Replaces the proprietary Ripple/MeshOS firmware with a clean-room implementation that speaks the MeshCore protocol natively. Interoperates with existing MeshCore nodes (Heltec V3, Ripple devices). No premium gates, no license tiers, no registration locks.

Status

v0.1.0 — Project scaffold. Hardware bringup in progress.

Hardware

Component	Chip	Interface
SoC	ESP32-S3FN16R8	240MHz dual-core, 16MB flash, 8MB PSRAM
LoRa	SX1262	SPI
Display	ST7789 320x240	SPI
Keyboard	ESP32-C3	I2C (0x55)
GPS	u-blox	UART
Speaker	MAX98357A	I2S
Mic	ES7210	I2S

What This Is

Open-source firmware for T-Deck hardware
Speaks MeshCore wire protocol (compatible with Ripple/MeshOS nodes on the mesh)
Has its own UI
Clean-room implementation from meshcore-cli (MIT)

What This Is Not

Not a Meshtastic fork (different protocol)
Not a binary patch of MeshOS
Not an emulator of proprietary firmware

Building

Requires PlatformIO.

pio run -e meshtanic-tdeck
pio run -t upload
pio device monitor

Development Phases

Hardware Bringup — Boot, peripherals, display, keyboard, radio init
Radio + Basic Mesh — LoRa TX/RX, packet codec, advertisements
MeshCore Protocol — Encryption, channels, contacts, routing
Companion Interface — Serial/BLE compatibility with meshcore-cli
UI — On-device chat, contacts, channels, settings
Polish — GPS sharing, telemetry, OTA, power management

Protocol Reference

Primary source: meshcore-cli Python library (MIT). Secondary: meshcore-open Flutter client (MIT).

License

MIT