Ratdeck

Standalone Reticulum for the LilyGo T-Deck

Ratdeck turns a LilyGo T-Deck into a full standalone Reticulum node. It's not just an RNode which requires another device — it's the complete setup.

End-to-end encrypted LXMF messaging over LoRa, TCP over WiFi for bridging to the wider Reticulum network, node discovery, identity management, and more.

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_{▶ YouTube: Reticulum Standalone - T-Deck & Cardputer Adv}

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Installing

The easiest way is the web flasher — enable download mode (hold the trackball while powering on), plug in the USB, click flash, done.

To build from source:

git clone https://github.com/ratspeak/ratdeck
cd ratdeck
pip install platformio
python3 -m platformio run --target upload

Usage

On first boot, Ratdeck generates a Reticulum identity and shows a name input screen. Your LXMF address (32-character hex string) is what you share with contacts.

Tabs: Home, Friends, Msgs, Peers, Setup — navigate with the trackball.

Manually announce: To send an announcement manually, press the trackball or enter on the home tab.

Add/delete contacts/messages: Hold the trackball down on a chat or a peer to add or delete.

Sending a message: Find someone in Peers, select to open chat, type your message, hit Enter. Status goes yellow (sending) → green (delivery confirmed).

Radio presets (Setup → Radio). Format: name — SF, bandwidth, coding rate, TX power. Long Fast is the compiled-in default.

Preset	SF	BW	CR	TXP	Bitrate	Link budget
Short Turbo	7	500 kHz	4/5	14 dBm	21.99 kbps	140 dB
Short Fast	7	250 kHz	4/5	14 dBm	10.84 kbps	143 dB
Short Slow	8	250 kHz	4/5	14 dBm	6.25 kbps	145.5 dB
Medium Fast	9	250 kHz	4/5	17 dBm	3.52 kbps	148 dB
Medium Slow	10	250 kHz	4/5	17 dBm	1.95 kbps	150.5 dB
Long Turbo	11	500 kHz	4/8	22 dBm	1.34 kbps	150 dB
Long Fast (default)	11	250 kHz	4/5	22 dBm	1.07 kbps	153 dB
Long Moderate	11	125 kHz	4/8	22 dBm	0.34 kbps	156 dB

All radio parameters are also individually tunable; changes apply immediately, no reboot. Please operate in accordance with local laws, as you are solely responsible for knowing which regulations and requirements apply to your jurisdiction.

WiFi Bridging (Alpha)

Use STA mode to connect to existing WiFi and reach remote nodes like rns.ratspeak.org:4242.

To bridge LoRa with Reticulum on your computer:

1. Set WiFi to AP mode in Setup → Network (creates ratdeck-XXXX, password: ratspeak)
2. Connect your computer to that network
3. Add to your Reticulum config:

[[ratdeck]]
  type = TCPClientInterface
  target_host = 192.168.4.1
  target_port = 4242

Note: WiFi bridging methods and interfaces will be revamped with Ratspeak's client release, therefore, it's unlikely AP mode works at all currently.

Docs

The detailed stuff lives in docs/:

• Quick Start — build, flash, first boot, first message
• Building — build flags, flashing, CI, partition table
• Architecture — layer diagram, data flow, design decisions
• Development — adding screens, settings, transports
• Hotkeys — keyboard shortcuts and navigation
• Pin Map — full T-Deck Plus GPIO assignments
• Troubleshooting — radio, build, boot, storage

License

GPL-3.0