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This page outlines the setup of Meshtastic on Linux-native devices, utilizing portduino to run the Meshtastic firmware under Linux.

Prerequisites and Hardware Compatibility

Before proceeding with the setup, ensure the device meets the following requirements:

Tested Devices

SPI

USB (CH341)

Hardware Compatibility

:::caution Warning

See: The Meshtastic CRC Problem :::

System Requirements

Installation

Installing Meshtasticd

Hardware Interfaces

USB

USB support via the CH341 was added in Meshtastic 2.5.18.

Note that in order for Linux to recognize multiple CH341-USB devices, an EEPROM must be included onboard, burned with a unique serial number. Devices like the Pine64 Pinedio v1 do not include this.

SPI (Raspberry Pi)

Enable SPI support for LoRa Radio

sudo raspi-config nonint set_config_var dtparam=spi on /boot/firmware/config.txt # Enable SPI

# Ensure dtoverlay=spi0-0cs is set in /boot/firmware/config.txt without altering dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d or dtparam=uart0
sudo sed -i -e '/^\s*#\?\s*dtoverlay\s*=\s*vc4-kms-v3d/! s/^\s*#\?\s*(dtoverlay|dtparam\s*=\s*uart0)\s*=.*/dtoverlay=spi0-0cs/' /boot/firmware/config.txt

# Insert dtoverlay=spi0-0cs after dtparam=spi=on if not already present
if ! sudo grep -q '^\s*dtoverlay=spi0-0cs' /boot/firmware/config.txt; then
    sudo sed -i '/^\s*dtparam=spi=on/a dtoverlay=spi0-0cs' /boot/firmware/config.txt
fi

dtparam=spi=on
dtoverlay=spi0-0cs

I²C (Raspberry Pi)

Enable I²C support

Enabled with:

sudo raspi-config nonint set_config_var dtparam=i2c_arm on /boot/firmware/config.txt # Enable i2c_arm

Or manually enabled in /boot/firmware/config.txt:

dtparam=i2c_arm=on

UART (Raspberry Pi)

Enable UART support for GPS

sudo raspi-config nonint do_serial_hw 0 # Enable Serial Port (enable_uart=1)
sudo raspi-config nonint do_serial_cons 1 # Disable Serial Console

# Needed for all Pi device.
enable_uart=1

# Needed for the Pi 5 only.
dtoverlay=uart0

sudo raspi-config nonint do_serial_cons 1 # Disable Serial Console

Configuration

Meshtasticd Configuration

To enable a LoRa radio connected to your device, first locate it's configuration in the presets, then copy to config.d.

# First, locate your radio hardware
ls /etc/meshtasticd/available.d
# Ex: display-waveshare-2.8.yaml  lora-MeshAdv-900M30S.yaml  lora-meshstick-1262.yaml

# Then, copy desired config to `config.d`
# Example:
cp /etc/meshtasticd/available.d/lora-MeshAdv-900M30S.yaml /etc/meshtasticd/config.d/

:::info The config.yaml file is sensitive to spacing, so ensure that the indentation and spacing are correct. :::

Web Server

meshtasticd has web server support starting with release 2.3.0.

To enable this:

Webserver:
  Port: 443 # Port for Webserver & Webservices
  RootPath: /usr/share/meshtasticd/web # Root Dir of WebServer

Bluetooth Support

Bluetooth is currently unsupported and not functional on Linux Native devices. This may change in the future.

Persistence

Advanced Setup and Troubleshooting

Enabling the systemd service

To configure the device to start and stop meshtasticd as a service using systemctl you can setup the service unit using the instructions below.

Create the systemd service (only for manual installs)

The meshtasticd systemd service is automatically installed when using the official Meshtastic packages. These instructions are only needed when installing manually.

Create the service unit file:

Create a new file in the /etc/systemd/system/ directory with a name like meshtasticd.service.

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/meshtasticd.service

Add the following content to the file:

[Unit]
Description=Meshtastic Native Daemon
After=network-online.target
StartLimitInterval=200
StartLimitBurst=5

[Service]
AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
User=root
Group=root
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/meshtasticd
Restart=always
RestartSec=3

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Reload systemd to recognize the new service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Enable the service to start on boot:

sudo systemctl enable meshtasticd

Starting and Stopping the Service

Start the service:

sudo systemctl start meshtasticd

Check the status of the service:

sudo systemctl status meshtasticd

This will give you a detailed view of the service status and any potential errors.

Stop the service:

sudo systemctl stop meshtasticd

By following these steps, you set up a systemd service for meshtasticd that will start automatically at boot and restart if it crashes. You can manage it using the standard systemctl commands (start, stop, restart, status, etc.).

View Logs of Meshtastic

To view the log output of the meshtasticd service, use the below command to read them out of the system journal.

journalctl -u meshtasticd -b

Avahi setup

This will allow the Android client to auto-discover your Linux Native device.

sudo apt install avahi-daemon

Create the service file:

sudo nano /etc/avahi/services/meshtastic.service

And paste the following:

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?><!--*-nxml-*-->
<!DOCTYPE service-group SYSTEM "avahi-service.dtd">
<service-group>
    <name>Meshtastic</name>
    <service protocol="ipv4">
        <type>_meshtastic._tcp</type>
        <port>4403</port>
    </service>
</service-group>

Then save and exit.

CLI Configuration

Interaction with Meshtastic can be conducted via the command line:

meshtastic --host localhost ...

See: