/rightup/pyMC_Repeater/blob/3e47122daee85734d323009d67f606257828698f/radio-settings.json
• Apply matching values in:
  • /etc/raspberrypimc/repeater.env
  • /etc/raspberrypimc/companion.env

Runtime configuration options (/etc/raspberrypimc/*.env)

Core radio/runtime keys:

RPI_FREQ_HZ=869618000
RPI_SF=8
RPI_BW_HZ=62500
RPI_CR=8
RPI_TX_DBM=22

# Radio backend selector
RPI_RADIO_DRIVER=sx1262   # or: sx127x

# SPI device node prefix (default: /dev/spidev)
RPI_SPI_DEV_PREFIX=/dev/spidev

RPI_SPI_BUS=0
RPI_SPI_CS=0
RPI_SPI_SPEED_HZ=1000000
RPI_CS_PIN=21
RPI_RESET_PIN=18
RPI_BUSY_PIN=20
RPI_IRQ_PIN=16
RPI_TXEN_PIN=13
RPI_RXEN_PIN=12

RPI_USE_TCXO=0
RPI_USE_DIO2_RF=0

Notes:

• If RPI_RADIO_DRIVER is unset, default is sx1262.
• If RPI_SPI_DEV_PREFIX is unset, default is /dev/spidev.
• Repeater/Companion binaries now read role config files directly on startup:
  • repeater: /etc/raspberrypimc/repeater.env
  • companion: /etc/raspberrypimc/companion.env
• Optional override for both binaries: RPI_CONFIG_FILE=/path/to/custom.env.
• Role config file values are applied as effective runtime values at startup.
• After changing env values, restart the service:

sudo systemctl restart raspberrypimc-repeater.service
sudo systemctl restart raspberrypimc-companion.service

Startup diagnostics (config verification)

On startup, both native binaries print:

• startup-config: ... (interpreted effective values)
• radio-diag: {...} (current radio diagnostic JSON)

Use these lines to verify values such as RPI_SPI_DEV_PREFIX, pins, speed, and radio driver immediately after start.

Package config-file behavior

Package install/upgrade does not overwrite existing files:

• /etc/raspberrypimc/repeater.env
• /etc/raspberrypimc/companion.env

Defaults are shipped as examples:

• /usr/share/raspberrypimc/repeater.env.example
• /usr/share/raspberrypimc/companion.env.example

If a role env file is missing, package post-install creates it from the matching example.

Build-time limits/debug options (PlatformIO)

These are compile-time options (rebuild required after changes):

• MAX_CONTACTS
• MAX_GROUP_CHANNELS
• MESH_DEBUG
• MESH_PACKET_LOGGING

For RaspberryPiMC native targets, set them in platformio.ini under:

• [env:RaspberryPiMC_native_repeater]
• [env:RaspberryPiMC_native_companion]

SX127x quick-start profile

If you use an SX127x-based module, set the driver explicitly and adjust GPIO pins to your wiring:

RPI_RADIO_DRIVER=sx127x
RPI_SPI_DEV_PREFIX=/dev/spidev
RPI_SPI_BUS=0
RPI_SPI_CS=0
RPI_SPI_SPEED_HZ=1000000

# Example GPIO mapping (change for your board/wiring)
RPI_CS_PIN=21
RPI_RESET_PIN=18
RPI_IRQ_PIN=16
RPI_TXEN_PIN=-1
RPI_RXEN_PIN=-1

Then restart the service and verify from CLI:

radio-diag

Expected: "driver":"sx127x" in the diagnostic JSON.

1) Binary install prerequisites

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y libgpiod-dev gpiod jq curl

2) Binary install (repeater)

sudo dpkg -i raspberrypimc-native-repeater_*.deb
sudo nano /etc/raspberrypimc/repeater.env
sudo systemctl enable --now raspberrypimc-repeater.service
systemctl is-enabled raspberrypimc-repeater.service
systemctl status raspberrypimc-repeater.service --no-pager

3) Build on Raspberry Pi (advanced)

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y python3 python3-pip python3-venv python3-dev libgpiod-dev gpiod jq curl

Build target should be Linux aarch64 (best: build directly on the Pi).

cd ~/MeshCoreRPI
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y python3-venv python3-full

python3 -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
pip install platformio

platformio run -e RaspberryPiMC_native_repeater
platformio run -e RaspberryPiMC_native_companion

4) Repeater autostart flow

cd ~/MeshCoreRPI
git pull
rm -rf ~/MeshCoreRPI/RaspberryPiMC/dist/*
bash RaspberryPiMC/build_deb.sh repeater
sudo dpkg -i RaspberryPiMC/dist/raspberrypimc-native-repeater_*.deb
sudo nano /etc/raspberrypimc/repeater.env
sudo systemctl enable --now raspberrypimc-repeater.service

Verify persistence after reboot:

systemctl is-enabled raspberrypimc-repeater.service
systemctl status raspberrypimc-repeater.service --no-pager

After env changes:

sudo systemctl restart raspberrypimc-repeater.service

5) Companion service flow

cd ~/MeshCoreRPI
git pull
bash RaspberryPiMC/build_deb.sh companion
sudo dpkg -i RaspberryPiMC/dist/raspberrypimc-native-companion_*.deb
sudo systemctl restart raspberrypimc-companion.service
systemctl status raspberrypimc-companion.service --no-pager

6) Companion debug run (manual)

/usr/lib/raspberrypimc/companion/program \
	--freq 869618000 --sf 8 --bw 62500 --cr 8 --tx 22 \
	--radio-driver sx1262 \
	--spi-dev-prefix /dev/spidev \
	--spi-bus 0 --spi-cs 0 --cs-pin 21 --spi-speed 1000000 \
	--reset-pin 18 --busy-pin 20 --irq-pin 16 --txen-pin 13 --rxen-pin 12 \
	--no-tcxo --no-dio2-rf

Feel Free to Download / Modify / Distribute