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Hi there... So, after reading Solderpunk's post about a theoretical P2P Gemini network based on Git, I looked around for answers to said post, and found out about Gwit... Seems to be a first attempt at implementing Solderpunk's idea...
It got me wondering... Would this work over LoraWan? I don't know much about this, having only recently heard about it, it seems geared towards Internet Of Things stuff... But Gemini capsules being generally tiny, would this still work?
If it did, the possibilities offered by the combination of all these approaches would indeed be very interesting...
Solderpunk's post about a Git based P2P network
2023-10-24 · 3 months ago · 👍 miragearchitect
👤 AnoikisNomads · Oct 26 at 04:23:
For me these are two distinct things. Git takes care of data at rest and uses transfer protocols (ssh, https, ...). LoRaWAN is a transport protocol. How interesting this combination would be for gemini-on-IoT... I don't know. plenty of microcontrollers are fully WIFI capable.
Now, I'm aware that gwit exists but I know nothing about it, so I can't really comment on gwit+LoRaWAN itself.
😺 Nono [OP] · Oct 26 at 05:49:
@AnoikisNomads: It's true there are plenty of WIFI capable microcontrollers, but the range with LoraWan is tens of kilometers. The theoretical limit is 850kms! Now imagine a dense mesh of user operated Lora relays... We'd have a truly autonomous network that could span entire continents. An internet that belongs to the users, at the infrastructure level! It's said to be rather slow, but again, Gemini capsules are tiny.
😺 Nono [OP] · Oct 26 at 05:58:
Also, I haven't explored it yet, but it seems there'a FOSS implementation of the Lora specs. It's called "The Things Network" I believe.
👤 AnoikisNomads · Oct 26 at 09:12:
@nono I believe you're mixing things up. as far as Im aware LoRaWAN isn't designed to be a mesh, the end nodes (typically IoT devices) communicate with a gateway server in a hub-and-spokes topology. the range of a node over LoRaWAN isn't more than a few kilometers.
I couldn't find where the 850km comes from but that is _way_ beyond the horizon and requires some level of energy input into the radio wave that a battery powered device with a tiny antenna won't accomplish
😺 Nono [OP] · Oct 26 at 09:38:
Hi @AnoikisNomads! Here's a link for a video that features a segment about the time when The Things Network community set a world record, with a transmission over a distance of 832 kms, using a balloon... Not representative of an ordinary use of the stuff, but still... The segment in question is at the 1'40" mark... I understand that LoraWan wasn't *originally* made to act as a mesh network for a decentralized user-operated internet... I guess what I was asking in the original post, is if it could be turned into that, despite not being made for such a goal originally... But then again, I'm not a very technical person, so the answer might very well be a simple "No"... :)
— https://youtu.be/SmDza__-wAA
🌧️ miragearchitect · Oct 26 at 12:46:
What about less inhabited places, and anyway, gemini is tiny, how would you get people interested in this.
Dreaming is still fun trough. The web is poisoned from the cables up sadly.
😺 Nono [OP] · Oct 26 at 13:18:
Hi @miragearchitect... Yes true, I'm just dreaming out loud... But there can be value in trying to imagine what's possible, at least in theory... I'm well aware that this wouldn't be an overnight thing... But as the fat behemoths of big tech get greedier and greedier, I don't think it's impossible that it would gain traction over time... Just like Gemini, it wouldn't have to replace the traditional internet, just to exist alongside it... As for remote areas, it seems to me that a couple of intermediary nodes between said area and a dense urban center would be much easier to get done than conventional infrastructure... Again, its very low bandwidth, but we're talking about smol internet, so...