Xstatic

Networks by the people for the people, software for mankind

A native Meshtastic client for X11.
Written in C. Runs on FreeBSD, Linux and macOS.

What is it?

Meshtastic is an open-source LoRa mesh networking platform: small radios that talk to each other without any infrastructure. Xstatic is a desktop client for it: plug a node into your computer over USB serial and talk to the mesh from your own machine. A native X11 interface is on the way.

Why?

Native. No browser, no Electron, no runtime. Just C and Xlib.
Small. A handful of source files you can read in an afternoon.
Portable. Developed on FreeBSD first, with Linux and macOS as first-class targets.
Layered. Serial access, protocol, mesh state and UI are separate modules with strict one-way dependencies.

Why C?

Because C is where it all comes from. Unix was written in it, the BSD kernel is written in it, and X11 speaks it natively. It is my favourite language: no runtime, no garbage collector, no hidden magic between you and the machine. Every byte that comes off the serial port is a byte you can point at.

Parsing a binary protocol with a hand-rolled state machine, one 0x94 at a time, is exactly the kind of job C was made for. It compiles in a blink with plain cc, runs on a Raspberry Pi 3, and will still build in twenty years. No dependency hell, no toolchain of the month. Just you, the compiler and the radio.

Supported OS

FreeBSD: primary development platform (serial via /dev/cuaU0).
Linux: supported target (serial via /dev/ttyACM0).
macOS: supported via XQuartz (serial via /dev/cu.usbmodem*).

Any Unix-like system with X11 and a POSIX serial port should be within reach: only the small platform/ layer is OS-specific.

Features

Messaging

Send text messages to any node, by long name or by node number
Live display of incoming text messages, with the channel they arrived on
Message history with a numeric ID per message
Reply to a specific past message by ID: the answer goes to the original sender as a direct message, even when the original was a broadcast
Encrypted packets you cannot read are flagged as such
Empty messages are caught and cancelled before they hit the air

Mesh and channels

Live list of every known node: name, node number, hardware model in plain English, GPS position
Position data is never clobbered by a less complete view of the mesh
Environment telemetry display: temperature, pressure and humidity
Channel list: index, name, role (primary, secondary) and encryption state (none, default key, custom key)
Correct per-message channel resolution, so replies stay on the right channel
Encryption keys are read in memory only, never displayed or logged

Device configuration

Read the configuration of the connected device: role, LoRa region, modem preset, TX power, hop limit
Extended view of the position, power, network, display, Bluetooth, security and session key settings
Firmware version, hardware model and role reported at startup
Device events surfaced as they happen: reboots and send queue status

Under the hood

Streaming frame parser, robust against split and interleaved reads, even with debug logs mixed into the binary stream
Full protobuf encode and decode via nanopb, generated from the official Meshtastic definitions
One select() event loop merging the serial port and your keyboard
Serial device auto-detection
Strict compiler flags (-Wall -Wextra -Wpedantic), plain make, no autotools
Two binaries: the interactive client and a low-level debug dump tool

Commands

list                  known nodes, with position and hardware
send                  send a message (asks for node name or number, then text)
history               received messages, numbered
reply <id>           answer a specific message
channels list         configured channels and their encryption
show config           role, region, modem preset, power, hops
show all config       full configuration summary and firmware info
help                  command list
quit                  disconnect and exit

Roadmap

Native Xlib graphical interface, on top of the same core
Live GPS position of your own node
Module configuration (MQTT, serial, store and forward, canned messages)
Changing device configuration from the client
Sent messages in the history

Status

Current release: v0.2, an interactive terminal client. The graphical X11 interface is the next big milestone. Xstatic is young and moving fast. Issues, ideas and pull requests are welcome on GitHub.

src/platform/   serial access, per-OS
src/protocol/   framing + protobuf decoding
src/core/       mesh state, channels, message history, device config
src/ui/         terminal display (Xlib interface planned)

Get it

git clone https://github.com/Creep29257/Xstatic.git

Contributions, bug reports and ideas are welcome on GitHub.