[ OpenWRT ] Meshtasticd install on Raspberry Pi with a SPI LoRa modules

[markbirss]

Download a customized snapshot image

[URL]
https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/?version=SNAPSHOT&target=bcm27xx%2Fbcm2711&id=rpi-4

Click "Customize installed packages and/or first boot script"

Adding these packages (can also be installed after)
luci-ssl kmod-spi-bcm2835 kmod-spi-bitbang kmod-spi-dev kmod-spi-gpio spi-tools spidev-test

example below

Click "REQUEST BUILD"

then download the "FACTORY (EXT4)" or "FACTORY (SQUASHFS)" image and write it to sdcard/usb flash drive and insert it into your Raspberry Pi

Connect your LoRa SPI Module and power up

Connect to Raspberry Pi over serial or ssh (root@192.168.1.1) after booting up

Enable I2C and SPI on your Raspberry Pi by modifying

/boot/config.txt
include distroconfig.txt

[all]
dtparam=i2c1=on
dtparam=spi=on

Next install the meshtasticd apk key and install meshtasticd

[1] create repo public key

tee -a /etc/apk/keys/meshtastic-apk.pem<<EOF
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAEM53kxQgA40hjnpavBMS8o1IgNUVE
5+T2JAVtEod+OB7b/3Nb5zHXKr+J7joIPdDUyUjCY2AQaYAxWBABboQVAA==
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
EOF

[2] add meshtastic repo to apk

echo "https://meshtastic.github.io/openwrt-repo/main/$(cat /etc/apk/arch)/packages.adb" > /etc/apk/repositories.d/meshtastic.list

[3] update packages

apk update

[4] install meshtasticd

apk add meshtasticd

[5] edit /etc/meshtasticd/config.yaml

note these yaml files are whitespace sensitive so need those spaces)

right at the bottom (uncomment and change to br-lan)

change MAC source from eth0 to br-lan
  MACAddressSource: br-lan

[6] copy the LoRa SPI config for your SPI radio to /etc/meshtasticd/config.d/

cp /etc/meshtasticd/available.d/loa-xxxx.yaml /etc/meshtasticd/config.d/

[7] /etc/init.d/meshtasticd restart

Now a region need to be set from meshtastic client like android app on your phone to set LoRa region