I Made A Custom Mesh Radio Interface For 1980s Computers

This is a follow-up to an earlier video where I experimented with Meshtastic radio text messaging on my TRS-80 Model 100 laptop (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k508Uti_yE). In this one I went farther, designing and building a custom PCB interface for mesh nodes to serial connectors. I also 3D-printed a custom enclosure, making an all-in-one dongle that can function as a regular mesh node or can plug into old computers.

Big thank you to PCBWay for sponsoring this one and encouraging me to design a PCB for the first time! Find them at https://pcbway.com/g/6zNccP

You can find my PCB design files and 3D printed enclosure at https://www.pcbway.com/project/shareproject/Serial_LoRa_dongle_for_Meshtastic_Meshcore_on_vintage_computers_384c6876.html

Or at https://www.printables.com/model/1843286-serial-lora-dongle-for-meshtastic-meshcore-on-vint

I'm still having mixed luck with my TRS-80 laptop, although this works great on my NEC Starlet.

In the Meshtastic firmware, you'll want to enable the following settings for this:
-Serial Module - Serial Enabled
-Baud_9600
-Textmsg mode

On a Heltec v3, you'll want:
RX pin 45
TX pin 47

On a TRS-80 laptop you'll want to do a STAT 88N1E in TELCOM, then run Term.

I also recommend testing with a dedicated channel with the same pre-shared key between your serial nodes. If you use this on a public channel it might annoy people! Some of my old computers send out weird characters or do line breaks wrong, so each system might be a little different.

Some of my prior Meshtastic videos:
Earlier attempt at serial mesh stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_k508Uti_yE
Meshtastic tracking device: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6v8bVjrMAQ
Meshtastic for beginners pt1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKhprOtK7wE
Pt2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-6FBnp0RP4


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