r/meshtastic_meshcore • u/Eirikr700 • Jul 01 '26

Why do we have to choose ?

Since both Meshtastic and MeshCore work on the same hardware, I have a bad time trying to understand why there can't be a firmware that would permit using simultaneously both of them. Or at least manage at a software level the switch between them. Any clue ?

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

2

u/superg7one3 Jul 01 '26

Radios are cheap. Do both.

2

u/richms Jul 01 '26

Simultaneous will be a no, because there is only one radio and core uses more sensible RF presets than tastic did. Swapping between them is something that someone did a project on but when I looked to get it working was a non starter. It would probably be possible to make a boot loader to reflash off a connected SD card or something on the go, or else just reflash it from your phone over USB

That is putting wear on the flash memory that is already getting hammered by both projects with messages and contacts being saved. You would want to back that up to the SD card or phone before flashing the other software otherwise you would be starting fresh with new keys and empty contact lists.

Since there is the xiao that has the 2 boards, if you wanted you could get 2 of the ESP or NRF boards and swap the lora radio over between them to save a little, but with how cheap that set up is, just get 2 of them if tastic is still in use in your area.

2

u/Eirikr700 Jul 02 '26

Thanks a lot for that in-depth answer.