MacMesh - Salvage Geek

A Meshtastic client for classic Macintosh - Talk to your mesh network on a machine older than the mesh radio itself.

What it is
Features
Why its exists
Requirements
Credits
Wiring Diagrams
Meshtastic configuration
Download

What it is

MacMesh Plus is a native application that brings Meshtastic messaging to classic black-and-white Macintosh hardware — connected to a Heltec (or similar device) Meshtastic node over its modem port. It reads and writes the same protobuf-based serial protocol as the official Meshtastic apps, so a vintahe computer can join a modern LoRa mesh, see who's on it, and hold a conversation. No emulation tricks, no bridge software translating on a modern machine in the middle — the Mac talks directly to the node over serial, decodes the packets itself, and draws the result with the Mac's own Toolbox.

Features

**Channels**

- Displays your node's channel list.

- The channel list sorts itself by most recent activity, newest conversation on top — just like a modern chat client.

**Direct Messages**

- Double click a node from the nodes list to start a direct message chat with that node. Node chat is added to the channels list when sending or receiving direct messages.

**Node awareness**

- Live node roster for up to 250 devices on the mesh with the 512K Version. 500 With the Plus version.

- Listed in order of last seen.

- Per-node detail window: battery level (or "AC Powered" for mains-fed nodes), signal strength (RSSI), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and last heard time.

- Periodic re-sync with the connected node so the roster doesn't go stale during a long session — new devices and updated names catch up automatically rather than freezing at launch-time.

**Notifications**

- Three notification modes for incoming messages: silent, an alert beep, or spoken aloud through MacinTalk text-to-speech — so the machine can literally read your mesh messages to you.

- Defaults to alert beep (This allows it to run on System 7 and up. Macintalk will only work on System 6.0.8 and lower)

**Status Bar**

- Serial Connection status.

- Node Voltage display

- Nodes seen counter

- RAM Memory usage/Memory free

**Built for real hardware**

- Runs on a stock Macintosh 512K, Plus, SE, SE/30 and more.

- Not just an emulator — developed and verified against real hardware over serial, not just tested in a simulator.

- Careful, from-scratch handling of the classic Serial Driver, MacinTalk's undocumented driver interface, and QuickDraw redraw performance, all tuned to stay responsive on an 8 MHz 68000.

- Optional serial and sound diagnostic logging for troubleshooting a live mesh connection, toggled independently and safe to leave on.

**Small footprint, period-correct feel**

- Fits comfortably within classic Macintosh OS memory and disk constraints.

- Custom splash screen and About box; standard Mac menu bar (File, Edit, Windows, Notify, Log) so it behaves like any other well-mannered System 6 application.

Why it exists

Meshtastic nodes are cheap, off-grid mesh radios — the kind of thing you carry hiking, hand out at a campsite, or use to keep a small community connected when the regular network is down. Classic Macintosh hardware is the opposite of cheap-and-disposable: it's kept alive because people love it, not because it's convenient. MacMesh exists because those two worlds had no reason to have ever met — and now they can talk to each other.

Requirements

- Macintosh 512K (or later 68k Mac)

- Heltec or similar Meshtastic node with ProtoBufs serial protocol enabled

- A TTL to RS-422 converter (Max 490 or similar)

- An 8-pin Mini-DIN connector (Mac Plus and newer) or a 9-pin DB-9 Male serial cable (Macintosh 512K)

- MacinTalk speech driver installed (optional, for spoken notifications) ** This only works on system 1.1 - 6.0.8 ** - The application can be run on newer OS but Macintalk will not work. Version 2.0 is coming soon which will work on system 7 and up using Macintalk Version 2.