Thanks for your thoughts. I agree that using software would be easier, but I wanted to do it in hardware in this specific case.
I am unfamiliar with Raspberry pi, but if my understanding is correct, it's running a real os. So I would need to send it a command to actually shut down every time I want to remove the usb device. More generally, having a general purpose OS on the little device seems overkill for that use case, no?
I'd like to point you towards Meshtastic [1]. It's off-grid, decentralized text messaging that allows for encryption, and is inexpensive to get into (a basic node is about $30 or less), and don't require a license to operate.
The firmware on these devices is open source (minus proprietary blobs for ESP32 WiFi, etc.) and the community is active. Check the Meshmap [2] to see some nodes that have made their location public in your area.
Meshtastic barely works. There are only a few hundred nodes in Las Vegas and already the main public channels are at high utilization with almost no real end user traffic on it.
I love the project and participate, but people mentioning stuff like this in response to buzzwords irritates me. Like ipfs it is a buzzword-driven curiosity, not a real solution to real problems that anyone has.
Additionally, the meshtastic encryption is a toy. In 2025 when you say encryption you make people think of modern features like replay resistance, perfect forward secrecy, etc. Meshtastic doesn’t do any of this.
IPFS used to be a real solution, we used it as the base layer for the decentralized marketplace OpenBazaar and it worked fairly well for that. I haven’t followed it in a few years though.
I think of IPFS as a cross between HTTP and BitTorrent. Like BitTorrent it can seek a given dataset by some kind of hash, no matter where it's hosted; like HTTP it's more suitable for collections of small files.
In practice, it takes upwards of a whole minute to locate a file it's never seen before, so it's not terribly useful. It's better than nothing, but it's not terribly useful.
It's still cool that someone tried. IPFS is one in a long line of ideas that didn't really work. Occasionally some of these ideas have massive success, like the Internet, and Bitcoin.
The meshtastic coverage might be much better in your area than it looks on Meshmap too. It relies on being connected to the main MQTT [0] server to get placed there and lots of people don't do that because the chatter there can be spammy and irrelevant to you locally. There are many city or state specific MQTT meshes that are far more popular. For example NCMesh [1] has way better coverage in NC, though most contacts still happen over MQTT instead of via RF, compared to the same area on Meshmap.
So long as you're using the standard long fast and 0/20 frequency slot you'll still have your messages passed via NCMesh nodes even if you're using the broader US Mesh as your MQTT server.
[0] MQTT here simply tunnels the messages over the internet so you get placed in a broader chat room and pseudomesh than you could reach through RF.
"digital Ethernet cable" is straight out of the Department of Redundancy Department. And even 100% silver wouldn't change the sound one lick. It is transmitting digital data. 4.6 out of 5 on the reviews tho. The positive reviews are classic cases of confirmation bias: if I paid that much I expect it will be better! Only two reviewers didn't appreciate being separated from their money for no discernible improvement.
The Ethernet cable would presumably be sending digital data. As long as the environment that the cable is being used in is reasonable, the quality of the signal will not be improved because of better conductivity in the cable.
You’re probably talking about TosLink cables (what else could you be talking about?).
They have the bandwidth to carry two channels of uncompressed digital audio. Which is what they were designed for.
If you’re using one to carry 5.1 or 7.1 audio from your TV to your soundbar, it’s compressed. An HDMI cable can carry that uncompressed. And so could an Ethernet cable.
In a Senate hearing today, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said, under oath:
“One of the first things that happened when I was confirmed as CIA director was Signal was loaded onto my computer at the CIA, as it is for most CIA officers. One of the things that I was briefed on very early, senator, was by the CIA records management folks about the use of Signal as a permissible work use. It is. That is a practice that preceded the current administration to the Biden administration.”
