Meshtastic - Operation:

[last updated: 2026-09-11]
MeshTastic home page
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WARNING: DO NOT power the node without an ANTENNA attached !

• Interacting with Meshtastic nodes:
  • What can do you do when you "interact" with a node?
    • flash firmware
    • examine or set configuration parameters
    • send and receive messages
  • How do you "interact" with a node?
    Three methods:
    • client.meshtastic.org browser:
      • Open a chromium-based browser (Chrome, Edge) - FireFox does NOT work
        Go to client.meshtastic.org
        Now you must decide how you're going to connect your PC to your node: either USB cable, or Bluetooth. (or wifi?)
      • Connect via USB serial:
        • Make sure you have a USB cable capable of 'data', not just a 'charging' cable...
          Plug it in to connect your node to your PC.
        • Screen shows: "Connect to Meshtastic Device" in upper left.
          Below that, a box with "No connections yet."
          Click "Add connection" at the bottom of that box, or in upper right of the screen.
        • A new box opens: "Add connection."
          Click serial, click select port, scroll down to find your device.
          On my system, click CP2102..., click connect, click save connection.
        • The 'Add connection' box disappears and you're returned to the main Meshtastic screen.

          
          ...
          a new box opens with same serial ID, but shows "disconnected", with button to "connect".
          Clicked connect, and main message screen came up.

        However main message screen no longer shows the message I sent last night.
        Sent another, 0630 Thu 9/10.

      Note: If you refresh your Chrome browser, you have to reconnect, and you lose the listing of the message you sent.

    • bluetooth with an app loaded onto your smart phone (or your PC?):
      • To use a phone that doesn't have internet connection:
        I followed an online guide to install F-Droid via f-droid.org.
        After I downloaded and installed F-Droid, I found Meshtastic, downloaded it and installed it.
        It works! I needed to connect the node to Bluetooth first in the Bluetooth settings then it let me connect without issues.
      • First you must configure your node for BT, using a USB/serial connection from client.meshtastic.org:
        Once you are connected via USB, and seeing the main Meshtastic screen:
        • Configure Bluetooth:
          on the left sidebar, click Settings.
          Below that a Configuration submenu will display.
          Click Device Config. Then in center pane, at right end of top menu bar, select Bluetooth, then toggle to enable if necessary.
          Click Save - far right of top menu bar.
        • Disable wifi:
          Settings (left sidebar menu), Device Config (left sidebar menu under Configuration), Network (top menu bar of center pane)
          Click slider in center pane to disable Wifi
          Click Save - far right of top menu bar.
        • So far so good, but so far unsuccessful...
    • meshtastic CLI: ie. "command line interface" in a terminal program on your PC.
      Installation instructions listed on meshtastic.org did not work for my installation of Linux Mint.
      I got an error for "externally managed environment"
      I was able to successfully install it, however, using procedure - ...here...

      
      Usage:
      https://meshtastic.org/docs/software/python/cli/usage/
      $ meshtastic --get all

    • others?

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• Running it...
  • Connect to your PC with a USB-C cable.
    To be sure than your cable is a 'data' cable, and not just a 'charging' cable,
    open a terminal and execute: $ lsusb
    Do this before and after plugging in the node, and note the difference.
    If before and after plugging in the node give the same output from lsusb, then you don't have a data cable. Try a different one.
  • Plugged USB-C into node from PC, and screen flashed a bunch, said "resuming", and battery monitor slowly climbing from about 0%, then "0 online".
    Left PB on this little case is reset, and first screen after reset shows, in upper right, "2.7.15" which is the software version that is loaded (most recent is 2.7.26).
    It also shows "JR01" as the node name.

    On my system, using a proper data cable, the new line item that shows up in lsusb output list after plugging in the node is:
    "Bus ... ... ... Silicon Labs CP210x UART Bridge"

  • Opened chrome browser
    • meshtastic.local could not connect
    • client.meshtastic.org connected, screen came up
    • clicked "Add connection"
      wants a selection, either HTTP or serial (or BT which I don't have enabled)
      select serial
      ... not sure...
      click connect
      scroll through the list of ports to find the "CP210x..." and select it and ...
      ...perhaps clicked some other things...
      but eventually, magically, the main message screen shows up,
      with navigation and other stuff on the left, messages in the middle, and nodes detected (or saved?) on the right.

      Click nodes under navigation, and list of all the saved nodes shows up in center pane (200 or so),
      including time since "last heard".
      Indeed it is hearing a couple of nodes in the last few minutes since connecting. Yay.
      Will leave it running all night.

    • Sent test message:
      With primary channel selected,
      typed into "enter your message here" box at the bottom: "anybody hear me?" and clicked the paper airplane icon to the right,
      message echoed to a line just above the message box.
    • In the morning:
      No reply to my message.
      Now about 50 nodes heard in the last minutes/hours, as opposed to most of the nodes saved in my list last heard like 8 months ago.

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